Description

GIUSEPPE DE LUCA (ROME, 25 DECEMBER, 1876 – NEW YORK, 26 AUGUST, 1950)

 

 

 

 

He early evinced promise as a singer, entering a singing school at the age of eight appearing in its choir as a boy s. of astonishing range. He entered the Santa Cecilia Accademia as early as 1892, when he was only fifteen. He studied five years with Venceslao Persichini (one of the most important coaches of the time). He was soon the prize pupil of the class (Tita Ruffo was another student at the same institute). In 1897, shortly before his twenty-first birthday, he made his début singing Valentin in Piacenza. The next important step was Milan. He appeared at the Teatro Lirico and La Scala for eight seasons. In 1907, 1910, 1911 he made guest appearances at Covent Garden and he also visited Poland and Russia. He was in formidable company where br.s were concerned: Scotti, Ruffo, Pacini and Sammarco were all on the roster of La Scala at his time. After 1915 he joined the ensemble of the Met and remained there as leading br. until 1946 (more than thirty years). He regularly appeared in South America, Spain, England, Russia, Germania and Austria. He created roles in several operas: Massenet’s Grisélidis and Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur in 1902, in 1903 Giordano’s Siberia and Sharpless in Puccini’s Madame Butterfly. Among his most frequent partners were Caruso, Rosa Ponselle, Claudia Muzio, Giovanni Martinelli, John McCormack, Adamo Didur and José Mardones. He sang Sancho Panza opposite Chaliapin at the world première of Massenet’s Don Quichotte in 1910. He had a repertoire of nearly 100 roles! He was an outstanding actor and was particularly acclaimed in character- and buffo roles. He sang the whole Verdi and Puccini repertoire. Apart from that he was successful as Wolfram and Beckmesser. He was a great Mozart singer (Don Giovanni, Figaro). His career lasted almost five decades! Comment: Clemens Höslinger writes: “De Luca’s recordings are among the most treasured belcanto documents known to to posterity. He was an artist who combined exquisite musicality and taste with a voice of rare distinction. His cultivated tone production, his legato technique and, not least, his pellucid diction make him paragon of vocal virtues…” De Luca was a master of legato singing. He used his voice with great skill. There is a wonderful nobility in his manner, and his singing commands attention by virtue of it as well as by its beauty. He had a strong sense of duty and always sang what was within the possibilities of his voice. De Luca was a prolific recording artist (he recorded from the very beginning until the end of his career). I cannot mention all his great recordings, but as a start I would recommend the Fonotipia recordings from 1905 and 1907. His voice got extremely well with the recording process. He makes the buffo- and character roles to the best ever recorded (Malatesta, Barbiere and… ). But also the more dramatic arias (in Andrea Chénier, Zazà, Rigoletto, Erodiade, Renato and… ) are superbly sung.

 

Chronology of some appearances

 

Il barone Scarpia 12/28/1915, Tonio 3/14/1916, Figaro 3/21/1916, Le grandprêtre de Dagon 11/28/1916, Plunkett 12/19/1916, Escamillo 1/9/1917, Rigoletto 3/6/1917, Sparafucile 3/6/1917, Giorgio Germont 2/5/1918, 2/5/1918, Rigoletto 3/12/1918, Il conte di Luna 4/16/1918, Mârouf 11/19/1918, Il suo visir 11/19/1918, Belcore 11/26/1918, Gianni Schicchi 12/17/1918, Ser Amantio di Nicolao 12/17/1918, Amonasro 1/7/1919, Figaro 2/4/1919, Il conte di Luna 3/4/1919, Don Carlo di Vargas 3/25/1919, Rigoletto 4/8/1919, Sparafucile 4/8/1919, Belcore 12/2/1919, Rigoletto 1/20/1920, Lord Enrico Asthon 4/13/1920, Ye vgeny Onegin 4/20/1920, Rodrigo 1/25/1921, Deputy 1/25/1921, 1/25/1921, Rigoletto 3/15/1921, Rodrigo 2/7/1922, Deputy 2/7/1922, 2/7/1922, Giorgio Germont 2/14/1922, 2/14/1922, Le grand-prêtre de Dagon 4/18/1922, Escamillo 3/13/1923, Giorgio Germont 4/3/1923, Lord Enrico Asthon 2/5/1924, Plunkett 2/19/1924, Magd 2/19/1924, Scindia 3/18/1924, Coppélius 12/2/1924, Dr. Miracle 12/2/1924, Dapertutto 12/2/1924, Sharpless 1/13/1925, Hoël 2/3/1925, Mercutio 2/17/1925, Plunkett 11/10/1925, Sancho Panza 4/6/1926, Ping 11/30/1926, Tonio 12/20/1927, Sharpless 1/3/1928, Figaro 1/31/1928, Dapertutto 2/14/1928, Rigoletto 12/4/1928, Lescaut 1/1/1929, Lord Enrico Asthon 3/26/1929, L’ondino 10/29/1929, Miller 1/14/1930, Mercutio 1/28/1930, Valentin 2/18/1930, Belcore 3/25/1930, Tonio 11/18/1930, Figaro 1/27/1931, Lescaut 3/24/1931, Giorgio Germont 12/1/1931, Rigoletto 1/19/1932, Marcello 2/2/1932, Figaro 3/22/1932, Rigoletto 2/7/1933, Lescaut 3/7/1933, Gianni Schicchi 1/23/1934, Lescaut 1/30/1934, Mercutio 2/20/1934, Marcello 2/13/1940, Giorgio Germont 2/27/1940, Rigoletto 5/21/1946 (in Filadelfia)

 

 

TRACKLIST

 

 

1 Ballo in maschera (Verdi) Alla vita che t’arride 39946, XPh2317 Fonotipia, Milano 1907-01-15

2 Ballo in maschera (Verdi) Eri tu 39945 XPh2305 Fonotipia, Milano 1907-01-14

3 Barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini) Largo al factotum 39951 XPh2306 Fonotipia, Milano 1907-01-14

4 Brilla la luna (Morlacchi) 39980 XPh2324 Fonotipia, Milano 1907-01-16

5 Damnation de Faust (Berlioz) C’era una volta 39165 XPh207 Fonotipia, Milano 1905-04

6 Damnation de Faust (Berlioz) E che fai tu qui 39168 XPh211 Fonotipia, Milano 1905-04

7 Damnation de Faust (Berlioz) Su queste rose 39170 XPh208 Fonotipia, Milano 1905-04

8 Dinorah (Meyerbeer) Sei vendicata assai 39952 XPh2313 Fonotipia, Milano 1907-01-15

9 Dolce Madonna (de Luca) 39938 XPh2325 Fonotipia, Milano 1907-01-16

10 Don Giovanni (Mozart) Deh, vieni alla finestra 39940 XPh2312 Fonotipia, Milano 1907-01-15

11 Don Pasquale (Donizetti) Bella siccome un angelo (w. Corradetti) 39939 XPh2296 Fonotipia, Milano 1907-01-12

12 13 Don Pasquale (Donizetti) Cheti, cheti immantinente…Aspetta, aspetta cara sposina (w. Corradetti) 39975, 39976, XPh2294, XPh2295 Fonotipia, Milano 1907-01-12

14 15 Don Pasquale (Donizetti) Pronta io son…Convien far la semplicetta…Via, da brava (w. Gonzaga) 62010, 62011,  XPh2386  XPh2387 Fonotipia, Milano 1907-01

16 Ernani (Verdi) Oh! de verd’anni miei 39944 XPh2307 Fonotipia, Milano 1907-01-14

17 Faust (Gounod) Dio possente 39949, XPh2298 Fonotipia, Milano 1907-01-12

18 Favorita (Donizetti) A tanto amor 39955 XPh2316 Fonotipia, Milano 1907-01-15

19 Favorita (Donizetti) Vien Leonora 39935 XPh2308 Fonotipia, Milano 1907-01-14

20 Germania (Franchetti) Ferito, prigionier! 39977 XPh2379 Fonotipia, Milano 1907-01-29

21 22 Gioconda (Ponchielli) Cosi mantieni il patto!… Ebbrezza! delirio! (w. Burzio) 74043 XXPh2391 Fonotipia, Milano 1907-01-31

23 Gioconda (Ponchielli) O monumento! 39950 XPh2328 Fonotipia, Milano 1907-01-16

24 Guillaume Tell (Rossini) Resta immobile 39983 XPh2366 Fonotipia, Milano 1907-01-28

25 Hamlet (Thomas) Come il romito fior 39979 XPh2326 Fonotipia, Milano 1907-01-16

26 Herodiade (Massenet) Vision fuggitiva 39954 XPh2315 Fonotipia, Milano 1907-01-15

27 I Due Ciabattini (Ruggi) Ars enico! Veleno! Son morto! (w. Corradetti) 62002 XPh2368 Fonotipia, Milano 1907-01-28.mp3

28 Ideale (Tosti) 39987 XPh2367 Fonotipia, Milano 1907-01-28

29 Impressioni campestri (E voi passate nel vial) (de Leva) 39986 XPh2370 Fonotipia, Milano 1907-01-29

30 Linda di Chamounix (Donizetti) Ambo nati in questa valle 39956 XPh2357 Fonotipia, Milano 1907-01-23

31 Lungi a amor (Aria antica) (Fasolo) 39984 XPh2371 Fonotipia, Milano 1907-01-29

32 Mia sposa sara (Rotoli) 39978 XPh2327 Fonotipia, Milano 1907-01-16

33 Nozze di Figaro (Mozart) Aprite un po’ quegli occhi 39941 XPh2358 Fonotipia, Milano 1907-01-23

34 Nozze di Figaro (Mozart) Se vuol ballare 39942 XPh2359 Fonotipia, Milano 1907-01-23

35 Occhi di fata (Denza) 39169, XPh228 Fonotipia, Milano 1905-04

36 Pastorale (de Leva) 39937 XPh2303 Fonotipia, Milano 1907-01-14

37 Pikova Dama (Tchaikovsky) Se all’egual di vaghi augelli 39936, XPh2302 Fonotipia, Milano 1907-01-14

38 Rigoletto (Verdi) Pari siamo! 39947 XPh2297 Fonotipia, Milano 1907-01-12

39 Roi de Lahore (Massenet) O casto fior 39953 XPh2314 Fonotipia, Milano 1907-01-15

40 Tannhauser (Wagner) O tu bell’astro 39987 XPh2385 Fonotipia, Milano 1907-01-31

41 Traviata (Verdi) Di Provenza il mar 39948 XPh2356 Fonotipia, Milano 1907-01-23

42 Trovatore (Verdi) Il balen 39943 XPh2304 Fonotipia, Milano 1907-01-14

43 Zaza (Leoncavallo) Buona Zaza 39985 XPh2372 Fonotipia, Milano 1907-01-29

44 Zaza (Leoncavallo) Zaza, piccola zingara 39366 XPh227 Fonotipia, Milano 1905-04