Description

ARMANDO BORGIOLI (FLORENCE, ITALY, 19 MARCH, 1898 – MILAN-MODENA TRAIN NEAR CODOGNO, ITALY, 20 JANUARY, 1945)

 

 

 

 

He began his career in 1923. In 1925, he sang with great success at the Teatro Carcano in Milan as Amonasro in G. Verdi’s Aida. In 1926, he appeared at the opera in Catania and at the Arena di Verona in Il Trovatore. In 1927, he was engaged by La Scala in Milan (debut role: Alfio in Cavalleria rusticana), where in 1928 he took part in the premiere of La Maddalena by V. Michetti. Until 1944, he appeared at La Scala, and also sang at other leading opera houses across Italy.

From 1931 to 1935, he was a member of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, making his debut in 1932 as Don Carlo in La forza del destino. At the Met, his roles included Count di Luna in Il trovatore, Amonasro in Aida, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, Barnaba in A. Ponchielli’s La Gioconda, Gérard in U. Giordano’s Andrea Chénier, Nelusco in G. Meyerbeer’s L’Africaine, and Tonio in Pagliacci.

He achieved great success in South America, particularly at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and at the Opera of Rio de Janeiro, where he appeared in the 1936–1937 season, as well as from 1940 to 1941.

In 1927, he made a guest appearance at Covent Garden in London, singing in Il trovatore. In 1928, he performed there in P. Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana and Verdi’s Aida. In 1933, he again appeared at Covent Garden in Aida and La bohème, and in 1937 he sang Orest in Iphigénie en Tauride.

He appeared at the Arena di Verona in Rigoletto (1928), L’Africaine (1932), Il trovatore (1933), La Gioconda (1934), Lucia di Lammermoor (1938), and Tannhäuser (1938). At the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, he sang in Loreley (1930), Il tabarro (1939), Andrea Chénier, and I vespri siciliani. At the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, he appeared in Lohengrin (1926), Il trovatore, La Wally (1931), Aida (1936), Simon Boccanegra (1938), Tannhäuser, and Rigoletto (1939). At the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, he sang in Un ballo in maschera (1935) and Il trovatore (1939).

He was killed in an air raid while traveling by train from Milan to Modena.

 

 

TRACKLIST

 

Giuseppe Verdi: Aida

Aida: Giannina Arangi-Lombardi

Amneris: Maria Capuana

Radamès: Aroldo Lindi

Amonasro: Armando Borgioli

Ramfis: Tancredi Pasero

Il Re: Salvatore Baccaloni

Un Messaggero: Giuseppe Nessi

Conductor: Lorenzo Molajoli

Coro e Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano

Studio Recording, 1928

 

Giacomo Puccini: Tosca

Angelotti: Ernesto Dominici

Sagrestano: Giulio Tomei

Cavaradossi: Beniamino Gigli

Tosca: Maria Caniglia

Scarpia: Armando Borgioli

Spoletta: Nino Mazziotti

Sciarrone: Gino Conti

Un pastore: Anna Marcangeli

Coro e Orchestra del Teatro Reale dell’ Opera di Roma

Maestro del coro: Giuseppe Conca

Direttore e maestro concertatore: Oliviero De Fabritiis

Recorded September 1938

 

Giuseppe Verdi: Aida

Aida: Maria Caniglia

Radamès: Beniamino Gigli

Amneris: Ebe Stignani

Amonasro: Armando Borgioli

Ramphis: Corrado Zambelli

Il Re di Egitto: Norman Walker

Una Sacerdotessa: Josephine Wray

Un Messaggero: Blando Giusti

Conductor Thomas Beecham

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Chorus of Covent Garden

Recording of a live performance at Covent Garden (25 May 1939).