Category Archives: Baritones
John Charles Thomas
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 12th October 2024America had a profusion of baritones in the 20th century. One of the most prominent then is much less so today. He’s the subject of this article. John Charles Thomas (1891-1960) was born in Meyersdale, PA. He was interested in singing from an early age. From 1910 to 1912 he studied voice at Baltimore’s Peabody…
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Insieme – Opera Duets
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 19th September 2024Jonas Kaufmann and Ludovic Tézier recorded nine tenor-baritone duets, released on a Sony Classics disc in June 2022. Insieme translates from Italian as together. The two singers are friends who have often performed together hence the title. The master of the tenor-baritone duet was Verdi. Accordingly, seven of the selections are by him. The CD starts with the…
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È sogno o realtà?
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 6th May 2023Verdi’s last opera Falstaff, written when he was almost 80, is opera’s greatest sport. It is unlike anything else by the composer or by anyone else, for that matter. Verdi had written all his previous with the expectation of pleasing his audiences while observing the highest artistic standards. But near the end of his life,…
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Robert Merrill Sings Porgy and Bess
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 20th March 2023Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess is now a standard in the operatic repertory. In 1950 a complete performance of the opera was hard to find. The best known songs from the work were often done as recital pieces or on recordings. The Met didn’t mount its first production of the opera until 1985. In 1950 two…
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Matteo Manuguerra
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 4th March 2022Matteo Manuguerra (1924-1998) was born in Tunis to Italian parents. His family moved to Buenos Aires where he received his initial vocal training. Rare among great singers was his extremely late start. He didn’t begin studying voice until he was 35. He first was a tenor, but after moving to France in 1961 he returned…
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Mattia Battistini
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 16th February 2021Mattia Battistini (1856-1928) was born to an upper middle class Roman family. He dropped out of university studies (what he was studying is uncertain) to take singing lessons with Venceslao Persichini at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in 1877. By the end of the following year he had made such progress that he debuted as…
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Giuseppe Bellantoni
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 7th June 2020Giuseppe Bellantoni (1880-1946) was another outstanding Italian baritone whom opera seems to have forgotten. Born in Messina, Sicily he went to Rome in his early 20s to study under the legendary baritone Antonio Cotogni (1831-1918). Alas, Cortogni’s career preceded the recording era. Everyone including Verdi and Toscanini thought him the prince of baritones. When his…
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Domenico Viglione Borghese
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 31st May 2020Domenico Viglione Borghese (1877-1957) was an Italian baritone who was active at a time when there was an abundance of first rate Italian baritones. This unusual confluence of fine singers explains why Viglione Borghese is virtually forgotten today. Born the same year as Tita Ruffo, his path to the top of the operatic world was…
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The Met’s House Baritones
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 17th May 2019I’m using the same criterion to define a Met house baritone as I did for the company’s tenors; ie, more than 500 performances in leading roles. This rule yields 11 baritones over the life of the Met – almost twice as many as for the tenors. They’re presented below by the number of shows they…
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Finale 20 – Vengeance
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 20th January 2019The second act of Rigoletto ends with perhaps the most furious music in all opera. The hunchback jester’s daughter, Gilda, has just been raped by the Duke whom she had fallen in love with thinking he was a poor student until reality intruded with awful suddenness. And worse, she still loves him. The Duke having…
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