Mario del Monaco
The stentorian dramatic tenor of Mario del Monaco was heard throughout the world during the 1950s and 1960s. While often berated by critics for his unsubtle vocal production, del Monaco was a favorite of audiences who appreciated his power and sincerity of approach while tackling the heaviest roles in the Italian tenor repertory. A contract with Decca (London in the United States) produced a long series of recordings, many of them in partnership with Renata Tebaldi, and most of which have been reissued in CD format.
After having studied the early recordings of many tenors, del Monaco studied for a short time at the Pesaro Conservatory before gaining entry in 1935 to the school attached to the Rome Opera, largely through the urging of conductor Tullio Serafin. His formal debut occurred in 1941 at the Teatro Puccini as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly -- while on leave from the army. Engagements were quickly forthcoming once WW II ended. A successful Radames (Aïda) at Verona was followed by appearances at Covent Garden with the Neapolitan Opera (Canio, Cavaradossi, and Pinkerton). Central and South America offered performances in Mexico City, at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and in Rio de Janeiro.
His North American debut took place at the San Francisco Opera as Radames in 1950. He was thereupon engaged by Rudolf Bing for a November 1950 appearance at the Metropolitan as des Grieux in Manon Lescaut. Subsequently, he sang more than 100 performances at the Met over the course of seven seasons, appearing also at Chicago's Lyric Opera during the 1950s. In that time, del Monaco became the world's leading Otello, performing the role (according to his own tally) 427 times. Other roles which formed the core of his repertory included Enzo in Ponchielli's La Gioconda, the title role in Giordano's Andrea Chénier (next to Otello perhaps his most authoritative role), Don Alvaro in La forza del destino, Don José and Saint-Saëns' Samson (despite his less-than-fluent French), Verdi's Ernani, Dick Johnson in Puccini's La fanciulla del West and Pollione in Bellini's Norma. In Italy, he occasionally ventured into the Wagnerian repertory, although these performances were sung in Italian. He did, however, record Siegmund's "Winterstürme" from Die Walküre in German. It was not regarded as a success.
From the 1960s to his retirement from the stage in 1973, del Monaco increasingly confined his appearances to Italy, although he continued to record for Decca. His Loris in Giordano's Fedora (with Magda Olivero as the heroine) was taped when the singer was in his mid-fifties, by which time his voice had lost what little pliancy it had possessed earlier.
Among del Monaco's most prominent recordings are his two as Otello, each with the same principals (Tebaldi as Desdemona and Aldo Protti as Iago), but the second with Herbert von Karajan as conductor. His Andrea Chénier was preserved by Decca with Tebaldi as Maddalena and Ettore Bastianini as Gérard as well as in a live recording from Tokyo with Tebaldi and Protti.
The un-orthodox method of vocal production favored by del Monaco allowed him an overwhelming measure of strength in his middle and upper-middle registers, but lent a metallic buzz to his timbre and precluded his singing softly. Still, critics, following his death, rued his passing as they recalled performances of unsurpassed excitement.
© TiVo
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Airs d'opéras (Mono Version)
Generi vari - Pubblicato da BNF Collection il 1 gen 1955
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mascagni: Cavalleria rusticana, extraits (Mono Version)
Mario del Monaco, Elena Nicolai, Orchestra Sinfonica Giuseppe Verdi Di Milano, Franco Ghione
Generi vari - Pubblicato da BNF Collection il 1 gen 1958
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Verdi: Rigoletto, extraits (Mono Version)
Giulietta Simionato, Mario del Monaco, Orchestra dell'Accademia nazionale di Santa Cecilia di Roma, Alberto Erede
Generi vari - Pubblicato da BNF Collection il 1 gen 1960
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Ponchielli: La Gioconda, Excerpts (Mono Version)
Giulietta Simionato, Mario del Monaco, Gianandrea Gavazzeni
Generi vari - Pubblicato da BNF Collection il 1 gen 1959
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Puccini: Tosca, Extracts (Mono Version)
Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale Di Santa Cecilia, Renata Tebaldi, Mario del Monaco
Classica - Pubblicato da BNF Collection il 1 gen 1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Verdi: Aida
Maria Callas, Mario del Monaco, Giusseppe Taddei
Opera - Pubblicato da Urania il 1 gen 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Puccini: Il Tabarro
Robert Merrill, Renata Tebaldi, Mario del Monaco
Opera - Pubblicato da Past Classics il 25 nov 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ruggero Leoncavallo: Pagliacci
Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale Di Santa Cecilia, Franceso Molinari-Prandelli, Mario del Monaco, Gabriella Tucci
Opera - Pubblicato da Music Manager il 22 giu 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vintage Opera Masters
Classica - Pubblicato da Carinco AG il 17 nov 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Arias from "Pagliacci" "Cavalleria Rusticana"
Opera - Pubblicato da MVE il 15 nov 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Il mio primo Angelo
Classica - Pubblicato da Logo Records il 22 apr 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mario Del Monaco: Selections of Giordano, Saint-Saëns, Riccardo Zandonai
Opera - Pubblicato da Urania il 7 feb 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Vocal Recital: Tebaldi, Renata / Del Monaco, Mario - Verdi, G / Puccini, G. (1952, 1954)
Renata Tebaldi, Mario del Monaco, Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale Di Santa Cecilia, Alberto Erede, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli
Opera - Pubblicato da Naxos Classical Archives il 1 gen 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Opera Arias (Tenor): Del Monaco, Mario - Verdi, G. / Giordano, U. / Zandonai, R. / Massenet, J. / Bizet, G. / Catalani, A. / Donizetti, G. (1956)
Mario del Monaco, The New Symphony Orchestra of London, Alberto Erede
Opera - Pubblicato da Naxos Classical Archives il 1 gen 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vocal Recital: Del Monaco, Mario - Leoncavallo, R. / Verdi, G. / Puccini, G. / Halevy, J.E. (1953-1954)
Mario del Monaco, Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale Di Santa Cecilia, Orchestra del Teatro della Scala di Milano, Alberto Erede, Franco Ghione
Opera - Pubblicato da Naxos Classical Archives il 1 gen 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Del Monaco, Mario: Italian Opera Arias for Tenor (1955)
Opera - Pubblicato da Naxos Classical Archives il 18 giu 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Famous Love Scenes Series (Mono Version)
Renata Tebaldi, Mario del Monaco, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli
Generi vari - Pubblicato da BNF Collection il 1 gen 1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Addio a Napoli (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Pop - Pubblicato da JB Production CH il 31 dic 1951
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Improvviso (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Pop - Pubblicato da JB Production CH il 31 dic 1951
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Nessun dorma (Turandot)
Pop - Pubblicato da JB Production il 13 apr 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo