Mario Del Monaco

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Mario Del Monaco
Mario Del Monaco

Mario Del Monaco (born July 27, 1915 in Florence , † October 16, 1982 in Venice ) was an Italian opera singer ( tenor ).

Life

Mario Del Monaco came from a wealthy Florentine family. His mother Flora Giachetti was a good (amateur) singer, whom the singer later referred to as "his first muse". His father was a music critic. Because of his job, the family lived temporarily in Cremona , later in Tripoli and finally in Pesaro , where Mario studied "Gioachino Rossini" with Arturo Melocchi at the Conservatorio Statale di Musica .

After an unsuccessful intermezzo at the opera school of the Roman Opera in 1936 - he couldn't get on with the teachers and accused them of wanting to retrain him to the lyric tenor - he returned to Pesaro to his former teacher Melocchi, with whom he completed his training. Although he was officially drafted into a transport unit during the Second World War , he finished his studies during this time.

On December 31, 1940 he made his debut as Pinkerton in Puccini's Madame Butterfly at the Teatro Puccini in Milan - the start of a steep career.

On June 21, 1941, Del Monaco married his former fellow vocal student Rina Filippini, with whom he had two sons: the director Giancarlo and Claudio.

In the following years engagements in Verona, Florence and Cairo followed before he made his debut at La Scala in Milan in 1945 - the beginning of a world career. Her other stations included the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, where he sang his first Otello in 1950 , his most important role, the Vienna State Opera , San Francisco and the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

In the 1950s he was one of the most famous tenors alongside the more lyrical Giuseppe Di Stefano and later Franco Corelli and, together with Renata Tebaldi, was considered an opera dream couple. With Renata Tebaldi he made 14 complete recordings of Italian operas.

In the early 1960s, Del Monaco's star began to decline, his voice losing its radiance. In 1962 he was replaced at short notice by Corelli at the Metropolitan Opera's season opening, after which he withdrew from this stage. In 1963 he had to interrupt his career for a year after a serious accident.

In 1975 Del Monaco ended his career. He died seven years later at the age of 67. At his own request, he was buried in his Otello costume.

Repertoire / meaning

While Del Monaco had sung more lyrical roles like Pinkerton, Alfredo, Edgardo ( Lucia di Lammermoor ) at the beginning of his career , in his heyday in the fifties he limited himself almost exclusively to heroic tenor roles such as Canio ( Pagliacci ) and Manrico ( Il trovatore ), Ernani , but above all Radames ( Aida ) and Otello, whom he is said to have sung over 400 times. He also had Lohengrin in his repertoire, but unlike his Chilean colleague Ramón Vinay or later Plácido Domingo, he did not dare to play the more difficult roles in Richard Wagner's operas such as Parsifal , although he had tried to change subject in 1965 with Siegmund in Die Walküre . Especially in later years he had great record successes with Neapolitan songs.

Monument in Treviso

Del Monaco, who also appeared in several films because of his good looks, had an enormously expansive voice, in his heyday with metallic radiance in the highs and an almost baritone sound in the low.

monument

There is a monument in Treviso that shows him as a singer. It was unveiled on October 8, 2011 at the opening of the private company “Istituto Lirico Mario Del Monaco”. The company, which promoted cosmetics and wine under the name “Mario Del Monaco”, was banned from using the name in 2015 and was liable for damages.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Portrait on Tamino-Klassikforum.
  2. ↑ Del Monaco vietato by Marcon. In: Il Gazzettino . April 9, 2015.
personal data
SURNAME Del Monaco, Mario
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian opera singer (tenor)
DATE OF BIRTH July 27, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH Florence
DATE OF DEATH October 16, 1982
Place of death Venice