Italo Campanini
Encyclopedia
Italo Campanini was a leading Italian
operatic tenor
, whose career reached its height in London
in the 1870s and in New York
in the 1880s and 1890s. He had a repertoire of 80 operas and was the brother of the orchestral conductor Cleofonte Campanini
.
, Campanini studied at the Parma Conservatory before making his operatic debut as Manrico in Il trovatore
, in 1869, in Odessa
. Further study with Francesco Lamperti
in Milan
followed, and in 1871 he returned to the stage in Bologna
, scoring his first major success in the Italian premiere
of Lohengrin
.
season J. H. Mapleson
, the London opera impresario, recruited Campanini from Rome
, where he was in competition with the agents of Frederick Gye
, the Covent Garden theatre impresario. On May 4, 1872 the tenor made his London debut as Gennaro in Lucrezia Borgia
, with Therese Tietjens in the title role, Zelia Trebelli
as Orsini and Agnesi
as Duke Alfonso, under the baton of Michael Costa
. He was an immediate success, being hailed by some as the tenor successor to Mario
or Antonio Giuglini
on what the critic Herman Klein
(who attended) called a night of triumphs. It was at Drury Lane that he first sang with lyric soprano Christine Nilsson, to whom he became a celebrated stage partner. An agent from London attempted to lure him away at a rate of a thousand pounds sterling a month. He remained with Mapleson (at one-fifth of that sum) but became difficult to manage. However, he was to remain a stalwart and mainstay of Mapleson's company for the next ten years. In autumn 1872, he visited Dublin with the company (which included Maria Marimon, Ilma de Murska, Sofia Scalchi
and Signor Foli [Allan Foley]), and toured the main cities of England
and Scotland
. During the spring of 1873, they undertook a back-up tour of British provincial towns.
, New York, in 1873. Here, in addition to Christine Nilsson and Giuseppe Del Puente (baritone) (regular Mapleson company singers), he was with Annie Louise Cary
(with whom he often afterwards sang) in performances of Les Huguenots
. On 26 November 1873 he was Rhadames in Max Strakosch's production of Aida
, with Mlle Torriani (Aida), Cary (Amneris) and Victor Maurel
(Amonasro), according to Gustav Kobbé
(who saw it) a performance of unsurpassed brilliancy. He was still in New York on 23 March 1874 when he, Nilsson, Cary and Del Puente participated in the Italian-language production of Lohengrin
at the Academy.
), Fernando (I Puritani
), and Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor
). At his return for the 1874 season in London, in June he joined a Drury Lane cast in Michael Balfe's posthumous opera Il Talismano (Italian production) with Tietjens and Nilsson, and with the young Giovanni De Reschi in a baritone role (who later became the famous tenor Jean de Reszke
). Les Huguenots and La favorita were among other productions of the season. In the 1875 season came the first London Lohengrin (with Emma Albani
and Ernesto Nicolini
at Covent Garden), soon followed by Mapleson's production at Her Majesty's Theatre
in which Campanini, Tietjens, Nilsson and Antonio Galassi
(baritone) led a starry cast under the direction of Michael Costa
.
The 1878 season was distinguished by the first London production of Bizet's opera Carmen
, on June 22. Mapleson had seen it the previous winter at the Brussels
Monnaie
and decided to transfer it to Her Majesty's. He obtained the American soprano Minnie Hauk
for Carmen, who had become famous in the role in Paris
; Alwina Valleria
portrayed Micaëla, and Del Puente Escamillo, to Campanini's Don José— under Michael Costa's baton. Despite the misgivings of the artists in rehearsal, it was an extremely effective cast among which Campanini himself was conspicuous for his singing and acting, reputedly with superb dramatic power, and it was greeted with a triumphant reception. Klein and the famous singing teacher Manuel Garcia
were in the audience.
, in which Campanini was his principal tenor. The company also included such well known singers as Etelka Gerster
, Minnie Hauk, Trebelli, Valleria, Galassi and Del Puente. Luigi Arditi
was the conductor. It visited Washington, D.C.
, Boston
, Chicago
, St Louis, Philadelphia, Baltimore
, Cincinnati and New York. Campanini sang opposite Gerster in Il talismano and La traviata
, and with Marie Roze
in La favorita, and a very wide range of operas was presented including Faust
, Il flauto magico, Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni
, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Ruy Blas
, Robert le Diable
and Der Freischütz
, in addition to much of the repertoire already mentioned. The series culminated with a benefit concert in New York for flood victims at Szegedin in Hungary
(Gerster's birthplace).
Some surprises were, however, held in store for New York in the following year. The London 1879 season had added Minnie Hauk, and Clara Louise Kellogg
to the female company (still led by Nilsson, Trebelli and Gerster), and Campanini was supported by the tenors Giuseppe Fancelli, Frapolli and Brignoli. Fancelli was infuriated by Campanini assuming the title 'Primo Tenore Assoluto'. The October 1879 tour season, in which Maria Marimon was among the party, visited New York, and went on to Philadelphia, Chicago, St Louis, Detroit, Cleveland and elsewhere. Campanini conquered New York. On 23 October at the Academy they gave the American premiere of Carmen, with Minnie Hauk, Clarice Sinico (Micaela), Ernesto del Puente, and Campanini in his now famous role of Don José. On December 3 he appeared as Elvino in La sonnambula
, with Marimon, del Puente and Mme Lablache, and on December 12 was Corentino in Meyerbeer's Dinorah
, again with Marimon. Later in the season, when Mdlle Marimon was unable to complete a performance of Dinorah at Philadelphia, Campanini (in the audience) and Annie Louise Cary stepped in to sing the last acts of Il trovatore instead, and Campanini's rendition of "Di quella pira" brought the house down and saved the box-office.
The London Her Majesty's season of 1880, with Nilsson and Gerster, saw presentations of Faust, La sonnambula, Carmen and Aida under Michael Costa, and also a Lohengrin conducted for Mapleson by Hans Richter
. But the major new event of the season, in July, was Boito's Mefistofele
, with Nilsson, Trebelli and Nannetti, and with Campanini as Faust. Costa conducted it 'in his old, resolute and vigilant manner', and the production 'lent a special distinction to the season.' This then went on tour to New York (under Arditi, as usual), where Campanini led the cast for the American premiere at the Academy of Music with Annie Louise Cary, Alwina Valleria and Franco Novara. The same venue saw Mapleson's production of a revised form of Les vêpres siciliennes
headed by Campanini and Cary with del Puente and Galassi in support. Campanini performed, too, in La favorita.
Mapleson had by now recruited Luigi Ravelli to relieve the burden on Campanini, who had become his only principal tenor. During the tour, which this time also took in Pittsburgh and Indianapolis
, Mapleson inaugurated 'Sunday evening concerts', the first half of which was usually a performance of Rossini's Stabat Mater given by Valleria, Cary, Campanini, Galassi and Novara.
The London season of 1881 resumed the run of Mefistofele, and the October tour in New York saw Camapanini perform in Lohengrin (with Minnie Hauk, Anna de Belocci, Galessi and Novara) and in Carmen (Hauk, Valleria and del Puente, the original line-up.) In February 1882, the company was at the second great Cincinnati Opera Festival, where Campanini appeared again as Don José (opposite Hauk, del Puente and Louise Dotti). The company also staged Les Huguenots
, Faust, Fidelio
, Magic Flute, William Tell
and Lohengrin. Meanwhile, the company also rehearsed, and then presented, Meyerbeer's L'Africaine
, in which Campanini played Vasco da Gama
opposite Hauk and Galassi; and in the spring 1882 Ernani
, Don Giovanni and Les Huguenots were produced at the New York Academy of Music.
, New York, which was then being built. Campanini was among the large team taken to New York that October by Mapleson, with Commander Herbert Gye as his treasurer, on its behalf. If the plan worked, the Academy (to which Mapleson was still tied by contract) would be closed and a monopoly achieved, in which he would have a share. Despite immense difficulties a successful tour was achieved, but in the process all Mapleson's resources were carved up between the American impresario, Henry Eugene Abbey
, who actually obtained the lease, and the Royal Opera Company, which repudiated all its agreements with Mapleson, leaving him with a heavy liability. The best singers of his company, including Nilsson, Marcella Sembrich
, Scalchi, Trebelli and Campanini, and all his orchestral and choral resources, were recruited by Abbey.
Campanini took the occasion to spend a season in Italy, where his younger brother Cleofonte Campanini was launching a significant career as an operatic conductor. In 1883, at Parma, Campanini sang in a series of performances conducted by his brother, so helping to establish him as conductor of the first rank. When he returned to America in the autumn it was to the completion of the Metropolitan Opera House, and there he sang in the performance of Faust on the opening night, 22 October 1883, with Christine Nilsson as Marguerite, Sofia Scalchi, Mme Lablache, Franco Novara and Ernesto del Puente. On December 5, 1883 he sang the other Faust (Boïto's) in Mefistofele, with Christine Nilsson, Zelia Trebelli and Mdlle Mirabella filling out the cast.
, serving as the Metropolitan's leading tenor. He developed increasingly a second career as a manager of opera (as, in later times, did the tenors Giovanni Zenatello
and Edward Johnson
). On April 16, 1888, a company under Campanini's management presented the American premiere of Verdi's Otello
at the New York Academy of Music, with Francesco Marconi
, Luisa Tetrazzini
, Antonio Galassi and Sofia Scalchi: later in the run, Campanini himself took over from Francesco Marconi
in the role of Otello. Campanini's brother Cleofonte was brought in to conduct, and he married the singer Eva Tetrazzini, the great Luisa's sister. Campanini remained a member of the Metropolitan company from 1891 to 1894.
Campanini died at the Villa Vigatto, near Parma, in 1896.
He was among the most popular, hardworking and versatile Italian tenors active in the United States before the advent of the great Enrico Caruso in the early 1900s.
Apparently, while in the USA, he recorded his voice on a Bettini
cylinder which now appears to be lost. During the peak of his career, Campanini's main tenor rivals among his Italian and Italianate contemporaries were Roberto Stagno
, Julián Gayarre
, Angelo Masini, Francesco Tamagno
, Fernando Valero and Francesco Marconi. Of these only Tamagno, Valero and Marconi have left gramophone record
s of their art.
We do know, however, from contemporary descriptions that Campanini's voice was robust in tone. It extended up to a strong high C from the chest prior to an irreversible deterioration which began when Campanini was aged only in his forties. It also developed a wide vibrato which reduced its appeal to English-speaking critics. He shared this latter trait (or, in the opinion of British and American opera-goers, technical and stylistic flaw) with a number of other leading Mediterranean tenors of his era, including Gayarre, Stagno, Valero and, from a slightly younger generation, Fernando De Lucia
.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
operatic tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
, whose career reached its height in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in the 1870s and in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in the 1880s and 1890s. He had a repertoire of 80 operas and was the brother of the orchestral conductor Cleofonte Campanini
Cleofonte Campanini
Cleofonte Campanini was an Italian conductor. His brother was the tenor Italo Campanini.Born in Parma, Campanini studied music at that city's conservatory, making his debut with a performance of Carmen, also in Parma, in 1883...
.
Early days
Born in ParmaParma
Parma is a city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna famous for its ham, its cheese, its architecture and the fine countryside around it. This is the home of the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world....
, Campanini studied at the Parma Conservatory before making his operatic debut as Manrico in Il trovatore
Il trovatore
Il trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. Cammarano died in mid-1852 before completing the libretto...
, in 1869, in Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
. Further study with Francesco Lamperti
Francesco Lamperti
Francesco Lamperti was an Italian singing teacher.A native of Savona, Lamperti attended the Milan Conservatory where, beginning in 1850, he taught for a quarter of a century. He was director at the Teatro Filodrammatico in Lodi. In 1875 he left the school and began to teach as a private tutor...
in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
followed, and in 1871 he returned to the stage in Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
, scoring his first major success in the Italian premiere
Premiere
A premiere is generally "a first performance". This can refer to plays, films, television programs, operas, symphonies, ballets and so on. Premieres for theatrical, musical and other cultural presentations can become extravagant affairs, attracting large numbers of socialites and much media...
of Lohengrin
Lohengrin (opera)
Lohengrin is a romantic opera in three acts composed and written by Richard Wagner, first performed in 1850. The story of the eponymous character is taken from medieval German romance, notably the Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach and its sequel, Lohengrin, written by a different author, itself...
.
London beginnings
Early in his 1872 Drury LaneDrury Lane
Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster....
season J. H. Mapleson
James Henry Mapleson
James Henry Mapleson was an English opera impresario, probably the leading figure instrumental in the development of opera production, and of the careers of singers, in London and New York City in the second half of the 19th century.-Life and career:Mapleson was born in London, England...
, the London opera impresario, recruited Campanini from Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, where he was in competition with the agents of Frederick Gye
Frederick Gye
Frederick Gye was an English businessman and opera manager who for many years ran what is now the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.-Life:...
, the Covent Garden theatre impresario. On May 4, 1872 the tenor made his London debut as Gennaro in Lucrezia Borgia
Lucrezia Borgia (opera)
Lucrezia Borgia is a melodramma, or opera, in a prologue and two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote the Italian libretto after the play by Victor Hugo, in its turn after the legend of Lucrezia Borgia. Lucrezia Borgia was first performed on 26 December 1833 at La Scala, Milan with...
, with Therese Tietjens in the title role, Zelia Trebelli
Zelia Trebelli-Bettini
Zelia Trebelli-Bettini , also known as Zelia Gilbert or by her stage name Trebelli, was a French opera singer.Mme Trebelli's artistry was greatly admired by George Bernard Shaw, who wrote about her a number of times in his various reviews...
as Orsini and Agnesi
Agnesi
Agnesi is a surname of Italian origin. People with this surname include:* Alberto Agnesi , Mexican telenovela actor* Maria Gaetana Agnesi , Italian linguist, mathematician and philosopher; sister of Maria Teresa...
as Duke Alfonso, under the baton of Michael Costa
Michael Costa (conductor)
Sir Michael Andrew Angus Costa was an Italian-born conductor and composer who achieved success in England.-Biography:He was born in Naples as Michaele Andrea Agniello Costa, to a family, according to some, of Sephardic stock...
. He was an immediate success, being hailed by some as the tenor successor to Mario
Mario
is a fictional character in his video game series, created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Serving as Nintendo's mascot and the main protagonist of the series, Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creation...
or Antonio Giuglini
Antonio Giuglini
Antonio Giuglini was an Italian operatic tenor. During the last eight years of his life, before he developed signs of mental instability, he earned renown as one of the leading stars of the operatic scene in London...
on what the critic Herman Klein
Herman Klein
Herman Klein was an English music critic, author and teacher of singing. Klein's famous brothers included Charles and Manuel Klein...
(who attended) called a night of triumphs. It was at Drury Lane that he first sang with lyric soprano Christine Nilsson, to whom he became a celebrated stage partner. An agent from London attempted to lure him away at a rate of a thousand pounds sterling a month. He remained with Mapleson (at one-fifth of that sum) but became difficult to manage. However, he was to remain a stalwart and mainstay of Mapleson's company for the next ten years. In autumn 1872, he visited Dublin with the company (which included Maria Marimon, Ilma de Murska, Sofia Scalchi
Sofia Scalchi
Sofia Scalchi was an Italian operatic contralto who could also sing in the mezzo-soprano range. Her career was international, and she appeared at leading theatres in both Europe and America.-Singing career:...
and Signor Foli [Allan Foley]), and toured the main cities of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. During the spring of 1873, they undertook a back-up tour of British provincial towns.
First American tour
Campanini made his first American appearances at the Academy of MusicAcademy of Music (Manhattan)
The Academy of Music was a New York City opera house, located at East 14th Street and Irving Place in Manhattan. The 4,000-seat hall opened on October 2, 1854. The New York Times review declared it to be an acoustical "triumph", but "In every other aspect .....
, New York, in 1873. Here, in addition to Christine Nilsson and Giuseppe Del Puente (baritone) (regular Mapleson company singers), he was with Annie Louise Cary
Annie Louise Cary
Annie Louise Cary was an American singer.-Origins and education:She was born in Wayne, Maine, the daughter of Nelson Howard Cary and his wife, Maria Stockbridge. After an early education in the common schools, she attended the female seminary at Gorham, Maine, and graduated in 1862...
(with whom he often afterwards sang) in performances of Les Huguenots
Les Huguenots
Les Huguenots is a French opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer, one of the most popular and spectacular examples of the style of grand opera. The opera is in five acts and premiered in Paris in 1836. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and Émile Deschamps....
. On 26 November 1873 he was Rhadames in Max Strakosch's production of Aida
Aida
Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
, with Mlle Torriani (Aida), Cary (Amneris) and Victor Maurel
Victor Maurel
Victor Maurel was a French operatic baritone who enjoyed an international reputation as a great singing-actor.-Biography:...
(Amonasro), according to Gustav Kobbé
Gustav Kobbé
Gustav Kobbé M.A. was an American music critic and author, best known for his guide to the operas, The Complete Opera Book, first published in the United States in 1919 and the United Kingdom in 1922.- Biography :Kobbé was born in March 1857 in New York City to William...
(who saw it) a performance of unsurpassed brilliancy. He was still in New York on 23 March 1874 when he, Nilsson, Cary and Del Puente participated in the Italian-language production of Lohengrin
Lohengrin (opera)
Lohengrin is a romantic opera in three acts composed and written by Richard Wagner, first performed in 1850. The story of the eponymous character is taken from medieval German romance, notably the Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach and its sequel, Lohengrin, written by a different author, itself...
at the Academy.
London again
During his London career, Campanini became especially well-known in the roles of Manrico (Il trovatoreIl trovatore
Il trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. Cammarano died in mid-1852 before completing the libretto...
), Fernando (I Puritani
I puritani
I puritani is an opera in three acts by Vincenzo Bellini. It was his last opera. Its libretto is by Count Carlo Pepoli, based on Têtes rondes et Cavaliers by Jacques-François Ancelot and Joseph Xavier Saintine, which is in turn based on Walter Scott's novel Old Mortality. It was first produced at...
), and Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor is a dramma tragico in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor....
). At his return for the 1874 season in London, in June he joined a Drury Lane cast in Michael Balfe's posthumous opera Il Talismano (Italian production) with Tietjens and Nilsson, and with the young Giovanni De Reschi in a baritone role (who later became the famous tenor Jean de Reszke
Jean de Reszke
Jean de Reszke, born Jan Mieczyslaw, , was a Polish tenor. Renowned internationally for the high quality of his singing and the elegance of his bearing, he became the biggest male opera star of the late 19th century....
). Les Huguenots and La favorita were among other productions of the season. In the 1875 season came the first London Lohengrin (with Emma Albani
Emma Albani
Dame Emma Albani DBE was a leading soprano of the 19th century and early 20th century, and the first Canadian singer to become an international star. Her repertoire focused on the operas of Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini and Wagner...
and Ernesto Nicolini
Ernesto Nicolini
Ernesto Nicolini was a French operatic tenor, particularly associated with the French and Italian repertories....
at Covent Garden), soon followed by Mapleson's production at Her Majesty's Theatre
Her Majesty's Theatre
Her Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre, in Haymarket, City of Westminster, London. The present building was designed by Charles J. Phipps and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who established the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at the theatre...
in which Campanini, Tietjens, Nilsson and Antonio Galassi
Antonio Galassi
Antonio F. Galassi was an Italian baritone who made his New York debut at Academy of Music during its 1878-79 season and remained there through 1884. He was considered a great baritone, popular and fiery, right until 1883 when, according to some sources, he lost his voice during performance of I...
(baritone) led a starry cast under the direction of Michael Costa
Michael Costa
Michael Costa is a former Australian Labor politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 2001 until 2008, and Treasurer of New South Wales from 2006 to 2008.- Early life and career :...
.
The 1878 season was distinguished by the first London production of Bizet's opera Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
, on June 22. Mapleson had seen it the previous winter at the Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
Monnaie
Monnaie
Monnaie is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France....
and decided to transfer it to Her Majesty's. He obtained the American soprano Minnie Hauk
Minnie Hauk
thumb|Minnie Hauk in a [[cabinet card]] photograph, ca. 1880Amalia Mignon Hauck , was an American operatic soprano....
for Carmen, who had become famous in the role in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
; Alwina Valleria
Alwina Valleria
Alwina Valleria was an American-born soprano. She was the first American-born singer to appear in principal roles with the Metropolitan Opera....
portrayed Micaëla, and Del Puente Escamillo, to Campanini's Don José— under Michael Costa's baton. Despite the misgivings of the artists in rehearsal, it was an extremely effective cast among which Campanini himself was conspicuous for his singing and acting, reputedly with superb dramatic power, and it was greeted with a triumphant reception. Klein and the famous singing teacher Manuel Garcia
Manuel Garcia
Manuel Garcia may refer to:*Manuel García , singer & voice pedagogue; son of Manuel García *Manuel García , Spanish singer and composer, father of Manuel Patricio Rodríguez García...
were in the audience.
English summers, American winters
In the winter of 1878-79 Mapleson undertook a major opera tour of the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, in which Campanini was his principal tenor. The company also included such well known singers as Etelka Gerster
Etelka Gerster
Etelka Gerster was a Hungarian soprano. She debuted in Italy in 1876 and sang in London the following year.In 1878 she was performing in the Academy of Music in New York City where she was considered one of the leading singers of her time...
, Minnie Hauk, Trebelli, Valleria, Galassi and Del Puente. Luigi Arditi
Luigi Arditi
Luigi Arditi was an Italian violinist, composer and conductor.Arditi was born in Crescentino, Piemonte . He began his musical career as a violinist, and studied music at the Conservatory of Milan. He made his debut in 1843 as a director at Vercelli, and it was there that he was made an honorary...
was the conductor. It visited Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, St Louis, Philadelphia, Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
, Cincinnati and New York. Campanini sang opposite Gerster in Il talismano and La traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
, and with Marie Roze
Marie Roze
Marie Rôze , , was a French operatic soprano.She was born in Paris. At the age of 12, she was sent to be educated in England for two years. She then studied with Mocker and Auber at the Paris Conservatoire, where she received the first prize in singing in 1865...
in La favorita, and a very wide range of operas was presented including Faust
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
, Il flauto magico, Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Ruy Blas
Ruy Blas
Ruy Blas is a tragic drama by Victor Hugo. It was the first play presented at the Théâtre de la Renaissance and opened on November 8, 1838. Though considered by many to be Hugo’s best drama, the play initially met with only average success....
, Robert le Diable
Robert le diable
Robert le diable may refer to:* Robert le diable by Giacomo Meyerbeer* Robert the Devil, a medieval legend...
and Der Freischütz
Der Freischütz
Der Freischütz is an opera in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber with a libretto by Friedrich Kind. It premiered on 18 June 1821 at the Schauspielhaus Berlin...
, in addition to much of the repertoire already mentioned. The series culminated with a benefit concert in New York for flood victims at Szegedin in Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
(Gerster's birthplace).
Some surprises were, however, held in store for New York in the following year. The London 1879 season had added Minnie Hauk, and Clara Louise Kellogg
Clara Louise Kellogg
Clara Louise Kellogg was an American singer.She was a daughter of George Kellogg and Jane Elizabeth , born at Sumterville, South Carolina, and was educated in New York for the musical profession, singing first in opera there in 1861. Her fine soprano voice and artistic gifts soon made her famous...
to the female company (still led by Nilsson, Trebelli and Gerster), and Campanini was supported by the tenors Giuseppe Fancelli, Frapolli and Brignoli. Fancelli was infuriated by Campanini assuming the title 'Primo Tenore Assoluto'. The October 1879 tour season, in which Maria Marimon was among the party, visited New York, and went on to Philadelphia, Chicago, St Louis, Detroit, Cleveland and elsewhere. Campanini conquered New York. On 23 October at the Academy they gave the American premiere of Carmen, with Minnie Hauk, Clarice Sinico (Micaela), Ernesto del Puente, and Campanini in his now famous role of Don José. On December 3 he appeared as Elvino in La sonnambula
La sonnambula
La sonnambula is an opera semiseria in two acts, with music in the bel canto tradition by Vincenzo Bellini to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani, based on a scenario for a ballet-pantomime by Eugène Scribe and Jean-Pierre Aumer called La somnambule, ou L'arrivée d'un nouveau seigneur.The first...
, with Marimon, del Puente and Mme Lablache, and on December 12 was Corentino in Meyerbeer's Dinorah
Dinorah
Dinorah, originally Le pardon de Ploërmel , is an 1859 French opéra comique in three acts with music by Giacomo Meyerbeer and a libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré...
, again with Marimon. Later in the season, when Mdlle Marimon was unable to complete a performance of Dinorah at Philadelphia, Campanini (in the audience) and Annie Louise Cary stepped in to sing the last acts of Il trovatore instead, and Campanini's rendition of "Di quella pira" brought the house down and saved the box-office.
The London Her Majesty's season of 1880, with Nilsson and Gerster, saw presentations of Faust, La sonnambula, Carmen and Aida under Michael Costa, and also a Lohengrin conducted for Mapleson by Hans Richter
Hans Richter (conductor)
Hans Richter was an Austrian orchestral and operatic conductor.-Biography:Richter was born in Raab , Kingdom of Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Empire. His mother was opera-singer Jozsefa Csazenszky. He studied at the Vienna Conservatory...
. But the major new event of the season, in July, was Boito's Mefistofele
Mefistofele
Mefistofele is an opera in a prologue, four acts and an epilogue, the only completed opera by the Italian composer-librettist Arrigo Boito.-Composition history:...
, with Nilsson, Trebelli and Nannetti, and with Campanini as Faust. Costa conducted it 'in his old, resolute and vigilant manner', and the production 'lent a special distinction to the season.' This then went on tour to New York (under Arditi, as usual), where Campanini led the cast for the American premiere at the Academy of Music with Annie Louise Cary, Alwina Valleria and Franco Novara. The same venue saw Mapleson's production of a revised form of Les vêpres siciliennes
Les vêpres siciliennes
Les vêpres siciliennes is an opéra in five acts by the Italian romantic composer Giuseppe Verdi set to a French libretto by Charles Duveyrier and Eugène Scribe from their work Le duc d'Albe, which was written in 1838 and offered to Halevy and Donizetti before Verdi...
headed by Campanini and Cary with del Puente and Galassi in support. Campanini performed, too, in La favorita.
Mapleson had by now recruited Luigi Ravelli to relieve the burden on Campanini, who had become his only principal tenor. During the tour, which this time also took in Pittsburgh and Indianapolis
Indianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
, Mapleson inaugurated 'Sunday evening concerts', the first half of which was usually a performance of Rossini's Stabat Mater given by Valleria, Cary, Campanini, Galassi and Novara.
The London season of 1881 resumed the run of Mefistofele, and the October tour in New York saw Camapanini perform in Lohengrin (with Minnie Hauk, Anna de Belocci, Galessi and Novara) and in Carmen (Hauk, Valleria and del Puente, the original line-up.) In February 1882, the company was at the second great Cincinnati Opera Festival, where Campanini appeared again as Don José (opposite Hauk, del Puente and Louise Dotti). The company also staged Les Huguenots
Les Huguenots
Les Huguenots is a French opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer, one of the most popular and spectacular examples of the style of grand opera. The opera is in five acts and premiered in Paris in 1836. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and Émile Deschamps....
, Faust, Fidelio
Fidelio
Fidelio is a German opera in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto is by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly which had been used for the 1798 opera Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal by Pierre Gaveaux, and for the 1804 opera Leonora...
, Magic Flute, William Tell
William Tell (opera)
Guillaume Tell is an opera in four acts by Gioachino Rossini to a French libretto by Etienne de Jouy and Hippolyte Bis, based on Friedrich Schiller's play Wilhelm Tell. Based on the legend of William Tell, this opera was Rossini's last, even though the composer lived for nearly forty more years...
and Lohengrin. Meanwhile, the company also rehearsed, and then presented, Meyerbeer's L'Africaine
L'Africaine
L'africaine is a grand opera, the last work of the composer Giacomo Meyerbeer. The French libretto was written by Eugène Scribe. The opera is about fictitious events in the life of the real historical person Vasco da Gama...
, in which Campanini played Vasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira was a Portuguese explorer, one of the most successful in the Age of Discovery and the commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India...
opposite Hauk and Galassi; and in the spring 1882 Ernani
Ernani
Ernani is an operatic dramma lirico in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on the play Hernani by Victor Hugo. The first production took place at La Fenice Theatre, Venice on 9 March 1844...
, Don Giovanni and Les Huguenots were produced at the New York Academy of Music.
Collapse of Mapleson's company
On his return to England, Campanini found that the 1882 season was being disrupted by negotiations over the Royal Italian Opera Company, Covent Garden, Ltd—formed to seek the lease of the new Metropolitan Opera HouseMetropolitan Opera House (39th St)
The Metropolitan Opera House was an opera house located at 1411 Broadway in New York City. Opened in 1883 and demolished in 1967, it was the first home of the Metropolitan Opera Company.-History:...
, New York, which was then being built. Campanini was among the large team taken to New York that October by Mapleson, with Commander Herbert Gye as his treasurer, on its behalf. If the plan worked, the Academy (to which Mapleson was still tied by contract) would be closed and a monopoly achieved, in which he would have a share. Despite immense difficulties a successful tour was achieved, but in the process all Mapleson's resources were carved up between the American impresario, Henry Eugene Abbey
Henry Eugene Abbey
Henry Eugene Abbey was an American theatre manager and producer. During the 1870s - 1890s, he managed such prominent Broadway theatres as Booth's, Wallack's, and the Park Theatre, promoting the talents of some of the foremost American actors of his day, as well as European stars...
, who actually obtained the lease, and the Royal Opera Company, which repudiated all its agreements with Mapleson, leaving him with a heavy liability. The best singers of his company, including Nilsson, Marcella Sembrich
Marcella Sembrich
Marcella Sembrich was the stage name of the Polish coloratura soprano, Prakseda Marcelina Kochańska...
, Scalchi, Trebelli and Campanini, and all his orchestral and choral resources, were recruited by Abbey.
Campanini took the occasion to spend a season in Italy, where his younger brother Cleofonte Campanini was launching a significant career as an operatic conductor. In 1883, at Parma, Campanini sang in a series of performances conducted by his brother, so helping to establish him as conductor of the first rank. When he returned to America in the autumn it was to the completion of the Metropolitan Opera House, and there he sang in the performance of Faust on the opening night, 22 October 1883, with Christine Nilsson as Marguerite, Sofia Scalchi, Mme Lablache, Franco Novara and Ernesto del Puente. On December 5, 1883 he sang the other Faust (Boïto's) in Mefistofele, with Christine Nilsson, Zelia Trebelli and Mdlle Mirabella filling out the cast.
American career, vocal characteristics & tenor rivals
After 1883, Campanini lived primarily in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, serving as the Metropolitan's leading tenor. He developed increasingly a second career as a manager of opera (as, in later times, did the tenors Giovanni Zenatello
Giovanni Zenatello
Giovanni Zenatello was an Italian opera singer. Born in Verona, he enjoyed an international career as a dramatic tenor of the first rank. Otello became his most famous operatic role but he sang a wide repertoire. In 1904, he created the part of Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly.-Career:Zenatello...
and Edward Johnson
Edward Johnson (tenor)
Edward Patrick Johnson CBE was a Canadian operatic tenor who was billed outside North America as Edoardo Di Giovanni, and became director of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.- Early life :...
). On April 16, 1888, a company under Campanini's management presented the American premiere of Verdi's Otello
Otello
Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play Othello. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, and was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on February 5, 1887....
at the New York Academy of Music, with Francesco Marconi
Francesco Marconi
Francesco Marconi was an operatic tenor from Rome who enjoyed an important international career. In 1924, a reputable biographical dictionary of musicians called him 'one of the most renowned and esteemed singers of the last 50 years'...
, Luisa Tetrazzini
Luisa Tetrazzini
Luisa Tetrazzini was an Italian coloratura soprano of great international fame.Tetrazzini's voice was remarkable for its phenomenal flexibility, thrust, steadiness and thrilling tone...
, Antonio Galassi and Sofia Scalchi: later in the run, Campanini himself took over from Francesco Marconi
Francesco Marconi
Francesco Marconi was an operatic tenor from Rome who enjoyed an important international career. In 1924, a reputable biographical dictionary of musicians called him 'one of the most renowned and esteemed singers of the last 50 years'...
in the role of Otello. Campanini's brother Cleofonte was brought in to conduct, and he married the singer Eva Tetrazzini, the great Luisa's sister. Campanini remained a member of the Metropolitan company from 1891 to 1894.
Campanini died at the Villa Vigatto, near Parma, in 1896.
He was among the most popular, hardworking and versatile Italian tenors active in the United States before the advent of the great Enrico Caruso in the early 1900s.
Apparently, while in the USA, he recorded his voice on a Bettini
Bettini
Bettini is a surname of Italian origin. The name refers to:*Antonio Bettini , Italian clergyman and writer*Domenico Bettini , , Italian painter of the Baroque era...
cylinder which now appears to be lost. During the peak of his career, Campanini's main tenor rivals among his Italian and Italianate contemporaries were Roberto Stagno
Roberto Stagno
Roberto Stagno , was a prominent Italian opera tenor. He became an important interpreter of verismo music when it burst on to the operatic scene during the 1890s; but he also possessed an agile bel canto technique which he employed in operas dating from earlier periods...
, Julián Gayarre
Julián Gayarre
Sebastián Julián Gayarre Garjón , better known as Julián Gayarre, was a Spanish opera singer who created the role of Marcello in Donizetti's Il Duca d'Alba and Enzo in Ponchielli's La Gioconda.Although he faced strong competition for this title from the likes of Roberto Stagno, Italo Campanini,...
, Angelo Masini, Francesco Tamagno
Francesco Tamagno
Francesco Tamagno was an operatic tenor from Italy who sang with enormous success throughout Europe and America. On 5 February 1887, he cemented his place in musical history by creating the role of Otello in Giuseppe Verdi's masterpiece of the same name...
, Fernando Valero and Francesco Marconi. Of these only Tamagno, Valero and Marconi have left gramophone record
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
s of their art.
We do know, however, from contemporary descriptions that Campanini's voice was robust in tone. It extended up to a strong high C from the chest prior to an irreversible deterioration which began when Campanini was aged only in his forties. It also developed a wide vibrato which reduced its appeal to English-speaking critics. He shared this latter trait (or, in the opinion of British and American opera-goers, technical and stylistic flaw) with a number of other leading Mediterranean tenors of his era, including Gayarre, Stagno, Valero and, from a slightly younger generation, Fernando De Lucia
Fernando De Lucia
Fernando De Lucia was an Italian opera tenor and singing teacher who enjoyed an international career....
.
Literature
- D. Ewen, Encyclopedia of the Opera: New Enlarged Edition (Hill and Wang, New York 1963).
- J. McPherson, "Italo Campanini: One of a Kind," The Opera Quarterly, 19 no 2 (Spring 2003), 251-271.