Nicola Rescigno

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Nicola Rescigno (1959)

Nicola Rescigno (born May 28, 1916 in New York City , † August 4, 2008 in Viterbo ) was an American conductor of Italian origin.

Live and act

Nicola Rescigno came from a musical family and was born in Manhattan . His father was a long-time trumpeter in the Met Orchestra , and at times he was also active with the New York Philharmonic . 1929 Rescigno moved to Italy, where he Law (with graduation to the Dr. jur. ) And at the Collegio Mondragone in Frascati , then at the Conservatory in Rome by Ildebrando Pizzetti studied as well as Giannini and Giorgio Polacco music. When the Second World War broke out , he returned to New York, where he made his conducting debut after completing his studies at the Juilliard School . On the occasion of an American tour of the Teatro San Carlo in December 1943, he conducted a performance of La traviata at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and then conducted other performances during the tour. His next engagements were at the opera houses of Hartford , Detroit , Chicago , Cleveland and Havana . He preferred, as later, the Italian opera of the 19th century with works by Rossini , Bellini , Donizetti , Verdi and Puccini .

In 1953 he helped found the Lyric Theater of Chicago, today's Lyric Opera in Chicago , and directed it from 1954 to 1956 as its first musical director. In November 1954 he accompanied Maria Callas on her American debut in Norma with Mirto Picchi and Giulietta Simionato , then in La traviata with Tito Gobbi and Giulietta Simionato and in Lucia di Lammermoor with Giuseppe Di Stefano and Giangiacomo Guelfi . During her next guest appearance in 1955 she sang I puritani with Ettore Bastianini and Nicola Rossi-Lemeni , Il trovatore with Jussi Björling and Madama Butterfly with Di Stefano under his baton leadership .

In 1957 he co-founded the Dallas Opera , which he led as artistic director and chief conductor until 1990. There, he helped Montserrat Caballé , Plácido Domingo , Joan Sutherland , Teresa Berganza , Magda Olivero , Jon Vickers , Alfredo Kraus and the director Franco Zeffirelli to their first appearances in front of an American audience. He also directed the American premieres of Alcina , Giulio Cesare in Egitto , Orlando furioso and L'incoronazione di Poppea . In 1966 he conducted the world premieres of Virgil Thomson's Fantasy in Homage to an Earlier England and in 1988 Dominick Argento's The Aspern Papers at this house .

Together with Tullio Serafin and Georges Prêtre, he was one of Maria Callas' most esteemed conductors, with whom he made several recordings for EMI from 1958 to 1969 . He continued working with her in Dallas. In November 1957 he conducted her evening of arias with works by Mozart , Bellini , Donizetti and Verdi . He subsequently directed her appearances as Traviata at Covent Garden and her performances during the American tour in Atlanta , Cleveland , Detroit , Washington , Montreal , San Francisco and Los Angeles . In 1959 he performed with her at Carnegie Hall and on a joint concert tour through Europe, which she a. a led to Madrid , Barcelona , Hamburg and Munich . In 1961 they presented the Medea in Epidaurus . In March 1965 the two met for the last time at the Paris Opera for a performance of Tosca .

In 1978 Rescigno first appeared at the Metropolitan Opera , conducting Don Pasquale with Beverly Sills . In 1980 L'elisir d'amore followed under his musical direction with José Carreras , L'italiana in Algeri with Marilyn Horne and Rockwell Blake in 1981 and La traviata in 1982/82 .

Invitations have taken him to many major opera houses in Europe and America, such as San Francisco , Glyndebourne , London , Paris , Munich , Vienna , Zurich , Buenos Aires and Hamburg .

Rescigno had long had a residence in Rignano Flaminio, a village near Rome. Since retiring from the opera in 1990, he has lived in it with his partner from four decades, Aldo Marcoaldi. On July 30, after falling, he was admitted to Belcolle Hospital in Viterbo with a broken thigh bone, where he then died of breathing problems and heart failure.

He is the uncle of the conductor Joseph Rescigno.

Discography (selection)

  • La traviata ; Choir and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House London; Maria Callas (Violetta); Cesare Valletti (Alfredo); Mario Zanasi (Germont); Live recording 1958, Arkadia
  • Medea ; Choir and Orchestra of the Civic Opera in Dallas; Maria Callas (Medea), Jon Vickers (Jason); Teresa Berganza (Neris); Nicola Zaccaria (Creon); Live recording 1958, melodrama
  • Maria Callas in Concert - Hamburg 1959 ; DVD 1999, EMI
  • Il Pirata ; American Society of New York Choir and Orchestra; Pier Miranda Ferraro (Gualtiero); Maria Callas (Imogene); Costantino Ego (Ernesto); Live recording 1959, EMI
  • Medea ; Choir and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House London; Maria Callas (Medea), Jon Vickers (Jason); Fiorenza Cossotto (Neris); Nicola Zaccaria (Creon); Live recording 1959, melodrama
  • Tosca ; Paris Opera choir and orchestra; Maria Callas (Tosca); Renato Cioni (Cavaradossi); Tito Gobbi (Scarpia); Live recording 1965, melodrama
  • La Voix Humaine ; Choir and Orchestra of the Teatro La Fenice Venice; Magda Olivero (voice), live recording 1970, melodrama
  • Tosca ; London Opera Choir, National Philharmonic Orchestra London; Mirella Freni (Tosca); Luciano Pavarotti (Cavaradossi); Sherril Milnes (Scarpia); 1978, Decca Records
  • L'elisir d'amore ; Metropolitan Opera New York Choir and Orchestra; Luciano Pavarotti (Nemorino); Judith Blegen (Adina); Brent Ellis (Belcore); Sesto Bruscantini (Dulcamara), DVD 1981, Pioneer Artists
  • Lucia di Lammermoor ; Ambrosian Opera Chorus, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra London; Edita Gruberova (Lucia); Alfredo Kraus (Edgard); Renato Bruson (Enrico); 1983, EMI

literature

  • Alain Pâris: Lexicon of Performers of Classical Music in the 20th Century . dtv / Bärenreiter, Munich / Kassel 1992, ISBN 3-423-03291-X , p. 596.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Rescigno, Nicola
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American conductor of Italian origin
DATE OF BIRTH May 28, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH August 4, 2008
Place of death Viterbo