Pasquale Amato

Pasquale Amato

Pasquale Amato (born March 21, 1878 in Naples , † August 12, 1942 in New York ) was an Italian opera singer ( baritone ) and singing teacher .

Life

Amato, like Enrico Caruso, who was five years his senior, was born in Naples, where he was educated at the Conservatory of San Pietro a Majella with Beniamino Carelli and Vincenzo Lombardo. In 1899, at the age of 21, Amato made his debut as Father Germont in La traviata at the Teatro Bellini di Napoli . In 1904 he sang for the first time at Covent Garden Opera in London and made guest appearances in South America and Germany. In 1907 he appeared for the first time under Arturo Toscanini at La Scala in Milan . In the following years Amato became one of the leading baritones in roles such as Amonasro in Aida , Escamillio in Carmen , Marcello in La Bohème , Kurwenal in Tristan and Isolde , Scarpia in Tosca , Barnaba in La Gioconda or in the title roles of Rigoletto and Falstaff . In total, his repertoire comprised more than 70 roles. In 1908 Amato made his debut alongside Caruso in La traviata at the Metropolitan Opera . Between 1908 and 1920, 471 performances were recorded here. Almost 120 recordings by Amato have been preserved on sound carriers.

Kesting puts Amato among the leading singers of the 20th century: “Amato's voice was not only very extensive (...), but also extraordinarily beautifully timed. It was a dark voice with a quick, controlled vibrato and a steadfast treble. The registers were connected smoothly. When creating vowels, the singer tended to slightly darken the light vowels. His agility was extraordinary, as the superb recording of Figaro's 'Largo al factotum' proves. ”Critics particularly highlight Amato's outstanding recordings of Eri tu from Un ballo in maschera and the duet Rigoletto - Gilda from the second act of the opera of the same name, as well the prologue from Pagliacci . Amato has also been involved in a number of world premieres, such as Giovanni in Riccardo Zandonai Francesca da Rimini and as Jack Rance in Puccini's La fanciulla del West . The high demands caused by the numerous performances, however, became noticeable in the 20s at the latest, at the age of just over 40, in a decline in the voice. For the last few years of life, Amato was a singing teacher at the University of Louisiana . He died in Jackson Heights, New York, at the age of 64 .

literature

• Jens Malte Fischer: Big voices. From Enrico Caruso to Jessye Norman. Stuttgart / Weimar: Metzler 1993. 641 pp.
• Jürgen Kesting, The Great Singers, Volume 1, The Great Singers . 3 volumes. Claasen, Düsseldorf 1986
• John Barry Steane, The Grand Tradition (Duckworth, London, 1974)

Web links

Commons : Pasquale Amato  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Jürgen Kesting, The Great Singers, Volume 1, pp. 647/648
2. ↑ Jens Malte Fischer: Big Voices. From Enrico Caruso to Jessye Norman. Stuttgart / Weimar: Metzler 1993. p. 48