Giorgio Ronconi
Encyclopedia
Giorgio Ronconi was an Italian
operatic baritone
celebrated for his brilliant acting and compelling stage presence. In 1842, he created the title-role in Giuseppe Verdi
's Nabucco
at La Scala
, Milan.
, who was a leading tenor
. He made his operatic debut at Pavia
in 1831, as Valdeburgo in Bellini
's La straniera
, and went on to sing at La Scala and elsewhere in Italy. In the 1830s and 1840s, he appeared in the first performances of seven operas by Donizetti
. They were in:
He married soprano Elguerra Giannoni on 8 October 1837 in Naples, Italy. By some accounts Giannoni had sung with some success at the Lyceum Theatre and at the King's Theatre
in London. However, Harold Rosenthal
has written: "This lady, who failed on virtually every opera stage in Europe, was considered a good concert-room singer only, but so indispensable was her husband to any Italian company that willy-nilly she had to be engaged as well."
In 1842, Ronconi appeared for the first time in London
, at Her Majesty's Theatre
, performing the part of Henry Ashton in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor
. Ronconi's success with audiences outside Italy was immediate, and he continued to be one of the most popular and influential operatic artists in Europe until the early 1870s, when he retired. He appeared, for instance, at London's Royal Opera House
, Covent Garden
from 1847 until 1866. Vienna
heard him in 1843 and he sang in St Petersburg in 1850-1860 and New York City
in 1866-1872.
His voice was neither extensive in compass nor fine in quality, but the genius of his acting and the strength of his personality atoned for his vocal defects. He was equally at home in comedy and tragedy, and the two parts by which he is best remembered, Giuseppe Verdi
's Rigoletto and Gioachino Rossini's Figaro, showed the spread of his talent. A large section is devoted to descriptions of Ronconi's powers in the critic Henry Fothergill Chorley
's Recollections. In his later years, Ronconi founded a school of singing at Granada
in Spain and also accepted a professorial post at the Madrid Royal Conservatory.
Ronconi instigated a long line of great Italian baritones that continued into modern times; but the most esteemed of his contemporaries/immediate successors were probably Felice Varesi
, Leone Giraldoni
, Francesco Graziani
and Antonio Cotogni
, all of whom were outstanding Verdi singers.
Another celebrated 19th century baritone, Sir Charles Santley
, wrote in his memoirs that: "The word 'libertà' (freedom) was expunged from the Italian stage-vocabulary by the [occupying] Austrians. In the duet 'Suoni la tromba' (I Puritani
), on one occasion, Ronconi gave the words 'gridando libertà' (crying 'Liberty!) with such vigour and emphasis that the audience were excited to the pitch of frenzy, and a great commotion ensued. Next morning he received a reprimand for using the prohibited word, accompanied by a request to use the word 'lealtà' (loyalty) on future occasions in its stead. Shortly after, playing Il Sergente in L'elisir d'amore
, in deference to the request, for perdè la liberta (lost his freedom) he substituted perdè la lealtà (lost his loyalty), which was received with shrieks of laughter by the audience, to the great discomfiture of the advocates of 'loyalty.'"
Ronconi died in Madrid
, aged 79.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
operatic baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
celebrated for his brilliant acting and compelling stage presence. In 1842, he created the title-role in Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's Nabucco
Nabucco
Nabucco is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera, based on the Biblical story and the 1836 play by Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois and Francis Cornue...
at La Scala
La Scala
La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...
, Milan.
Career
Ronconi was born in Milan and had been taught to sing by his father, Domenico RonconiDomenico Ronconi
Domenico Ronconi was an Italian operatic tenor who had an active international career in leading opera houses from 1796-1829. He then embarked on a second career as a voice teacher in Milan which lasted until his death in that city in 1839.-Life and career:Born in Lendinara, he studied singing...
, who was a leading tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
. He made his operatic debut at Pavia
Pavia
Pavia , the ancient Ticinum, is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, northern Italy, 35 km south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It is the capital of the province of Pavia. It has a population of c. 71,000...
in 1831, as Valdeburgo in Bellini
Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi , La sonnambula , Norma , Beatrice di Tenda , and I puritani...
's La straniera
La straniera
La straniera is an opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini, from a libretto by Felice Romani, based on L'étrangère by Charles-Victor Prévot, vicomte d'Arlincourt...
, and went on to sing at La Scala and elsewhere in Italy. In the 1830s and 1840s, he appeared in the first performances of seven operas by Donizetti
Gaetano Donizetti
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. His best-known works are the operas L'elisir d'amore , Lucia di Lammermoor , and Don Pasquale , all in Italian, and the French operas La favorite and La fille du régiment...
. They were in:
- 1833, as Cardenio in Il furioso all'isola di San DomingoIl furioso all'isola di San DomingoIl furioso all'isola di San Domingo is a melodramma, or opera, in three acts by composer Gaetano Donizetti. Jacopo Ferretti wrote the Italian libretto after Miguel de Cervantes's novel Don Quixote. The opera premiered at the Teatro Valle in Rome, Italy on 2 January 1833...
; - 1833, in the title role in Torquato TassoTorquato TassoTorquato Tasso was an Italian poet of the 16th century, best known for his poem La Gerusalemme liberata , in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between Christians and Muslims at the end of the First Crusade, during the siege of Jerusalem...
; - 1836, as Enrico in Il campanelloIl campanelloIl campanello or Il campanello di notte is a melodramma giocoso, or opera, in one act by Gaetano Donizetti. The composer wrote the Italian libretto after Mathieu-Barthélemy Troin Brunswick and Victor Lhérie's French vaudeville La sonnette de nuit...
; - 1837, as Nello Dello Pietra in Pia de' TolomeiPia de' TolomeiPia de' Tolomei is a tragedia lirica, or tragic opera, in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian libretto after Bartolomeo Sestini's novella, in its turn after Dante's narrative poem The Divine Comedy part 2: Purgatorio...
; - 1838, as Corrado Waldorf in Maria de RudenzMaria de RudenzMaria de Rudenz is a dramma tragico, or tragic opera, in three parts by Gaetano Donizetti. The Italian libretto was written by Salvadore Cammarano, based on "a piece of Gothic horror", La nonne sanglante by Anicet-Bourgeois, Cuvelier and Maillan, and The monk by Matthew Gregory Lewis...
; - 1841, as Don Pedro in Maria PadillaMaria PadillaMaria Padilla is a melodramma, or opera, in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Gaetano Rossi and the composer wrote the Italian libretto after François Ancelot's play. It premiered on December 26, 1841 at La Scala, Milan...
; and - 1843, as Enrico, Duke of Chevreuse, in Maria di RohanMaria di RohanMaria di Rohan is a melodramma tragico, or tragic opera, in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. The Italian libretto was written by Salvadore Cammarano, after Lockroy and Edmond Badon's Un duel sous le cardinal de Richelieu, which had played in Paris in 1832.- Roles :- Synopsis :The comte de...
.
He married soprano Elguerra Giannoni on 8 October 1837 in Naples, Italy. By some accounts Giannoni had sung with some success at the Lyceum Theatre and at the King's Theatre
Her Majesty's Theatre
Her Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre, in Haymarket, City of Westminster, London. The present building was designed by Charles J. Phipps and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who established the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at the theatre...
in London. However, Harold Rosenthal
Harold Rosenthal
Harold David Rosenthal OBE was an English music critic, writer, lecturer, and broadcaster about opera. Originally a schoolmaster, he became drawn to music, particularly opera, and began working on musical publications...
has written: "This lady, who failed on virtually every opera stage in Europe, was considered a good concert-room singer only, but so indispensable was her husband to any Italian company that willy-nilly she had to be engaged as well."
In 1842, Ronconi appeared for the first time in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, at Her Majesty's Theatre
Her Majesty's Theatre
Her Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre, in Haymarket, City of Westminster, London. The present building was designed by Charles J. Phipps and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who established the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at the theatre...
, performing the part of Henry Ashton in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor is a dramma tragico in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor....
. Ronconi's success with audiences outside Italy was immediate, and he continued to be one of the most popular and influential operatic artists in Europe until the early 1870s, when he retired. He appeared, for instance, at London's Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
, Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
from 1847 until 1866. Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
heard him in 1843 and he sang in St Petersburg in 1850-1860 and New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 1866-1872.
His voice was neither extensive in compass nor fine in quality, but the genius of his acting and the strength of his personality atoned for his vocal defects. He was equally at home in comedy and tragedy, and the two parts by which he is best remembered, Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's Rigoletto and Gioachino Rossini's Figaro, showed the spread of his talent. A large section is devoted to descriptions of Ronconi's powers in the critic Henry Fothergill Chorley
Henry Fothergill Chorley
Henry Fothergill Chorley was an English literary, art and music critic and editor. He was also an author of novels, drama, poetry and lyrics....
's Recollections. In his later years, Ronconi founded a school of singing at Granada
Granada
Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...
in Spain and also accepted a professorial post at the Madrid Royal Conservatory.
Ronconi instigated a long line of great Italian baritones that continued into modern times; but the most esteemed of his contemporaries/immediate successors were probably Felice Varesi
Felice Varesi
Felice Varesi was a French-born Italian baritone with an illustrious singing career that began in the 1830s and extended into the 1860s...
, Leone Giraldoni
Leone Giraldoni
Leone Giraldoni was a celebrated Italian operatic baritone. He created the title roles of Gaetano Donizetti's Il duca d'Alba and Verdi's Simon Boccanegra as well as the role of Renato in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera .Giraldoni studied in Florence with Luigi Ronzi and made his début as the High...
, Francesco Graziani
Francesco Graziani
Francesco "Ciccio" Graziani is an Italy football manager and former player.-Playing career:Graziani was born in Subiaco, in the province of Rome....
and Antonio Cotogni
Antonio Cotogni
Antonio Cotogni was an Italian baritone of the first magnitude. Regarded internationally as being one of the greatest male opera singers of the 19th century, he was particularly admired by the composer Giuseppe Verdi...
, all of whom were outstanding Verdi singers.
Another celebrated 19th century baritone, Sir Charles Santley
Charles Santley
Sir Charles Santley was an English-born opera and oratorio star with a bravuraFrom the Italian verb bravare, to show off. A florid, ostentatious style or a passage of music requiring technical skill technique who became the most eminent English baritone and male concert singer of the Victorian era...
, wrote in his memoirs that: "The word 'libertà' (freedom) was expunged from the Italian stage-vocabulary by the [occupying] Austrians. In the duet 'Suoni la tromba' (I Puritani
I puritani
I puritani is an opera in three acts by Vincenzo Bellini. It was his last opera. Its libretto is by Count Carlo Pepoli, based on Têtes rondes et Cavaliers by Jacques-François Ancelot and Joseph Xavier Saintine, which is in turn based on Walter Scott's novel Old Mortality. It was first produced at...
), on one occasion, Ronconi gave the words 'gridando libertà' (crying 'Liberty!) with such vigour and emphasis that the audience were excited to the pitch of frenzy, and a great commotion ensued. Next morning he received a reprimand for using the prohibited word, accompanied by a request to use the word 'lealtà' (loyalty) on future occasions in its stead. Shortly after, playing Il Sergente in L'elisir d'amore
L'elisir d'amore
L'elisir d'amore is an opera by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. It is a melodramma giocoso in two acts...
, in deference to the request, for perdè la liberta (lost his freedom) he substituted perdè la lealtà (lost his loyalty), which was received with shrieks of laughter by the audience, to the great discomfiture of the advocates of 'loyalty.'"
Ronconi died in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, aged 79.