Werther franco corelli biography

On Saturday there was the rewarding La Traviata with Scotto, Zanasi and Bergonzi far better looking when not in medieval attire and singing like an archangel. After the performance I drove back to our camping at 2 a. And then out of the Alps came a storm that hurled along the Garda lake.

Werther franco corelli biography

I duly did and we survived. Next day there was a small rain now and then while sometimes a bleak sun would appear. It was one of the most nerve racking days of my life. In the evening it was still not clear how the weather would turn out when I drove to Verona. My friend accompanied me and we took place on the prima gradinata. A German father and his two beautiful daughters were seated in front of us.

As it was August the opera started at 9 p. And a quarter of an hour later I had the feeling I had surpassed Moses unless some later friends; stern Corellistis who would never hear him in the flesh and thus never enter the promise land. Well, one knows how he looked: the dream of every operatic director at the time. The most magnificent tenor ever to appear upon a scene: lean, romantic, tall though bass Giovanni Fioani, deep booming impressive voice and sadly under recorded, was even a few inches taller.

And there was the tenor voice so well known from records; big, cutting, clinging to his high notes as long as possible. In my heart of hearts I had to admit however that after all his sense of style was somewhat lacking. The guy pretended he had a treasure trove of live recordings which he would gladly share in exchange for the necessary dollars.

So for several years I became a good customer for his tapes. The voice had become drier; the breath was remarkably shorter and he sang with great outbursts of sound and without much legato. And as I already knew from his fine Met Forza he had become more or less his own conductor; sometimes almost recomposing his parts for comfort or impact.

I nowadays can only pity those Met conductors whose only task was to follow Mr. Corelli in his endeavours. In I heard and saw him for the last time: once again in Carmen. He looked quite a bit older he was already 54 but I was not very surprised at the decline of the voice. Then came Il fiore and he went at it with claws and teeth. The arena came down and the Italians were screeching their heads off.

Well, I could understand them. So as a loyal fan I joined them. And then the incredible happened. Gradually, there came more sheen upon the voice; he found back his eternal breath and he completely dominated the big ensemble at the end of act 3. Corelli himself, however, was never truly convinced of his choice, these were difficult parts for him, and in the end prevented him from singing in particular two parts the opera world sadly missed out: Manon Lescaut and Otello.

His most cherished roles were Andrea Chenier, to many unsurpassed in this century, and probably his Calaf or Cavaradossi, which heroic spinto qualities matched those of Corelli perfectly. Franco Corelli passed away in Milano, where he resided, on 29 October at With his death one of the last great tenors of the 20th century is gone.

All rights reserved. Design interior with AI: RoomDeco. Menu Content guide Team Contact About. Tenors Franco Corelli November 2, Share: Click to share on Facebook Opens in new window Click to share on Twitter Opens in new window Click to email a link to a friend Opens in new window. Focus Features. Their marriage endured until Corelli's death forty-five years later.

Corelli made his debut at New York 's Metropolitan Opera on 27 January as Manrico in Il trovatore , opposite soprano Leontyne Price as Leonora who was also making her house debut at the Met that evening. He sang at a number of historic nights at the Met including: the closing gala at the old Met, the concert honoring Sir Rudolf Bing 's retirement, and Callas's legendary comeback Tosca.

However, Corelli did tour extensively with the Metropolitan Opera in , singing in performances in cities throughout the United States and in Japan. While singing at the Met, Corelli continued to be a presence on the international stage. In he made his debut with the Deutsche Oper Berlin. He returned to Philadelphia almost every year through portraying close to a dozen different roles.

He also earned high acclaim while collaborating with the Italian-American conductor Alfredo Antonini in several gala concerts in New York during the mid s. In the early s, Corelli's voice began to show some signs of wear after years of hard use in a demanding repertory. As a result, the resultant nerves surrounding performances became increasingly difficult to handle for the tenor.

He made his last opera appearance as Rodolfo in in Torre del Lago at the age of The singer's life cost me a great deal. I was full of apprehension and mad at everyone. I was a bundle of nerves, I wasn't eating or sleeping. After retiring from the stage, Corelli became a popular voice teacher in New York City, somewhat ironic for a man who himself disdained voice teachers for much of his life.

With a rich and ringing spinto tenor voice and movie-star good looks, Corelli won a wide public following from early on his career. However, while the public was enthralled with the tenor, music critics were divided, with some complaining about what they perceived as self-indulgence of phrasing and expression. During the s the anti-Corelli sentiment was epitomized by Alan Rich of The New York Herald Tribune in a article which, while acknowledged the vibrancy and white heat of his singing, considered Corelli a throwback.

Rich said that Corelli is "not employed by an opera, but employs it to serve purposes it was not meant to serve. Schonberg of The New York Times , who once defended the expressive liberties taken by Corelli saying that his performance possessed "its own kind of logic". Corelli made many recordings of solo arias and complete operas. These reveal the splendour of Corelli's voice in its prime during the late s and s.

Many admirers prefer recordings of his live performances, finding Corelli's singing in front of an audience more exciting than his studio performances. Many of these are available. Contents move to sidebar hide. He also had the opportunity of interviewing numerous Oscar nominees, Golden Globe winners and film industry giants such as Guillermo del Toro, Oscar Isaac and John Leguizamo among others.

During his time at Fordham, he studied abroad at the Jagiellonian University in Poland. Categories Opera Wiki.