Giangiacomo Guelfi

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Giangiacomo Guelfi , also Gian Giacomo Guelfi , (born December 21, 1924 in Rome , † February 8, 2012 in Bolzano ) was an Italian opera singer ( baritone ).

Life

Guelfi first studied law at the University of Florence , but then decided to have his voice trained professionally. His singing teachers in Florence included the famous singers Titta Ruffo and Mario Basiola . In 1950 he won the Concorso del Teatro Sperimentale di Spoleto . He made his debut as an opera singer in 1950, shortly after winning the competition, in the title role of the opera Rigoletto at the Teatro Nuovo in Spoleto ; the conductor was Ottavio Ziino .

In 1950 he made his debut at the Teatro Comunale di Firenze and at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice . In 1952 he sang for the first time at La Scala in Milan ; there he appeared again and again in the further course of his career. His debut at La Scala took place on March 17, 1952 as Lo Straniero (title role) in the opera Proserpina e lo Straniero by Juan José Castro . At La Scala, he participated in several world premieres of operas today largely forgotten, as, among others, in March 1954 as Herod (Erode) in the opera La Figlia di Diavolo of Virgilio Mortari . In 1977 he appeared at La Scala in Milan in the role of Neri Chiaramantesi in the rarely performed opera La cena delle beffe by Umberto Giordano . In 1978 he said goodbye to the stage in Livorno .

In Italy he appeared at the Teatro Bellini in Catania (1952), at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (1954 as Kaiser in Agnese di Hohenstaufen by Gasparo Spontini , 1956 as Don Carlo di Vargas in La forza del destino ), at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna (1958; as Telramund in Lohengrin and Escamillo in Carmen ), at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo (1959, as Escamillo) and at the Rome Opera (1959, 1974). Since 1952 he has appeared regularly at the opera festival in the Caracalla thermal baths . Guelfi also appeared several times at the festival in the Arena di Verona (1955–1956, 1958, 1960, 1962–1969 and 1975), especially as Amonasro in Aida .

Guelfi has made guest appearances in other European countries at the Drury Lane Theater in London (1957–1958 as Gérard in Andrea Chénier ; 1971 as Nelusco in Die Afrikanerin ), at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona (1963), at the Monte Carlo Opera House (1965 as Jack Rance in La fanciulla del West ; 1973 as Michele in Il tabarro and Alfio in Cavalleria rusticana ), at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon (1965, title role in Guglielmo Tell ), at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich (1970), at the Deutsche Oper Berlin (1972) and at the Covent Garden Opera (1975, as Scarpia in Tosca ).

In 1965 Guelfi's debut at the Vienna State Opera as Gérard. He also sang the roles of Amonasro (1974), Scarpia (1974) and Jack Rance (1976).

He made international guest appearances overseas at the Lyric Opera of Chicago (1954), at the Rio de Janeiro Opera House (1956; 1964 in the title role of Macbeth and Scarpia in Tosca ), at the Cairo Opera House (1961) and at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City (seasons 1969/1970 as Scarpia and as Jack Rance).

Giangiacomo Guelfi was married to the violinist and soprano Laura Carol (* 1923, actually Cagol ) since 1953 . Guelfi lived with his wife in Bolzano. He died at the age of 87 in Bolzano hospital; he had been treated there for a week earlier.

repertoire

Guelfi sang an extensive repertoire on the opera stage. Mainly he interpreted the Italian opera subject. He mainly took on the roles of hero baritone and character baritone in the operas of Giuseppe Verdi , Giacomo Puccini and Verismo . He also took on some of the brilliant roles for baritone from the French operatic field (Escamillo).

Other important operatic roles were Don Carlos in Ernani , Musikus Miller in Luisa Miller , Conte di Luna in Il trovatore , the title roles in Nabucco (1966, La Scala in Milan) and in Simone Boccanegra , Jago in Otello , Marcello in La Bohème , Sharpless in Madama Butterfly and the villains Lindorf / Coppelius / Dapertutto / Dr. Miracle in Hoffmann's stories . By Richard Wagner Guelfi sang only the Friedrich von Telramund in Lohengrin ; however only in Italian. His Telramund can be heard in a live recording from 1954 from the Teatro San Carlo in Naples . Guelfi's partners were Renata Tebaldi and Elena Nicolai ; it conducted Gabriele Santini .

Audio documents

The voice of Giangiacomo Guelfi is recorded in numerous audio documents. There are numerous complete opera recordings, including studio recordings, with the Italian record company Fonit Cetra , such as Scarpia (1955), Amonasro (1956) and Phanuel in Nerone by Arrigo Boito (1957, live). At Deutsche Grammophon , Guelfi took on the role of Alfio in Cavalleria rusticana in 1965 under the direction of Herbert von Karajan ; his partners were Fiorenza Cossotto and Carlo Bergonzi .

In addition, numerous live recordings have been released on CD in recent years . Guelfi's main roles are thus almost comprehensive, partly documented in several recordings, on vinyl or other sound carriers.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Giangiacomo GUELFI Short biography, list of roles and audio documents
  2. ↑ a b c d e Scomparso il baritono Giangiacomo Guelfi, aveva debuttato a Spoleto con il Rigoletto ( Memento of the original from February 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Obituary of February 9, 2012 (Italian)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.spoletocity.com
  3. ^ Role index by Giangiacomo Guelfi in: Chronik der Wiener Staatsoper 1945-2005 , p. 443. Löcker Verlag, Vienna 2006. ISBN 3-85409-449-3
personal data
SURNAME Guelfi, Giangiacomo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Guelfi, Gian Giacomo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian opera singer (baritone)
DATE OF BIRTH December 21, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Rome
DATE OF DEATH February 8, 2012
Place of death Bolzano