Toti Dal Monte
Nicknamed "La Toti" by her many admirers, Toti Dal Monte possessed a light coloratura voice whose delicate tone was often compared to the strains of a nightingale. She was thus cast in roles of vulnerable, often unstable heroines (i.e., Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor and Amina in La sonnambula). But she was perhaps best known for her Cio-Cio-San, from Madama Butterfly. After retiring from the operatic stage she took up acting, but not nearly with the success she achieved as a singer.
Toti Dal Monte was the stage name of Antonietta Meneghelli. She was born in the Italian town of Mogliano Veneto on June 27, 1893. She studied with famed contralto Barbara Marchisio and with composer Antonio Pini-Corsi. She debuted at La Scala at the age of 23 (1916) in the challenging role of Biancafiore from the then-new opera Francesca da Rimini by Riccardo Zandonai.
She returned to La Scala in 1922 and made numerous appearances there over the next couple of decades singing a broad range of roles, including those already mentioned to Linda di Chamounix from Donizetti's eponymous opera, as well as Rosalina from Giordano's Il Re. Her U.S. debut took place in November 1924 at the Chicago Civic Opera, and the following month she debuted to thundering applause at the Metropolitan Opera singing Lucia, a performance that received major coverage in the December 15, 1924, issue of Time Magazine. She appeared at Covent Garden several times, but only during 1925. She continued to sing at Chicago until 1928.
Some might assert that her greatest legacy to opera came with her 1939 recording of Madama Butterfly, featuring Beniamino Gigli as Pinkerton. Dal Monte's Cio-Cio-San is considered by many critics the finest ever, and the recording itself one of the greatest the work has received. In 1939 Dal Monte also appeared in her first film, Carnevale di Venezia. She followed it with appearances in rather obscure movies from the 1940s and 1950s that include Assi della risate (1943) and Cuore di Mamma (1954). Her last film was the 1970 Anonimo Veniziano that starred Tony Musante. Dal Monte also took up teaching when she retired from opera. Her students included Gianna d'Angelo and Halina Lukomska. Dal Monte died in Treviso, Italy, on January 26, 1975.
© TiVo
Diskografie
9 Album, -en • Geordnet nach Bestseller
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Madama Butterfly (Gigli, Dal Monte) (1939)
Gesamtaufnahmen von Opern - Erschienen bei Naxos am 16.04.2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lebendige Vergangenheit - Toti dal monte
Brasilianische Musik - Erschienen bei Preiser Records am 07.02.1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lebendige Vergangenheit - Toti dal Monte (Vol.2)
Klassik - Erschienen bei Preiser Records am 05.09.2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Puccini: Madame Butterfly, vol. 2 (Mono Version)
Toti Dal Monte, Beniamino Gigli, Orchestra del Teatro Reale dell'Opera di Roma, Oliviero de Fabritiis
Verschiedenes - Erschienen bei BNF Collection am 01.01.1954
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Puccini: Madame Butterfly, vol. 1 (Mono Version)
Toti Dal Monte, Beniamino Gigli, Orchestra del Teatro Reale dell'Opera di Roma, Oliviero de Fabritiis
Verschiedenes - Erschienen bei BNF Collection am 01.01.1954
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Voix illustres. L'âge d'or (Mono Version)
Mary garden, Toti Dal Monte, Giovanni Martinelli, Tito Schipa
Verschiedenes - Erschienen bei BNF Collection am 01.01.1962
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Rossini & Verdi: Airs d'opéras (Mono Version)
Verschiedenes - Erschienen bei BNF Collection am 01.01.1956
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Madama Butterfly
Beniamino Gigli, Toti Dal Monte
Klassik - Erschienen bei Tratore am 13.10.1939
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Singers of the Century: Cinefollia! – Opera Singers in Film (2014 Digital Remastering)
Beniamino Gigli, Gino Bechi, Giuseppe Lugo, Toti Dal Monte, Tito Schipa, Tito Gobbi
Klassik - Erschienen bei Jube Classic am 03.02.2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo