Giorgio Tozzi

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Giorgio Tozzi , actually George John Tozzi , (born January 8, 1923 in Chicago , † May 30, 2011 in Bloomington , Indiana ) was an American opera singer ( bass ).

Life

Tozzi's family was of Italian descent; his parents had come to the United States as immigrants. Tozzi sang in various amateur choirs and vocal ensembles as a child and adolescent. He first briefly studied biology at DePaul University in Chicago, but then decided to pursue a career as a singer. He studied singing in Chicago with Rosa Raisa , Giacomo Rimini and John Daggett Howe. During the Second World War he served in the US Army . After retiring from military service, Tozzi began performing as a singer, initially in choirs and nightclubs.

He made his professional debut as an opera singer, still as a baritone , in 1948 in New York City on Broadway at the Ziegfield Theater in the role of Tarquinius in the chamber opera The Rape of Lucretia by Benjamin Britten . In 1949 he appeared in the West End of London in the musical Tough at the Top by Vivian Ellis ; in it he played a boxer who fell in love with a princess.

Tozzi then went to Milan for further vocal studies ; there he studied with the singing teacher Giulio Lorandi (1914–1974). He advised Tozzi to switch to bass and retrained Tozzi's voice to bass. In 1950 Tozzi made his debut, now as bass, at the Teatro Nuovo in Milan in the role of Conte Rodolfo in the bel canto opera La sonnambula . In 1953 he was hired at La Scala in Milan ; he made his debut there with the role of Stromminger in the verismo opera La Wally . In 1962 he sang Comte de Saint-Bris in a new production of the opera Die Huguenots alongside Joan Sutherland , Giulietta Simionato and Franco Corelli .

In 1955 Tozzi appeared for the first time at the Metropolitan Opera in New York (inaugural role: Alvise in La Gioconda ). There he sang for almost 30 years in a total of 528 performances. In January 1958 he worked at the Metropolitan Opera in the world premiere of the opera Vanessa by Samuel Barber in the role of the old doctor. His last performance at the MET was in 1975 as Colline in La Bohème .

Tozzi sang the following roles at the MET: Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro , Don Basilio in The Barber of Seville , King Philip in Don Carlos , Sparafucile in Rigoletto , Father Guardian in The Power of Fate and Ramfis in Aida . In addition to the Italian role subject, Tozzi also sang in French and Russian operas, such as Méphistophélès in Faust , King Arkel in Pelléas et Mélisande , Gremin in Eugen Onegin (1957; in the production of Peter Brook ), as well as the title role and the monk Pimen in Boris Godunow . He often took on roles in German opera in the original language. Here Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte , Rocco in Fidelio , Daland in Der Fliegende Holländer , Pogner and especially Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg were among his special brilliant roles.

Tozzi sang at the Lyric Opera of Chicago , at the San Francisco Opera (1955 debut as Ramfis in Aida ), at the Houston Opera House (1966; also as Ramfis) and at the Boston Opera House (1977; in the American premiere of the opera Ruslan and Lyudmila ). He also made guest appearances at the Frankfurt Opera (1973/74 season) and at the Salzburg Festival (1961; as Fiesco in Simone Boccanegra ).

In addition to his opera roles, Tozzi regularly appeared in musicals. In 1957 he took on the role of Emile de Becque, the main male role, in the musical South Pacific, alongside Mary Martin in San Francisco . In 1958 he lent his voice to the actor Rossano Brazzi in the film adaptation of the musical by Joshua Logan and interpreted two of the most famous melodies of the work, the songs Some Enchanted Evening and This Nearly Was Mine . In 1979 he starred on Broadway in a revival of Frank Loesser's musical The Most Happy Fella ; for this he was nominated for the Tony Award in the category "Best Actor". He has also appeared in various local productions in the musicals Fiddler on the Roof , The Man of La Mancha and Fanny .

Tozzi also worked in television productions of operas, so in 1961 in the title role of the opera Boris Godunow in a production of NBC Television and in 1978, alongside Teresa Stratas , as King Melchior in a film adaptation of the opera Amahl and the Nocturnal Visitors . He also worked as an actor in several American television series and television films , including in Männerwirtschaft (1974), Baretta (1975) and Kojak - Einsatz in Manhattan (1976).

Tozzi was awarded a Grammy in 1960 (for Le Nozze di Figaro , conductor: Erich Leinsdorf ), 1961 (for Turandot ; conductor: Erich Leinsdorf) and 1963 (for Aida , conductor: Georg Solti ) . In 1997 he published the novel The Golem of the Golden West .

After completing his stage career, Tozzi taught singing at the Juilliard School of Music , Brigham Young University and, since 1991, at the Jacob's School of Music at Indiana University . In 2006 he had given up teaching and retired.

Private

Tozzi was married twice. In 1954 he married the singer Christine Dieringer, who was born in Montana and whom he had met in Italy; she died in 1963. In 1967 he married a second time, the singer Monte Amundsen. The second marriage had two children, a son and a daughter. Tozzi hobbies included photography and cabinet-making . Tozzi died of heart failure at his home in Bloomington, Indiana, at the age of 88 .

literature

Audio documents

  • CD edition Giorgio Tozzi - 2 boxes of 3 CDs - studio and live recordings from works by Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi, Berlioz, Wagner, Ponchielli, Leoncavallo, Massenet, Mussorgskij, Montemezzi, Tschaikowsky, Smetana, Debussy , R. Strauss, Barber, Broadway Musicals and others a. - Hamburg Archive for Singing Art 2012

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Giorgio Tozzi, operatic bass who dabbled in musical theater, dies at 88 obituary in: The Washington Post of June 3, 2011
  2. ↑ a b c d e Giorgio Tozzi, Esteemed Bass at the Met, Is Dead at 88 Obituary in: New York Times, June 2, 2011
  3. ↑ a b c Giorgio Tozzi dies Obituary at Klassik.com
personal data
SURNAME Tozzi, Giorgio
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Tozzi, George John (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American opera singer (bass)
DATE OF BIRTH January 8, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago
DATE OF DEATH May 30, 2011
Place of death Bloomington , Indiana