Nicola Rescigno
Encyclopedia
Nicola Rescigno was an Italian
-American
conductor, particularly associated with the Italian opera
repertory. Opera News
said that "Rescigno was a seminal figure in the history of opera in America, a maestro and mentor who shaped the destiny and reputation of two major U.S. companies — Lyric Opera of Chicago
and Dallas Opera
— as well as countless singing and conducting careers. Vigorous musical integrity, idiomatic style and unfailing support of his singers were the hallmarks of his performances throughout his distinguished career, which lasted more than fifty years."
, he studied with Pizzetti, Giannini and Polacco. He made his debut in 1943, conducting La traviata
, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music
for Alfredo Salmaggi's opera company. He then toured the United States
with the San Carlo Opera Company
and served as music director for the Connecticut Opera
and Havana Opera. He made his conducting debut with the San Francisco Opera
in 1950 conducting Lily Pons
in Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Dorothy Kirsten
in Madama Butterfly
.
In 1953, Rescigno co-founded the Lyric Opera of Chicago
with businesswoman and amateur singer Carol Fox
and businessman Lawrence V. Kelly, serving as the company's artistic director and principal conductor from 1954 to 1956. For the company's inaugural performance he conducted Maria Callas
in her American debut in the title role of Bellini
's Norma
. He went on to collaborate with the famous soprano several more times, including conducting her only stage appearances as Cio-Cio-San (Chicago, 1955) and her 1959 Carnegie Hall
concert of Il Pirata
.
In 1957, Rescigno co-founded the Dallas Opera
with Kelly after the two left Chicago following a dispute with the Lyric board. He served as artistic director and principal conductor of the Dallas Opera from 1957 to 1990. While there he conducted the U.S. debuts of such singers as Teresa Berganza
, Montserrat Caballé
, Plácido Domingo
, Gwyneth Jones, Magda Olivero
, Dame Joan Sutherland
, Jon Vickers
, and stage director Franco Zeffirelli
. He also worked with Callas
in Dallas. He presented there the American premieres of Handel
's Alcina
and Vivaldi's Orlando furioso
, the latter of which starred Marilyn Horne
and was the first Vivaldi opera to ever be mounted in the United States. He also conducted the world premieres of Virgil Thomson
's Fantasy in Homage to an Earlier England (1966) and Dominick Argento
's The Aspern Papers (1988).
He made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera
in 1978, conducting Don Pasquale
(with Beverly Sills
, in John Dexter
's production), followed by L'elisir d'amore (1980), L'italiana in Algeri (with Marilyn Horne
and Rockwell Blake
, 1981), and La traviata (1981-1982). He conducted at most of the major opera houses of Italy, and made guest appearances at Glyndebourne Festival Opera
, Royal Opera
at Covent Garden
, Opéra National de Paris, Vienna State Opera
, Zurich Opera
, and the Teatro Colón among other theaters.
His close association with Maria Callas, having been one of her favourite conductors, resulted in several album recordings of operatic arias made for EMI
, from 1958 to 1969. He also recorded an album of Verdi arias with Robert Weede
(in 1953), excerpts from Francesca da Rimini (with Mario del Monaco
and Magda Olivero, 1969), and complete sets of Tosca (with Mirella Freni
, 1978) and Lucia di Lammermoor (with Edita Gruberova
, 1983). Also available, on DVD, are a 1959 concert from Hamburg
with Callas, and a 1981 performance of L'elisir d'amore from the Met, with Judith Blegen
and Luciano Pavarotti
.
Nicola Rescigno was the uncle of conductor Joseph Rescigno
. He died at the age of 92 in a hospital in Viterbo
, Italy
, while awaiting surgery on his broken femur
.
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...
-American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
conductor, particularly associated with the Italian opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
repertory. Opera News
Opera News
Opera News is an American classical music magazine. It has been published since 1936 by the Metropolitan Opera Guild, a non-profit organization located at Lincoln Center which was founded to support the Metropolitan Opera of New York City...
said that "Rescigno was a seminal figure in the history of opera in America, a maestro and mentor who shaped the destiny and reputation of two major U.S. companies — Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1952, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicolà Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria Callas's American debut in Norma...
and Dallas Opera
Dallas Opera
The Dallas Opera is an opera company located in Dallas, Texas . The company was founded in 1957 as the Dallas Civic Opera by Laurence Kelly and Nicolà Rescigno, both of whom had been active with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the first as administrator, the second as artistic director.-The company's...
— as well as countless singing and conducting careers. Vigorous musical integrity, idiomatic style and unfailing support of his singers were the hallmarks of his performances throughout his distinguished career, which lasted more than fifty years."
Biography
Born into a musical family 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...
, he studied with Pizzetti, Giannini and Polacco. He made his debut in 1943, conducting 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...
, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music
Brooklyn Academy of Music
Brooklyn Academy of Music is a major performing arts venue in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City, United States, known as a center for progressive and avant garde performance....
for Alfredo Salmaggi's opera company. He then toured the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with the San Carlo Opera Company
San Carlo Opera Company
The San Carlo Opera Company was the name of two different opera companies active in the United States during the first half of the twentieth century.-History:...
and served as music director for the Connecticut Opera
Connecticut Opera
Connecticut Opera was a professional, non-profit, opera company based in Hartford, Connecticut, and a member of OPERA America. The company presented three fully staged opera productions during an annual season. It was founded in 1942 under the directorship of Frank Pandolfi and was the sixth oldest...
and Havana Opera. He made his conducting debut with the San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America...
in 1950 conducting Lily Pons
Lily Pons
Lily Pons was a French-American operatic soprano and actress who had an active career from the late 1920s through the early 1970s. As an opera singer she specialized in the coloratura soprano repertoire and was particularly associated with the title roles in Léo Delibes' Lakmé and Gaetano...
in Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Dorothy Kirsten
Dorothy Kirsten
Dorothy Kirsten was an American operatic soprano.-Biography:...
in Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...
.
In 1953, Rescigno co-founded the Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1952, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicolà Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria Callas's American debut in Norma...
with businesswoman and amateur singer Carol Fox
Carol Fox (Chicago opera)
Carol Fox was, at the age of 28, the first impresario of the Chicago Lyric Opera and credited with restoring Chicago's pre-Depression operatic glory....
and businessman Lawrence V. Kelly, serving as the company's artistic director and principal conductor from 1954 to 1956. For the company's inaugural performance he conducted Maria Callas
Maria Callas
Maria Callas was an American-born Greek soprano and one of the most renowned opera singers of the 20th century. She combined an impressive bel canto technique, a wide-ranging voice and great dramatic gifts...
in her American debut in the title role of Bellini
Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi , La sonnambula , Norma , Beatrice di Tenda , and I puritani...
's Norma
Norma (opera)
Norma is a tragedia lirica or opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini with libretto by Felice Romani after Norma, ossia L'infanticidio by Alexandre Soumet. First produced at La Scala on December 26, 1831, it is generally regarded as an example of the supreme height of the bel canto tradition...
. He went on to collaborate with the famous soprano several more times, including conducting her only stage appearances as Cio-Cio-San (Chicago, 1955) and her 1959 Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
concert of Il Pirata
Il pirata
Il pirata is an opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani from a French translation of the tragic play Bertram, or The Castle of St Aldobrando by Charles Maturin...
.
In 1957, Rescigno co-founded the Dallas Opera
Dallas Opera
The Dallas Opera is an opera company located in Dallas, Texas . The company was founded in 1957 as the Dallas Civic Opera by Laurence Kelly and Nicolà Rescigno, both of whom had been active with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the first as administrator, the second as artistic director.-The company's...
with Kelly after the two left Chicago following a dispute with the Lyric board. He served as artistic director and principal conductor of the Dallas Opera from 1957 to 1990. While there he conducted the U.S. debuts of such singers as Teresa Berganza
Teresa Berganza
Teresa Berganza, born on March 16, 1935), is a Spanish mezzo-soprano. She is most closely associated with the roles of Rossini, Mozart, and Bizet. She is admired for her technical virtuosity, musical intelligence and beguiling stage presence.- Biography :...
, Montserrat Caballé
Montserrat Caballé
Montserrat Caballé is a Spanish operatic soprano. Although she sang a wide variety of roles, she is best known as an exponent of the bel canto repertoire, notably the works of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi....
, Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo KBE , born José Plácido Domingo Embil, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range...
, Gwyneth Jones, Magda Olivero
Magda Olivero
Magda Olivero is a soprano of the verismo-school of singing. She was born in Saluzzo, Italy. Olivero made her operatic debut in 1932 on Turin radio in Cattozzo’s oratorio I misteri dolorosi. She performed widely and increasingly successfully until 1941, when she married and retired from performing...
, Dame Joan Sutherland
Joan Sutherland
Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, OM, AC, DBE was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano noted for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s....
, Jon Vickers
Jon Vickers
Jonathan Stewart Vickers, CC , known professionally as Jon Vickers, is a retired Canadian heldentenor.Born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, he was the sixth in a family of eight children. In 1950, he was awarded a scholarship to study opera at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto...
, and stage director Franco Zeffirelli
Franco Zeffirelli
Franco Zeffirelli KBE is an Italian director and producer of films and television. He is also a director and designer of operas and a former senator for the Italian center-right Forza Italia party....
. He also worked with Callas
Maria Callas
Maria Callas was an American-born Greek soprano and one of the most renowned opera singers of the 20th century. She combined an impressive bel canto technique, a wide-ranging voice and great dramatic gifts...
in Dallas. He presented there the American premieres of Handel
HANDEL
HANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed....
's Alcina
Alcina
Alcina is an opera seria by George Frideric Handel. Handel used the libretto of L'isola di Alcina, an opera that was set in 1728 in Rome by Riccardo Broschi, which he acquired the year after, during his travels in Italy...
and Vivaldi's Orlando furioso
Orlando furioso (Vivaldi)
Orlando furioso is an opera in three acts by Antonio Vivaldi to an Italian libretto by Grazio Braccioli, based on the poem of the same name by Ariosto. The first performance of the opera was at Teatro San Angelo, Venice, in 1727....
, the latter of which starred Marilyn Horne
Marilyn Horne
Marilyn Horne is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer. She specialized in roles requiring a large sound, beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura passages....
and was the first Vivaldi opera to ever be mounted in the United States. He also conducted the world premieres of Virgil Thomson
Virgil Thomson
Virgil Thomson was an American composer and critic. He was instrumental in the development of the "American Sound" in classical music...
's Fantasy in Homage to an Earlier England (1966) and Dominick Argento
Dominick Argento
Dominick Argento is an American composer, best known as a leading composer of lyric opera and choral music...
's The Aspern Papers (1988).
He made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
in 1978, conducting Don Pasquale
Don Pasquale
Don Pasquale is an opera buffa, or comic opera, in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. The librettist Giovanni Ruffini wrote the Italian language libretto after Angelo Anelli's libretto for Stefano Pavesi's Ser Marcantonio ....
(with Beverly Sills
Beverly Sills
Beverly Sills was an American operatic soprano whose peak career was between the 1950s and 1970s. In her prime she was the only real rival to Joan Sutherland as the leading bel canto stylist...
, in John Dexter
John Dexter
John Dexter was an English theatre, opera, and film director.- Theatre :Born in Derby, England, Dexter left school at the age of fourteen to serve in the British army during World War II. Following the war, he began working as a stage actor before turning to producing and directing shows for...
's production), followed by L'elisir d'amore (1980), L'italiana in Algeri (with Marilyn Horne
Marilyn Horne
Marilyn Horne is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer. She specialized in roles requiring a large sound, beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura passages....
and Rockwell Blake
Rockwell Blake
Rockwell Blake is an American operatic tenor, particularly known for his roles in Rossini operas. He was the first winner of the Richard Tucker Award.-Biography:...
, 1981), and La traviata (1981-1982). He conducted at most of the major opera houses of Italy, and made guest appearances at Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an English opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England.-History:...
, Royal Opera
Royal Opera, London
The Royal Opera is an opera company based in central London, resident at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Along with the English National Opera, it is one of the two principal opera companies in London. Founded in 1946 as the Covent Garden Opera Company, it was known by that title until 1968...
at Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
, Opéra National de Paris, Vienna State Opera
Vienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera is an opera house – and opera company – with a history dating back to the mid-19th century. It is located in the centre of Vienna, Austria. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera . In 1920, with the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy by the First Austrian...
, Zurich Opera
Zurich Opera
Oper Zürich is an opera company based in Zurich, Switzerland. The company gives performances in the Opernhaus Zürich which has been the company’s home for fifty years.-History:...
, and the Teatro Colón among other theaters.
His close association with Maria Callas, having been one of her favourite conductors, resulted in several album recordings of operatic arias made for EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
, from 1958 to 1969. He also recorded an album of Verdi arias with Robert Weede
Robert Weede
-Biography:Born Robert Wiedefeld in Baltimore, Maryland, Weede studied voice at the Eastman School of Music and in Milan. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1937, as Tonio in Pagliacci...
(in 1953), excerpts from Francesca da Rimini (with Mario del Monaco
Mario del Monaco
Mario Del Monaco was an Italian tenor who is regarded by his admirers as being one of the greatest dramatic tenors of the 20th century....
and Magda Olivero, 1969), and complete sets of Tosca (with Mirella Freni
Mirella Freni
Mirella Freni, birth name Mirella Fregni, is an Italian opera soprano whose repertoire includes Verdi, Puccini, Mozart and Tchaikovsky...
, 1978) and Lucia di Lammermoor (with Edita Gruberova
Edita Gruberová
Edita Gruberová , is a Slovak soprano who is one of the most acclaimed coloraturas of recent decades. She is noted for her great tonal clarity, agility, dramatic interpretation, and ability to sing high notes with great power, which made her an ideal Queen of the Night in her early years...
, 1983). Also available, on DVD, are a 1959 concert from Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
with Callas, and a 1981 performance of L'elisir d'amore from the Met, with Judith Blegen
Judith Blegen
Judith Blegen is an American soprano, particularly associated with light lyric roles of the French, Italian and German repertories.-Life and career:Blegen was raised and attended high school in Missoula, Montana...
and Luciano Pavarotti
Luciano Pavarotti
right|thumb|Luciano Pavarotti performing at the opening of the Constantine Palace in [[Strelna]], 31 May 2003. The concert was part of the celebrations for the 300th anniversary of [[St...
.
Nicola Rescigno was the uncle of conductor Joseph Rescigno
Joseph Rescigno
Joseph Rescigno is a conductor and Artistic Advisor and Principal Conductor of the Florentine Opera Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the United States . He also serves as Music Director of La Musica Lirica festival in Italy...
. He died at the age of 92 in a hospital in Viterbo
Viterbo
See also Viterbo, Texas and Viterbo UniversityViterbo is an ancient city and comune in the Lazio region of central Italy, the capital of the province of Viterbo. It is approximately 80 driving / 80 walking kilometers north of GRA on the Via Cassia, and it is surrounded by the Monti Cimini and...
, Italy
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...
, while awaiting surgery on his broken femur
Femur
The femur , or thigh bone, is the most proximal bone of the leg in tetrapod vertebrates capable of walking or jumping, such as most land mammals, birds, many reptiles such as lizards, and amphibians such as frogs. In vertebrates with four legs such as dogs and horses, the femur is found only in...
.