Giacomo Lauri-Volpi

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Lauri-Volpi in the role of Pedro in Franco Vittadini's opera Anima allegra , 1923
Signature, 1929

Giacomo Lauri-Volpi (born December 11, 1892 in Lanuvio near Rome , † March 17, 1979 in Valencia ) was an Italian opera singer ( tenor ) in the Caruso successor and author of several books on singing.

Life

Lauri-Volpi studied law at the University of La Sapienza in Rome . He then studied singing at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome with Enrico Rosati and finally with Antonio Cotogni .

Lauri-Volpi made his debut on September 2, 1919 under the name Giacomo Rubini in Viterbo in the role of Arturo in I Puritani . From January 3, 1920 he appeared in Puccini's opera Manon Lescaut in Rome . His partners on stage were Ezio Pinza and Rosina Storchio . Then, under his real name, he sang at La Scala in Milan in 1922 . This was followed by appearances in New York in 1923, in London in 1925 and in Paris in the same year. 1923–1933 he sang at the Metropolitan Opera , where he left because of internal differences. After the Second World War, he retired to his Italian homeland. There he sang with unbroken vocal presence into old age, not least at the annual Verona Festival . He also often appeared in guest appearances abroad, including in Wiesbaden with great success.

Lauri-Volpi was one of the greatest tenors of his time, sang all difficult tenor roles from bel canto to verismo and shone up to the high D. Thanks to his traditional bel canto training, Lauri-Volpi was able to play both lyrical parts such as the Nemorino from Donizetti's love potion as well as singing Othello from Verdi 's opera of the same name . His favorite role was the Manrico in Giuseppe Verdi's Il Trovatore (The Troubadour) . The Stretta Di quella pira was one of his acclaimed showpieces at stage appearances and concerts. The recording of the Radames-Aida duet from the 3rd act of the Verdi opera of the same name with Elisabeth Rethberg is one of the most important recordings of the early 20th century.

He spent the last decades of his life in Burjassot (suburb of Valencia ) in Spain, where he was also buried.

Since Lauri-Volpi dealt with his voice very economically and knew how to create great effects with small means in the style of the bel canto singers of the 19th century, he was able to preserve his vocal power into old age and still be on stage at over 60 appear, among others with Maria Callas , whom he promoted very much. At the age of eighty he made a record of well-known opera arias, which still reveal the vocal resources the singer, for whom Giacomo Puccini is said to have designed the role of Calaf in Turandot , had at his disposal in his great times.

In addition to singing, he wrote several books, including L'equivoco (1938), La prode terra (1939), Cristalli viventi (1948), A viso aperto (1953), Voci parallele (1955), Misteri della voce umana ( 1957) and La voz de Cristo (1969).

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Karl-Josef Kutsch , Leo Riemens : Lauri-Volpi, Giacomo. In: Dies .: Immortal Voices. Small lexicon of singers. Francke, Bern / Munich 1962, p. 216 f.
  2. ^ Gustavo Marchesi: Canto e cantanti. Ricordi, Milan 1996, ISBN 978-8-875-92446-1 , p. 414 (Italian).
  3. ^ Italian Books and Periodicals. Volume 15. Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Rome 1972, p. 267 (English).
personal data
SURNAME Lauri-Volpi, Giacomo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian opera singer (tenor), music writer
DATE OF BIRTH December 11, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH Lanuvio near Rome
DATE OF DEATH March 17, 1979
Place of death Valencia