Giuseppe Capponi was an Italian operatic 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...

 who sang leading roles both in Italy and Europe. He is most remembered today as the tenor soloist in the world premiere of the Verdi Requiem.

Capponi was born in Cantiano

Cantiano

Cantiano is a comune in the Province of Pesaro e Urbino in the Italian region Marche, located about 70 km west of Ancona and about 50 km southwest of Pesaro.-External links:*...

 near Pesaro

Pesaro

Pesaro is a town and comune in the Italian region of the Marche, capital of the Pesaro e Urbino province, on the Adriatic. According to the 2007 census, its population was 92,206....

 and studied music there with the composer and Cantiano's maestro di cappella, Natale Pellicci. From 1857 he was the primo tenore in the choir of the Basilica della Santa Casa in Loreto, a post he held to the end of his life. He made his stage debut in 1858 at the Teatro Valle

Teatro Valle

The Teatro Valle is a theatre and former opera house in Rome, Italy.Commissioned by the Capranica family, the architect Tommaso Morelli designed the theatre which was built in 1726. It was inaugurated with the staging of the tragedy Matilde by Simon Falconio Pratoli...

 in Rome where he sang comprimario

Comprimario

A Comprimario is a supporting role in an opera. Derived from the Italian "con primario", or "with the primary", the term refers to a performer who sings small role pieces....

 roles. His debut in a leading tenor role came in 1860, when he sang Pollione in Norma

Norma (opera)

Norma is a tragedia lirica or opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini with libretto by Felice Romani after Norma, ossia L'infanticidio by Alexandre Soumet. First produced at La Scala on December 26, 1831, it is generally regarded as an example of the supreme height of the bel canto tradition...

at Pesaro. He was heard in Paris at the Théâtre-Italien in 1863 in the relatively minor role of Barbarino in Alessandro Stradella

Alessandro Stradella (opera)

Alessandro Stradella is a romantic opera in three acts composed by Friedrich von Flotow to a German libretto by "Wilhelm Friedrich" . Set in Venice and the countryside near Rome, it is loosely based on the colourful life of the 17th century Italian composer and singer Alessandro Stradella...

. However by the 1865-1866 season, he was singing major roles at the Teatro Regio

Teatro Regio di Parma

Teatro Regio di Parma is a famous 19th century opera house and opera company in Parma, Italy. The theatre was originally known as the Teatro Ducale....

 in Parma

Parma

Parma is a city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna famous for its ham, its cheese, its architecture and the fine countryside around it. This is the home of the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world....

, including Vasco da Gama in Meyerbeer's L'Africaine

L'Africaine

L'africaine is a grand opera, the last work of the composer Giacomo Meyerbeer. The French libretto was written by Eugène Scribe. The opera is about fictitious events in the life of the real historical person Vasco da Gama...

, Lamberto in the world premiere of Giovanni Rossi's Niccolò de' Lapi, and the Duke of Mantova in Rigoletto

Rigoletto

Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...

.

Sources

• Casaglia, Gherardo (2005). "Giuseppe Capponi". Almanacco Amadeus. Retrieved 15 February 2011
• Resigno, Eduardo (2001). "Capponi, Giuseppe" Dizionario Verdiano. Biblioteca Universale Rizzoli, pp. 126-127. ISBN 8817866288
• Busch, Hans (1978). Verdi's Aida: the history of an opera in letters and documents. University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 0816608008