Gigli biography

His operatic debut came on 15 Octoberwhen he played Enzo in Amilcare Ponchielli 's La Gioconda in Rovigofollowing which he was in great demand. Two other great Italian tenors present on the roster of Met singers during the s also happened to be Gigli's chief contemporary rivals for tenor supremacy in the Italian repertory — namely, Giovanni Martinelli and Giacomo Lauri-Volpi.

Gigli rose to true international prominence after the death of the great Italian tenor Enrico Caruso in Such was his popularity with audiences he was often called "Caruso Secondo", though he much preferred to be known as "Gigli Primo". In fact, the comparison was not valid as Caruso had a bigger, darker, more heroic voice than Gigli's sizable yet honey-toned lyric instrument.

Gigli left the Met inostensibly after refusing to take a pay cut. Giulio Gatti-Casazzathe Met's then general manager, was furious at his company's most popular male singer; he told the press that Gigli was the only singer not to accept the pay cut.

Gigli biography: Beniamino Gigli was.

There were in fact several others, Lily Pons and Rosa Ponselle among them; and it is well documented that Gatti-Casazza gave himself a large pay increase inso that after the pay cut in his salary remained the same as it had been originally. Furthermore, Gatti was careful to gigli biography Gigli's counter offer from the press, in which the singer offered to sing five or six concerts gratis, which in dollars saved was worth more than Gatti's imposed pay cut.

After leaving the Met, Gigli returned again to Italy, and sang in houses there, elsewhere in Europe, and in South America. He was criticised for being a favourite singer of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolinihaving recorded the Fascist anthem " Giovinezza " in it is noticeably excluded from his "Edizione Integrale", released by EMI [ 4 ].

Toward the end of World War IIhe was able to give few performances. However, he immediately returned to the stage when the war ended inand the audience acclaim was greater and more clamorous than ever. In addition to his stage performances, Gigli appeared as an actor in over twenty films from to In the last few years of his life, Gigli gave concert performances more often than he appeared on stage.

Before his retirement inGigli undertook an exhausting world tour of farewell concerts, including performances at the Metropolitan Opera. Gigli was initiated to Freemasonry. He died of pneumonia in Rome in Like many artists, Gigli was a man of contradictions. Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

January 8, Retrieved January 08, from Encyclopedia. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia. Gigli, Beniamino gale. Learn more about citation styles Citation styles Encyclopedia.

Gigli, Beniamino oxford. Gigli, Beniamino b Recanati, ; d Rome First prize int.

Gigli biography: Beniamino Gigli was an Italian opera

Still sang superbly on tour of USA More From encyclopedia. About this article Beniamino Gigli All Sources. Updated Aug 13 About encyclopedia. This impaired his health in the two years that remained to him, during which time he helped prepare his memoirs based primarily on an earlier memoir, fleshed out by a series of interviews. Gigli was initiated to the Freemasonry.

Like many artists, Gigli was a man of contradictions. On one hand, he gave more fund-raising concerts and raised more money than any other singer in history, with close to one thousand benefit concerts. He was deeply devoted to Padre Piohis confessor, to whom he donated a large amount of money. Also, Gigli sang an unusual amount of sacred music especially in the satypical of a leading operatic tenor.

Additionally, he was throughout his life deeply devoted to the sacred music of Don Lorenzo Perosi. He said in his memoirs he was married six months earlier than he really was; this was to conceal that his wife Costanza was pregnant before reaching the altar. Gigli had two children with Costanza: Enzo and Rina. The latter was a well-known soprano in her own right.

Later, Gigli is well known to have had a second family with Lucia Vigarani, producing three children. Despite his contractual obligations at the 'Met', where one twelve month contract succeeded another, Gigli debuted to acclaim in London and Paris CD 3 tr. His contacts in Europe were to be particularly important, when in he broke with the 'Met', in acrimonious gigli biographies.

This was over a proposed pay cut to all artists as the theatre shared the world's economic downturn. Kay deals with this matter and Gigli's attitude to it at the time, and later, in detail. It followed the death of the singer's mother to whom he was greatly attached CD 3 trs. Europe gained from America's loss tr. Particularly interesting in the history of recorded opera is the recording, for issue on 78s, of complete works during the s.

This happened even in the wartime Italy of the early s.

Gigli biography: Beniamino Gigli was an

Gigli features in many such recordings and generous examples from these are included. Particularly appealing are 'Che gelida manina' and 'O soave fanciulla', with Licia Albanese. There are equally welcome and vocally thrilling excerpts from the Tosca, Cavaradossi being one of Gigli's more rousing early roles CD 3 trs. There is also Cavalleria Rusticana CD 4 tr.

All of these come over with a clarity and dynamism that speaks well for the care of the restorers. The latter recordings bring into focus Gigli's wartime singing activities and Kay examines the allegations of the singer's support for the fascist regime and their refutation. Once those issues were out of the way, on May 4th Gigli was back at the Rome Opera in La Forza del Destino and performing benefit concerts for the partisans.

With his voice in excellent shape, as evidenced by the recordings, Gigli spent many of the post-war years on the recital platform. There I was privileged to hear him. He wrote a very self-aware memoir and died of pneumonia on the 30 Novemberaged He was given the greatest funeral ever accorded to an Italian singer CD 4 tr.