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Tito Gobbi (24 October 1913 – 5 March 1984) was an Italian baritone
Baritone

Baritone is a type of European classical music male voice type that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice....
.

Biography
Tito Gobbi was born in Bassano del Grappa
Bassano del Grappa

Bassano del Grappa is a city and comune in the province of Vicenza, region Veneto, in northern Italy. It bounds the communes of Cassola, Marostica, Solagna, Pove del Grappa, Romano d'Ezzelino, Campolongo sul Brenta, Conco, Italy, Ros?, Cartigliano and Nove....
 and studied law
LAW

LAW may refer to:* Anti-tank warfare, e.g. the US Army M72 LAW or the British Army LAW 80*Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights ...
 at the University of Padua
University of Padua

The University of Padua , located in Padua, Italy, was founded in 1222. It is among the earliest of the university and the third oldest in Italy....
 before he trained as a singer. Giulio Crimi
Giulio Crimi

Giulio Crimi was an Italian operatic tenor.Crimi was born in Patern?, Italy. He studied in Catania with Adern? and made his debut in Palermo, as Manrico in Il trovatore, in 1910, later appearing in Treviso as Hagenbach in La Wally....
 (1885-1939), a well-known Italian tenor
Tenor

The tenor is a type of male voice type and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between the C one octave below middle C to the A above in choral music, and up to high C in solo work....
 of a previous generation, was Gobbi's teacher in Rome. He made his opera
Opera

Opera is an Performing arts in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work which combines a text and a musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition....
tic debut in Gubbio
Gubbio

Gubbio is a town and comune in the far northeastern part of the Italy province of Perugia It is located on the first slope of Mt. Ingino, a small mountain of the Apennine Mountains....
 in 1935 as Count Rudolfo in Bellini
Vincenzo Bellini

Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italy opera composer. Known for his flowing melodic lines for which he was named "the Swan of Catania", Bellini was the quintessential composer of Bel canto opera....
's La sonnambula
La sonnambula

La sonnambula is an opera semiseria in two acts, music by Vincenzo Bellini to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani, based on a ballet-pantomime by Eug?ne Scribe....
. In 1942, he debuted at Italy's leading opera house, La Scala
La Scala

The Teatro alla Scala , in Milan, Italy, is one of the world's most famous opera houses. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778, under the name Nuovo Regio Ducal Teatro alla Scala with Antonio Salieri Europa riconosciuta....
 in Milan
Milan

Milan is the second largest city of Italy, located in the plains of Lombardy. It is the capital in the Province of Milan, as well as the Regions of Italy capital of Lombardy....
, in the role of Belcore in Donizetti
Gaetano Donizetti

Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italy composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. Donizetti's most famous work is Lucia di Lammermoor , and arguably his most immediately recognizable piece of music is the aria "Una furtiva lagrima" from L'elisir d'amore ....
's L'elisir d'amore
L'elisir d'amore

L'elisir d'amore is a melodramma giocoso in two acts by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote the Italian language libretto after Eug?ne Scribe's libretto for Daniel-Fran?ois-Esprit Auber's Le philtre ....
.






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Encyclopedia


Tito Gobbi (24 October 1913 – 5 March 1984) was an Italian baritone
Baritone

Baritone is a type of European classical music male voice type that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice....
.

Biography


Tito Gobbi was born in Bassano del Grappa
Bassano del Grappa

Bassano del Grappa is a city and comune in the province of Vicenza, region Veneto, in northern Italy. It bounds the communes of Cassola, Marostica, Solagna, Pove del Grappa, Romano d'Ezzelino, Campolongo sul Brenta, Conco, Italy, Ros?, Cartigliano and Nove....
 and studied law
LAW

LAW may refer to:* Anti-tank warfare, e.g. the US Army M72 LAW or the British Army LAW 80*Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights ...
 at the University of Padua
University of Padua

The University of Padua , located in Padua, Italy, was founded in 1222. It is among the earliest of the university and the third oldest in Italy....
 before he trained as a singer. Giulio Crimi
Giulio Crimi

Giulio Crimi was an Italian operatic tenor.Crimi was born in Patern?, Italy. He studied in Catania with Adern? and made his debut in Palermo, as Manrico in Il trovatore, in 1910, later appearing in Treviso as Hagenbach in La Wally....
 (1885-1939), a well-known Italian tenor
Tenor

The tenor is a type of male voice type and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between the C one octave below middle C to the A above in choral music, and up to high C in solo work....
 of a previous generation, was Gobbi's teacher in Rome. He made his opera
Opera

Opera is an Performing arts in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work which combines a text and a musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition....
tic debut in Gubbio
Gubbio

Gubbio is a town and comune in the far northeastern part of the Italy province of Perugia It is located on the first slope of Mt. Ingino, a small mountain of the Apennine Mountains....
 in 1935 as Count Rudolfo in Bellini
Vincenzo Bellini

Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italy opera composer. Known for his flowing melodic lines for which he was named "the Swan of Catania", Bellini was the quintessential composer of Bel canto opera....
's La sonnambula
La sonnambula

La sonnambula is an opera semiseria in two acts, music by Vincenzo Bellini to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani, based on a ballet-pantomime by Eug?ne Scribe....
. In 1942, he debuted at Italy's leading opera house, La Scala
La Scala

The Teatro alla Scala , in Milan, Italy, is one of the world's most famous opera houses. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778, under the name Nuovo Regio Ducal Teatro alla Scala with Antonio Salieri Europa riconosciuta....
 in Milan
Milan

Milan is the second largest city of Italy, located in the plains of Lombardy. It is the capital in the Province of Milan, as well as the Regions of Italy capital of Lombardy....
, in the role of Belcore in Donizetti
Gaetano Donizetti

Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italy composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. Donizetti's most famous work is Lucia di Lammermoor , and arguably his most immediately recognizable piece of music is the aria "Una furtiva lagrima" from L'elisir d'amore ....
's L'elisir d'amore
L'elisir d'amore

L'elisir d'amore is a melodramma giocoso in two acts by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote the Italian language libretto after Eug?ne Scribe's libretto for Daniel-Fran?ois-Esprit Auber's Le philtre ....
. He also appeared at the Rome Opera and other significant Italian venues.

Gobbi's international career blossomed after the Second World War, beginning with appearances in 1948 at the San Francisco opera. He performed for the first time at London's Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House

The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in the London district of Covent Garden. The large building, often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", is the home of Royal Opera, London , Royal Ballet, London and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House....
, Covent Garden
Covent Garden

Covent Garden is a district in London, England, located on the easternmost parts of the City of Westminster and the southwest corner of the London Borough of Camden....
, in 1950 and sang with the Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago

Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1952, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicol? Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria Callas's American debut in Norma ....
 from 1954 until 1974. The year 1974 also saw the last of Gobbi's numerous appearances at Covent Garden, where he had been much admired by the public and critics alike. He was praised for his musicianship as well as for his acting talent and interpretive insights. As for his actual voice, it is better described as having been very good rather than great. His mezza voce was warm and attractive but his top notes, for instance, lacked 'punch'.

During the 1960s, Gobbi diversified into stage directing, a notable example being his 1965 production of Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi

Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic music composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers in the 19th century....
's Simon Boccanegra
Simon Boccanegra

Simon Boccanegra is an opera with a prologue and three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on the Play Sim?n Bocanegra by Antonio Garc?a Guti?rrez....
 at Covent Garden. He made many recordings, too, and appeared in some 25 films during his career, in both singing and speaking roles.

Gobbi famously sang the part of Scarpia in the 1964 Franco Zeffirelli
Franco Zeffirelli

Franco Zeffirelli, Order of the British Empire , is an Italy film director. He is also an theatre director, designer and producer of opera, theatre, film and television....
 production of Puccini
Giacomo Puccini

Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italians composer whose operas, including La boh?me, Tosca, Madama Butterfly and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the List of important operas....
's Tosca
Tosca

Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Victorien Sardou drama, La Tosca....
 at Covent Garden, with soprano
Soprano

A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four part chorale style harmony the soprano takes the highest part which usually encompasses the melody....
 Maria Callas
Maria Callas

Maria Callas was an American-born Greeks soprano and one of the most renowned opera singers of the twentieth century. She combined an impressive bel canto technique with great dramatic gifts....
 in the title role. Act II of the production was filmed and shown on British television. (It is now preserved on DVD
DVD

DVD, also known as "Digital Versatile Disc" or "Digital Video Disc,"is a popular optical disc data storage device media format. Its main uses are video and data storage....
.) Gobbi and Callas had previously sung Tosca together in a classic 1953 EMI
EMI

The EMI Group is a United Kingdom music company comprising the major record label EMI Music ? which operates several labels and is based in Kensington in London, England, United Kingdom ? and EMI Music Publishing, based in New York City....
 recording of the opera made in Milan, with Giuseppe Di Stefano
Giuseppe Di Stefano

Giuseppe Di Stefano was an Italian operatic tenor whose career lasted from the late 1940s to the early 1970s. He was also known for his long association with the soprano Maria Callas, with whom he performed and recorded many times, and with whom he was romantically involved for a brief period....
 as Cavaradossi and Victor de Sabata
Victor de Sabata

Victor de Sabata was an Italy conducting and composer. He is widely recognized as one of the most distinguished operatic conductors of the twentieth century, especially for his Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini and Richard Wagner....
 conducting. That 1953 album was re-issued on long-playing gramophone record and, later, CD. It is considered by many to be the finest recording of a complete opera ever made. It went out of print only once, after Callas recorded the role again in stereo
STEREO

STEREO is a Sun observation mission which was launched on 26 October 2006 at 00:52 GMT. Two nearly identical spacecraft were launched into orbits that cause them to pull respectively further ahead of and fall gradually behind the earth....
 in 1964; but the 1953 mono version was soon re-released and is the one that remains readily available to this day. Gobbi was a close friend and admirer of Callas, and was interviewed several times about their various stage collaborations.

In 1968 he participated in the first opera telecast in Australia (Tosca, with Marie Collier
Marie Collier

Marie Collier was an Australia operatic soprano.Marie Collier was born in Ballarat, Victoria. She first came to prominence in 1952 singing the role of Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana for the National Theatre Opera company in Melbourne....
 in the title role and Donald Smith
Donald Smith (singer)

Dr. Donald Sydney Smith Order of the British Empire was an Australian operatic tenor. His voice had a bright Italianate quality, which could match in size, carrying power and tonal allure the voices of most sopranos and mezzos....
 as Cavaradossi).

In 1969, Gobbi was announced as that year's King of Moomba by the Melbourne
Melbourne

Melbourne is the more common name for the geographic region and Census in Australia of the Greater Melbourne metropolitan area. It is the second List of cities in Australia by population in Australia, with a population of approximately 3.8 million and serves as the List of Australian capital cities of Victoria ....
 Moomba
Moomba

For the town in South Australia, Australia, see Moomba, South Australia.Moomba is an annual festival in the city of Melbourne, Australia and one of the largest and longest running festivals in Australia....
 festival committee, amid some controversy. (Gobbi was the third non-Australian so honoured and some people were calling for an Australian 'king' to be crowned.) He considered 'abdicating' but went on to receive huge acclaim at the subsequent Moomba parade through Melbourne's streets. It was "... the biggest audience of my career, ... I am so happy I did not abdicate. I am proud to be king of Moomba".

Gobbi retired in 1979. By this juncture, he had acquired a repertoire of almost 100 operatic roles. They ranged from Figaro
Figaro

The term Figaro may refer to any of the following:*Figaro, the central character in the plays The Barber of Seville, The Marriage of Figaro , and The Guilty Mother by Pierre de Beaumarchais, and their operatic adaptations....
, through Donizetti and the standard Verdi and Puccini parts, to Wozzeck
Wozzeck

Wozzeck is the first opera by the Austrian composer Alban Berg. It was composed between 1914 and 1922 and first performed in 1925. Since then it has established a solid place for itself in the mainstream operatic tradition, and modern productions are consistently sold out....
.

He had a daughter, Cecilia, with his wife Tilda. (Cecilia now runs the Associazione Musicale Tito Gobbi, an organization devoted to preserving and celebrating the record of her father's contribution to opera.) He was also the brother-in-law of one of his famous colleagues at Covent Garden, the Bulgaria
Bulgaria

The state of Bulgaria , Scientific transliteration Balgarija, officially the Republic of Bulgaria has played a significant role in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe for over fourteen centuries....
n-born bass, Boris Christoff
Boris Christoff

Boris Christoff was a Bulgarian opera singer, one of the greatest bassoes of the 20th century....
.

In retirement, Gobbi turned to writing. His autobiography, Tito Gobbi: My Life, was published in 1979. The book Tito Gobbi and His World of Italian Opera followed in 1984. He died in Rome that same year, aged 70.

Abridged discography


  • Donizetti
    Gaetano Donizetti

    Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italy composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. Donizetti's most famous work is Lucia di Lammermoor , and arguably his most immediately recognizable piece of music is the aria "Una furtiva lagrima" from L'elisir d'amore ....
    : L'elisir d'amore
    L'elisir d'amore

    L'elisir d'amore is a melodramma giocoso in two acts by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote the Italian language libretto after Eug?ne Scribe's libretto for Daniel-Fran?ois-Esprit Auber's Le philtre ....
         (Carosio, Monti; Santini, 1952) EMI
    EMI

    The EMI Group is a United Kingdom music company comprising the major record label EMI Music ? which operates several labels and is based in Kensington in London, England, United Kingdom ? and EMI Music Publishing, based in New York City....
  • Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor
    Lucia di Lammermoor

    Lucia di Lammermoor is a dramma tragico in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvatore Cammarano wrote the Italian language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor....
         (Callas, di Stefano; Serafin, 1953) EMI
  • Giordano
    Umberto Giordano

    Umberto Menotti Maria Giordano was an Italian composer, mainly of operas.He was born in Foggia in Apulia, southern Italy, and studied under Paolo Serrao at the Conservatoire of Naples....
    : Fedora (Olivero, del Monaco; Gardelli, 1969) Decca Records
    Decca Records

    Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 in music by Edward Lewis . Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; later the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
  • Leoncavallo
    Ruggero Leoncavallo

    Ruggero Leoncavallo was an Italian opera composer. His opera Pagliacci remains one of the most popular works in the operatic repertory, appearing as number 14 on Opera America's 2007 list of the 20 most-performed operas in North America....
    : Pagliacci
    Pagliacci

    Pagliacci is an opera consisting of a prologue and two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It recounts the tragedy of a jealous husband in a commedia dell'arte troupe....
         (Callas, di Stefano; Serafin, 1954) EMI
  • Leoncavallo: Pagliacci (Amara, Corelli; Matacic, 1960) EMI
  • Franco Leoni
    Franco Leoni

    Franco Leoni was an Italy opera composer.Leoni was born in Milan, Italy andstudied music at the Milan Conservatory under Amilcare Ponchielli and Dominicetti....
    : L'oracolo (Sutherland, Tourangeau; Bonynge, 1975) Decca Records
  • Mascagni
    Pietro Mascagni

    Pietro Mascagni was an Italy composer most noted for his operas. His 1890 masterpiece, Cavalleria rusticana, caused one of the greatest sensations in opera history and singlehandedly ushered in the Verismo movement in Italian dramatic music....
    : Cavalleria rusticana
    Cavalleria rusticana

    Cavalleria rusticana is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from a play written by Giovanni Verga based on his short story....
         (Souliotis, del Monaco; Varviso, 1966) Decca Records
  • Puccini
    Giacomo Puccini

    Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italians composer whose operas, including La boh?me, Tosca, Madama Butterfly and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the List of important operas....
    : La bohème
    La bohème

    La boh?me is an opera in four acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Sc?nes de la vie de boh?me by Henri Murger....
         (Scotto, Poggi; Votto, 1961) Deutsche Grammophon
    Deutsche Grammophon

    Deutsche Grammophon is a Germany classical record label, now part of the Universal Music Group. The company has long been known for its high standards of high fidelity....
  • Puccini: Gianni Schicchi
    Gianni Schicchi

    Gianni Schicchi is an opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano, based on a story that is referred to in Dante The Divine Comedy....
     (de los Ángeles, del Monte; Santini, 1958) EMI
  • Puccini: Gianni Schicchi (Cotrubas, Domingo; Maazel, 1976) CBS/Sony
  • Puccini: Madama Butterfly
    Madama Butterfly

    Madama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa....
     (de los Ángeles, di Stefano; Gavazzeni, 1954) EMI
  • Puccini: Il tabarro
    Il tabarro

    Il tabarro is an opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian language libretto by Giuseppe Adami, based on Didier Gold's La Houppelande....
     (Mas, Prandelli; Bellezza, 1955) EMI
  • Puccini: Tosca (Callas, di Stefano; de Sabata, 1953) EMI
  • Puccini: Tosca (Callas, Bergonzi; Prêtre, 1964) EMI
  • Puccini: Le Villi
    Le Villi

    Le Villi is an opera-ballet in two acts composed by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian language libretto by Ferdinando Fontana, based on the short story Les Willis by Alphonse Karr....
         (Scotto, Domingo, Nucci; Maazel, 1979) CBS/Sony
  • Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia
    The Barber of Seville

    The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The overture, first written for Aureliano in Palmira, is a famous example of Rossini's characteristic Italian style....
         (Callas, Alva; Galliera, 1957) EMI
  • Verdi
    Giuseppe Verdi

    Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic music composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers in the 19th century....
    : Aida
    Aida

    Aida an Arabic female name meaning "visitor" or "returning") is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette ....
         (Callas, Barbieri, Tucker; Serafin, 1955) EMI
  • Verdi: Un ballo in maschera
    Un ballo in maschera

    'Un ballo in maschera' , is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi with text by Antonio Somma. The opera's first production was at the Teatro Apollo, Rome, February 17, 1859....
         (Callas, Ratti, Barbieri, di Stefano; Votto, 1956) EMI
  • Verdi: Don Carlos
    Don Carlos

    Don Carlos is a five-act Grand Opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French language libretto by Camille du Locle and Joseph M?ry, based on the dramatic play Don Carlos by Friedrich Schiller....
     (Stella, Nicolai, Filippeschi, Christoff; Santini, 1954) EMI
  • Verdi: Falstaff
    Falstaff (opera)

    Falstaff is an operatic commedia lirica in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, adapted by Arrigo Boito from William Shakespeare's plays The Merry Wives of Windsor and scenes from Henry IV, Part 1....
     (Schwarzkopf; Karajan, 1956) EMI
  • Verdi: 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 Play by Anicet-Bourgeois and Francis Cornu....
         (Souliotis, Prevedi; Gardelli, 1965) Decca Records
  • Verdi: Otello
    Otello

    Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on William Shakespeare's Play Othello. It was Verdi's second to last opera and is considered by many to be his greatest tragedy....
         (Rysanek, Pirazzini, Vickers; Serafin, 1960) RCA
    RCA

    RCA Corporation, founded as Radio Corporation of America, was an electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. Today, the RCA is owned by the France conglomerate Thomson SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Thomson....
  • Verdi: Rigoletto
    Rigoletto

    Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian language libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo....
         (Callas, di Stefano; Serafin, 1955) EMI
  • Verdi: Simon Boccanegra
    Simon Boccanegra

    Simon Boccanegra is an opera with a prologue and three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on the Play Sim?n Bocanegra by Antonio Garc?a Guti?rrez....
         (de los Ángeles, Campora, Christoff; Santini, 1957) EMI
  • Verdi: La traviata
    La traviata

    La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on the novel The Lady of the Camellias by Alexandre Dumas, fils, published in 1848....
         (Stella, di Stefano; Serafin, 1955) EMI


External links