Antonio Cortis

Antonio Cortis was a leading Spanish lyric tenor in the first half of the 20th century. He was known both for his rich, lively voice, and for being the protégé of Enrico Caruso. Cortis was born aboard a ferry traveling from Algeria to Spain on the Alboran Sea in 1891. His father passed away shortly before his birth, and he was raised by his mother in Madrid. She encouraged him to pursue music, and when he was eight years old, he began studying composition and violin at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Madrid. However, he quickly changed his focus to singing after his professors discovered his exceptional voice. He also sang in the children's chorus at the Teatro Real until 1909, when his family moved to Barcelona. Cortis continued his musical studies at the municipal conservatory in Barcelona and joined the chorus of the Gran Teatro in Liceu. In 1912 he made his opera debut there in the role of Gastone in Verdi's La Traviata. Three years later, he accepted a position at the Teatro Real, where he sang comprimario tenor roles. Cortis performed in Spain and Italy for the next few years, and in 1917 he embarked on a tour in South America. This led him to Buenos Aires, where he sang with the great Enrico Caruso in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci. Caruso was very impressed with Cortis' performance and became a mentor to the young singer. Cortis received extensive coaching from Caruso regarding singing, and etiquette for both on and off the stage. He was grateful for Caruso's wisdom, but he returned to Europe and the two tenors parted ways at the end of the tour. By 1921, Cortis began receiving major roles and his popularity and fame continued to grow. He made his debut performances in Chicago and San Francisco in 1924, and for the next eight years he remained in high demand in Europe, South America, and Chicago, where he returned annually. He also made several recordings from this time with many of the major record labels, including HMV, Parlophone, and Victor. At this point, the world economy had already begun to degrade due to the Great Depression, leading Cortis back to Spain, which appeared to be relatively stable. Shortly after he arrived, the Spanish Civil War had started, which made it difficult for him to travel and work, and gradually depleted his finances. As the war in Spain came to an end in 1939, World War II had begun in the rest of the world, which once again made it impossible to travel outside of Spain. These unfortunate circumstances left Cortis desperate for work, so he began accepting roles in less prominent venues, and he started a school for singers in Valencia. Throughout the 1940s, he performed solely in Spain, and he continued teaching. He suffered from increasing health problems in his final years, and in 1952 he passed away at his home near Valencia.
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