Francesco Graziani (singer)

Francesco Graziani, 1855

Francesco Graziani ( April 26, 1828 in Fermo - June 30, 1901 in Grottazzolina ) was an Italian opera singer ( baritone ).

Life

After he was trained by the pedagogue Cellini, he first appeared on the stage in 1851 in Ascoli Piceno as "Conte di Vergy" in Gemma di Vergy by Donizetti. After having worked at several major Italian opera houses, he came to the Covent Garden Opera in London for the first time in 1855 (inaugural role: "Carlos" in Ernani ). Until 1880 he was a permanent guest in London, where he created “Count Luna” in Il trovatore in 1855 , “Nelusco” in L'Africaine in 1865 , “Posa” in Don Carlos in 1867 , and in 1876 “Amonasro” in Aida , all at the aforementioned opera.

In the period from 1853 to 1861 he was also successful as a guest in Paris. a. 1861 at the Théâtre-Italien in the premiere of Un ballo in maschera . On November 10th ^July / 22nd November  1862 ^greg. he played as “Don Carlos” in the world premiere of La forza del destino at the Imperial Court Opera St. Petersburg. In 1854 he toured the United States on a tour.

Graziani had a beautiful and warm baritone voice, but was otherwise not very talented artistically. The criticism repeatedly pointed to deficiencies in the phrasing. His musical performance was also rather poor, and he also lacked acting talent. Politically, he was on the side of Giuseppe Mazzini , a freedom fighter within the framework of the Risorgimento .

The opera singers, the tenor Lodovico Graziani (1820–1885) and the baritone Vincenzo Graziani (1836–1906) were his brothers.

literature

• Kutsch / Riemens: Large song dictionary . Unchanged edition, KG Saur , Bern, 1993, first volume A – L, p. 1146, ISBN 3-907820-70-3 (3 volumes)
• Francesco Izzo:  Graziani, Francesco. In: Mario Caravale (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 58:  Gonzales-Graziani. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 2002.

Web links

Commons : Francesco Graziani  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• I personaggi illustri on the website of the municipality of Grottazzolina
• Francesco Graziani at Operissimo  on the basis of the Great Singer Lexicon