Giacomo Lauri-Volpi ( Italian: Giacomo Lauri-Volpi ; * December 11, 1892 , Lanuvio , Italy - † March 17, 1979 , Burjasot, Italy ) - Italian singer, lyric-dramatic tenor with an exceptional range of voice and outstanding singing technique. During his prime, he sang throughout Europe and America. The career of the singer lasted 40 years.
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Career and Assessment
Giacomo Lauri-Volpi was born in Lanuvio , Italy , orphaned at 11 years old. After graduating from a seminary in Albano and graduating from the University of Rome, La Sapienza began working on his vocals under the guidance of the great 19th century baritone Antonio Cotoni at the National Academy of Santa Cecilia in Rome .
Giacomo was forced to postpone his singing career, which had just begun, in connection with the beginning of World War I in 1914 , during which he served in the Italian armed forces. At the end of the war, he successfully made his debut on the opera stage as Arturo in the opera Vincenzo Bellini Puritan in the city of Viterbo in Italy on September 2, 1919 under the name Giacomo Rubini, in honor of Bellini's beloved tenor, Giovanni, Batista Rubini . Four months later, on January 3, 1920 , he again successfully performed at the Roman Opera House , this time playing under his own name with Rosina Storkio and Ezio Pinza in the opera Manon Jules Massenet .
Lauri-Volpi gained wide fame for his performances at the most famous opera house in Italy, in Milan Scala , the interwar period . The pinnacle of his career came in 1929 , when he was offered to sing the part of Arnoldo in La Scala, staged in honor of the centennial of the opera Rossini Wilhelm Tell .
He was also one of the leading tenors of the New York Metropolitan Opera from 1923 to 1933 , giving a total of 232 performances there. Over the course of these ten years, Lauri-Volpi sang with Maria Urica in the American premiere of the opera Turandot Puccini and Rosa Poncel in the New York premiere of the opera Louise Miller Verdi . However, his career at the Metropolitan Opera was terminated ahead of schedule due to a dispute with the theater management. The management wanted to reduce the tenor's salary to help the theater cope with the economic difficulties that the Great Depression caused them, but Lauri-Volpi refused to cooperate, left New York and returned to Italy.
Among Lauri Volpi's most celebrated performances outside of Italy in particular, there are two seasons at the Royal Theater in Covent Garden in 1925 and 1936. Until the last date, the singer significantly expanded his repertoire, gradually moving from lyrical roles to more intense dramatic parties. However, in the next decade, his voice began to show the first signs of wear, losing uniformity. Fortunately, its breathtaking top notes remained intact until the early 1950s .
During the Second World War, Lauri-Volpi was founded in Italy, dictator Benito Mussolini was fond of his singing. His last public appearance took place in 1959 , in the role of Manrico in Verdi's opera Troubadour in Rome.
In the midst of his fame, when his voice was bright, flexible and sonorous, was an impeccable instrument, Lauri-Volpi recorded a certain number of opera arias and duets for European and American gramophone companies. He had light and piercing high notes, bright vibrato, so that his voice became recognizable both in the recording and on the stage.
Lauri-Volpi played in many roles, in particular Arturo (in the opera Bellini Puritan) and Othello (in the opera of the same name by Giuseppe Verdi). So, he strengthened his position as one of the largest opera singers of the 20th century, despite all this, experiencing serious competition from the then-famous Mediterranean tenors, including Benjamino Gigli , Giovanni Martinelli , Aureliano Pertile , Francesco Merli , Galliano Masini , Tito Skipa , Antonio Cortis and Renato Zanelli .
Lauri-Volpi was a cultured, intelligent person with a fiery temperament and firm convictions. After World War II, he moved to Spain and died on March 17, 1979 in Burjasot, near Valencia , at the age of 86.
The Association "Collegium Musicum" organized in 1987 the International Competition of Opera Singers "Giacomo Lauri Volpi" (the competition takes place every two years) in memory of the great singer.
Records and works
In the 1920s and 1930s , Giacomo Lauri-Volpi made a number of recordings of opera arias on phonograph records for such companies as Fonotipia, Brunswick, Victor and HMV. It is believed that the best recordings were made for Victor and HMV, and are now easily available on CD reissues. In 1947 , he recorded in Italy a series of extended scenes with Rigoletto . Subsequently, in 1950 he took part in the recording of some complete operas. Among them:
- Bohemia and Louise Miller (recorded 1951);
- Troubadour and Favorite (1954);
- Huguenots
In 1974 , at the age of 81, Lauri-Volpi released his last solo recording. The footage of his performance on the newsreel has been preserved, he also played himself in the Italian film " Song of the Sun " ("La Canzone del Sole").
Lauri-Volpi wrote several books. The most famous of them is “Vocal Parallels” - which shows an analysis of many singers and their vocal techniques.
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 German National Library , Berlin State Library , Bavarian State Library , etc. Record # 120421747 // General regulatory control (GND) - 2012—2016.
- ↑ BNF ID : 2011 Open Data Platform .
- ↑ 1 2 SNAC - 2010.
- ↑ Opera Vivra
Links
- Giacomo Lauri-Volpi (Grandi Tenori.com)
- Giacomo lauri-volpi
- History of the Tenor - Sound Clips and Narration
- Ilka Popova. Giacomo Lauri-Volpi. / Meetings on the opera stage. 41-58. Electronic version, corrected and supplemented (translated from Bulgarian by M. Malkov). St. Petersburg. 2015
- Giacomo Lauri-Volpi on the website of M.Malkov.