Apollo Granforte
Apollo Granforte began his international career at the tail end of the incredible era that produced Amato, Franci, De Luca, Ruffo, Stracciari, Sammarco, Galeffi, Stabile, Viglione Borghese, Formichi and Ancona. Each was unique: the actors, the stentorian voices, the stylists, and the few who, from recorded and written evidence, combined the best of all these qualities. While I would place Stracciari in a special category among this group, Granforte was also one who embodied all of the qualities that define the complete singer. Reviews of live performances confirm a superb acting ability as well as a voluminous sound. While records to not always indicate the stentorian quality of a particular voice, I think that his comes across very clearly as one of the loudest and most sonorous instruments in the recorded era. Musicality and taste are evident in all of his complete recordings, especially in Il Trovatore and Otello. The question is, why is he not nearly so well known as most of his contemporaries, he who made so many fine records but had a ‘minor career’? As it turns out, he had a major career, one which encompassed over 1500 performances and took him to just about every major theatre in Latin countries as well as to Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, Switzerland, Hungary and Yugoslavia.
Apollo Granforte was born in the town of Legnago in the province of Verona on 20 July, 1886. At a young age he found that he had a very imposing voice and decided, without benefit of formal training, to attempt a career as a tenor. He made his debut at Legnago in 1905 as Arturo Bucklaw in Lucia di Lammermoor. The local reviewer wrote that he had a volcanic instrument but sang with the finesse of a summer thunderstorm. After a few additional, disappointing attempts in several towns around Verona, he decided to drop plans for a career in opera and, late in 1905, he emigrated to Rosario, Argentina, where he went to work as a shoemaker. A short while later he was discovered by a music lover, who funded his education at the Buenos Aires Conservatory. In March of 1914 Granforte debuted as a baritone at the Rosario Politeama in La Traviata, followed by Tosca, La Boheme, Aida, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Cavalleria Rusticana and The Passion and Death of Jesus by Galleani. His success was enormous and he immediately received invitations to appear at all of Argentina’s provincial theatres. By 1915 he had also appeared at the Buenos Aires Politeama, the Solis of Montevideo and at Pelotas, Rio Grande and Porto Allegre in Brazil. In one four-week period at Montevideo he sang Silvio in Pagliacci, Marcello in La Bohème, Alfio in Cavalleria Rusticana, Germont in La Traviata, Enrico in Lucia, Rigoletto, Barnaba in La Gioconda, Valentin in Faust, Amonasro in Aida and Alfonso in La Favorita.
He returned to Europe in late 1916, and first appeared at Valletta, Malta in Les Pêcheurs de Perles, Gli Zingari, La Favorita, Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Rigoletto. In June of 1917 he debuted at Zurich in Lucia di Lammermoor with Graziela Pareto and followed it with Silvio in Pagliacci. Juanita Caracciolio sang Nedda and the world renowned Mario Sammarco was Tonio. In October he debuted at the Rome Costanzi in Il Trovatore and later sang Figaro to the Rosina of Angeles Ottein. After a stint in the Italian army, he toured the war zone with Bonci, de Hidalgo and others, entertaining the Italian troops.
His first performance at Milan was in a Gala Concert celebrating the Armistice. The event was sponsored by the Dal Verme, the Carcano and the Lirico and was conducted by Tullio Serafin. He was joined by Nazzareno De Angelis, Celestina Boninsegna, Titta Ruffo, Antonio Paoli, Aureliano Pertile, Gilda dall Rizza and others of the top rank in opera. During this brief visit, Franco Capuana offered him a job with the Lirico and there is documentation that he appeared in two performances of Otello during that season. The bulk of the company traveled to Naples late in December and on 15 January, 1919 Granforte debuted as Amonasro at the Teatro San Carlo. He appeared in seven operas and sang forty five performances in Puritani, Isabeau, Lodoletta, L’Amico Fritz, Fedora and Un Ballo in Maschera. Mascagni conducted almost all performances, and so began what was to become a very important relationship in Granforte’s career. Tito Schipa appeared with Granforte in seven performances of L’Amico Fritz and, during a gala, in scenes from Lodoletta, an opera that Granforte would repeat at Verona and Legnano in the Spring. Many concerts in Northern Italy were followed, in September, with Il Trovatore at Fiorenzuola. Celestina Boninsegna was his Leonora. At Verona he sang Telramund, then Tonio, a role repeated at Bergamo in a special performance commemorating the death of Leoncavallo. In December, he debuted at Vicenza’s Teatro Eretenio as Scarpia with the young Tancredi Pasero who was making his official debut in opera as Angelotti. Granforte’s season continued at Vicenza with La Wally.
In March 1920, at Pisa, he sang Iago and a month later made his debut at Milan’s Dal Verme in Il Trovatore. He appeared for the first time at Venice’s Teatro Malibran in La Forza del Destino and, in the autumn he returned to the Dal Verme for La Forza del Destino, Pagliacci with Hina Spani, Marken, and Nave Rossa with Pasero. Modena saw him in La Traviata with Giuseppina Finzi Magrini and Angelo Minghetti, La Forza del Destino with Boninsegna, whose operatic farewell it was, and the world première of Luigi Gazzotti’s Lo Zingaro Cieco. Padua heard his Escamillo, Germont and di Luna, Trento his Scarpia, and at the Verona Arena in July, he sang the role of the High Priest in Samson and Dalila for the first time. At Genoa, he debuted as Tonio and in the autumn he returned to Milan, where, at the Carcano he sang Escamillo to the Carmen of Aurora Buades. He ended the year with another important debut:Madrid’s Teatro Real presented him Il Trovatore with Maria Carena.
On 15 January, 1922 he debuted at La Scala as Amfortas in a cast that included Helene Wildbrunn, Amadeo Bassi and Nazzareno De Angelis, conducted by Panizza. He received superb notices and was immediately hired for a tour to Paris later in the season. In March he debuted Turin’s Teatro Regio in the world premiere Figlia del Re by Lualdi, with Ester Mazzoleni, Luigi Abrate and Ezio Pinza conducted by Serafin. While in Turin he sang Jack Rance to the Minnie of Poli-Randaccio at the Teatro Chiarella. In May, with a large group of artists from La Scala, he repeated Amfortas at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris. The cast included Elena Rakowska, Bassi and De Angelis, this time Serafin conducting. Lucca saw his first Italian Rigolettos as well as the world première of Pergolesi. In October, Milan’s Dal Verme presented him in Il Trovatore with Carena, Irene Minghini-Cattaneo and Isamaele Voltolini, and a month later, the Lirico offered a gala benefit in which Granforte sang in Act 1 of the same opera. Bologna’s Comunale saw a repeat of Rigoletto, Cremona’s Ponchielli witnessed a gala concert and Busto Arzisio mounted Il Barbiere di Siviglia for him.
The winter and spring of 1923 kept him occupied in Italy where he appeared at the Dal Verme with Tosca, at Mantua with Boris Gudonov and Gioconda, at Verona with La Nave, at Turin with a gala concert in honor of the Prince of Piedmont, at Busto Arzisio with Rigoletto and at Pistoia with L’Amico Fritz. Granforte made a very important debut at Venice’s La Fenice in June, undertaking the world première of Misteri Gaudiosi by Cattozzo with his fellow Veronese, Linda Cannetti. The opera was a huge success and was presented at Verona’s Teatro Filarmonico two weeks later.
Santiago’s Teatro Municpal had not had an “International” opera season since 1920 and every effort was made to assure a success in the 1923 season. Among the artists hired to appear in a three month season were Gilda Dalla Rizza, Bianca Scacciati, Elvira Casazza, Nino Piccaluga, Antonio Marquez, Apollo Granforte, Angelo Pilotto and Gaudio Mansueto. After performances of Trovatore and Otello at Rosario and Cordoba, where he was wildly applauded by family and friends, on 21 August he debuted at Santiago as Amonasro in a cast that included Scacciati, Casazza and Nino Piccaluga. El Mercurio said: “Apollo Granforte, the new baritone, received an enormous ovation from the capacity audience. His reception was well deserved, as he has a most pleasing stage presence and a powerful and warm voice, completely suited to the role of Amonasro”. He was to sing twelve operas on this tour: Aida, Rigoletto, Wally, L’Amore de Tre Rei, Trovatore, Otello with Scacciati and Marquez, Tosca and Andrea Chenier with Dalla Rizza and Piccaluga, Gioconda, Pagliacci and Cavalleria Rusticana, and Il Barbiere di Siviglia. The tour lasted until December 1923 and visited Valparaiso, Concepcion, Chillan and Talca in Chile and Lima, Peru.
In 1924, after a debut at Parma in La Forza del Destino, the Williamson/Melba company departed for the first of his three Australian tours. He debuted on 1 April at Melbourne as Scarpia with Lina Scavizzi and Piccaluga. His other roles were Rigoletto with Toti dal Monte and Dino Borgioli, Escamillo with Aga Lahoska, Iago with Dame Nellie Melba and Marquez, di Luna, Tonio, Malatesta again with Dal Monte and Borgioli, Carlo Gérard with Scavizzi and Piccaluga and Enrico Ashton with Dal Monte. The company also visited Sydney and Adelaide. The Sydney Bulletin reported “Apollo Granforte is easily the most subtle actor in the company, encompassing all the facets of Iago’s character”. The Sydney Morning Herald said of his Rigoletto “Granforte has a remarkable power of suggesting tears in the voice”. At the end of the season, he, Augusta Concato and Piccaluga undertook a concert tour throughout Eastern Australia and New Zealand. In just eight weeks, they sang over forty concerts. These concerts offered the only Mozart that Granforte ever sang, Don Giovanni’s ‘Deh vieni alla finestra’. He also sang ‘O Lisbona’ from Donizetti’s Don Sebastiano, ‘O tu bel astro’ from Tannhäuser, the Brindisi from Hamlet, ‘Tre giorni son che Nina’ by Pergolesi [now thought to be by L. Ciampi], ‘At Night’ by Rachmaninov, ‘Buona Zazà’ and Tosti’s ‘Ideale’ along with about ten of his standard repertoire arias and ensembles.
In the winter of 1925, he traveled to London where he made his first recordings for HMV but inexplicably, made no public appearances that we have been able to trace. In June, he returned to South America on a tour organized by Walter Mocchi. The company included Dalla Rizza, Scacciati, Margherita Salvi, Flora Revalles, Lydia Garinska, Fanny Anitua, Anna Gramegna, Gaetano Tommasini, Angelo Minghetti, John O’Sullivan, Giulio Cirino and Tancredi Pasero. They visited Rosario, Santa Fe, Cordoba, La Plata, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro, São Paolo and Santos. On 8 July, at Rosario he sang in the South American premier of Giordano’s La Cena delle Beffe with Revalles, Tommasini and Pasero. Granforte sang in La Traviata with dalla Rizza and Minghetti, Aida with Scacciati, Anitua, Tommasini and Pasero,Tosca with Revalles and Minghetti, Rigoletto with Salvi and Minghetti, Cavalleria with Scacciati and Minghetti, and Pagliacci with Garinska and Tommasini. Beniamino Gigli joined the tour at Rio de Janeiro, and Granforte added Lohengrin with him, Scacciati, and Anitua, and Andrea Chenier with him and Scacciati. In a special Gala Benefit on 3 October, he sang Scarpia to the Tosca of Lulu Hayes and the Cavaradossi of her husband, Minghetti. Pasero was asked to sing the role of Angelotti in remembrance of his debut at Vicenza with Granforte, and the audience acknowledged the event with a huge ovation. On the closing night of the season, 8 October, Granforte appeared in another benefit performance, this time singing in acts 1,2 and 3 of Rigoletto with Salvi, Minghetti, Gramegna and Pasero. The evening ended with the historic debut of Bidu Sayao in scenes from Puritani. At Sao Paolo, Granforte opened the season as Figaro in a cast that included Salvi, Tommasini, Giulio Cirino and Pasero and he closed the tour at Santos with Barbiere and Rigoletto. It had been a gruelling fifty performance season, but he now had secured his rightful place among the most famous and celebrated baritones of his generation.
He returned to Italy in early December and opened the season at Modena with Cena delle Beffe. Florica Cristoforeanu and Voltolini were his partners. At Fiume, he repeated the role of Neri and in February 1926 he sang the role at Mantua as well as nine performances of Il Trovatore. At the Palazzo Ducale he offered two recitals in early March and then debuted at Catania’s Teatro Massimo, again as Neri. His season there continued with Andrea Chenier and ended with six performances of Tosca also starring Maria Llacer and Minghetti. Mocchi organized another tour in the summer of 1926, and again Granforte was invited to appear. This time the company travelled only to Rio, and São Paolo. The troupe included Yvonne Gall, Scacciati, Iva Pacetti, Sayão, Giuseppina Zinetti, Francesco Merli, Bernardo de Muro, Dino Borgioli, Ettore Cesa Bianchi, Armand Crabbe, Carlo Galeffi, Vanni Marcoux and Nazzareno De Angelis. Granforte appeared in Carmen with Zinetti and de Muro, Aida with Scacciati, Zinetti and Merli, Rigoletto with Sayao and Borgioli, Parsifal with Pacetti (who sang this single Kundry in her career), Cesa Bianchi and De Angelis, the world premiere of Um Caso Singular with Sayao, Crabbe and De Angelis, Samson et Dalila with Zinetti and Cesa Bianchi, and Cavalleria Rusticana with Scacciati and de Muro. The performances of Cavalleria were preceded by his rendition of the Prologo to Pagliacci. At Sao Paolo, Pacetti sang in Aida, Merli in Cavalleria and on the closing night of the season, 5 September, Granforte and Merli sang in Andrea Chenier with the Brazilian soprano, Ciaccio. Again, Granforte received superlatives in the press and it was announced that he would return for a third consecutive season, the next year. Alas, the best laid plans oft come to naught, and the Mocchi connection with the Teatro Costanzi of Rome, which had sponsored the annual visits to South America, came to an end. With it, came the end of the tours.
n December of 1926 he debuted at Barcelona’s Liceo and sang six operas: Lohengrin with Hina Spani, Zinetti, and Miguel Fleta , Tosca with Spani and Fleta, Aida with Spani, Zinetti and Piccaluga, the world première of Espigadoro with Spani, Rigoletto with Ada Sari and Roberto d’Alessio and La Bohème with Spani and Joseph Hislop. The season was a great success and he signed a contract for ten roles in the following season. At Nice he debuted as Rigoletto with Romelli and Minghetti, and later sang in Otello with Renato Zanelli as well as Il Trovatore with Llacer, Minghini-Cattaneo and Pedro Mirassou. The summer found him at Szeged, Hungary for Cena delle Beffe and in September, Granforte sang with Lina Pagliughi in Rigoletto at Genoa’s Politeama and at Rivarolo.
He returned to Barcelona on 22 November in La Traviata with Bovy and Bordini, La Boheme with the same cast, Marina with Maria Gentile, Carmen with Zinetti and Fleta, Aida with Poli Randaccio, Zinetti and Aroldo Lindi, Tosca with Dalla Rizza and Fleta, La Gioconda with Poli Randaccio, Zinetti and Lindi, Otello with Bau Bonaplata and La Fuente,Samson et Dalila with Zinetti and La Fuente and Princessa Margarida, another of his many world premières. He stayed at the Catalan capitol until the end of February, and by then had sung thirteen roles in two seasons. Before his career at the Liceo was over he would have amassed both the largest number of performances and the largest number of roles by any singer between the two World Wars at that theater.
In April of 1928 he returned to Australia. The company was a starry one: Giannina Arangi-Lombardi, dal Monte, Spani, Zinetti, Xenia Belmas, Minghetti, Enzo De Muro Lomanto, Merli, Cesa Bianchi, Autori, Luigi Rossi-Morelli and John Brownlee. The cities visited were Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth. During the Melbourne season, dal Monte had Granforte removed from Barbiere, Rigoletto and Don Pasquale after some particularly nasty disagreements that were reported in the press. Minghetti was removed as well from Rigoletto. Granforte did remain in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, and at Adelaide he reappeared in Rigoletto. This temporary shift in assignments allowed him to sing in several operas that were promised to other baritones, Aida with Arangi Lombardi, Zinetti and Merli, Il Trovatore with the same cast and Pagliacci with Merli among them. John Brownlee, a native Australian who had been heralded as something of a national hero after his debut as Amonasro, was the main casualty of these changes and the press in Sydney accused the company’s management of capitulating to ‘An Italian Conspiracy’ to take over the whole season. Xenia Belmas, who was supposed to sing Santuzza throughout the tour, was also removed in favour of Arangi-Lombardi, which only intensified the anger in the Australian press. They did concede, however reluctantly, that the artistic standards had not been compromised by these changes, but were in fact an improvement.
It was during this tour that Toti dal Monte and Enzo De Muro Lomanto were married, an ill fated joining that would end in divorce barely four years later. The nuptials, for which Arangi-Lombardi and her husband were the official witnesses, attracted more than 25,000 spectators. At the ceremony’s conclusion, the wedding party lined up on the steps of St. Mary’s Cathedral and offered the Fascist salute to the huge gathering. It generated enormous publicity, and the newlyweds were pursued by photographers wherever they went for the remainder of the tour. Granforte completed his season with Tosca, Andrea Chenier and two Australian premieres, L’Amore de Tre Re and Il Tabarro. While Turandot, which also had its Australian premiere during the tour, had the greater number of performances, L’Amore de Tre Re was generally considered to have been the greatest artistic success of the season and all four principals, Scavizzi, Merli, Autori and Granforte received unqualified praise. The Melbourne Bulletin stated that “L’Amore de Tre Re was the best gowned, best staged and most brilliantly expounded opera of the season, cast and played without flaw.” On the return trip to Europe there were impromptu concerts almost every evening and when the ship stopped at Colombo Ceylon, there was a formal recital at the seaport.
The end of 1928 found Granforte at Brescia where he debuted as Carlo Gerard and in January sang Scarpia. At the San Carlo of Naples he sang in Andrea Chenier with Concato and Pertile, Cavalleria with Concato and Minghetti and Pagliacci with Antonio Cortis, and, at Mantua, he sang in Gioconda with Vera Amerighi- Rutili. The highlight of 1929 was his overdue debut at the Teatro Colón of Buenos Aires. His first appearance was as Scarpia on 7 June with Dalla Rizza and Jan Kiepura, and, a week later he sang in Andrea Chenier with Lina Bruna Rasa and George Thill. On the 21st he sang in Rigoletto with Sayao and Kiepura and on the 27th appeared for the only time in his career with Rosa Raisa when they sang in Il Trovatore. In July and August he sang in Pagliacci with Thill, the world premiere of Boero’s El Matrero with Pedro Mirassou, Cavalleria with Bruna Rasa and Mirassou and in Lohengrin with Selma Segal, Luisa Bertana, Pertile, and Pasero. Granforte visited Montevideo for Rigoletto with Sayao and Kiepura, Andrea Chenier with Bruna Rasa and Thill, and Tosca with Bruna Rasa and Mirassou. His receptions were ecstatic and he was particularly praised for his menacing and insidious portrayal of Scarpia. El Matrero was scheduled for three performances, but the engagement was extended to six after enormous popular and critical acclaim. In August, Granforte recorded six sides of the opera for HMV, and the recordings became “best sellers” throughout Argentina. La Prensa said, in reviewing Granforte’s debut, “Finally!”. Of his Rigoletto, the same newspaper said “We have seen them all, and it is fair to say that Signore Granforte’s performance can stand with the best of our time". At Rosario he was accorded a reception by the mayor, and a formal banquet was given in his honor, with Bruna Rasa in attendance. These would be his last performances in South America, as the world wide economic crash of 1929 was just around the corner. Upon his return to Italy, he completed the recording of Pagliacci which had begun in April, and he began the recording of Tosca with Carmen Melis. His year ended at Pavia with Rigoletto.
At Modena he sang in the opening night Rigoletto, then went to Turin’s Regio for Andrea Chenier with Margaret Sheridan and Pertile. At Verona he sang in Trentinaglia’s Rosmunda, whose locale was the city of Verona, and the receptions were so enthusiastic that an additional matinee had to be offered at popular prices to accommodate the demand. Granforte’s “Invocation to Verona” drew standing ovations at every performance and he was forced to encore it on the final evening. He returned to La Scala in May for La Forza del Destino with Pacetti, Stignani, Merli and Righetti and while in Milan sang a special performance of Cavalleria Rusticana in honour of the fortieth anniversary of the opera’s premiere. He also sang radio performances of Cena delle Beffe and Rosmunda. The rest of the year was occupied with recordings. He completed Tosca and recorded all of Il Trovatore with Carena, Minghini-Cattaneo and Pertile as well as extensive selections from Rigoletto.
In 1931 he debuted at San Remo with Otello and sang later in Carmen with Buades and Piccaluga. At Faenza he repeated Iago, and then traveled to Lisbon where, at the Coliseu, he debuted on 4 April in Lohengrin with Franca Somigli, Gianna Galli, Ettore Parmeggiani and Carlo Togliani. His season there included performances of Tosca with Gina Cigna and Fleta, Aida with Cigna, Galli and Bagnariol, Rigoletto with Villani and Fleta, Forza del Destino with Somigli, Galli, and Bagnariol, Pagliacci with Alfani-Tellini and Cingolani and Barbiere with Bastos, Rosa and Flamini. The company toured to other Portuguese cities with Barbiere. In the autumn he returned to Pistoia for Gioconda with Cigna and Lohengrin with Olga Brancucci, Minghini-Cattaneo and Parmeggiani. The town of Alessandria also saw his Telramund in November and at Casalmaggiore he sang in Andrea Chenier with Arangi-Lombardi and Franco Battaglia. These would be Arangi’s only performances of Maddalena di Coigny. During November he began the recording of Otello, whose sessions continued into the winter of 1932. It is the opinion of many, including the author, that his performance of Iago is the defining one ever committed to posterity.
The third tour to Australia, in April of 1932, featured Lina Pagliughi, Bruna Castagna and Pedro Mirassou as his partners. In a period of less than nine months Granforte sang over 150 performances, a record not matched in any annals I have seen. He sang in Rigoletto, Don Pasquale, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Carmen, Il Trovatore, Tosca, La Traviata, Pagliacci, Aida, Andrea Chénier and La Bohème. Additional performances of Pagliacci had to be scheduled in every city. The tour started in Sydney and in mid summer moved to Melbourne. During the Melbourne season, Joan Hammond made her soloist debut as Giovanna in Rigoletto. Granforte received magnificent reviews, but there was some comment concerning his “milking of applause” and of “hogging the limelight”. A newspaper commentary from Sydney “Signore Granforte appears on the stage and walks to the footlights as the applause builds. Bow after bow, until finally he remembers that he is paid to perform, and he gets down to business”. However, the Age said of his Amonasro “Granforte’s voice is now in its fullest estate. The burnished tone is utterly magnificent, so much so that we had difficulty believing that he had been marching so long through the parched desert”. The company visited New Zealand for two months, appearing at Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Duneden. His trips ‘Down Under’ resulted in over 325 performances, a total exceeded only by the legendary Joan Sutherland.
In 1933, after a concert tour with dal Monte, he sang in Aida with Amerighi-Rutili, Minghini-Cattaneo and Luigi Marletta at Cagliari and Sassari, Sardinia, and at the beginning of 1934 he sang Kurwenal for the first time when he debuted at Trieste’s Teatro Verdi in Tristan und Isolde. In February he appeared at Antwerp in Otello with Nicola Fusati. In July, at Noto, Sicily he sang in Andrea Chenier with Rosetta Pampanini and Galliano Masini, and appeared at Siragusa in a recital. On 8 September he had the honor of opening the Biennial International Music Festival at Venice with a concert at the Fenice and a week later, at the Teatro Goldoni, he sang in the world premiere of Kreneck’s Cefalo e Procri with Sara Scuderi, Alfani-Tellini, and Giovanni Voyer, conducted by Scherchen. In November he returned to Barcelona for Andrea Chenier, Trovatore, Carmen and I Puritani. The Bellini opera presented a splendid production in commemoration of its Centenary as well as the Centenary of the composer’s death. Mercedes Capsir and Hippolito Lazaro were Granforte’s partners, and the ovations were so enormous that the theatre’s doors were locked as fans were forced out of the one remaining exit after interminable applause.
In January 1935 Granforte returned to La Scala for the most famous of his assumptions, Menecrate, in the world première of Mascagni’s Nerone. From Music in Fascist Italy by Harvey Sachs “There was talk of giving the premiere outdoors at the Coliseum for the twelfth anniversary of the March on Rome, and when that idea was abandoned, Mascagni set his sights on La Scala. Mussolini favored the Rome Opera.” However, under prodding, “the Duce…assured Nerone’s author that he could schedule the premiere wherever he wished”. On 16 January, in a flower bedecked theater, Nerone had its premiere in “the most sumptuous of productions”. The cast included Bruna Rasa, Margherita Carosio, Pertile and Pasero. The seventy one year old composer was on the podium and as described by Gianandrea Gavazzeni “he glistened with make-up and hair dye, like a circus performer under the beams of the footlights”. Notwithstanding his appearance, he had an unqualified success, and even Mussolini telephoned his son in law, who attended the performance, to find out how it had gone and how many curtain calls there had been. Il Duce made certain that every performance had its share of industrialists, foreign dignitaries and government officials in the audience and that they were conspicuous in their enthusiasm for Mascagni, if not necessarily for the opera. Ten performances were given, and the theater was packed every night.
In April he appeared at Livorno as Scarpia with Bruna Rasa and Marletta and in July he traveled to Szeged,Hungary for Cavalleria Rusticana with Giuseppina Cobelli and Nino Bertelli. The revival was broadcast to Warsaw, Bucharest and Budapest. In late August, he returned to Mascagni’s hometown, Livorno, for six performances of Nerone. On the evening of the prima, the ovations continued for over an hour, and the composer was obliged to take a dozen solo bows. On 10 November 1935 Granforte sang Escamillo to the first-ever Carmen of Ebe Stignani at Alessandria. November found him at Barcelona again, for La Forza del Destino with Arangi-Lombardi and Battaglia, Aida with several casts including Cigna and Masini, Carmen, Princessa Margarida, Maria del Carmen of Granados and on New Year’s Eve, Tosca with Campigna and Cortis. It was recorded in Figaro that the three principals received a twenty minute ovation at the end of the second act.
In January 1936 Granforte opened the season at Genoa’s Carlo Felice in Nerone and a few weeks later he appeared in the world premiere of Malipiero’s Giulio Cesare. He also returned to Turin’s Regio for Tristan and Isolde with Llacer, Elmo and Parmeggiani. In March he sang five performances of Nerone at Naples’ San Carlo. He was invited by Mascagni to appear with him at Rome’s Italian Radio station in Cavalleria with Cobelli and Masini and in L’Amico Fritz with Favero and Masini and he rounded out this engagement with performances of Morenita. In August he appeared for Turin Radio in Notte di Zoraima with Cobelli and in Guido del Popolo with Stella Roman. He was scheduled to debut at Valencia on July 31 in Aida with Llacer, but hours before he was to leave Italy, a telegram arrived announcing that the season had been cancelled because the conflict of the Spanish Civil War had reached the city.
On 8 December he returned to Rome’s Teatro Reale for Nerone, and on the 12 he sang in Samson and Dalila with Stignani and Merli. The new year began with Aida, again with multiple casts, including Cigna, Roman, Nini Giani, Maria Benedetti, Merli and Pertile. Mule’s Dafni was presented with Somigli, Lohengrin with Magda Olivero, Benedetti and Gigli, and Parsifal with Cobelli, Tasso, Rossi-Morelli and Pasero. These were Granforte’s only performances of Klingsor, and he received excellent reviews, particularly noting the power of his unimpaired voice. In the spring he sang in Nerone at La Scala and at Zurich’s Stadttheater, after which the opera disappeared from the stages of the world. In July, Granforte sang Iago at Turin’s Giardino Cittadella, and in August he sang in Siberia with Delia Sanzio and Antonio Melandri and Salome with Maria Carbone for Rome’s Radio station. He ended 1937 at the Reale in Le Donne Curiose with Pia Tassinari, Carosio, Iris Adami Corradetti, Malipiero, Tito Gobbi, and Salvatore Baccaloni.
1938 began at Rome with performances of the first and only Ring of the Niebelungen ever performed completely in Italian. It was conducted by Tullio Serafin and had as Brunnhilde, Ella de Nemethy. Granforte sang the Wanderer and Gunther while De Angelis sang Wotan in Das Rheingold and Die Walkuere. The undertaking was an enormous critical success, but it was never attempted again because of the huge amount of preparation and because the Axis compact made performances in German much more palatable than had previously been the case. The four operas were broadcast throughout Italy, and it has been stated that tapes exist, though the author has no direct knowledge that that is the case. He finished his season at Rome with the world premiere of Vittadini’s Caracciolo and Pizzetti’s Lo Straniero with Roman, Tasso and Gobbi.
For Italian Radio he sang in Respighi’s Lucrezia and Maria Egiziaca, both with Maria Caniglia and in Siberia with Roman and Melandri, conducted by Giordano. At Pavia he sang in Andrea Chenier with Pacetti and Masini and offered concerts at Fiuggi and L’Aquila. On 26 July he appeared at the Terme di Caracalla in Isabeau conducted by Mascagni. The title role was shared by Cigna and Bruna Rasa. On 8 August, Bernardo de Muro sang his Italian operatic farewell as Folco, a role he had sung nearly four hundred times. There were four performances and the twenty thousand seat arena was sold out every night. In September, Granforte appeared at Radio Turin with Carbone and Stignani in Parisina conducted by Mascagni and in Loreley with Cigna and Merli. He returned in October for Le Maschere with Carbone, Margherita Perris and Tafuro. Again, Mascagni conducted his opera. It is believed, with a fair amount of certainty, that Granforte sang more roles in Mascagni operas, seven, than any other baritone. What is certain is that, along with Bruna Rasa, Maria Farneti, Gemma Bellincioni, Boninsegna, Lazaro and de Muro, Granforte’s name will forever be linked to that of the composer.
Unlike several of his contemporaries who continued to attempt roles such as Rigoletto and Figaro well past their prime, Granforte chose to learn new repertoire, roles which were more suited to his now lowered and darker instrument. He continued to appear in the major theaters with singers of the first rank, and his career never assumed the aspect of compromise on artistic principles. In 1939 he appeared at Trieste in Salome with Somigli and at Genoa’s Carlo Felice he appeared in L’Arlesiana with Pederzini and Schipa, in Carmen with Pederzini and Melandri and in Lo Straniero with Gabriella Gatti and Tasso. In June he sang in Tosca at Siena and in July at Bologna he sang in Lohengrin with Adami Corradetti, Elmo and Voyer. Pia Tassinari sang in later performances. On 28 December he returned to the Carlo Felice for Tosca with Caniglia and Masini.
In 1940 he opened the year at Piacenza with Scarpia and from there returned to Naples for Loreley with Pacetti, Merli and Giulio Neri. Trieste heard him as Telramund with Tassinari, Elena Nicolai and Giovanni Voyer and at the Carlo Felice he sang the Wanderer with De Nemethy, Max Lorenz and Neri. Mascagni toured throughout Italy in 1940 with Cavalleria Rusticana, in celebration of its fiftieth anniversary. Granforte appeared with him at Trieste, Genoa and in a gala closing night performance at Naples’ San Carlo with Bruna Rasa and Masini. Later in the year he appeared at Viareggio and Bologna in Tosca with Cigna, and toured as Scarpia to Udine, Mirandola, Alessandria and Trieste in the autumn.
In January 1941 he returned to Trieste for the Wanderer. This time Helm-Sbisa sang Brunnhilde and Lorenz was again Siegfried. In March he sang Gunther at Genoa to the Brunnhilde of Frida Leider, whose opera farewell to Italy it was, again with Lorenz. In the spring he sang Tosca at Turin and in September he returned to Venice for a concert at the Fenice with Giacinto Prandelli. Later in the month he appeared at Bergamo in the world premiere of Giuranna’s Jamanto and at Genoa in Andrea Chenier. In December he debuted at Palermo in Cene delle Beffe and Il Trovatore.
In 1942 his activities slowed down enormously and he did not appear until October when he sang Scarpia at Ferrara to the Tosca of Germana di Giulio and the Cavaradossi of Beniamino Gigli. At year’s end he returned to Parma’s Regio for another world premiere, Liviabella’s Antigone, followed by Lo Straniero. His farewell to the opera stage was on 26 Feb 1943 in Pizzetti’s Fedra at Trieste’s Teatro Verdi. Iva Pacetti sang the title role and his long time and good friend, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, conducted.
At war’s end he accepted a position as the Director of the Ankara Conservatory and was the primary teacher of Leyla Gencer. After an assignment at Prague’s opera house, he returned to Milan and opened a music school, one of whose graduates was Raffaele Arie. He continued to participate in musical life until well into his eighties and was often asked to sit on panels during music competitions. Granforte died on 11 June 1975 at Gorgonzola, a suburb of Milan.
Among Granforte’s recordings, without any hesitation the first on my list is the Puccini song Inno di Roma. It shows his enormously strong and vibrant voice to best advantage. Nemico della patria and Cortigiani are also favorites of mine, because they display histrionic intensity as well as consummate vocalism. I love Zaza, piccola zingara for its delicacy of line and the duet from Aida with Hilde Monti for its fascinating coloration. Spani and he are a grand team in the Silvio Nedda duet from Pagliacci and he shines very brightly in O tu bel astro (O du mein holder abendstern) from Tannhauser. It shows the best of the Italian tradition in the Wagner repertoire, of which he was a master. All of his complete recordings, Pagliacci, Tosca, Trovatore and Otello, have enormous impact but I would direct the reader to Otello most emphatically. Here, you find an almost perfect blending of characterization and superb vocalism
I would end the story with the following thought. His very name bespeaks his grandeur. Apollo Granforte, indeed! He was a major force in the musical life of his time and his recorded legacy is among the most impressive that I know.
To his memory and to his titanic voice!
© Bob Rideout
Apollo Granforte was born in the town of Legnago in the province of Verona on 20 July, 1886. At a young age he found that he had a very imposing voice and decided, without benefit of formal training, to attempt a career as a tenor. He made his debut at Legnago in 1905 as Arturo Bucklaw in Lucia di Lammermoor. The local reviewer wrote that he had a volcanic instrument but sang with the finesse of a summer thunderstorm. After a few additional, disappointing attempts in several towns around Verona, he decided to drop plans for a career in opera and, late in 1905, he emigrated to Rosario, Argentina, where he went to work as a shoemaker. A short while later he was discovered by a music lover, who funded his education at the Buenos Aires Conservatory. In March of 1914 Granforte debuted as a baritone at the Rosario Politeama in La Traviata, followed by Tosca, La Boheme, Aida, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Cavalleria Rusticana and The Passion and Death of Jesus by Galleani. His success was enormous and he immediately received invitations to appear at all of Argentina’s provincial theatres. By 1915 he had also appeared at the Buenos Aires Politeama, the Solis of Montevideo and at Pelotas, Rio Grande and Porto Allegre in Brazil. In one four-week period at Montevideo he sang Silvio in Pagliacci, Marcello in La Bohème, Alfio in Cavalleria Rusticana, Germont in La Traviata, Enrico in Lucia, Rigoletto, Barnaba in La Gioconda, Valentin in Faust, Amonasro in Aida and Alfonso in La Favorita.
He returned to Europe in late 1916, and first appeared at Valletta, Malta in Les Pêcheurs de Perles, Gli Zingari, La Favorita, Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Rigoletto. In June of 1917 he debuted at Zurich in Lucia di Lammermoor with Graziela Pareto and followed it with Silvio in Pagliacci. Juanita Caracciolio sang Nedda and the world renowned Mario Sammarco was Tonio. In October he debuted at the Rome Costanzi in Il Trovatore and later sang Figaro to the Rosina of Angeles Ottein. After a stint in the Italian army, he toured the war zone with Bonci, de Hidalgo and others, entertaining the Italian troops.
His first performance at Milan was in a Gala Concert celebrating the Armistice. The event was sponsored by the Dal Verme, the Carcano and the Lirico and was conducted by Tullio Serafin. He was joined by Nazzareno De Angelis, Celestina Boninsegna, Titta Ruffo, Antonio Paoli, Aureliano Pertile, Gilda dall Rizza and others of the top rank in opera. During this brief visit, Franco Capuana offered him a job with the Lirico and there is documentation that he appeared in two performances of Otello during that season. The bulk of the company traveled to Naples late in December and on 15 January, 1919 Granforte debuted as Amonasro at the Teatro San Carlo. He appeared in seven operas and sang forty five performances in Puritani, Isabeau, Lodoletta, L’Amico Fritz, Fedora and Un Ballo in Maschera. Mascagni conducted almost all performances, and so began what was to become a very important relationship in Granforte’s career. Tito Schipa appeared with Granforte in seven performances of L’Amico Fritz and, during a gala, in scenes from Lodoletta, an opera that Granforte would repeat at Verona and Legnano in the Spring. Many concerts in Northern Italy were followed, in September, with Il Trovatore at Fiorenzuola. Celestina Boninsegna was his Leonora. At Verona he sang Telramund, then Tonio, a role repeated at Bergamo in a special performance commemorating the death of Leoncavallo. In December, he debuted at Vicenza’s Teatro Eretenio as Scarpia with the young Tancredi Pasero who was making his official debut in opera as Angelotti. Granforte’s season continued at Vicenza with La Wally.
In March 1920, at Pisa, he sang Iago and a month later made his debut at Milan’s Dal Verme in Il Trovatore. He appeared for the first time at Venice’s Teatro Malibran in La Forza del Destino and, in the autumn he returned to the Dal Verme for La Forza del Destino, Pagliacci with Hina Spani, Marken, and Nave Rossa with Pasero. Modena saw him in La Traviata with Giuseppina Finzi Magrini and Angelo Minghetti, La Forza del Destino with Boninsegna, whose operatic farewell it was, and the world première of Luigi Gazzotti’s Lo Zingaro Cieco. Padua heard his Escamillo, Germont and di Luna, Trento his Scarpia, and at the Verona Arena in July, he sang the role of the High Priest in Samson and Dalila for the first time. At Genoa, he debuted as Tonio and in the autumn he returned to Milan, where, at the Carcano he sang Escamillo to the Carmen of Aurora Buades. He ended the year with another important debut:Madrid’s Teatro Real presented him Il Trovatore with Maria Carena.
On 15 January, 1922 he debuted at La Scala as Amfortas in a cast that included Helene Wildbrunn, Amadeo Bassi and Nazzareno De Angelis, conducted by Panizza. He received superb notices and was immediately hired for a tour to Paris later in the season. In March he debuted Turin’s Teatro Regio in the world premiere Figlia del Re by Lualdi, with Ester Mazzoleni, Luigi Abrate and Ezio Pinza conducted by Serafin. While in Turin he sang Jack Rance to the Minnie of Poli-Randaccio at the Teatro Chiarella. In May, with a large group of artists from La Scala, he repeated Amfortas at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris. The cast included Elena Rakowska, Bassi and De Angelis, this time Serafin conducting. Lucca saw his first Italian Rigolettos as well as the world première of Pergolesi. In October, Milan’s Dal Verme presented him in Il Trovatore with Carena, Irene Minghini-Cattaneo and Isamaele Voltolini, and a month later, the Lirico offered a gala benefit in which Granforte sang in Act 1 of the same opera. Bologna’s Comunale saw a repeat of Rigoletto, Cremona’s Ponchielli witnessed a gala concert and Busto Arzisio mounted Il Barbiere di Siviglia for him.
The winter and spring of 1923 kept him occupied in Italy where he appeared at the Dal Verme with Tosca, at Mantua with Boris Gudonov and Gioconda, at Verona with La Nave, at Turin with a gala concert in honor of the Prince of Piedmont, at Busto Arzisio with Rigoletto and at Pistoia with L’Amico Fritz. Granforte made a very important debut at Venice’s La Fenice in June, undertaking the world première of Misteri Gaudiosi by Cattozzo with his fellow Veronese, Linda Cannetti. The opera was a huge success and was presented at Verona’s Teatro Filarmonico two weeks later.
Santiago’s Teatro Municpal had not had an “International” opera season since 1920 and every effort was made to assure a success in the 1923 season. Among the artists hired to appear in a three month season were Gilda Dalla Rizza, Bianca Scacciati, Elvira Casazza, Nino Piccaluga, Antonio Marquez, Apollo Granforte, Angelo Pilotto and Gaudio Mansueto. After performances of Trovatore and Otello at Rosario and Cordoba, where he was wildly applauded by family and friends, on 21 August he debuted at Santiago as Amonasro in a cast that included Scacciati, Casazza and Nino Piccaluga. El Mercurio said: “Apollo Granforte, the new baritone, received an enormous ovation from the capacity audience. His reception was well deserved, as he has a most pleasing stage presence and a powerful and warm voice, completely suited to the role of Amonasro”. He was to sing twelve operas on this tour: Aida, Rigoletto, Wally, L’Amore de Tre Rei, Trovatore, Otello with Scacciati and Marquez, Tosca and Andrea Chenier with Dalla Rizza and Piccaluga, Gioconda, Pagliacci and Cavalleria Rusticana, and Il Barbiere di Siviglia. The tour lasted until December 1923 and visited Valparaiso, Concepcion, Chillan and Talca in Chile and Lima, Peru.
In 1924, after a debut at Parma in La Forza del Destino, the Williamson/Melba company departed for the first of his three Australian tours. He debuted on 1 April at Melbourne as Scarpia with Lina Scavizzi and Piccaluga. His other roles were Rigoletto with Toti dal Monte and Dino Borgioli, Escamillo with Aga Lahoska, Iago with Dame Nellie Melba and Marquez, di Luna, Tonio, Malatesta again with Dal Monte and Borgioli, Carlo Gérard with Scavizzi and Piccaluga and Enrico Ashton with Dal Monte. The company also visited Sydney and Adelaide. The Sydney Bulletin reported “Apollo Granforte is easily the most subtle actor in the company, encompassing all the facets of Iago’s character”. The Sydney Morning Herald said of his Rigoletto “Granforte has a remarkable power of suggesting tears in the voice”. At the end of the season, he, Augusta Concato and Piccaluga undertook a concert tour throughout Eastern Australia and New Zealand. In just eight weeks, they sang over forty concerts. These concerts offered the only Mozart that Granforte ever sang, Don Giovanni’s ‘Deh vieni alla finestra’. He also sang ‘O Lisbona’ from Donizetti’s Don Sebastiano, ‘O tu bel astro’ from Tannhäuser, the Brindisi from Hamlet, ‘Tre giorni son che Nina’ by Pergolesi [now thought to be by L. Ciampi], ‘At Night’ by Rachmaninov, ‘Buona Zazà’ and Tosti’s ‘Ideale’ along with about ten of his standard repertoire arias and ensembles.
In the winter of 1925, he traveled to London where he made his first recordings for HMV but inexplicably, made no public appearances that we have been able to trace. In June, he returned to South America on a tour organized by Walter Mocchi. The company included Dalla Rizza, Scacciati, Margherita Salvi, Flora Revalles, Lydia Garinska, Fanny Anitua, Anna Gramegna, Gaetano Tommasini, Angelo Minghetti, John O’Sullivan, Giulio Cirino and Tancredi Pasero. They visited Rosario, Santa Fe, Cordoba, La Plata, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro, São Paolo and Santos. On 8 July, at Rosario he sang in the South American premier of Giordano’s La Cena delle Beffe with Revalles, Tommasini and Pasero. Granforte sang in La Traviata with dalla Rizza and Minghetti, Aida with Scacciati, Anitua, Tommasini and Pasero,Tosca with Revalles and Minghetti, Rigoletto with Salvi and Minghetti, Cavalleria with Scacciati and Minghetti, and Pagliacci with Garinska and Tommasini. Beniamino Gigli joined the tour at Rio de Janeiro, and Granforte added Lohengrin with him, Scacciati, and Anitua, and Andrea Chenier with him and Scacciati. In a special Gala Benefit on 3 October, he sang Scarpia to the Tosca of Lulu Hayes and the Cavaradossi of her husband, Minghetti. Pasero was asked to sing the role of Angelotti in remembrance of his debut at Vicenza with Granforte, and the audience acknowledged the event with a huge ovation. On the closing night of the season, 8 October, Granforte appeared in another benefit performance, this time singing in acts 1,2 and 3 of Rigoletto with Salvi, Minghetti, Gramegna and Pasero. The evening ended with the historic debut of Bidu Sayao in scenes from Puritani. At Sao Paolo, Granforte opened the season as Figaro in a cast that included Salvi, Tommasini, Giulio Cirino and Pasero and he closed the tour at Santos with Barbiere and Rigoletto. It had been a gruelling fifty performance season, but he now had secured his rightful place among the most famous and celebrated baritones of his generation.
He returned to Italy in early December and opened the season at Modena with Cena delle Beffe. Florica Cristoforeanu and Voltolini were his partners. At Fiume, he repeated the role of Neri and in February 1926 he sang the role at Mantua as well as nine performances of Il Trovatore. At the Palazzo Ducale he offered two recitals in early March and then debuted at Catania’s Teatro Massimo, again as Neri. His season there continued with Andrea Chenier and ended with six performances of Tosca also starring Maria Llacer and Minghetti. Mocchi organized another tour in the summer of 1926, and again Granforte was invited to appear. This time the company travelled only to Rio, and São Paolo. The troupe included Yvonne Gall, Scacciati, Iva Pacetti, Sayão, Giuseppina Zinetti, Francesco Merli, Bernardo de Muro, Dino Borgioli, Ettore Cesa Bianchi, Armand Crabbe, Carlo Galeffi, Vanni Marcoux and Nazzareno De Angelis. Granforte appeared in Carmen with Zinetti and de Muro, Aida with Scacciati, Zinetti and Merli, Rigoletto with Sayao and Borgioli, Parsifal with Pacetti (who sang this single Kundry in her career), Cesa Bianchi and De Angelis, the world premiere of Um Caso Singular with Sayao, Crabbe and De Angelis, Samson et Dalila with Zinetti and Cesa Bianchi, and Cavalleria Rusticana with Scacciati and de Muro. The performances of Cavalleria were preceded by his rendition of the Prologo to Pagliacci. At Sao Paolo, Pacetti sang in Aida, Merli in Cavalleria and on the closing night of the season, 5 September, Granforte and Merli sang in Andrea Chenier with the Brazilian soprano, Ciaccio. Again, Granforte received superlatives in the press and it was announced that he would return for a third consecutive season, the next year. Alas, the best laid plans oft come to naught, and the Mocchi connection with the Teatro Costanzi of Rome, which had sponsored the annual visits to South America, came to an end. With it, came the end of the tours.
n December of 1926 he debuted at Barcelona’s Liceo and sang six operas: Lohengrin with Hina Spani, Zinetti, and Miguel Fleta , Tosca with Spani and Fleta, Aida with Spani, Zinetti and Piccaluga, the world première of Espigadoro with Spani, Rigoletto with Ada Sari and Roberto d’Alessio and La Bohème with Spani and Joseph Hislop. The season was a great success and he signed a contract for ten roles in the following season. At Nice he debuted as Rigoletto with Romelli and Minghetti, and later sang in Otello with Renato Zanelli as well as Il Trovatore with Llacer, Minghini-Cattaneo and Pedro Mirassou. The summer found him at Szeged, Hungary for Cena delle Beffe and in September, Granforte sang with Lina Pagliughi in Rigoletto at Genoa’s Politeama and at Rivarolo.
He returned to Barcelona on 22 November in La Traviata with Bovy and Bordini, La Boheme with the same cast, Marina with Maria Gentile, Carmen with Zinetti and Fleta, Aida with Poli Randaccio, Zinetti and Aroldo Lindi, Tosca with Dalla Rizza and Fleta, La Gioconda with Poli Randaccio, Zinetti and Lindi, Otello with Bau Bonaplata and La Fuente,Samson et Dalila with Zinetti and La Fuente and Princessa Margarida, another of his many world premières. He stayed at the Catalan capitol until the end of February, and by then had sung thirteen roles in two seasons. Before his career at the Liceo was over he would have amassed both the largest number of performances and the largest number of roles by any singer between the two World Wars at that theater.
In April of 1928 he returned to Australia. The company was a starry one: Giannina Arangi-Lombardi, dal Monte, Spani, Zinetti, Xenia Belmas, Minghetti, Enzo De Muro Lomanto, Merli, Cesa Bianchi, Autori, Luigi Rossi-Morelli and John Brownlee. The cities visited were Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth. During the Melbourne season, dal Monte had Granforte removed from Barbiere, Rigoletto and Don Pasquale after some particularly nasty disagreements that were reported in the press. Minghetti was removed as well from Rigoletto. Granforte did remain in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, and at Adelaide he reappeared in Rigoletto. This temporary shift in assignments allowed him to sing in several operas that were promised to other baritones, Aida with Arangi Lombardi, Zinetti and Merli, Il Trovatore with the same cast and Pagliacci with Merli among them. John Brownlee, a native Australian who had been heralded as something of a national hero after his debut as Amonasro, was the main casualty of these changes and the press in Sydney accused the company’s management of capitulating to ‘An Italian Conspiracy’ to take over the whole season. Xenia Belmas, who was supposed to sing Santuzza throughout the tour, was also removed in favour of Arangi-Lombardi, which only intensified the anger in the Australian press. They did concede, however reluctantly, that the artistic standards had not been compromised by these changes, but were in fact an improvement.
It was during this tour that Toti dal Monte and Enzo De Muro Lomanto were married, an ill fated joining that would end in divorce barely four years later. The nuptials, for which Arangi-Lombardi and her husband were the official witnesses, attracted more than 25,000 spectators. At the ceremony’s conclusion, the wedding party lined up on the steps of St. Mary’s Cathedral and offered the Fascist salute to the huge gathering. It generated enormous publicity, and the newlyweds were pursued by photographers wherever they went for the remainder of the tour. Granforte completed his season with Tosca, Andrea Chenier and two Australian premieres, L’Amore de Tre Re and Il Tabarro. While Turandot, which also had its Australian premiere during the tour, had the greater number of performances, L’Amore de Tre Re was generally considered to have been the greatest artistic success of the season and all four principals, Scavizzi, Merli, Autori and Granforte received unqualified praise. The Melbourne Bulletin stated that “L’Amore de Tre Re was the best gowned, best staged and most brilliantly expounded opera of the season, cast and played without flaw.” On the return trip to Europe there were impromptu concerts almost every evening and when the ship stopped at Colombo Ceylon, there was a formal recital at the seaport.
The end of 1928 found Granforte at Brescia where he debuted as Carlo Gerard and in January sang Scarpia. At the San Carlo of Naples he sang in Andrea Chenier with Concato and Pertile, Cavalleria with Concato and Minghetti and Pagliacci with Antonio Cortis, and, at Mantua, he sang in Gioconda with Vera Amerighi- Rutili. The highlight of 1929 was his overdue debut at the Teatro Colón of Buenos Aires. His first appearance was as Scarpia on 7 June with Dalla Rizza and Jan Kiepura, and, a week later he sang in Andrea Chenier with Lina Bruna Rasa and George Thill. On the 21st he sang in Rigoletto with Sayao and Kiepura and on the 27th appeared for the only time in his career with Rosa Raisa when they sang in Il Trovatore. In July and August he sang in Pagliacci with Thill, the world premiere of Boero’s El Matrero with Pedro Mirassou, Cavalleria with Bruna Rasa and Mirassou and in Lohengrin with Selma Segal, Luisa Bertana, Pertile, and Pasero. Granforte visited Montevideo for Rigoletto with Sayao and Kiepura, Andrea Chenier with Bruna Rasa and Thill, and Tosca with Bruna Rasa and Mirassou. His receptions were ecstatic and he was particularly praised for his menacing and insidious portrayal of Scarpia. El Matrero was scheduled for three performances, but the engagement was extended to six after enormous popular and critical acclaim. In August, Granforte recorded six sides of the opera for HMV, and the recordings became “best sellers” throughout Argentina. La Prensa said, in reviewing Granforte’s debut, “Finally!”. Of his Rigoletto, the same newspaper said “We have seen them all, and it is fair to say that Signore Granforte’s performance can stand with the best of our time". At Rosario he was accorded a reception by the mayor, and a formal banquet was given in his honor, with Bruna Rasa in attendance. These would be his last performances in South America, as the world wide economic crash of 1929 was just around the corner. Upon his return to Italy, he completed the recording of Pagliacci which had begun in April, and he began the recording of Tosca with Carmen Melis. His year ended at Pavia with Rigoletto.
At Modena he sang in the opening night Rigoletto, then went to Turin’s Regio for Andrea Chenier with Margaret Sheridan and Pertile. At Verona he sang in Trentinaglia’s Rosmunda, whose locale was the city of Verona, and the receptions were so enthusiastic that an additional matinee had to be offered at popular prices to accommodate the demand. Granforte’s “Invocation to Verona” drew standing ovations at every performance and he was forced to encore it on the final evening. He returned to La Scala in May for La Forza del Destino with Pacetti, Stignani, Merli and Righetti and while in Milan sang a special performance of Cavalleria Rusticana in honour of the fortieth anniversary of the opera’s premiere. He also sang radio performances of Cena delle Beffe and Rosmunda. The rest of the year was occupied with recordings. He completed Tosca and recorded all of Il Trovatore with Carena, Minghini-Cattaneo and Pertile as well as extensive selections from Rigoletto.
In 1931 he debuted at San Remo with Otello and sang later in Carmen with Buades and Piccaluga. At Faenza he repeated Iago, and then traveled to Lisbon where, at the Coliseu, he debuted on 4 April in Lohengrin with Franca Somigli, Gianna Galli, Ettore Parmeggiani and Carlo Togliani. His season there included performances of Tosca with Gina Cigna and Fleta, Aida with Cigna, Galli and Bagnariol, Rigoletto with Villani and Fleta, Forza del Destino with Somigli, Galli, and Bagnariol, Pagliacci with Alfani-Tellini and Cingolani and Barbiere with Bastos, Rosa and Flamini. The company toured to other Portuguese cities with Barbiere. In the autumn he returned to Pistoia for Gioconda with Cigna and Lohengrin with Olga Brancucci, Minghini-Cattaneo and Parmeggiani. The town of Alessandria also saw his Telramund in November and at Casalmaggiore he sang in Andrea Chenier with Arangi-Lombardi and Franco Battaglia. These would be Arangi’s only performances of Maddalena di Coigny. During November he began the recording of Otello, whose sessions continued into the winter of 1932. It is the opinion of many, including the author, that his performance of Iago is the defining one ever committed to posterity.
The third tour to Australia, in April of 1932, featured Lina Pagliughi, Bruna Castagna and Pedro Mirassou as his partners. In a period of less than nine months Granforte sang over 150 performances, a record not matched in any annals I have seen. He sang in Rigoletto, Don Pasquale, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Carmen, Il Trovatore, Tosca, La Traviata, Pagliacci, Aida, Andrea Chénier and La Bohème. Additional performances of Pagliacci had to be scheduled in every city. The tour started in Sydney and in mid summer moved to Melbourne. During the Melbourne season, Joan Hammond made her soloist debut as Giovanna in Rigoletto. Granforte received magnificent reviews, but there was some comment concerning his “milking of applause” and of “hogging the limelight”. A newspaper commentary from Sydney “Signore Granforte appears on the stage and walks to the footlights as the applause builds. Bow after bow, until finally he remembers that he is paid to perform, and he gets down to business”. However, the Age said of his Amonasro “Granforte’s voice is now in its fullest estate. The burnished tone is utterly magnificent, so much so that we had difficulty believing that he had been marching so long through the parched desert”. The company visited New Zealand for two months, appearing at Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Duneden. His trips ‘Down Under’ resulted in over 325 performances, a total exceeded only by the legendary Joan Sutherland.
In 1933, after a concert tour with dal Monte, he sang in Aida with Amerighi-Rutili, Minghini-Cattaneo and Luigi Marletta at Cagliari and Sassari, Sardinia, and at the beginning of 1934 he sang Kurwenal for the first time when he debuted at Trieste’s Teatro Verdi in Tristan und Isolde. In February he appeared at Antwerp in Otello with Nicola Fusati. In July, at Noto, Sicily he sang in Andrea Chenier with Rosetta Pampanini and Galliano Masini, and appeared at Siragusa in a recital. On 8 September he had the honor of opening the Biennial International Music Festival at Venice with a concert at the Fenice and a week later, at the Teatro Goldoni, he sang in the world premiere of Kreneck’s Cefalo e Procri with Sara Scuderi, Alfani-Tellini, and Giovanni Voyer, conducted by Scherchen. In November he returned to Barcelona for Andrea Chenier, Trovatore, Carmen and I Puritani. The Bellini opera presented a splendid production in commemoration of its Centenary as well as the Centenary of the composer’s death. Mercedes Capsir and Hippolito Lazaro were Granforte’s partners, and the ovations were so enormous that the theatre’s doors were locked as fans were forced out of the one remaining exit after interminable applause.
In January 1935 Granforte returned to La Scala for the most famous of his assumptions, Menecrate, in the world première of Mascagni’s Nerone. From Music in Fascist Italy by Harvey Sachs “There was talk of giving the premiere outdoors at the Coliseum for the twelfth anniversary of the March on Rome, and when that idea was abandoned, Mascagni set his sights on La Scala. Mussolini favored the Rome Opera.” However, under prodding, “the Duce…assured Nerone’s author that he could schedule the premiere wherever he wished”. On 16 January, in a flower bedecked theater, Nerone had its premiere in “the most sumptuous of productions”. The cast included Bruna Rasa, Margherita Carosio, Pertile and Pasero. The seventy one year old composer was on the podium and as described by Gianandrea Gavazzeni “he glistened with make-up and hair dye, like a circus performer under the beams of the footlights”. Notwithstanding his appearance, he had an unqualified success, and even Mussolini telephoned his son in law, who attended the performance, to find out how it had gone and how many curtain calls there had been. Il Duce made certain that every performance had its share of industrialists, foreign dignitaries and government officials in the audience and that they were conspicuous in their enthusiasm for Mascagni, if not necessarily for the opera. Ten performances were given, and the theater was packed every night.
In April he appeared at Livorno as Scarpia with Bruna Rasa and Marletta and in July he traveled to Szeged,Hungary for Cavalleria Rusticana with Giuseppina Cobelli and Nino Bertelli. The revival was broadcast to Warsaw, Bucharest and Budapest. In late August, he returned to Mascagni’s hometown, Livorno, for six performances of Nerone. On the evening of the prima, the ovations continued for over an hour, and the composer was obliged to take a dozen solo bows. On 10 November 1935 Granforte sang Escamillo to the first-ever Carmen of Ebe Stignani at Alessandria. November found him at Barcelona again, for La Forza del Destino with Arangi-Lombardi and Battaglia, Aida with several casts including Cigna and Masini, Carmen, Princessa Margarida, Maria del Carmen of Granados and on New Year’s Eve, Tosca with Campigna and Cortis. It was recorded in Figaro that the three principals received a twenty minute ovation at the end of the second act.
In January 1936 Granforte opened the season at Genoa’s Carlo Felice in Nerone and a few weeks later he appeared in the world premiere of Malipiero’s Giulio Cesare. He also returned to Turin’s Regio for Tristan and Isolde with Llacer, Elmo and Parmeggiani. In March he sang five performances of Nerone at Naples’ San Carlo. He was invited by Mascagni to appear with him at Rome’s Italian Radio station in Cavalleria with Cobelli and Masini and in L’Amico Fritz with Favero and Masini and he rounded out this engagement with performances of Morenita. In August he appeared for Turin Radio in Notte di Zoraima with Cobelli and in Guido del Popolo with Stella Roman. He was scheduled to debut at Valencia on July 31 in Aida with Llacer, but hours before he was to leave Italy, a telegram arrived announcing that the season had been cancelled because the conflict of the Spanish Civil War had reached the city.
On 8 December he returned to Rome’s Teatro Reale for Nerone, and on the 12 he sang in Samson and Dalila with Stignani and Merli. The new year began with Aida, again with multiple casts, including Cigna, Roman, Nini Giani, Maria Benedetti, Merli and Pertile. Mule’s Dafni was presented with Somigli, Lohengrin with Magda Olivero, Benedetti and Gigli, and Parsifal with Cobelli, Tasso, Rossi-Morelli and Pasero. These were Granforte’s only performances of Klingsor, and he received excellent reviews, particularly noting the power of his unimpaired voice. In the spring he sang in Nerone at La Scala and at Zurich’s Stadttheater, after which the opera disappeared from the stages of the world. In July, Granforte sang Iago at Turin’s Giardino Cittadella, and in August he sang in Siberia with Delia Sanzio and Antonio Melandri and Salome with Maria Carbone for Rome’s Radio station. He ended 1937 at the Reale in Le Donne Curiose with Pia Tassinari, Carosio, Iris Adami Corradetti, Malipiero, Tito Gobbi, and Salvatore Baccaloni.
1938 began at Rome with performances of the first and only Ring of the Niebelungen ever performed completely in Italian. It was conducted by Tullio Serafin and had as Brunnhilde, Ella de Nemethy. Granforte sang the Wanderer and Gunther while De Angelis sang Wotan in Das Rheingold and Die Walkuere. The undertaking was an enormous critical success, but it was never attempted again because of the huge amount of preparation and because the Axis compact made performances in German much more palatable than had previously been the case. The four operas were broadcast throughout Italy, and it has been stated that tapes exist, though the author has no direct knowledge that that is the case. He finished his season at Rome with the world premiere of Vittadini’s Caracciolo and Pizzetti’s Lo Straniero with Roman, Tasso and Gobbi.
For Italian Radio he sang in Respighi’s Lucrezia and Maria Egiziaca, both with Maria Caniglia and in Siberia with Roman and Melandri, conducted by Giordano. At Pavia he sang in Andrea Chenier with Pacetti and Masini and offered concerts at Fiuggi and L’Aquila. On 26 July he appeared at the Terme di Caracalla in Isabeau conducted by Mascagni. The title role was shared by Cigna and Bruna Rasa. On 8 August, Bernardo de Muro sang his Italian operatic farewell as Folco, a role he had sung nearly four hundred times. There were four performances and the twenty thousand seat arena was sold out every night. In September, Granforte appeared at Radio Turin with Carbone and Stignani in Parisina conducted by Mascagni and in Loreley with Cigna and Merli. He returned in October for Le Maschere with Carbone, Margherita Perris and Tafuro. Again, Mascagni conducted his opera. It is believed, with a fair amount of certainty, that Granforte sang more roles in Mascagni operas, seven, than any other baritone. What is certain is that, along with Bruna Rasa, Maria Farneti, Gemma Bellincioni, Boninsegna, Lazaro and de Muro, Granforte’s name will forever be linked to that of the composer.
Unlike several of his contemporaries who continued to attempt roles such as Rigoletto and Figaro well past their prime, Granforte chose to learn new repertoire, roles which were more suited to his now lowered and darker instrument. He continued to appear in the major theaters with singers of the first rank, and his career never assumed the aspect of compromise on artistic principles. In 1939 he appeared at Trieste in Salome with Somigli and at Genoa’s Carlo Felice he appeared in L’Arlesiana with Pederzini and Schipa, in Carmen with Pederzini and Melandri and in Lo Straniero with Gabriella Gatti and Tasso. In June he sang in Tosca at Siena and in July at Bologna he sang in Lohengrin with Adami Corradetti, Elmo and Voyer. Pia Tassinari sang in later performances. On 28 December he returned to the Carlo Felice for Tosca with Caniglia and Masini.
In 1940 he opened the year at Piacenza with Scarpia and from there returned to Naples for Loreley with Pacetti, Merli and Giulio Neri. Trieste heard him as Telramund with Tassinari, Elena Nicolai and Giovanni Voyer and at the Carlo Felice he sang the Wanderer with De Nemethy, Max Lorenz and Neri. Mascagni toured throughout Italy in 1940 with Cavalleria Rusticana, in celebration of its fiftieth anniversary. Granforte appeared with him at Trieste, Genoa and in a gala closing night performance at Naples’ San Carlo with Bruna Rasa and Masini. Later in the year he appeared at Viareggio and Bologna in Tosca with Cigna, and toured as Scarpia to Udine, Mirandola, Alessandria and Trieste in the autumn.
In January 1941 he returned to Trieste for the Wanderer. This time Helm-Sbisa sang Brunnhilde and Lorenz was again Siegfried. In March he sang Gunther at Genoa to the Brunnhilde of Frida Leider, whose opera farewell to Italy it was, again with Lorenz. In the spring he sang Tosca at Turin and in September he returned to Venice for a concert at the Fenice with Giacinto Prandelli. Later in the month he appeared at Bergamo in the world premiere of Giuranna’s Jamanto and at Genoa in Andrea Chenier. In December he debuted at Palermo in Cene delle Beffe and Il Trovatore.
In 1942 his activities slowed down enormously and he did not appear until October when he sang Scarpia at Ferrara to the Tosca of Germana di Giulio and the Cavaradossi of Beniamino Gigli. At year’s end he returned to Parma’s Regio for another world premiere, Liviabella’s Antigone, followed by Lo Straniero. His farewell to the opera stage was on 26 Feb 1943 in Pizzetti’s Fedra at Trieste’s Teatro Verdi. Iva Pacetti sang the title role and his long time and good friend, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, conducted.
At war’s end he accepted a position as the Director of the Ankara Conservatory and was the primary teacher of Leyla Gencer. After an assignment at Prague’s opera house, he returned to Milan and opened a music school, one of whose graduates was Raffaele Arie. He continued to participate in musical life until well into his eighties and was often asked to sit on panels during music competitions. Granforte died on 11 June 1975 at Gorgonzola, a suburb of Milan.
Among Granforte’s recordings, without any hesitation the first on my list is the Puccini song Inno di Roma. It shows his enormously strong and vibrant voice to best advantage. Nemico della patria and Cortigiani are also favorites of mine, because they display histrionic intensity as well as consummate vocalism. I love Zaza, piccola zingara for its delicacy of line and the duet from Aida with Hilde Monti for its fascinating coloration. Spani and he are a grand team in the Silvio Nedda duet from Pagliacci and he shines very brightly in O tu bel astro (O du mein holder abendstern) from Tannhauser. It shows the best of the Italian tradition in the Wagner repertoire, of which he was a master. All of his complete recordings, Pagliacci, Tosca, Trovatore and Otello, have enormous impact but I would direct the reader to Otello most emphatically. Here, you find an almost perfect blending of characterization and superb vocalism
I would end the story with the following thought. His very name bespeaks his grandeur. Apollo Granforte, indeed! He was a major force in the musical life of his time and his recorded legacy is among the most impressive that I know.
To his memory and to his titanic voice!
© Bob Rideout