Sulla Bocca Amorosa - Musik

Fernando De Lucia
Fernando De Lucia
Born. Naples 11 October 1860 Or 1 September 1861 Died Naples 21 February 1925 Italian Tenor Opera Singer And Teacher Who Was Famous In His Lifetime As A Performer And Interpreter And Acquired A Great Posthumous Reputation Among Record-Collectors As A Leading Exponent Of A Particular Style Of Singing. Early Career
De Lucia Studied At The Naples Music Conservatory With Vincenzo Lombardi And Beniamino Carelli. He Made His Debut At The Teatro Di San Carlo Naples As Gounod's Faust. Over The Next Two Or Three Years He Sang In Spain South America And In The Smaller Italian Opera Houses In Linda Di Chamounix Dinorah L'elisir D'amore Fra Diavolo And La Sonnambula. While In Madrid He Was Procured By Augustus Harris And Herman Klein For His First London Appearances In The Drury Lane Season Of 1887 But Although Klein Liked His Alfredo He Went Comparatively Unnoticed Owing To The London Debut Of Jean De Reszke. His Almaviva In Il Barbiere Di Siviglia A Role Later Closely Associated With Him Was Described As 'truly Detestable' By The Times. Mascagni Rome And Florence
In 1891 He Took Part In The World Premiere Of L'amico Fritz Fritz Kobus 31 October 1891 With Emma Calvé Synnemberg And Lherie By Pietro Mascagni At The Costanzi Theatre Rome. For A Singer Later Upheld By Some As The Model Of Bel Canto Style It Was Originally Quite Otherwise As The Creator Of Mascagni's Original Verismo Roles That De Lucia Was Famous And He Was At The Centre Of The European Mascagni Craze Of The Early 1890s. L'amico Fritz Had Its Covent Garden Premiere On 23 May 1892. In November De Lucia Was At Florence Opera House Creating The Lead In Mascagni's Third Opera I Rantzau Verismo Firsts In London 1893
De Lucia's Verismo Career Continued With The First England Performance 19 May 1893 Conducted By Enrico Bevignani Of Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci With Melba Victor Maurel And Mario Ancona Tonio Taking The Role Of Canio First Created At Milan A Year Earlier By Giraud. Klein Describes An Audience Breathless With Excitement And De Lucia's Burning Intensity In The Role A Triumph Of Realism. Mascagni Made His Own London Debut At Covent Garden Conducting L'amico Fritz On June 19 1893 With Calvé De Lucia Pauline Joran And Dufriche. Soon Afterwards With Calvé And Accompanied By Paolo Tosti De Lucia Sang Excepts From Cavalleria For Queen Victoria At Windsor. On July 7 Of That Year With Melba Ancona David Bispham And Castelmary He Gave The First England Covent Garden Performance Of I Rantzau. This Was Not A Great Success. London And Milan
In 1893 De Lucia Sang In New York. He Performed His Canio With Melba And Ancona And This Was Esteemed But He Was Not Admired As Don Ottavio In Don Giovanni Nor As The Duke Of Mantua. He Did Not Repeat The Experience. In London In 1894 He Was Performing Both Cavalleria Rusticana And I Pagliacci Together At Covent Garden With Ancona And Shaw Admired The 'altogether Exceptional Dramatic Force' Which Their Performances Gave To The Works. That Season He Was Also In A Bilingual French-Italian Faust With Melba Ancona And Bauermeister. Shaw Thought The Role Of Faust Too Heavy For De Lucia His 'dramatic Instinct Helped Him Well Through A Part In Which He Seemed Likely To Be Overweighted. Several Times In The Garden Scene He Found The Right Musical Treatment With Exceptional Success.' That Was Also His Verdict Of His Duke In A Rigoletto With Melba Ancona And Giulia Ravogli Though He Got Through The Music 'adroitly And Pluckily'. De Lucia Made A Debut At La Scala In 1895 With The World Premiere Of Mascagni's Silvano And He Also Appeared In The First Milan Performances Of Puccini's La Bohème Rodolfo And La Navarraise Of Massenet. 20 At Covent Garden In That Year The First For Nearly A Decade In Which Jean De Reszke Did Not Appear He Shared The Principal Tenor Work With Francesco Tamagno And Albert Alvarez. David Bispham Thought Him Admirable In Fra Diavolo That Year With Bispham And Mme Amadi Lord And Lady Allcash Marie Engle Zerlina Vittorio Arimondi And Antonio Pini-Corsi Brigands .
In 1896 In Milan He Appeared As Cavaradossi In Tosca And Again As Almaviva. In 1897 He Sang In A State Concert At Buckingham Palace For The Royal Jubilee. At The Costanzi Theatre Rome On 22 November 1898 He Gave The First Performance Of Osaka In Mascagni's Iris And At Covent Garden On 12 July 1900 He Played Cavaradossi In The First Performance Of Tosca In England Supporting The Floria Tosca Of Milka Ternina With Antonio Scotti As Scarpia And Luigi Mancinelli Conducting. The "Musical Times" Found That His Performance Was Highly Effective And That His Character Exactly Suited That Of Cavaradossi. De Lucia Was Admired In Carmen In I Pescatori Di Perle And For His Singing Of Rossini Bellini And Verdi. His Last London Season Was In The 1905 Company Assembled By Henry Russell For The Waldorf Theatre Now The Novello Theatre Together With Alessandro Bonci Ancona And Pini-Corsi. His Milan La Scala Farewell Was As Rodolfo In 1916 And At The San Carlo In Napoli In 1917. His Final Appearance Before The Public Was At The Funeral Of Enrico Caruso In 1921. In His Later Years He Lived In His Home Town Of Naples And Taught At The Conservatory There In Which He Himself Had Been Trained.
Vocal Technique Although De Lucia's Stage Career Was Particularly Associated With The Work Of Mascagni And The Performance Of The Verismo Operas Including The Key Moment Of The Cavalleria Rusticana Premiere The Vocal Technique Projected In His Recordings Is Not The Strenuous Declamatory Or Histrionic Style Associated With The Verismo Movement In Opera But The Converse. He Had A Lighter Than Usual Voice For Heroic Roles And His Delivery Was Studied Measured And In Some Ways Artificial. In Particular His Barber Of Seville Recordings 'Ecco Ridente' 'Se Il Mio Nome' 'Numero Quindici' Etc. Show A Studied Display Of Fioritura Ornament Portamento And Breath Control Which Appear To Be A Deliberate Statement Of The So-Called Bel Canto Style Or At Least Of Its Mannerisms Which Were Being Displaced By The Different Vocal Resources Demanded Of The Verismo Tenor. Shaw Wrote Of Him In June 1892 Having Seen His L'amico Fritz With Calve 'Signor De Lucia Succeeds Valero And Lubert As Artificial Tenor In Ordinary To The Establishment. His Thin Strident Forte Is In Tune And Does Not Tremble Beyond Endurance And His Mezza Voce Though Monotonous And Inexpressive Is Pretty As Prettiness Goes In The Artificial School. In 1894 Shaw Speaks Of De Lucia And Beduschi Both As Tenors 'of The Gayarre School Without The Goat-Bleat Of Its Extreme Disciples And This Comment Gives The Clue. Like Valero And Francesco Vignas Gayarre Was Taught By Melchiorre Vidal In Madrid. Vidal's Pupil Rosina Storchio Was Also Closely Associated With Verismo Premieres. De Lucia In Spain In The 1880s Had Imbibed This Example. As A Tenor D'artifice Shaw Is Associating Him With Other Tenors Using A Similar Vocal Method Such As Alessandro Bonci Giuseppe Anselmi Fiorello Giraud And Aristodemo Giorgini In Which A Fast Narrow Vibrato Seems To Be Integral With The Breath Control Used To Sustain The Portamenti And Ornaments Of The Style. It Is Debated Whether This Is A True Inheritance Of The Bel Canto Tradition Of The Age Of Rubini Or Whether It Is A Product Of Flawed Breath Control In The Method Of The Later 'tenor D'artifice'. Recording Career
Gramophone Company Recordings. De Lucia Had A Long Relationship With The Gramophone Which Among Later Collectors Acquired An Almost Legendary Status. He Recorded The Following Titles For The Gramophone Company Between 1902 And 1908. The Dates Are The Issue Dates More Than One Date Indicates Two Separate Recordings.
All Are 10" Records Unless Otherwise Shown. The Partners In Duets Are Antonio Pini-Corsi Bar Maria Galvany Sop Giuseppina Huguet Sop Celestina Boninsegna Sop And Ernesto Badini Bar . * 'Stradella' Aria Di Chiesa Pietà Signore! 1907. * Mozart Don Giovanni Il Mio Tesoro 1908. Dalla Sua Pace 1908. * Rossini Il Barbiere Di Siviglia Ecco Ridente 1902 1904 12" 1908 12" . Se Il Mio Nome 1908. Numero Quindici W. Pini-Corsi 1906. Ah Qual Colpo Inaspettato W. Galvany 1908 W. Huguet And A. Pini-Corsi 1906 12" . All'idea Di Quel Metallo W. Pini-Corsi 1906 12" . * Bellini La Sonnambula Ah! Perchè Non Posso Odiarti? 1908. Son Geloso Del Zeffiro W. Galvany 1908 12" . Prendi L'anel Ti Dono W. Galvany 1908 12" . * Donizetti La Favorita Una Vergine Un'angiol Di Dio 1904. L'elisir D'amore Obbligato Obbligato W. Badini 1907.
* Verdi Luisa Miller Quando Le Sere Al Placido 1908 12" . Rigoletto La Donna E Mobile 1902. La Traviata Un Dì Felice 1904. Dei Miei Bollenti Spiriti 1906 12" . Parigi O Cara Noi Lasceremo W. Huguet 1906 12" . * Wagner Lohengrin Cigno Gentil 1902. Deh Non T'incantan 1906. S'ei Torna Alfin 1906. Cigno Fedel 1907 12" . Cessarono I Canti Alfin W. Huguet 1907 12" . Mai Deve Domandarmi W. Huguet 1907 12" . * Bizet Carmen Il Fior Che Avevi 1902 1907 12" . La Tua Madre W. Huguet 1907 12" . Pearl Fishers Della Mia Vita 1906. Mi Par D'udir Ancora 1906. Non Hai Compreso W. Huguet 1906 12" .
* Gounod Faust Salve Dimora 1906. Tardi Si Fa W. Boninsegna 1904 12" W. Huguet 1907 12" . Romeo E Giulietta Deh Sorgi O Luce 1908.
* Thomas Mignon La Tua Bell'alma 1906. Ah Non Credevi Tu 1906. Addio Mignon 1905 12" .
* Massenet Manon Il Sogno 1902 1907. Werther Ah! Non Mi Ridestar 1902. * Mascagni Cavalleria Rusticana Siciliana 'O Lola' 1902.
* Giordano Fedora Amor Ti Vieta 1902. Mia Madre 1904. Vedi Io Piango 1904.
* Puccini Tosca Recondita Armonia 1902. * Cilea Adriana Lecouvreur L'anima Ho Stanca 1904. Lontananza 1904.
* Neapolitan. Anon Fenesta Che Lucive 1902. Baldelli A Suon Di Baci 1902. Barthelemy Sulla Bocca Amorosa 1908. Triste Ritorno 1908. Serenamente 1909. Cannio Carmela Sua 1909. Di Capua O Sole Mio! 1908. Costa Napulitanata 1902. Tu Sei Morta Nella Vita Mia 1902. Era Di Maggio 1908. Oilì Oilà 1909. De Curtis A Surrentina 1909.Denza Occhi Di Fata 1904. Gambardella Nun Me Guardate 1909. Ricciardi Luna Lù 1909. Tosti Serenata 1904. Ideale 1902. Marechiare 1902. Fonotipia Records.
De Lucia Also Recorded 30 Neapolitan Songs For The Fonotipia Label Later Subsumed Under Odeon Records . This Company Began Recording Exclusively Celebrities In October 1904 Having Been Founded For That Purpose By Baron D'Erlanger As The Società Italiana Di Fonotipia Milano.
The De Lucia Titles Had The Catalogue Numbers 92695 To 92724 The 92000 Sequence Was Cut Between 1907 And 1914 On The Characteristic Ten And Three-Quarter Inch Fonotipia Record And These Were Probably Made After Cessation Of Work For Gramophone Co. Some Duplicate The HMV Songs. Phonotype Records.
Not To Be Confused With Fonotipia De Lucia Later Established His Own Recording Company The Phonotype Company Mainly To Ensure That His Art Was Suitably Immortalized. These Include Many Operatic Titles Including A Near-Complete Barber Of Seville. read less