Carlo Bergonzi, one of the greatest tenors of the 20th Century, died last night in Milan's Auxologico Institute, just two weeks after celebrating his 90th birthday on 13 July.
Bergonzi was born in Vidalenzo di Polesine Parmense near Parma in 1924 and at 16 he studied as a baritone in Parma's Arrigo Boito Conservatoire. At 19, during the Second World War he finished in a hard labour camp in Germany. When he returned to Italy he continued his studies in Brescia. His début was in 1947 in a small theatre in Varedo, just outside Milan, as Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia. For several years he continued as a baritone, even singing Rigoletto when he was still very young. While singing in a production of Madama Butterfly in Livorno in 1950 he discovered, while in his dressing room, that he could hit a high-C, and the next year he made his début as a tenor in Andrea Chénier in Bari.
As 1951 was the 50th Anniversary of the death of Verdi, he was signed up by Rai radio to record Giovanna d’Arco, Simon Boccanegra and I due Foscari. He made three important débuts in 1953 at La Scala, the Stoll Theatre in London at at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. In 1955 he embarked on a career in America, first at Chicago, and the following year at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. ...continue reading.
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