Nelusko
His brother was the famous tenor Antonio
d'Andrade. His full name was Francisco Augusto de Andrade E Silva. In 1881 he studied singing under Manuel Carreira, Luiz da Costa and José Romano in Lisbon, but in 1886
he went to Milan,
where he was a pupil of pedagogues Miraglia and Ronconi. In 1882 he made his
debut in Sanremo
as Amonasro in Verdi’s ‘’Aida’’. During the following years he appeared with
success first in Italy, then
in Spain and Portugal, performing not only at the Teatro alla
Scala, but also at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome.
In 1886 he made guest appearance at Covent Garden, London as Renato in Verdi’s ‘’Ballo in
maschera’’, in which he had big success till 1890, among other things as
Germont ‘’Traviata’’, Enrico in ‘’Lucia di Lammermoor’’ and as Count di Luna in
‘’Trovatore’’. In 1887 he sang in Moscow
as Telramund in ‘’Lohengrin’’. In 1889 he went with an opera troupe of the
impresario Gardini, the husband of the soprano Etelka Gerster, to Berlin. He was so
successful there as Figaro in ‘’Barbiere di Siviglia’’, Rigoletto and as Don
Giovanni that he took later here his residence. From 1906 to 1916 he was often
to be heard at the Berlin Court Opera. From 1891 to 1910 he was nearly every
year appeared at the Opera House of Frankfurt
a. M., in 1894, 1896, 1901 and 1909 at the Municipal Theatre of Zurich. He
performed also in Germany, Holland, Austria,
Russia, England and Scandinavia
mainly as a Don Giovanni. In this part he counted as unequalled; his amusing
representation of the Don Giovanni was painted by Max Slevogt. Also in Salzburg (1901) he sang
the role of Don Giovanni together with Lilli Lehmann, Johanna Gadski and
Geraldine Farrar. Up to 1919 he appeared on the stage, last only as Don
Giovanni. His other star role was Figaro in Rossini’s ‘’Barbiere di Siviglia’’.
He controlled a stage repertoire of 56 roles into six languages, under it
numerous parts from the area of the French opera (Nevers in ‘’Les Huguénots’’,
Escamillo in ‘’Carmen’’, Hoël in ‘’Dinorah’’ of Meyerbeer, Zurga in ‘’Pêcheurs de perles’’ of
Bizet, Nelusco in ‘’L'Africaine’’, Valentin in ‘’'Faust’’ of Gounod, Scindia in
‘’Le Roi de Lahore’’ of Massenet). When Portugal
entered into the First World War, he had to leave in 1916 Germany. Then
he lived in Portugal,
where in 1918 for the last time he appeared on the stage as Figaro in ‘’Barbiere
di Siviglia’’. However, in 1919 he came back again to Berlin, but two years later died suddenly.
Chronology of some appearances
1882 Sanremo Opera House Aida (Amonasro)
1886 London Covent Garden Ballo in maschera (Renato)
1891-1910 Frankfurt a. M. Opera House
1906-1916 Berlin Court Opera
1894, 1896, 1901, 1909 Zurich Municipal Theatre
RECORDINGS FOR SALE
Lyrophon, Berlin 1908?
Guillaume Tell (Rossini): Sohn, knie nieder (Gebet) d'A4
Barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini) Ich bin das Faktotum d'A5
Tannhäuser (Wagner) Wie Todesahnung d'A9
Favorita (Donizetti): Arie des Alfonso d'A8
Don Giovanni (Mozart): Finch'han dal vino d'A12
