He was the son of Italian parents who grew up
in North America. He studied at the Curtis institute of Music in Philadelphia,
where among other things he was a pupil of Emilio de Gogorza. In 1930 he made
his debut at the Philadelphia Opera as messenger in G. Verdi’s ‘’Aida’’. In
1929 he went to Europe and became one of the most significant heroic tenors of his
generation, especially he was highly acclaimed for his interpretations of Wagner
performances. He sang in many famous Italian opera houses, above all at the Teatro
dell'Opera di Roma, where in 1936 he had one of the biggest successes of his
artistic career as Tristan in R. Wagner’s ‘’Tristan und Isolde’’. In 1939 he appeared
there in the premiere of Lodovico Rocca's opera ‘’Monte Ivnor’’. Also at athe Teatro alla Scala in Milano he had through the 1940-1948 seasons a successful career. Here he made
his debut as Parsifal. His big parts were generally found in Wagner's operas: Tannhäuser,
Lohengrin, Tristan, Siegmund in "Walküre" and Loge in "Rheingold".
His repertoire included also Samson in ‘’Samson et Dalila’’, José in ‘’Carmen’’
and Herodes in ‘’Salome’’. After his retirement he taught singing in Milano.
Chronology of some appearances
1930 Philadelphia Opera Aida (messenger)
1936 Roma Teatro dell'Opera Tristan und Isolde (Tristan)
1938 Roma Teatro dell'Opera L'oro del Reno (Loge)
1938 Roma Teatro dell'Opera La walkiria (Siegmund)
1939 Roma Teatro dell'Opera Fra Gherardo (Gherardo)
1940 Milano Teatro alla Scala Parsifal (Parsifal)
1942 Napoli Teatro San Carlo Lo straniero (straniero)
1943 Milano Teatro alla Scala Il ritorno di Ulisse in patria (prologo)
1946 Parma Teatro Regio Pagliacci (Canio)
1946 Roma Teatro dell'OperaNorma (Pollione)
1947 Milano Teatro alla Scala Sansone e Dalila (Sansone)
RECORDINGS FOR SALE
Parsifal (Live/Teatro alla Scala 21 March 1940)
Parsifal (Wagner): Amfortas! Die Wunde!
Parsifal (Wagner): Duo with Piroska Tutsek
Salome (RAI Turín, 4 October 1952)
Salome (Strauss): Wo ist Salome?, with Lily Djanel and Maria Benedetti
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