Giacomo Lauri-Volpi

Giacomo Lauri-Volpi (December 11, 1892–March 17, 1979) was an Italian tenor with a lyric-dramatic voice of exceptional range and technical facility. He performed throughout Europe and the Americas in a top-class career that spanned 40 years.

Career and assessment

Born in Lanuvio, Italy, he was orphaned at the age of 11. After completing his secondary education at the seminary at Albano and graduating from the University of Rome La Sapienza, he began vocal studies under the great 19th-century baritone Antonio Cotogni at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome.

His nascent singing career was put on hold, however, by the outbreak of World War One, during which he served with the Italian armed forces. The war over, he made a successful operatic debut as Arturo in Bellini’s I Puritani in Viterbo, Italy, on September 2, 1919, performing under the name Giacomo Rubini, after Bellini’s favorite tenor, Giovanni Battista Rubini. Four months later, on January 3, 1920, he scored another success, at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome, this time performing under his own name opposite Rosina Storchio and Ezio Pinza in Massenet's Manon.

Lauri-Volpi was widely acclaimed for his performance as Arnoldo in La Scala’s centenary production of Rossini’s Guglielmo Tell in 1929.

A leading tenor at the New York Metropolitan Opera from 1923 to 1933 (appearing there in 232 performances), he sang opposite Maria Jeritza in the American premiere of Puccini’s Turandot and opposite Rosa Ponselle in the Met premiere of Verdi’s Luisa Miller. He also appeared at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden in 1925 and 1936. By the latter date, he had broadened his repertoire, progressing from lyric roles to more dramatic parts, and his voice began to show consequent signs of wear in the 1940s, losing homogeneity. His thrilling top notes remained remarkably intact, however.

During the Second World War he was based in Italy. His last public performance in a full opera was as Manrico in Verdi’s Il Trovatore in Rome in 1959.

Lauri-Volpi recorded a number of opera arias and duets. Many of these recordings are available on CD. The best of them were made in the United States and Italy during the 1920s, '30s and early '40s. In 1974, at the age of 81, he released a final operatic recital record.

At its peak, Lauri-Volpi's voice was a brilliant instrument: bright, flexible and ringing in tone. He possessed astonishingly easy and penetrating high notes and had a shimmering vibrato which made his voice instantly recognizable. During the course of his career he sang, on stage, roles as diverse as Arturo (in Bellini's I Puritani) and Otello (in Verdi's Otello), thus becoming one of the most celebrated opera singers of the 20th century, even though he faced stiff competition from a remarkable crop of rival Mediterranean tenors during his prime. (They included Beniamino Gigli, Giovanni Martinelli, Aureliano Pertile, Francesco Merli, Galliano Masini, Tito Schipa, Antonio Cortis, Renato Zanelli and the young Alessandro Ziliani.)

Lauri-Volpi was a cultured, intelligent man with a fiery temperament. He retired to Spain and died in Burjasot, near Valencia, at the age of 86.

Writings

Lauri-Volpi wrote several books, one of which (Voci Parallele) is a revealing study of singers and their vocal techniques which is frequently cited.

• Voci Parallele (Ricordi, Napoli 1955)
• L'Equivoco, Cosi è, e non vi pare (Corbaccio, Milano 1938)
• Aviso Aperto, (Corbaccio, Milano 1953)

External links

• Giacomo Lauri-Volpi (Grandi Tenori.com)
• Giacomo Lauri-Volpi (page in Italian)
• YouTube - Giacomo Lauri Volpi sings "Nessun dorma" from Turandot - An 80 year old Giacomo Lauri-Volpi sings "Nessun dorma" from Puccini's Turandot.
• History of the Tenor - Sound Clips and Narration