Mario Del Monaco

Mario Del Monaco 27 July 1915  16 October 1982 was an Italian operatic tenor Del Monaco was born in Florence into a musical upperclass family to a Neapolitan father and to a mother of Sicilian descent As a young boy he studied the violin but had a passion for singing He graduated from the Rossini Conservatory at Pesaro where he first met and sang with Renata Tebaldi with whom he would form something of an operatic dream team of the 1950s His early mentors as a singer included Arturo Melocchi his teacher at Pesaro and Cherubino Raffaelli who recognized his talent and helped launch his career That career began in earnest with Del Monacos debut on 31 December 1940 as Pinkerton at the Puccini Theater in Milan His initial appearance in an opera had occurred the previous year however in Mascagnis Cavalleria rusticana in Pesaro He sang in Italy during the Second World War and married in 1941 Rina Filipini In 1946 he appeared at Londons Royal Opera House Covent Garden for the first time During the ensuing years he became famous not only in London but also across the operatic world for his powerful voice and heroic acting style It was almost heldentenorlike in scope but Del Monaco was no Wagnerian confining his activities overwhelmingly to the Italian repertoire He sang Wagner in concerts from Lohengrin and Die Walküre Del Monaco sang at the New York Metropolitan Opera from 1951 to 1959 enjoying particular success in dramatic Verdi parts such as Radamès He soon established himself as one of four Italian tenor superstars who reached the peak of their fame in the 1950s and 60s the others being Giuseppe Di Stefano Carlo Bergonzi and Franco Corelli Del Monacos trademark roles during this period were Giordanos Andrea Chénier and Verdis Otello He first tackled Otello in 1950 and kept refining his interpretation throughout his career It is said that he sang Otello 427 times However the book published by Elisabetta Romagnolo Mario Del Monaco Monumentum aere perennius Azzali 2002 lists only 218 appearances by him as Otello which is a more realistic figure He was buried in his Otello costume Although Otello was his best role throughout his career Del Monaco sang a number of other roles with great acclaim for example Canio in Pagliacci Leoncavallo Radames in Aida Verdi Don Jose in Carmen Bizet Chenier in Andrea Chénier Giordano Manrico in Il trovatore Verdi Samson in Samson and Delilah SaintSaëns and Don Alvaro in La forza del destino Verdi Del Monaco made his first recordings in Milan in 1948 for HMV Later he was partnered by Renata Tebaldi in a long series of Verdi and Puccini operas recorded for Decca On the same label was his 1969 recording of Giordanos Fedora opposite Magda Olivero and Tito Gobbi His ringing voice and virile appearance earned him the nickname of the Brass Bull of Milan Source Article Mario Del Monaco from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30