Ettore Bastianini

Ettore Bastianini (24 September 1922 – 25 January 1967) was an Italian operatic baritone who was particularly associated with the operas of the bel canto tradition.

Born in Siena, Bastianini first began performing at fifteen while apprenticed to a pastry chef, Gaetano Vanni, who discovered his vocal talent and encouraged him to join the choir of his hometown's cathedral.

Between 1937 and 1938, he sang bass during Masses and religious functions at the church.

In 1939 he began singing lessons under Fathima and Anselmo Ammanati, who continued training him as a bass.

He sang his first professional concerts in 1940 and 1941 in Asciano and Siena at the Fortezza Medicea and Teatro dei Rozzi.

In 1942 he won first prize in the 6th National Singing Contest at the Teatro Comunale, Florence, but was soon drafted into the Italian Air Force which prevented him from immediately enjoying the scholarship accompanying the prize.

After serving in the Italian Air Force between 1943 and 1944 toward the end of World War II, Bastianini resumed his career.

On 28 January 1945, in a Siena concert, he sang the bass arias "Vecchia zimarra" from Puccini's La bohème and "La calunnia è un venticello" from Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia.

That November, he made his operatic debut as Colline in La bohème at the Teatro Alighieri in Ravenna.

His only son, Jago, was born in 1945.

In 1946, Bastianini was finally able to enjoy the scholarship he'd won four years earlier and began studying at the Teatro Comunale, Florence.

He sang in recitals there alongside other future opera greats like Mirto Picchi, Fedora Barbieri and Rolando Panerai.

That same year, he appeared in numerous operas with smaller Italian opera houses such as the Teatro Verdi in Florence.

Among his roles that year were his first performances of Zio Bonzo in Madama Butterfly, Don Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia and Sparafucile in Rigoletto.

In 1947, Bastianini toured Egypt, singing in Cairo, Alexandria and Giza, sharing the stage with baritone Gino Bechi and soprano Maria Caniglia, reprising the roles of Don Basilio and Sparafucile.

He also sang Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor.

He then spent the next year singing the bass repertoire in opera houses throughout Italy, including the Teatro Regio di Parma and Teatro Comunale di Bologna.

On 24 April 1948, he made his La Scala debut as Teiresias in Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex.

In 1949, he toured Egypt again and flew to Caracas, Venezuela to sing in productions of Aida (Ramfis), La bohème, Lucia di Lammermoor and Rigoletto.

Bastianini gave his first broadcast recital for the Italian Radio on 29 December 1950.

Earlier that year, he had toured Egypt again and appeared in operas in Italy.

While performing regularly at the Met during the mid-1950s, Bastianini continued to perform occasionally in Europe and in other opera houses in the United States.

He toured Egypt once more, just before returning to Italy for his final bass performance in April 1951 at Turin's Teatro Alfieri as Colline.

Believing his voice was better suited to the baritone repertoire and encouraged by his teacher, Luciano Bettarini, Bastianini left the stage for seven months, studying and re-training his vocal instrument.

Bastianini made his debut as a baritone on 17 January 1952, in Siena, as Giorgio Germont in Verdi's La traviata.

His performance was not well received, and he left the stage again for a brief period of intense vocal exercise to secure the top of his voice.

Upon his return just weeks later, he sang Rigoletto in Siena with success.

This was followed by Amonasro in Pescara and a return to the role of Germont in Bologna, with Virginia Zeani as Violetta.

He also gave several performances at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, including both Count Tomsky (spring 1952) and Prince Yeletsky (spring 1954) in Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades, Prince Andrei Bolkonsky in Prokofiev's War and Peace (spring 1953), and the title role in Tchaikovsky's Mazeppa (1954).

In 1953, Bastianini performed opposite Maria Callas in the first of many pairings with her, as Enrico Ashton in Lucia di Lammermoor at the Teatro Comunale Florence.

That same year he sang the role of Carlo Gérard in Umberto Giordano's Andrea Chénier for the first time at the Teatro Regio di Torino.

He made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Germont on 5 December 1953, opposite Licia Albanese as Violetta and Richard Tucker as Alfredo.

The following January, he sang Enrico to Lily Pons's Lucia and Jan Peerce's Edgardo at the Met.

On 10 May 1954 he made his debut as a baritone at La Scala, in the title role of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, with Renata Tebaldi as Tatyana.

In fall 1954, Bastianini joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera and sang there regularly through May 1957.

His roles at the Met during this time included Amonasro in Aida, Carlo Gérard, Conte di Luna in Il trovatore, Enrico, Germont, Marcello in La bohème, Escamillo in Carmen, Rodrigo in Don Carlo and the title role in Rigoletto.

He later returned to the Met in spring 1960 in several roles, including Don Carlo di Vargas in La forza del destino (which he had recorded superbly under Molinari-Pradelli in 1956 for Decca Records, followed a few years later by an electrifying portrayal of the villain Barnaba in La Gioconda under Gavazzeni on the same label).

He returned to the Met again in January 1965, where he spent most of that year singing in several of his prior roles with the company and portraying Scarpia in Tosca.

His 87th and final performance at the Met was as Rodrigo on 11 December 1965.

It was also, coincidentally, the last performance of his career.