Forgotten Opera Singers

Forgotten Opera Singers

Feb 24, 2025

THE STUDENTS OF ARTURO MELOCCHI (1879-1960) 2 CDR

 



ARTURO DI GIUSEPPE MELOCCHI (MILAN, ITALY, DECEMBER 9, 1879 – PESARO, ITALY, OCTOBER 25, 1960)


 


 

Arturo Melocchi was an Italian baritone and voice teacher who is best known for having been the teacher of dramatic tenor Mario Del Monaco and whose method influenced the voice and technical development of tenor Franco Corelli. Arturo Melocchi was born in Milan. He studied at the Regio Conservatorio di Milano under Giuseppe Gallignani, who was also the director of the Conservatory. On November 13, 1907 Melocchi graduated, receiving his license to be a singer, as well as to become a teacher of singing at any public school in Italy. Melocchi became a teacher of singing at the Conservatory, appointed by Gallignani. In January 1912 he was called to take the title the Chair of Singing at the Liceo Musicale Rossini in Pesaro. He held this position uninterruptedly until 1941. Around 1932 a young Mario Del Monaco—whose voice had been dangerously lightened in his studies with Luisa Melai-Palazzini, destroying its natural emission and timbre—began to consult and take lessons from Melocchi, who reeducated his voice with the appropriate exercises, gradually returning it its power, its breadth and natural ease, and giving it its full homogeneity along the entire range from low B♭ to high D♭. However, not yet satisfied with the progress he had achieved, Del Monaco began to make up and add to his technique, in order to get more from his vocal organs. In 1936, Del Monaco won a prize that gave him the opportunity to study his craft at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma. This experience, in which he was again assigned inappropriate light repertoire, caused him to lose his voice nearly completely. In 1938, he returned to Pesaro, where he attempted to resume his studies with Melocchi. At first Melocchi did not take Del Monaco back, but at the insistence of Rina Filippini (later Del Monaco’s wife), Melocchi accepted the tenor into his studio, and within six months, Del Monaco’s voice was rebuilt to the state that quickly carried him forward to becoming the greatest dramatic tenor of the mid-20th century. . During the entire period of fascism in Italy, Melocchi was one of only two teachers at the Liceo Rossini who never joined the Fascist Party and refused the Fascist card. Between the time of Melocchi’s suspension and the end of the fascist Italian Social Republic in 1945, he spent three years abroad, teaching singing at a school of music in Hong Kong and at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. In August 1945, Melocchi himself submitted a lengthy petition to the Ministry of Public Instruction (Arts Division) to allow him to take up his post again at the Liceo Rossini. According to the annals of the school, pleas from students and colleagues—as well as the recent death of tenor and teacher Umberto Macnez—did finally result in his reassignment there from 1947 to 1949.



TRACKLIST


 

Edmondo Grandini Faust (Gounod) Dio possente 1-35236 Favorite, Verona

Edmondo Grandini Don Carlo (Verdi) Morte di Rodrigo 1-35240 Favorite, Verona

Ettore Parmeggiani Lohengrin (Wagner):  Da voi lontan D 6119 WB 2706 Columbia, Milano 1928

Ettore Parmeggiani Lohengrin (Wagner):  Merce, merce D 5837 WB 1942 Columbia, Milano 1928

Ettore Parmeggiani Lohengrin (Wagner):  Cessaro i canti with Maria Zamboni GQX 10271 BX 600 Columbia, Milano 1928

Ettore Parmeggiani Lohengrin (Wagner):  O ciel quai detti with Maria Zamboni GQX 10271 BX 602 Columbia, Milano 1928

Ettore Parmeggiani Traviata (Verdi): Brindisi with Assunta Gargiulo D 5612 B 1250 Columbia, Milano 1928

Ettore Parmeggiani Traviata (Verdi): Prendi, quest’e l’immagine with Assunta Gargiulo and Gino Vanelli  D 5612 B1251 Columbia, Milano 1928

Ettore Parmeggiani Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni): O Lola D5625 B1260 Columbia, Milano 1928

Ettore Parmeggiani Traviata (Verdi): Dei miei bollenti spiriti D 5836 B 1913 Columbia, Milano 1928-04-26

Ettore Parmeggiani Fedora (Giordano): Amor ti vieta D11559 B2695 Columbia, Milano 1928-05-03

Ettore Parmeggiani Iris (Mascagni):  Apri la tua finestra D 5836 B 1913 Columbia, Milano 1928-05-07

Aldo Bottion Adriana Lecouvreur (Cilea) L’anima ho stanca

Aldo Bottion Fedora (Giordano) Mia madre, la mia vecchia madre

Aldo Bottion Giulietta e Romeo (Zandonai) Giulietta, son io

Aldo Bottion La Forza del Destino (Verdi) La vita è inferno all’infelice… O tu che seno agli angeli

Aldo Bottion Rigoletto (Verdi) Parmi veder le lagrime

Mario Del Monaco Ernani (Verdi) Come rugiada al cespite

Mario Del Monaco Otello (Verdi) Tu, indietro… Ora e per sempre addio

Mario Del Monaco La Forza del Destino (Verdi) O tu che in seno agli angeli

Mario Del Monaco Aida (Verdi) Se quel guerriero io fossi…Celeste Aida

Mario Del Monaco Rigoletto (Verdi) Questa o quella

Gastone Limarilli La Fanciulla del west (Puccini) Or son sei mesi

Gastone Limarilli Werther (Massenet) Ah non mi ridestar

Gastone Limarilli Andrea Chénier (Giordano) Come un bel di’ di maggio

Gastone Limarilli Bohême (Puccini) Testa adorata

Gastone Limarilli Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni) Siciliana

Giorgio Merighi Ernani (Verdi) Come rugiada al cespite

Giorgio Merighi Tosca (Puccini) Recondita armonia

Giorgio Merighi Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni) Mamma, quel vino è generoso


THE STUDENTS OF ARTURO MELOCCHI (1879-1960) 2 CDR

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