Aureliano Pertile
It is in the nature of things that extraordinary events will occur. Most historical documents declare that Giovanni Martinelli and Aureliano Pertile were born within two weeks of each other in the autumn of 1885 at Montagnana, Italy. There is considerable doubt, however, about the accuracy of Martinelli’s birthdate, though no one doubts that both were born in the same town, probably on the same street. Recent evidence indicates that Martinelli was at least three years old when Pertile was born, while other sources state that the difference is, in fact, five years. What is known is that they moved in parallel lines for nearly sixty years, and that they are remembered as the two most important Italian tenors of this century, after the death of Enrico Caruso. Martinelli, according to any evidence that we have, debuted in 1910, and Pertile debuted in 1911. Both careers were crowned with Otello, and each left an individual and indelible imprint upon the history of that opera. This is the story of the younger.
Aureliano knew at the age of eight that he had an extroardinary voice, at that time categorized as a contralto, and regularly sang as a soloist in his local church, where he was admired as a prodigy. After his voice lowered, young Master Pertile retired from singing for a period of three years, after which he resumed his studies at Vicenza. While at the conservatory, he met the young Italia Tealdo, and within a few months they were married. The first decision the young couple made was to move to Padua, where Aureliano continued his musical education. Two sons were born within a very short time, Arnaldo and Nereo, and it was time for papa to earn some money.
On 16 February 1911 Pertile made his stage debut in Flotow’s Marta at Vicenza’s Teatro Eretenio. A portion of the local review is quoted. “The tenor, Aureliano Pertile, was excellent. Appearing for the first time in public, he presented a figure of youthful infatuation. His voice is very strong, though he also has the virtues of knowing how to use it with gentleness and dramatic sentiment.” There were seven performances.
In May, he was engaged at Milan’s Teatro Dal Verme to sing in the World Premiere of Quo Vadis by Jean Nougues, and his success was so great that the Teatro Vittorio Emanuele of Turin secured his services for a debut there in the same opera later in the season. It was here that Italy first heard about its new star, and he stayed at Turin for several months, singing in Norma, Rigoletto with the equally new sensation, Claudia Muzio, and in La Gioconda.
In early 1912, he returned to the Dal Verme for Pagliacci with Muzio, and later, Andrea Chenier. After a triumphant return to Vicenza for Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci and Andrea Chenier, Aureliano appeared at Asti’s Teatro Alfieri in Isabeau and again, Chenier. Reviews continued to laud the young tenor and he and his family traveled to Brescia, where, at the Teatro Grande he sang in La Gioconda and Zandonai’s Conchita. On 8 May 1913 Pertile sang in the Manzoni Requiem at Brescia and on 7 June he repeated the Verdi work at Genoa. Following performances of Carmen at Padua, the Pertile family sailed for South America, where, in late July, at Santiago’s Teatro Municipal, Aureliano debuted as Puccini’s Des Grieux. It was a spectacular success and an additional performance was immediately scheduled at Valparaiso. ElMercurio reported: “the long journey to Chile would have been well worthwhile, if only to sing this one role”. The Santiago season continued with Un Ballo in Maschera, Mefistofele, Cavalleria Rusticana and a new work called Tzigane, while at Valparaiso, he appeared in Tosca, Rigoletto and in Un Ballo in Maschera.
Not wishing to be outdone by his good friend, Martinelli, Pertile decided to learn the role of Dick Johnson in La Fanciulla del West. His colleague had been extraordinarily successful in the role at Rome, Naples, Monte Carlo and Milan. Aureliano debuted as the wayward cowboy at Bologna’s Teatro Corso in late October and continued his season there with Francesca da Rimini and Aida. On the strength of extraordinary notices and wild audience receptions, the Teatro San Carlo of Naples offered him a debut, and on 30 December he appeared there for the first time in Zandonai’s Conchita. In three short years Aureliano Pertile had become an international opera star and a hero in his homeland. The author does note, with a smile, that Pertile never sang in La Fanciulla del West again.
On 7 April 1914 Pertile debuted at Palermo’s Teatro Massimo in Salome under the direction of Gino Marinuzzi and a week later, he appeared in Conchita. Sometime during this period he sang Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor at Firenze’s Teatro Communale. In late November he appeared at Genoa in Menegazzoli’s La Giavanese and in early December he sang Don Jose there followed by Cavalleria Rusticana. Aureliano’s year ended at Naples with Carmen and a new role, Pinkerton, sung to the Butterfly of Ersilde Cervi Caroli. In January 1915 he debuted at Turin’s Regio in Francesca da Rimini with Linda Cannetti and in February he continued his engagement with L’amore dei Tre Re, again with Cannetti. Another very important debut waited, when he sang Paolo to the Francesca of Rosa Raisa at Rome’s Costanzi on 10 March, the occasion of the opera’s premiere at that theater. On the 25th, at Rome, he sang in Aida with Raisa, Perini and Danise and continued to appear there through April with performances of Abul by Nepomuceno, again with Raisa, and in Mariotti’s Una Tragedia Fiorentina.
He returned to Rome in December for Boris Godunov and began the New Year there with Madama Butterfly and Louise by Charpentier. On 22 February, Pertile debuted in La Scala’s premiere of Francesca da Rimini, again with Raisa. Toti dal Monte sang the tiny role of Biancofiore. Bologna’s Comunale welcomed him as Cavaradossi in November, in a cast that included Tina Poli Randaccio and Jose Segura Tallien, and so his year ended.
Pertile debuted at Madrid in Aida with Cecilia Gagliardi and Fanny Anitua, and continued his season there with Tosca, Butterfly with Rosina Storchio, Un Ballo in Maschera with Gagliardi, and Carmen. In June of 1917 Pertile sang in La Rondine at Bologna with Cannetti and Dal Monte and in the autumn he sang in Andrea Chenier, La Rondine, Aida with Ester Mazzoleni and Un Ballo in Maschera at Genoa. Turin’s Teatro Chiarella presented him in Fra Diavolo and La Traviata, and Bologna’s Corso mounted Francesca da Rimini for him. Late in the year Aureliano debuted at Barcelona’s Liceo in Aida with Ofelia Nieto, after which he sang in Louise with Genevieve Vix. In January 1918, he returned to Genoa for Manon Lescaut, Loreley, La Boheme, Madama Butterfly and La Traviata.
After a rest of two months, the Pertiles returned to South America, where, on 2 June Aureliano debuted at Buenos Aires’ Teatro Colon in Carmen with Gabriella Besanzoni, Hina Spani, Marcel Journet and Mariano Stabile. It was a spectacularly reviewed revival, reserving no superlatives. His name was the one that made the headlines, though, and with each new opera, Pagliacci with Ninon Vallin, Aida with Raisa, Besanzoni, and Giacomo Rimini, Louise with Vallin and Journet, Jacquerie, and Ballo in Maschera with Raisa and Rimini, Pertile’s receptions became increasingly intense. Bruno Tosi: “after ‘e scherzo od e follia’ (Ballo) there was a fanatical eruption; from the gallery, and throughout the theater, came frantic screams of enthusiasm”. The adulation reached almost idolatrous proportions, and when the company traveled to Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo, he received equally generous and demonstrative welcomes. At Sao Paolo, Pertile sang additional performances of Tosca with Raisa, and Rigoletto. The tour was a nothing short of a conquest, and before the season was over, he had signed a contract with the Walter Mocchi company to appear in the same cities the following year.
In 1919, Pertile sang in Fedora at Turin, Manon Lescaut and Mefistofele at Piacenza, Francesca da Rimini at Verona, Carmen at Genoa and Manon Lescaut at Bologna before returning to Buenos Aires in June, where he had a two month season at the Teatro Coliseo. Mefistofele with Gilda Dalla Rizza, Maria Carena and Nazzareno De Angelis was followed by Pagliacci, Madama Butterfly with Dalla Rizza and Mose with Carena and De Angelis. At Montevideo, he added performances of Aida, and finished his season at Rio de Janeiro in late September. Turin welcomed him back in Lohengrin, Carmen with Giuseppina Zinetti, and Andrea Chenier, and on 22 December Aureliano debuted at the Teatro Ponchielli of Cremona in Mefistofele. The year ended at Cremona with Carmen, again partnered by Zinetti.
Martinelli was, by now, firmly established in the United States and would rarely return to his homeland over the next thirty years. Pertile certainly had his challengers in Italy, most importantly Beniamino Gigli and, to a lesser extent, Francesco Merli. But, Gigli would be remembered primarily as a lyric tenor of unmatched vocal beauty, while Merli remained the perpetual stalker, singing a huge number of performances without ever gaining the recognition that so defined the careers of the other three.
Arturo Toscanini would soon see to it that Aureliano Pertile was the most celebrated singer in Italy.
In 1920 Pertile remained in Italy, singing in Francesca da Rimini at Parma, Mefistofele and Carmen at Brescia, Manon Lescaut at Verona, and a triumphant Aida at Vicenza, where he made banner headlines in the local press, a story that was reprinted throughout Italy. In May, at Ravenna’s Teatro Alighieri, he appeared as Lohengrin, partnered by Hina Spani and Cesare Formichi. Despite this remarkably busy schedule he managed to debut at both Cesena and Ferrara in Francesca da Rimini. On 27 July he debuted at the Verona Arena in Mefistofele with Bianca Scacciati, Linda Barla and the unforgettable Nazzareno De Angelis. The Verona season included performances of Aida with Poli Randaccio and Zinetti, after which he returned to Vicenza for Manon Lescaut and additional performances of Aida. On 2 October Pertile debuted at the Rossetti of Trieste in Un Ballo in Maschera, and in November he returned to Bologna for Lohengrin. On 29 December he appeared in La Traviata at Turin with Ester Mazzoleni .
After a winter vacation with his family, Aureliano debuted at Venice’s Teatro Fenice in Andrea Chenier and continued his season there with Pagliacci and Monleone’s Il Mistero. In February, he made a sensational debut at Catania’s Teatro Massimo Bellini in Fedora and followed it with Carmen, again with Zinetti. Bologna saw him in Andrea Chenier with Scacciati and Stabile and Milan’s Carcano presented him in LaTraviata. In May at Florence, Pertile sang in Andrea Chenier and he returned in July for Aida. After some debate Aureliano accepted a contract to appear at the Metropolitan Opera, and, on 1 December he sang in Tosca before a sold out house with Maria Jeritza and Antonio Scotti. Unfortunately for Pertile, it was also Jeritza’s first Tosca at the Met, and the reviews were all hers. His season was ultimately a disappointment. There was nothing but praise for his musicianly ways, but there was a lot of uncomplimentary comment about the quality of the voice. It did not sit graciously upon the ears of every beholder. Pertile fulfilled his contract singing in Manon Lescaut with Frances Alda, Louise with Geraldine Farrar, Cavalleria Rusticana with Jeritza, Boris Godunov with Chaliapin, Aida and Pagliacci. He sang in two concerts and appeared with the company in Louise at Philadelphia and the Brooklyn Academy of Music, after which he left New York, never again to appear in the United States.
Arturo Toscanini had engaged Pertile to sing at La Scala after his Met season, and on 22 March, Aureliano appeared for the first time with the Maestro, singing in Mefistofele with Juanita Caracciolo, Iva Pacetti, whose Scala debut it was, and De Angelis. It was a revival of historic importance. Pacetti had nothing but trouble with Toscanini throughout the rehearsals and she stormed from the stage more than once, to the astonishment of the theater’s personnel. In fact, Toscanini attempted to cancel her contract after the fourth performance, but she held her ground and stayed in the revival until the end. De Angelis was usually a difficult colleague, and this revival was no exception. He threw temper tantrums as well, and there were days when it seemed likely that the revival would be cancelled. On the first night, it all came together magnificently and was hailed as one of the great triumphs of the era. Pertile received superb reviews, and more importantly, words of highest praise from Toscanini when interviewed by journalists. Memories of New York were soon forgotten as the parade of superlatives continued to build in the Italian press.
After performances of Boris Godunov at Milan, Pertile debuted as Boito’s Faust at Genoa’s Carlo Felice with Scacciati, Pacetti and De Angelis under the baton of Marinuzzi, and again the critics could not find words to describe their enthusiasm for the revival, especially for Pertile. At Turin, he sang in Lohengrin with Maria Zamboni, and on 2 June at Paris’ Theatre Champs Elysses he sang Lohengrin with Scacciati, Maria Capuana and Ezio Pinza under the baton of Tullio Serafin. On 27 July he returned to Verona’s Arena in the same opera, again with Serafin on the podium. In October, Lohengrin was presented at Trieste, and, in December, at La Scala, after which he appeared in a revival of Manon Lescaut with Caracciolo under Toscanini’s direction. A unique bond of mutual respect and integrity had been established between the two men, one that would endure until the maestro left Italy in 1929.
In the meantime, Pertile had received a cablegram from the Met in April informing him that unfortunately, his services would not be required in the coming season, with regrets. A short time later Gatti Casazza received the following from one of his Italian agents. “As you will read in the papers, La Scala has become Il Teatro Pertile. All the operas are sung by him, the only tenor”
Pertile’s season at La Scala continued with a celebrated revival of Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nurmberg, in Italian. Toscanini led a cast that included, Caracciolo, Ernesto Badini, Journet and Pinza. Following performances of Luisa, Aureliano sang in Lucia di Lammermoor with Toti Dal Monte, Riccardo Stracciari and Pinza after which he left for another season in South America. On 20 May, at the Colon, he appeared in Aida with Muzio, Flora Perini, Carlo Galeffi and Mansueto Gaudio, and two weeks later he again partnered Dal Monte in Lucia di Lammermoor. As in previous years, Pertile’s solos provoked uncontrolled demonstrations, and the acclamation at the end of the performance continued for nearly an hour. Toti had been applauded for nearly ten minutes at the end of her mad scene, and La Prensa declared the following day that the theater had probably never experienced such an evening in its fifteen years of existence. On 1 July Aureliano sang in La Traviata with Muzio and Galeffi and on the 27th, Pertile and the Divine Claudia drove the Colon audience into frenzy in Manon Lescaut. The season in Buenos Aires ended with performances of Alfano’s La Leggenda di Sakuntala, after which the company traveled to Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo. At Sao Paolo, after Tosca with Muzio, the auditorium was cleared by police after fistfights broke out as ushers attempted to persuade a large portion of the audience to leave, without success. Muzio also sang with him in Loreley, and he joined Hina Spani at season’s end in La Boheme.
On 20 November, Aureliano returned to La Scala where he sang in Aida, Traviata, Lucia di Lammermoor, Manon Lescaut and Iris, and, after Lucia di Lammermoor at Padua, he returned to Milan on 18 March 1924 for Lohengrin, followed by Meistersinger and the World Premiere of Boito’s Nerone. The opera had been finished before the composer’s death and had lain untouched for some 15 years. Some instrumentation had been left incomplete and it was left to Antonio Smareglia to polish the rough edges in the score. On 1 May, before a largely invited audience, Nerone had its first exposure, to very mixed reactions. There was nothing but praise for Raisa, Pertile, Galeffi, Journet and Pinza, and Toscanini received long ovations every time he approached the podium. The work itself was the source of bitter dispute, some believing it to be of an almost mystical inspiration, while others thought it unbearably ponderous. In May, Pertile returned to Florence for Lucia di Lammermoor with Ada Sari, and after a summer vacation, he turned again to Nerone, singing it twelve times at Bologna’s Comunale. After Lucia di Lammermoor at Bergamo, Pertile returned to Scala for additonal performances of Nerone, and later, Iris followed by Mefistofele with Spani, Arangi Lombardi and De Angelis. On December 29 Toscanini conducted a performance of La Boheme with Zamboni, Pertile and Benvenuto Franci in memory of Giacomo Puccini, who had died exactly one month before. It is noted that earlier in the year, during a rehearsal of Nerone, Toscanini insisted that Puccini, who had gained entrance to the theater, be esorted from the auditorium. No one was to hear the music until the evening of the premiere. Members of the cast were asked to gently persuade Puccini that he should leave the theater, which they did, and, which he did.
1925 opened with another Puccini memorial at Milan’s Teatro del Popolo in which Pertile and Hina Spani sang “O Soave Fanciulla” from La Boheme. He returned to Scala for Andrea Chenier with Spani and Enrico Molinari and for Aida with Giannina Arangi Lombardi, Zinetti, Franci and Antonio Righetti after which he sang in Nerone at Turin’s Regio. In April La Scala presented him in Il Trovatore with Raisa, Fanny Anitua and Franci and in May he sang Lohengrin with Zamboni, Elvira Casazza and Molinari. A summer vacation was followed by Il Trovatore at Bergamo with Arangi Lombardi, Irene Minghini-Cattaneo and Antenore Reali, and in October he sang in Lucia di Lammermoor at Ferrara and Bologna. The Scala season began early in 1925, and Aureliano sang in Un Ballo in Maschera with Maria Carena, Anitua and Galeffi on 14 November. His engagement included performances of Il Trovatore, Madama Butterfly with Rosetta Pampanini, Meistersinger, Iris and Aida, followed in late January 1926 by Il Trovatore and Mefistofele at Turin’s Regio. In late March Pertile returned to La Scala for La Boheme, and additional performances of Nerone.
Enter Giacomo Lauri-Volpi! Like Martinelli before him, Beniamino Gigli left Italy after his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1920 and was not to be seen again in a major Italian theater until 1933. The few performances he gave were during summer vacations in years in which he did not tour in South America, and they were almost exclusively concerts. Following in Gigli’s footsteps was the new sensation, Giacomo Lauri-Volpi, who had a meteoric rise after his operatic debut in 1919. Lauri-Volpi had debuted at La Scala in the winter of 1922 in Rigoletto, and was summarily dismissed by Toscanini in mid season, never to appear in that theater again until the Maestro left in 1929. Lauri Volpi’s replacement during that first Scala season was Alessio di Paolis, who would be remembered in later life as, perhaps, the greatest comprimario in the history of the Met. At the same time that Gatti Casazza was sending his regrets to Pertile in 1922, he was in the process of hiring Lauri-Volpi. It hardly need be stated that the two tenors, each of whom was held responsible for intrigues by the other, had no love for the other. However, it came to pass that they were signed by the Teatro Colon for the 1926 season and they managed to coexist, first at Buenos Aires and later at Rio de Janeiro.
Aureliano opened the season on 22 May in Nerone with Muzio, Luisa Bertana, Franci and Pinza to sensational notices. The opera was highly praised and the singers were adored. Arangi Lombardi replaced Muzio in the last two performances. Pertile’s other operas were Iris with Pampanini, Trovatore with Muzio, Pagliacci with Pampanini and Ruffo, Gaito’s Ollantay, Madama Butterfly and La Boheme with Isabel Marengo and Ruffo. Giuseppe de Luca sang Marcello in the last performance. Such were the rosters of the Teatro Colon. At Rio, Pertile sang in Nerone with Arangi Lombardi, and in Iris and Pagliacci. At season’s end, Lauri-Volpi returned to the United States, as had been his habit since 1922, and like Gigli, he rarely performed in Italy until he left the Met “for artistic reasons” in 1933. It is little wonder that Aureliano Pertile was and would remain the dominant force in Italian operatic life for over a decade.
In October Pertile appeared as Edgardo at Trieste and as Manrico at Bologna before returning to La Scala where he opened the season in Lohengrin with Ofelia Nieto, Casazza and Galeffi under the direction of Ettore Panizza. On 2 December he sang in Andrea Chenier with Giuseppina Cobelli and Franci and on 19 December he sang in the La Scala premiere of Leoncavallo’s world renowned opera, Pagliacci, with Pampanini. Ironically, Pietro Mascagni was the conductor. After performances of Iris with Pampanini, Aureliano returned to Turin for revivals of Nerone and Aida, the latter with Eva Turner, Minghini-Cattaneo and Edoardo Faticanti under Marinuzzi’s baton. Padua’s Teatro Verdi mounted Tosca for him, and at La Scala, he sang in Lucia di Lammermoor with Dal Monte. On 17 March, at Milan’s Carcano he appeared in La Boheme with Carmen Melis.
In June of 1927 he debuted at London’s Covent Garden in Aida with Greta Stueckgold. Sigrid Onegin, and Emil Schipper. His reviews were those about which dreams are born, being hailed as a consumate musician and actor. Il Trovatore followed with Frida Leider, Maria Olczewska and Borgioli. From ‘200 Years of Opera at Covent Garden’ by Harold Rosenthal: “Possibly the greatest impression of the Italian season was made by Aureliano Pertile, who made his debut as Radames on 3 June. Newman found him the best Italian tenor heard since the end of the war. The Telegraph pronounced upon him in similar terms. As Manrico, he more than confirmed the impression he had made in Aida and won an enormous ovation for what The Times termed the “emotional fervor and vocal quality of his singing”.
The summer continued with Andrea Chenier at Como, La Boheme at Rimini and Tosca at Vicenza, and in October he appeared at Trieste in Pagliacci and Cavalleria Rusticana on a double bill. La Scala again presented him its opening night performance, Mefistofele with Cobelli, Bruna Rasa and Tancredi Pasero. After Manon Lescaut and Pagliacci, both with Pampanini, on 29 December, Pertile sang in the World Premiere of Wolf-Ferrari’s Sly with Mercedes Llopart, Iris Adami Corradetti and Luigi Rossi Morelli under the direction of Panizza. It was a sensation, though the critics had a field day with the libretto. Bruna Rasa replaced Llopart in later performances. The opera would be repeated in the following season and it did have productions in several Italian cities, but unlike Nerone, it did not gain wide popularity.
In January 1928, Turin saw Pertile in Pagliacci and in February he returned to La Scala for Edgardo and the Duke of Mantua, after which he sang in Andrea Chenier at Genoa’s Carlo Felice. At La Scala he sang in Tosca with Gilda Dalla Rizza, Andrea Chenier with Bruna Rasa and Galeffi and La Traviata with Dalla Rizza and Victor Damiani. He returned to London in June and received equally brilliant notices as had been his in the previous season. Aida found him with Dusolina Giannini, Irene Minghini-Cattaneo and Armando Borgioli. Eva Turner sang in later performances. Pertile continued with La Boheme with Margaret Sheridan and Margherita Carosio and he sang his season farewell as Canio to the Nedda of Pampanini. On 17 July before 40,000 people in the Piazza San Marco he sang in Pagliacci with Pampanini and Galeffi. It was preceded by Cavalleria Rusticana with Bruna Rasa and Antonio Melandri and Mascagni conducted both operas. The program was repeated the following evening before an even larger crowd. In October he sang in Tosca with Bruna Rasa and Giovanni Inghilleri at Forli, and the revival was so frantically received that two additional performances were offered and sold out within hours.
At La Scala Pertile repeated Sly, Tosca, Lucia di Lammermoor, and Meistersinger, and on 1 January 1929, he began the most incredible year that I have seen in any annals. There is only one way to present it, as follows:
La Scala - 1 Jan - Lohengrin with Pampanini, Minghini-Cattaneo and Galeffi
La Scala - 12 Jan - Pagliacci with Pampanini and Galeffi
Nice - 16 Jan - Mefistofele with Gina Cigna, Bruna Rasa and Andrea Mongelli
Nice - 19 January - Lucia di Lammermoor with Anna Maria Gugliemetti
Genoa - 22 January - Manon Lescaut with Margaret Sheridan
Turin - 26 January - Fra Diavolo
Turin - 7 February - Lucia di Lammermoor with Dal Monte and Damiani
Rome - 17 February - Andrea Chenier with Muzio and Franci
Rome - 21 February - Lohengrin with Pacetti, Anitua and Franci
Naples - 26 February - Andrea Chenier with Augusta Concato and Apollo Granforte
Naples - 2 March - Iris with Pampanini
La Scala - 24 March - Un Ballo in Maschera with Scacciati, Minghini-Cattaneo and Galeffi
La Scala - 4 April - La Campana Sommersa
La Scala - 18 April - Francesca da Rimini with Dalla Rizza
La Scala - 22 April - Aida with Arangi Lombardi, Casazza and Galeffi
La Scala - 12 May - Manon Lescaut with Pampanini
Vienna - 19 May - Lucia di Lammermoor with Dal Monte and Franci
Berlin - 25 May - Lucia with Dal Monte and Franci
Berlin - 27 May - Manon Lescaut with Pampanini
Berlin - 28 May - Aida with Arangi Lombardi
Covent Garden - 2 June - La Boheme with Pampanini
Covent Garden - June - La Gioconda with Rosa Ponselle, Minghini-Cattaneo, Inghilleri
Covent Garden - June - Manon Lescaut with Sheridan
Covent Garden - June - Tosca with Melis and Inghilleri
Teatro Colon - 16 July - Lohengrin with Selma Segal, Bertana, Granforte and Pasero
Teatro Colon - 23 July - Aida with Raisa, Rosette Anday and Giacomo Rimini
Teatro Colon - 2 August - La Compana Sommersa with Bruna Rasa and Pasero
Teatro Colon - 14 August - Lucia di Lammermoor with Bidu Sayao
Teatro Colon - 21 August - Meistersinger with Dalla Rizza, Journet and Armand Crabbe
Pisa - 18 Oct - Lucia di Lammermoor with Maria Gentile
Ferrara - 27 Oct - Andrea Chenier with Cigna
Trieste - 4 Nov - Manon Lescaut with Zamboni
Bologna - 16 Nov - Manon Lescaut with Pampanini
Bologna - 1 Dec - Francesca da Rimini with Pacetti
Bologna - 5 Dec - La Traviata with Zamboni and Franci
La Scala - 22 Dec - La Forza del Destino with Scacciati, Stignani and Molinari
La Scala - 29 Dec - La Boheme with Zamboni, Laura Lauri and Viviani
Toscanini had left La Scala and Italy after the Manon Lescaut revival in May and was not to return until the defeat of Fascism and the end of World War II. The face of the Milan theater had been forever changed during his tenure, and it would soon present another very different image. Aureliano Pertile would remain a very important part of the new picture, but he would never again be its centerpiece.
On 12 Jan, 1930 he sang in Francesca da Rimini with Dalla Rizza and Mariano Stabile at La Scala and then appeared as Manrico at Parma, with Spani, Bruna Castagna, and Giulio Fregosi. At Turin he sang in nine performances of Andrea Chenier with Sheridan and Granforte and in Gianni Schicchi with Sheridan. At Genoa’s Carlo Felice he appeared as Lohengrin and Radames and at the Rome Opera he sang in Un Ballo in Maschera with Arangi Lombardi who had left La Scala on the heels of Toscanini’s departure, never to return. Later in March, the Romans heard Pertile in La Traviata with Muzio and Stabile. At Naples, Aureliano appeared in Andrea Chenier, Madama Butterfly, L’Ultimo Lord by Alfano and La Forza del Destino and in May he returned to Ravenna for Andrea Chenier with Bruna Rasa. They joined in a benefit concert at the Alighieri on the 17th, after which Pertile appeared at Firenze’s Comunale in Lohengrin with Maria Laurenti, Stignani and Borgioli. After a vacation, he sang Edgardo at Budrio to the Lucia of Lina Pagliughi, Radames at Ferrara with Arangi Lombardi and at year’s end, the Puccini Des Grieux at Rome with Pampanini.
In 1931 Rome saw Pertile in Un Ballo in Maschera, Aida and Andrea Chenier, after which he sang Riccardo at Genoa and Naples. In March he returned to Rome for Adriana Lecouvreur with Cobelli, Gianna Pederzini and Damiani, and was wildly received for his new assumption. At La Scala he appeared in Marta and in London he sang in La Forza del Destino with Ponselle and in Tosca with Pacetti and Stabile. The summer kept him busy with Radames at Trieste, Udine and several other Italian centers during the annual tour of Carro di Tespi. He returned to the Donizetti of Bergamo in September for Adriana, this time with Florica Cristoforeanu, the Romanian sensation who was to have a major career in Italy over the next two decades. In October he sang in La Boheme with Mafalda Favero at Bologna, and on the 31st, he sang in a concert with Arangi Lombardi at Milan’s Del Popolo. On 26 December he sang Pollione for the first time in a Scala production, one that also starred Scacciati, Stignani and De Angelis. It was a resounding success for all, though Pertile would sing the role very few times.
Aureliano remained at La Scala for another month singing in Fedora with Cobelli and Werther with Cristoforeanu. Turin saw him in Tosca with Scacciati and Genoa presented him in Adriana with Melis and Riccardo Stracciari, followed by Norma. At Naples he repeated Adriana, again with Cristoforeanu, and at Rome he sang in Fedora with Cobelli. Pertile returned to La Scala in April for Un Ballo in Maschera and Adriana, and on 31 July he sang Riccardo at the Verona Arena. The cast was rounded out by Arangi Lombardi, Carosio, Nini Giani and Franci, and was a headline story throughout Italy. Pertile’s reviews were not unlike those at the Colon ten years earlier. Bergamo recalled him for Andrea Chenier with Cigna and he ended the year with Lucia di Lammermoor at Verona, Lohengrin at Ferrara and Un Ballo in Maschera at Bologna.
There was one very positive aspect to the departure of Toscanini, who had demanded and received the tenor’s undivided loyalty. Audiences throughout Italy now felt that they owned a small part of Aureliano Pertile. They had known him by reputation, and through recordings and occasional guest appearances, but they now embraced him as one of their own in a very different way. It was also a dramatic change for Arangi Lombardi, who years later expressed her enormous relief that the commitment, though the most artistically satisfying experience of her life, had ended, and that the rest of Italy had come to know who she was.
In 1933 Pertile appeared at Turin in Lohengrin, at Genoa in Lucia di Lammermoor with Dal Monte, at La Scala in Lohengrin with Maria Caniglia, Stignani, Viviani and De Angelis, at Trieste in Andrea Chenier, at Rome in Fedora with Dalla Rizza, again at Genoa in Aida, and at season’s end, at La Scala in Adriana and Aida. After performances of Un Ballo in Maschera at Ancona with Bruna Rasa, Pertile returned to the Verona Arena for Lohengrin and in October he traveled to Cento where he participated in opening ceremonies for the Giuseppe Borgatti memorial museum. His year ended at Parma with Un Ballo in Maschera.
On 18 January 1934 he sang in La Favorita for the first time. La Scala had mounted a brilliant new production for him, Ebe Stignani, Giuseppe Danise and Tancredi Pasero, and it was a rousing success for all. After performances of Fra Diavalo with Margherita Carosio Pertile returned to Rome for Aida and Lohengrin, and, after a long absence, to Palermo for Un Ballo in Maschera with Arangi Lombardi. On 21 March they gave a joint concert at the Massimo. His season continued with Fedora partnered by Dalla Rizza at both Sanremo and Bologna. The Maggio Musicale Fiorentino mounted a stellar revival of La Forza del Destino with Elizabeth Rethberg, Gianna Pederzini, Borgioli and Pasero, and after savoring the enormous success of this revival, Aureliano took a break from performing. He had been engaged by Pietro Mascagni to sing in another world premiere of an opera called Nerone, and it was time for some very serious studying.
Mussolini and Mascagni planned a triumphant reception for Nerone at Rome’s Coliseum, but for logistical reasons the plan never materialized. It was rescheduled as a gala at La Scala in the early part of January 1935. Rehearsals began nearly two months before the scheduled date and, after a few performances of Andrea Chenier at Modena with Cigna in December, Pertile removed himself from the scene entirely, so that he might concentrate on this new, immensely ambitious work. On 16 January, Mascagni’s Nerone was presented for the first time before a star studded audience of musical and political dignitaries. Mussolini did not attend, but asked his son in law, Count Ciano, to represent him and the government. Though it was not critically hailed, it did receive ten performances in its initial run and was subsequently seen in several Italian cities as well as at Zurich in 1937. Pertile was unanimously praised as the only living tenor who could have succeeded in the fiendishly difficult role. Mascagni, in a combination of letters to the tenor said: “No, not Gigli, no not Masini, only Pertile can sing the role of Nerone at Rome. I have only admiration … for you and for your art, and, it is you who must fulfill the role to which you have given so much. Your devoted and obligated, Pietro Mascagni”. There is a long discussion about the fact that the other two tenors were considered, and that Mascagni, referring to his own “miseria” at the prospect, practically begged Pertile to repeat the success he had witnessed at La Scala, Genoa and Naples, prior to the Rome premiere. Lina Bruna Rasa, Margherita Carosio, Apollo Granforte and Tancredi Pasero completed the quintet of stars chosen by the composer, and they remained with the production through most of its revivals, though poor Bruna Rasa abandoned several due to her recurring depressions.
Pertile continued his season at Milan with Pagliacci and Fedora, after which he took a long break before appearing at Vienna’s Hohe Worte in July as Radames with Rethberg and Pinza. At the end of August he returned to Nerone at Livorno. The production was even more triumphantly received at Mascagni’s birthplace than it had been at La Scala. After additional performances of Nerone at Bologna, Aureliano ended 1935 at Modena in Aida with Caniglia and Un Ballo in Maschera with Arangi Lombardi.
1936 found the tenor at Trieste for Francesca da Rimini, Bari for Aida with Vera Amerighi Rutili, Andrea Chenier at Parma, Mefistofele at La Scala, Il Trovatore at Turin, Fedora at Asti with Pampanini and Nerone at Genoa, Naples and Rome.
In 1937 he sang in Aida at Rome, Un Ballo in Maschera at Venice, La Campana Sommersa at Naples and additional performances of Nerone at La Scala and Zurich, after which the opera disappeared from the stages of the World. When it was over Pertile had sung the Boito Nerone over sixty times and that of Mascagni more than forty, amazing statistics for two operas whose lives basically ended when he retired them from his repertoire.
There was still one mountain to climb and to conquer, Verdi’s Otello. For the next eight years it was to dominate Pertile’s artistic life.
He first performed the role at Malta in late 1937, and received a tribute of love such as the Teatro Reale has never witnessed, according to contemporary reports. Over the next seven years he would sing Otello at Brescia, Parma, Padua, Turin, Trento, Lecce, Bergamo, Vicenza, Cairo, Budapest, Zurich, Florence in three revivals, Venice, Milan at the Teatro Lirico, Siracusa, Trieste in three revivals, Treviso, Reggio Emilia, Bologna, and for Rome radio.
At Parma on 17 February 1938, when he sang it with Margherita Grandi and Gaetano Viviani, there was a roar at his first curtain call that literally shook the theater, it is said. Corriere Emiliano - “Last evening, immense hopes reigned in the theater. The part of Otello was to be sung by Aureliano Pertile. A huge audience awaited the grand occasion. Pertile eclipsed all other tenors. He has given us a performance in his full estate, spiritual, profound. We have seen the tragedy of Otello!”
The Teatro Comunale of Florence staged the opera for him in two successive seasons and when Otello was broadcast throughout Italy from Rome, radio and newspaper commentators were awed by both his “acuti” and the depth of his involvement. During these final years, Pertile gave occasional performances of Aida, Il Trovatore and Un Ballo in Maschera, Andrea Chenier, Pagliacci, Lohengrin, Fedora, and a single performance of Poliuto on Italian radio, always to idolatrous reviews. Of course, he continued to give concerts and recitals throughout Italy, and was particularly appreciated at Milan and Venice where he appeared regularly until the very end. His final performance with the La Scala company was on 31 December 1943 when he appeared as Riccardo with Cigna, Fedora Barbieri, Carlo Tagliabue and Lina Aimaro. Aureliano Pertile was denied the honor of singing this last performance within those hallowed walls because they had been bombed to the ground a few days earlier. The farewell to La Scala took place at Como.
The war ended in May of 1945 and immediate plans to rebuild La Scala were drawn up by the Italian government. Pertile was asked to be a charter member of the committee and he agreed, with pride and honor, though when he was asked to sing at its reopening in 1946, he declined saying “it would not serve me, the audience or the music”.
At long last the time had come, time for a farewell. Pertile was asked which of his many roles he wished to sing. Boito’s Nerone was performed by Aureliano Pertile on 16 December 1945 before thousands of admirers, while another thousand waited in the streets around the Teatro Reale of Rome. At the end he received a tribute never before known at that theater, as one commentator said, “from the hearts of Romans and all Italians!”.
Pertile died in 1952 at the age of sixty six, and ten years later, on 16 September 1962, at Montagnana, there was a tribute to two famous sons who had remained close friends throughout their lives. Letters and telegrams arrived from around the World, including from Maria Caniglia, Tito Schipa, Gilda Dalla Rizza, Ebe Stignani, Gina Cigna, Mafalda Favero, Carmen Melis, Margherita Carosio and Apollo Granforte.
One was reprinted in Momento Sera of Rome. It began “I am now living in Spain and so am unable to accept the gracious invitation to attend the ceremonies at Montagnana. The honor of having been invited has moved me deeply, and I am very grateful ……………. Their voices were able to elevate the heart of man to a place where only beauty and truth are found”. Signed, Giacomo Lauri-Volpi.
Giovanni Martinellli spoke that day before thousands, including such legends as Toti dal Monte, Giuseppe Lugo, Gino Bechi, Iris Adami Corradetti, Carlo Tagliabue, Benvenuto Franci, and, from London, Eva Turner. Wanda and Wally Toscanini were seated in the front row. Martinelli told them that he greatly appreciated the enormous honor bestowed upon him, but that it really should be Pertile’s day. The next morning, newspapers throughout Italy reported the events of “Aureliano Pertile Day”.
His was without doubt the most impressive and important career of any tenor in this century within Italy, and his accomplishments outside of its borders were equally significant. One need only remember his four seasons at Covent Garden in twelve assignments to recognize that he was a singer who appealed not only to Mediterranean tastes. Pertile’s name is to be found in the annals of the most important opera houses in Europe and at every international theater in Chile, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. He recorded over one hundred and seventy arias and songs, as well as three complete operas, each of which has been transferred to LP and CD in several incarnations. They are Il Trovatore, Aida and Carmen, the first two, at least, considered among the reference works of recorded art. It is a legacy that had no equal in its time. There was Enrico Caruso, and then, there was Aureliano Pertile.
To his remarkable life and to his memory!
Enormous thanks to Pete Wilson and Tom Kaufman for their generosity and help in assembling this article.
© Bob Rideout
Aureliano knew at the age of eight that he had an extroardinary voice, at that time categorized as a contralto, and regularly sang as a soloist in his local church, where he was admired as a prodigy. After his voice lowered, young Master Pertile retired from singing for a period of three years, after which he resumed his studies at Vicenza. While at the conservatory, he met the young Italia Tealdo, and within a few months they were married. The first decision the young couple made was to move to Padua, where Aureliano continued his musical education. Two sons were born within a very short time, Arnaldo and Nereo, and it was time for papa to earn some money.
On 16 February 1911 Pertile made his stage debut in Flotow’s Marta at Vicenza’s Teatro Eretenio. A portion of the local review is quoted. “The tenor, Aureliano Pertile, was excellent. Appearing for the first time in public, he presented a figure of youthful infatuation. His voice is very strong, though he also has the virtues of knowing how to use it with gentleness and dramatic sentiment.” There were seven performances.
In May, he was engaged at Milan’s Teatro Dal Verme to sing in the World Premiere of Quo Vadis by Jean Nougues, and his success was so great that the Teatro Vittorio Emanuele of Turin secured his services for a debut there in the same opera later in the season. It was here that Italy first heard about its new star, and he stayed at Turin for several months, singing in Norma, Rigoletto with the equally new sensation, Claudia Muzio, and in La Gioconda.
In early 1912, he returned to the Dal Verme for Pagliacci with Muzio, and later, Andrea Chenier. After a triumphant return to Vicenza for Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci and Andrea Chenier, Aureliano appeared at Asti’s Teatro Alfieri in Isabeau and again, Chenier. Reviews continued to laud the young tenor and he and his family traveled to Brescia, where, at the Teatro Grande he sang in La Gioconda and Zandonai’s Conchita. On 8 May 1913 Pertile sang in the Manzoni Requiem at Brescia and on 7 June he repeated the Verdi work at Genoa. Following performances of Carmen at Padua, the Pertile family sailed for South America, where, in late July, at Santiago’s Teatro Municipal, Aureliano debuted as Puccini’s Des Grieux. It was a spectacular success and an additional performance was immediately scheduled at Valparaiso. ElMercurio reported: “the long journey to Chile would have been well worthwhile, if only to sing this one role”. The Santiago season continued with Un Ballo in Maschera, Mefistofele, Cavalleria Rusticana and a new work called Tzigane, while at Valparaiso, he appeared in Tosca, Rigoletto and in Un Ballo in Maschera.
Not wishing to be outdone by his good friend, Martinelli, Pertile decided to learn the role of Dick Johnson in La Fanciulla del West. His colleague had been extraordinarily successful in the role at Rome, Naples, Monte Carlo and Milan. Aureliano debuted as the wayward cowboy at Bologna’s Teatro Corso in late October and continued his season there with Francesca da Rimini and Aida. On the strength of extraordinary notices and wild audience receptions, the Teatro San Carlo of Naples offered him a debut, and on 30 December he appeared there for the first time in Zandonai’s Conchita. In three short years Aureliano Pertile had become an international opera star and a hero in his homeland. The author does note, with a smile, that Pertile never sang in La Fanciulla del West again.
On 7 April 1914 Pertile debuted at Palermo’s Teatro Massimo in Salome under the direction of Gino Marinuzzi and a week later, he appeared in Conchita. Sometime during this period he sang Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor at Firenze’s Teatro Communale. In late November he appeared at Genoa in Menegazzoli’s La Giavanese and in early December he sang Don Jose there followed by Cavalleria Rusticana. Aureliano’s year ended at Naples with Carmen and a new role, Pinkerton, sung to the Butterfly of Ersilde Cervi Caroli. In January 1915 he debuted at Turin’s Regio in Francesca da Rimini with Linda Cannetti and in February he continued his engagement with L’amore dei Tre Re, again with Cannetti. Another very important debut waited, when he sang Paolo to the Francesca of Rosa Raisa at Rome’s Costanzi on 10 March, the occasion of the opera’s premiere at that theater. On the 25th, at Rome, he sang in Aida with Raisa, Perini and Danise and continued to appear there through April with performances of Abul by Nepomuceno, again with Raisa, and in Mariotti’s Una Tragedia Fiorentina.
He returned to Rome in December for Boris Godunov and began the New Year there with Madama Butterfly and Louise by Charpentier. On 22 February, Pertile debuted in La Scala’s premiere of Francesca da Rimini, again with Raisa. Toti dal Monte sang the tiny role of Biancofiore. Bologna’s Comunale welcomed him as Cavaradossi in November, in a cast that included Tina Poli Randaccio and Jose Segura Tallien, and so his year ended.
Pertile debuted at Madrid in Aida with Cecilia Gagliardi and Fanny Anitua, and continued his season there with Tosca, Butterfly with Rosina Storchio, Un Ballo in Maschera with Gagliardi, and Carmen. In June of 1917 Pertile sang in La Rondine at Bologna with Cannetti and Dal Monte and in the autumn he sang in Andrea Chenier, La Rondine, Aida with Ester Mazzoleni and Un Ballo in Maschera at Genoa. Turin’s Teatro Chiarella presented him in Fra Diavolo and La Traviata, and Bologna’s Corso mounted Francesca da Rimini for him. Late in the year Aureliano debuted at Barcelona’s Liceo in Aida with Ofelia Nieto, after which he sang in Louise with Genevieve Vix. In January 1918, he returned to Genoa for Manon Lescaut, Loreley, La Boheme, Madama Butterfly and La Traviata.
After a rest of two months, the Pertiles returned to South America, where, on 2 June Aureliano debuted at Buenos Aires’ Teatro Colon in Carmen with Gabriella Besanzoni, Hina Spani, Marcel Journet and Mariano Stabile. It was a spectacularly reviewed revival, reserving no superlatives. His name was the one that made the headlines, though, and with each new opera, Pagliacci with Ninon Vallin, Aida with Raisa, Besanzoni, and Giacomo Rimini, Louise with Vallin and Journet, Jacquerie, and Ballo in Maschera with Raisa and Rimini, Pertile’s receptions became increasingly intense. Bruno Tosi: “after ‘e scherzo od e follia’ (Ballo) there was a fanatical eruption; from the gallery, and throughout the theater, came frantic screams of enthusiasm”. The adulation reached almost idolatrous proportions, and when the company traveled to Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo, he received equally generous and demonstrative welcomes. At Sao Paolo, Pertile sang additional performances of Tosca with Raisa, and Rigoletto. The tour was a nothing short of a conquest, and before the season was over, he had signed a contract with the Walter Mocchi company to appear in the same cities the following year.
In 1919, Pertile sang in Fedora at Turin, Manon Lescaut and Mefistofele at Piacenza, Francesca da Rimini at Verona, Carmen at Genoa and Manon Lescaut at Bologna before returning to Buenos Aires in June, where he had a two month season at the Teatro Coliseo. Mefistofele with Gilda Dalla Rizza, Maria Carena and Nazzareno De Angelis was followed by Pagliacci, Madama Butterfly with Dalla Rizza and Mose with Carena and De Angelis. At Montevideo, he added performances of Aida, and finished his season at Rio de Janeiro in late September. Turin welcomed him back in Lohengrin, Carmen with Giuseppina Zinetti, and Andrea Chenier, and on 22 December Aureliano debuted at the Teatro Ponchielli of Cremona in Mefistofele. The year ended at Cremona with Carmen, again partnered by Zinetti.
Martinelli was, by now, firmly established in the United States and would rarely return to his homeland over the next thirty years. Pertile certainly had his challengers in Italy, most importantly Beniamino Gigli and, to a lesser extent, Francesco Merli. But, Gigli would be remembered primarily as a lyric tenor of unmatched vocal beauty, while Merli remained the perpetual stalker, singing a huge number of performances without ever gaining the recognition that so defined the careers of the other three.
Arturo Toscanini would soon see to it that Aureliano Pertile was the most celebrated singer in Italy.
In 1920 Pertile remained in Italy, singing in Francesca da Rimini at Parma, Mefistofele and Carmen at Brescia, Manon Lescaut at Verona, and a triumphant Aida at Vicenza, where he made banner headlines in the local press, a story that was reprinted throughout Italy. In May, at Ravenna’s Teatro Alighieri, he appeared as Lohengrin, partnered by Hina Spani and Cesare Formichi. Despite this remarkably busy schedule he managed to debut at both Cesena and Ferrara in Francesca da Rimini. On 27 July he debuted at the Verona Arena in Mefistofele with Bianca Scacciati, Linda Barla and the unforgettable Nazzareno De Angelis. The Verona season included performances of Aida with Poli Randaccio and Zinetti, after which he returned to Vicenza for Manon Lescaut and additional performances of Aida. On 2 October Pertile debuted at the Rossetti of Trieste in Un Ballo in Maschera, and in November he returned to Bologna for Lohengrin. On 29 December he appeared in La Traviata at Turin with Ester Mazzoleni .
After a winter vacation with his family, Aureliano debuted at Venice’s Teatro Fenice in Andrea Chenier and continued his season there with Pagliacci and Monleone’s Il Mistero. In February, he made a sensational debut at Catania’s Teatro Massimo Bellini in Fedora and followed it with Carmen, again with Zinetti. Bologna saw him in Andrea Chenier with Scacciati and Stabile and Milan’s Carcano presented him in LaTraviata. In May at Florence, Pertile sang in Andrea Chenier and he returned in July for Aida. After some debate Aureliano accepted a contract to appear at the Metropolitan Opera, and, on 1 December he sang in Tosca before a sold out house with Maria Jeritza and Antonio Scotti. Unfortunately for Pertile, it was also Jeritza’s first Tosca at the Met, and the reviews were all hers. His season was ultimately a disappointment. There was nothing but praise for his musicianly ways, but there was a lot of uncomplimentary comment about the quality of the voice. It did not sit graciously upon the ears of every beholder. Pertile fulfilled his contract singing in Manon Lescaut with Frances Alda, Louise with Geraldine Farrar, Cavalleria Rusticana with Jeritza, Boris Godunov with Chaliapin, Aida and Pagliacci. He sang in two concerts and appeared with the company in Louise at Philadelphia and the Brooklyn Academy of Music, after which he left New York, never again to appear in the United States.
Arturo Toscanini had engaged Pertile to sing at La Scala after his Met season, and on 22 March, Aureliano appeared for the first time with the Maestro, singing in Mefistofele with Juanita Caracciolo, Iva Pacetti, whose Scala debut it was, and De Angelis. It was a revival of historic importance. Pacetti had nothing but trouble with Toscanini throughout the rehearsals and she stormed from the stage more than once, to the astonishment of the theater’s personnel. In fact, Toscanini attempted to cancel her contract after the fourth performance, but she held her ground and stayed in the revival until the end. De Angelis was usually a difficult colleague, and this revival was no exception. He threw temper tantrums as well, and there were days when it seemed likely that the revival would be cancelled. On the first night, it all came together magnificently and was hailed as one of the great triumphs of the era. Pertile received superb reviews, and more importantly, words of highest praise from Toscanini when interviewed by journalists. Memories of New York were soon forgotten as the parade of superlatives continued to build in the Italian press.
After performances of Boris Godunov at Milan, Pertile debuted as Boito’s Faust at Genoa’s Carlo Felice with Scacciati, Pacetti and De Angelis under the baton of Marinuzzi, and again the critics could not find words to describe their enthusiasm for the revival, especially for Pertile. At Turin, he sang in Lohengrin with Maria Zamboni, and on 2 June at Paris’ Theatre Champs Elysses he sang Lohengrin with Scacciati, Maria Capuana and Ezio Pinza under the baton of Tullio Serafin. On 27 July he returned to Verona’s Arena in the same opera, again with Serafin on the podium. In October, Lohengrin was presented at Trieste, and, in December, at La Scala, after which he appeared in a revival of Manon Lescaut with Caracciolo under Toscanini’s direction. A unique bond of mutual respect and integrity had been established between the two men, one that would endure until the maestro left Italy in 1929.
In the meantime, Pertile had received a cablegram from the Met in April informing him that unfortunately, his services would not be required in the coming season, with regrets. A short time later Gatti Casazza received the following from one of his Italian agents. “As you will read in the papers, La Scala has become Il Teatro Pertile. All the operas are sung by him, the only tenor”
Pertile’s season at La Scala continued with a celebrated revival of Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nurmberg, in Italian. Toscanini led a cast that included, Caracciolo, Ernesto Badini, Journet and Pinza. Following performances of Luisa, Aureliano sang in Lucia di Lammermoor with Toti Dal Monte, Riccardo Stracciari and Pinza after which he left for another season in South America. On 20 May, at the Colon, he appeared in Aida with Muzio, Flora Perini, Carlo Galeffi and Mansueto Gaudio, and two weeks later he again partnered Dal Monte in Lucia di Lammermoor. As in previous years, Pertile’s solos provoked uncontrolled demonstrations, and the acclamation at the end of the performance continued for nearly an hour. Toti had been applauded for nearly ten minutes at the end of her mad scene, and La Prensa declared the following day that the theater had probably never experienced such an evening in its fifteen years of existence. On 1 July Aureliano sang in La Traviata with Muzio and Galeffi and on the 27th, Pertile and the Divine Claudia drove the Colon audience into frenzy in Manon Lescaut. The season in Buenos Aires ended with performances of Alfano’s La Leggenda di Sakuntala, after which the company traveled to Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo. At Sao Paolo, after Tosca with Muzio, the auditorium was cleared by police after fistfights broke out as ushers attempted to persuade a large portion of the audience to leave, without success. Muzio also sang with him in Loreley, and he joined Hina Spani at season’s end in La Boheme.
On 20 November, Aureliano returned to La Scala where he sang in Aida, Traviata, Lucia di Lammermoor, Manon Lescaut and Iris, and, after Lucia di Lammermoor at Padua, he returned to Milan on 18 March 1924 for Lohengrin, followed by Meistersinger and the World Premiere of Boito’s Nerone. The opera had been finished before the composer’s death and had lain untouched for some 15 years. Some instrumentation had been left incomplete and it was left to Antonio Smareglia to polish the rough edges in the score. On 1 May, before a largely invited audience, Nerone had its first exposure, to very mixed reactions. There was nothing but praise for Raisa, Pertile, Galeffi, Journet and Pinza, and Toscanini received long ovations every time he approached the podium. The work itself was the source of bitter dispute, some believing it to be of an almost mystical inspiration, while others thought it unbearably ponderous. In May, Pertile returned to Florence for Lucia di Lammermoor with Ada Sari, and after a summer vacation, he turned again to Nerone, singing it twelve times at Bologna’s Comunale. After Lucia di Lammermoor at Bergamo, Pertile returned to Scala for additonal performances of Nerone, and later, Iris followed by Mefistofele with Spani, Arangi Lombardi and De Angelis. On December 29 Toscanini conducted a performance of La Boheme with Zamboni, Pertile and Benvenuto Franci in memory of Giacomo Puccini, who had died exactly one month before. It is noted that earlier in the year, during a rehearsal of Nerone, Toscanini insisted that Puccini, who had gained entrance to the theater, be esorted from the auditorium. No one was to hear the music until the evening of the premiere. Members of the cast were asked to gently persuade Puccini that he should leave the theater, which they did, and, which he did.
1925 opened with another Puccini memorial at Milan’s Teatro del Popolo in which Pertile and Hina Spani sang “O Soave Fanciulla” from La Boheme. He returned to Scala for Andrea Chenier with Spani and Enrico Molinari and for Aida with Giannina Arangi Lombardi, Zinetti, Franci and Antonio Righetti after which he sang in Nerone at Turin’s Regio. In April La Scala presented him in Il Trovatore with Raisa, Fanny Anitua and Franci and in May he sang Lohengrin with Zamboni, Elvira Casazza and Molinari. A summer vacation was followed by Il Trovatore at Bergamo with Arangi Lombardi, Irene Minghini-Cattaneo and Antenore Reali, and in October he sang in Lucia di Lammermoor at Ferrara and Bologna. The Scala season began early in 1925, and Aureliano sang in Un Ballo in Maschera with Maria Carena, Anitua and Galeffi on 14 November. His engagement included performances of Il Trovatore, Madama Butterfly with Rosetta Pampanini, Meistersinger, Iris and Aida, followed in late January 1926 by Il Trovatore and Mefistofele at Turin’s Regio. In late March Pertile returned to La Scala for La Boheme, and additional performances of Nerone.
Enter Giacomo Lauri-Volpi! Like Martinelli before him, Beniamino Gigli left Italy after his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1920 and was not to be seen again in a major Italian theater until 1933. The few performances he gave were during summer vacations in years in which he did not tour in South America, and they were almost exclusively concerts. Following in Gigli’s footsteps was the new sensation, Giacomo Lauri-Volpi, who had a meteoric rise after his operatic debut in 1919. Lauri-Volpi had debuted at La Scala in the winter of 1922 in Rigoletto, and was summarily dismissed by Toscanini in mid season, never to appear in that theater again until the Maestro left in 1929. Lauri Volpi’s replacement during that first Scala season was Alessio di Paolis, who would be remembered in later life as, perhaps, the greatest comprimario in the history of the Met. At the same time that Gatti Casazza was sending his regrets to Pertile in 1922, he was in the process of hiring Lauri-Volpi. It hardly need be stated that the two tenors, each of whom was held responsible for intrigues by the other, had no love for the other. However, it came to pass that they were signed by the Teatro Colon for the 1926 season and they managed to coexist, first at Buenos Aires and later at Rio de Janeiro.
Aureliano opened the season on 22 May in Nerone with Muzio, Luisa Bertana, Franci and Pinza to sensational notices. The opera was highly praised and the singers were adored. Arangi Lombardi replaced Muzio in the last two performances. Pertile’s other operas were Iris with Pampanini, Trovatore with Muzio, Pagliacci with Pampanini and Ruffo, Gaito’s Ollantay, Madama Butterfly and La Boheme with Isabel Marengo and Ruffo. Giuseppe de Luca sang Marcello in the last performance. Such were the rosters of the Teatro Colon. At Rio, Pertile sang in Nerone with Arangi Lombardi, and in Iris and Pagliacci. At season’s end, Lauri-Volpi returned to the United States, as had been his habit since 1922, and like Gigli, he rarely performed in Italy until he left the Met “for artistic reasons” in 1933. It is little wonder that Aureliano Pertile was and would remain the dominant force in Italian operatic life for over a decade.
In October Pertile appeared as Edgardo at Trieste and as Manrico at Bologna before returning to La Scala where he opened the season in Lohengrin with Ofelia Nieto, Casazza and Galeffi under the direction of Ettore Panizza. On 2 December he sang in Andrea Chenier with Giuseppina Cobelli and Franci and on 19 December he sang in the La Scala premiere of Leoncavallo’s world renowned opera, Pagliacci, with Pampanini. Ironically, Pietro Mascagni was the conductor. After performances of Iris with Pampanini, Aureliano returned to Turin for revivals of Nerone and Aida, the latter with Eva Turner, Minghini-Cattaneo and Edoardo Faticanti under Marinuzzi’s baton. Padua’s Teatro Verdi mounted Tosca for him, and at La Scala, he sang in Lucia di Lammermoor with Dal Monte. On 17 March, at Milan’s Carcano he appeared in La Boheme with Carmen Melis.
In June of 1927 he debuted at London’s Covent Garden in Aida with Greta Stueckgold. Sigrid Onegin, and Emil Schipper. His reviews were those about which dreams are born, being hailed as a consumate musician and actor. Il Trovatore followed with Frida Leider, Maria Olczewska and Borgioli. From ‘200 Years of Opera at Covent Garden’ by Harold Rosenthal: “Possibly the greatest impression of the Italian season was made by Aureliano Pertile, who made his debut as Radames on 3 June. Newman found him the best Italian tenor heard since the end of the war. The Telegraph pronounced upon him in similar terms. As Manrico, he more than confirmed the impression he had made in Aida and won an enormous ovation for what The Times termed the “emotional fervor and vocal quality of his singing”.
The summer continued with Andrea Chenier at Como, La Boheme at Rimini and Tosca at Vicenza, and in October he appeared at Trieste in Pagliacci and Cavalleria Rusticana on a double bill. La Scala again presented him its opening night performance, Mefistofele with Cobelli, Bruna Rasa and Tancredi Pasero. After Manon Lescaut and Pagliacci, both with Pampanini, on 29 December, Pertile sang in the World Premiere of Wolf-Ferrari’s Sly with Mercedes Llopart, Iris Adami Corradetti and Luigi Rossi Morelli under the direction of Panizza. It was a sensation, though the critics had a field day with the libretto. Bruna Rasa replaced Llopart in later performances. The opera would be repeated in the following season and it did have productions in several Italian cities, but unlike Nerone, it did not gain wide popularity.
In January 1928, Turin saw Pertile in Pagliacci and in February he returned to La Scala for Edgardo and the Duke of Mantua, after which he sang in Andrea Chenier at Genoa’s Carlo Felice. At La Scala he sang in Tosca with Gilda Dalla Rizza, Andrea Chenier with Bruna Rasa and Galeffi and La Traviata with Dalla Rizza and Victor Damiani. He returned to London in June and received equally brilliant notices as had been his in the previous season. Aida found him with Dusolina Giannini, Irene Minghini-Cattaneo and Armando Borgioli. Eva Turner sang in later performances. Pertile continued with La Boheme with Margaret Sheridan and Margherita Carosio and he sang his season farewell as Canio to the Nedda of Pampanini. On 17 July before 40,000 people in the Piazza San Marco he sang in Pagliacci with Pampanini and Galeffi. It was preceded by Cavalleria Rusticana with Bruna Rasa and Antonio Melandri and Mascagni conducted both operas. The program was repeated the following evening before an even larger crowd. In October he sang in Tosca with Bruna Rasa and Giovanni Inghilleri at Forli, and the revival was so frantically received that two additional performances were offered and sold out within hours.
At La Scala Pertile repeated Sly, Tosca, Lucia di Lammermoor, and Meistersinger, and on 1 January 1929, he began the most incredible year that I have seen in any annals. There is only one way to present it, as follows:
La Scala - 1 Jan - Lohengrin with Pampanini, Minghini-Cattaneo and Galeffi
La Scala - 12 Jan - Pagliacci with Pampanini and Galeffi
Nice - 16 Jan - Mefistofele with Gina Cigna, Bruna Rasa and Andrea Mongelli
Nice - 19 January - Lucia di Lammermoor with Anna Maria Gugliemetti
Genoa - 22 January - Manon Lescaut with Margaret Sheridan
Turin - 26 January - Fra Diavolo
Turin - 7 February - Lucia di Lammermoor with Dal Monte and Damiani
Rome - 17 February - Andrea Chenier with Muzio and Franci
Rome - 21 February - Lohengrin with Pacetti, Anitua and Franci
Naples - 26 February - Andrea Chenier with Augusta Concato and Apollo Granforte
Naples - 2 March - Iris with Pampanini
La Scala - 24 March - Un Ballo in Maschera with Scacciati, Minghini-Cattaneo and Galeffi
La Scala - 4 April - La Campana Sommersa
La Scala - 18 April - Francesca da Rimini with Dalla Rizza
La Scala - 22 April - Aida with Arangi Lombardi, Casazza and Galeffi
La Scala - 12 May - Manon Lescaut with Pampanini
Vienna - 19 May - Lucia di Lammermoor with Dal Monte and Franci
Berlin - 25 May - Lucia with Dal Monte and Franci
Berlin - 27 May - Manon Lescaut with Pampanini
Berlin - 28 May - Aida with Arangi Lombardi
Covent Garden - 2 June - La Boheme with Pampanini
Covent Garden - June - La Gioconda with Rosa Ponselle, Minghini-Cattaneo, Inghilleri
Covent Garden - June - Manon Lescaut with Sheridan
Covent Garden - June - Tosca with Melis and Inghilleri
Teatro Colon - 16 July - Lohengrin with Selma Segal, Bertana, Granforte and Pasero
Teatro Colon - 23 July - Aida with Raisa, Rosette Anday and Giacomo Rimini
Teatro Colon - 2 August - La Compana Sommersa with Bruna Rasa and Pasero
Teatro Colon - 14 August - Lucia di Lammermoor with Bidu Sayao
Teatro Colon - 21 August - Meistersinger with Dalla Rizza, Journet and Armand Crabbe
Pisa - 18 Oct - Lucia di Lammermoor with Maria Gentile
Ferrara - 27 Oct - Andrea Chenier with Cigna
Trieste - 4 Nov - Manon Lescaut with Zamboni
Bologna - 16 Nov - Manon Lescaut with Pampanini
Bologna - 1 Dec - Francesca da Rimini with Pacetti
Bologna - 5 Dec - La Traviata with Zamboni and Franci
La Scala - 22 Dec - La Forza del Destino with Scacciati, Stignani and Molinari
La Scala - 29 Dec - La Boheme with Zamboni, Laura Lauri and Viviani
Toscanini had left La Scala and Italy after the Manon Lescaut revival in May and was not to return until the defeat of Fascism and the end of World War II. The face of the Milan theater had been forever changed during his tenure, and it would soon present another very different image. Aureliano Pertile would remain a very important part of the new picture, but he would never again be its centerpiece.
On 12 Jan, 1930 he sang in Francesca da Rimini with Dalla Rizza and Mariano Stabile at La Scala and then appeared as Manrico at Parma, with Spani, Bruna Castagna, and Giulio Fregosi. At Turin he sang in nine performances of Andrea Chenier with Sheridan and Granforte and in Gianni Schicchi with Sheridan. At Genoa’s Carlo Felice he appeared as Lohengrin and Radames and at the Rome Opera he sang in Un Ballo in Maschera with Arangi Lombardi who had left La Scala on the heels of Toscanini’s departure, never to return. Later in March, the Romans heard Pertile in La Traviata with Muzio and Stabile. At Naples, Aureliano appeared in Andrea Chenier, Madama Butterfly, L’Ultimo Lord by Alfano and La Forza del Destino and in May he returned to Ravenna for Andrea Chenier with Bruna Rasa. They joined in a benefit concert at the Alighieri on the 17th, after which Pertile appeared at Firenze’s Comunale in Lohengrin with Maria Laurenti, Stignani and Borgioli. After a vacation, he sang Edgardo at Budrio to the Lucia of Lina Pagliughi, Radames at Ferrara with Arangi Lombardi and at year’s end, the Puccini Des Grieux at Rome with Pampanini.
In 1931 Rome saw Pertile in Un Ballo in Maschera, Aida and Andrea Chenier, after which he sang Riccardo at Genoa and Naples. In March he returned to Rome for Adriana Lecouvreur with Cobelli, Gianna Pederzini and Damiani, and was wildly received for his new assumption. At La Scala he appeared in Marta and in London he sang in La Forza del Destino with Ponselle and in Tosca with Pacetti and Stabile. The summer kept him busy with Radames at Trieste, Udine and several other Italian centers during the annual tour of Carro di Tespi. He returned to the Donizetti of Bergamo in September for Adriana, this time with Florica Cristoforeanu, the Romanian sensation who was to have a major career in Italy over the next two decades. In October he sang in La Boheme with Mafalda Favero at Bologna, and on the 31st, he sang in a concert with Arangi Lombardi at Milan’s Del Popolo. On 26 December he sang Pollione for the first time in a Scala production, one that also starred Scacciati, Stignani and De Angelis. It was a resounding success for all, though Pertile would sing the role very few times.
Aureliano remained at La Scala for another month singing in Fedora with Cobelli and Werther with Cristoforeanu. Turin saw him in Tosca with Scacciati and Genoa presented him in Adriana with Melis and Riccardo Stracciari, followed by Norma. At Naples he repeated Adriana, again with Cristoforeanu, and at Rome he sang in Fedora with Cobelli. Pertile returned to La Scala in April for Un Ballo in Maschera and Adriana, and on 31 July he sang Riccardo at the Verona Arena. The cast was rounded out by Arangi Lombardi, Carosio, Nini Giani and Franci, and was a headline story throughout Italy. Pertile’s reviews were not unlike those at the Colon ten years earlier. Bergamo recalled him for Andrea Chenier with Cigna and he ended the year with Lucia di Lammermoor at Verona, Lohengrin at Ferrara and Un Ballo in Maschera at Bologna.
There was one very positive aspect to the departure of Toscanini, who had demanded and received the tenor’s undivided loyalty. Audiences throughout Italy now felt that they owned a small part of Aureliano Pertile. They had known him by reputation, and through recordings and occasional guest appearances, but they now embraced him as one of their own in a very different way. It was also a dramatic change for Arangi Lombardi, who years later expressed her enormous relief that the commitment, though the most artistically satisfying experience of her life, had ended, and that the rest of Italy had come to know who she was.
In 1933 Pertile appeared at Turin in Lohengrin, at Genoa in Lucia di Lammermoor with Dal Monte, at La Scala in Lohengrin with Maria Caniglia, Stignani, Viviani and De Angelis, at Trieste in Andrea Chenier, at Rome in Fedora with Dalla Rizza, again at Genoa in Aida, and at season’s end, at La Scala in Adriana and Aida. After performances of Un Ballo in Maschera at Ancona with Bruna Rasa, Pertile returned to the Verona Arena for Lohengrin and in October he traveled to Cento where he participated in opening ceremonies for the Giuseppe Borgatti memorial museum. His year ended at Parma with Un Ballo in Maschera.
On 18 January 1934 he sang in La Favorita for the first time. La Scala had mounted a brilliant new production for him, Ebe Stignani, Giuseppe Danise and Tancredi Pasero, and it was a rousing success for all. After performances of Fra Diavalo with Margherita Carosio Pertile returned to Rome for Aida and Lohengrin, and, after a long absence, to Palermo for Un Ballo in Maschera with Arangi Lombardi. On 21 March they gave a joint concert at the Massimo. His season continued with Fedora partnered by Dalla Rizza at both Sanremo and Bologna. The Maggio Musicale Fiorentino mounted a stellar revival of La Forza del Destino with Elizabeth Rethberg, Gianna Pederzini, Borgioli and Pasero, and after savoring the enormous success of this revival, Aureliano took a break from performing. He had been engaged by Pietro Mascagni to sing in another world premiere of an opera called Nerone, and it was time for some very serious studying.
Mussolini and Mascagni planned a triumphant reception for Nerone at Rome’s Coliseum, but for logistical reasons the plan never materialized. It was rescheduled as a gala at La Scala in the early part of January 1935. Rehearsals began nearly two months before the scheduled date and, after a few performances of Andrea Chenier at Modena with Cigna in December, Pertile removed himself from the scene entirely, so that he might concentrate on this new, immensely ambitious work. On 16 January, Mascagni’s Nerone was presented for the first time before a star studded audience of musical and political dignitaries. Mussolini did not attend, but asked his son in law, Count Ciano, to represent him and the government. Though it was not critically hailed, it did receive ten performances in its initial run and was subsequently seen in several Italian cities as well as at Zurich in 1937. Pertile was unanimously praised as the only living tenor who could have succeeded in the fiendishly difficult role. Mascagni, in a combination of letters to the tenor said: “No, not Gigli, no not Masini, only Pertile can sing the role of Nerone at Rome. I have only admiration … for you and for your art, and, it is you who must fulfill the role to which you have given so much. Your devoted and obligated, Pietro Mascagni”. There is a long discussion about the fact that the other two tenors were considered, and that Mascagni, referring to his own “miseria” at the prospect, practically begged Pertile to repeat the success he had witnessed at La Scala, Genoa and Naples, prior to the Rome premiere. Lina Bruna Rasa, Margherita Carosio, Apollo Granforte and Tancredi Pasero completed the quintet of stars chosen by the composer, and they remained with the production through most of its revivals, though poor Bruna Rasa abandoned several due to her recurring depressions.
Pertile continued his season at Milan with Pagliacci and Fedora, after which he took a long break before appearing at Vienna’s Hohe Worte in July as Radames with Rethberg and Pinza. At the end of August he returned to Nerone at Livorno. The production was even more triumphantly received at Mascagni’s birthplace than it had been at La Scala. After additional performances of Nerone at Bologna, Aureliano ended 1935 at Modena in Aida with Caniglia and Un Ballo in Maschera with Arangi Lombardi.
1936 found the tenor at Trieste for Francesca da Rimini, Bari for Aida with Vera Amerighi Rutili, Andrea Chenier at Parma, Mefistofele at La Scala, Il Trovatore at Turin, Fedora at Asti with Pampanini and Nerone at Genoa, Naples and Rome.
In 1937 he sang in Aida at Rome, Un Ballo in Maschera at Venice, La Campana Sommersa at Naples and additional performances of Nerone at La Scala and Zurich, after which the opera disappeared from the stages of the World. When it was over Pertile had sung the Boito Nerone over sixty times and that of Mascagni more than forty, amazing statistics for two operas whose lives basically ended when he retired them from his repertoire.
There was still one mountain to climb and to conquer, Verdi’s Otello. For the next eight years it was to dominate Pertile’s artistic life.
He first performed the role at Malta in late 1937, and received a tribute of love such as the Teatro Reale has never witnessed, according to contemporary reports. Over the next seven years he would sing Otello at Brescia, Parma, Padua, Turin, Trento, Lecce, Bergamo, Vicenza, Cairo, Budapest, Zurich, Florence in three revivals, Venice, Milan at the Teatro Lirico, Siracusa, Trieste in three revivals, Treviso, Reggio Emilia, Bologna, and for Rome radio.
At Parma on 17 February 1938, when he sang it with Margherita Grandi and Gaetano Viviani, there was a roar at his first curtain call that literally shook the theater, it is said. Corriere Emiliano - “Last evening, immense hopes reigned in the theater. The part of Otello was to be sung by Aureliano Pertile. A huge audience awaited the grand occasion. Pertile eclipsed all other tenors. He has given us a performance in his full estate, spiritual, profound. We have seen the tragedy of Otello!”
The Teatro Comunale of Florence staged the opera for him in two successive seasons and when Otello was broadcast throughout Italy from Rome, radio and newspaper commentators were awed by both his “acuti” and the depth of his involvement. During these final years, Pertile gave occasional performances of Aida, Il Trovatore and Un Ballo in Maschera, Andrea Chenier, Pagliacci, Lohengrin, Fedora, and a single performance of Poliuto on Italian radio, always to idolatrous reviews. Of course, he continued to give concerts and recitals throughout Italy, and was particularly appreciated at Milan and Venice where he appeared regularly until the very end. His final performance with the La Scala company was on 31 December 1943 when he appeared as Riccardo with Cigna, Fedora Barbieri, Carlo Tagliabue and Lina Aimaro. Aureliano Pertile was denied the honor of singing this last performance within those hallowed walls because they had been bombed to the ground a few days earlier. The farewell to La Scala took place at Como.
The war ended in May of 1945 and immediate plans to rebuild La Scala were drawn up by the Italian government. Pertile was asked to be a charter member of the committee and he agreed, with pride and honor, though when he was asked to sing at its reopening in 1946, he declined saying “it would not serve me, the audience or the music”.
At long last the time had come, time for a farewell. Pertile was asked which of his many roles he wished to sing. Boito’s Nerone was performed by Aureliano Pertile on 16 December 1945 before thousands of admirers, while another thousand waited in the streets around the Teatro Reale of Rome. At the end he received a tribute never before known at that theater, as one commentator said, “from the hearts of Romans and all Italians!”.
Pertile died in 1952 at the age of sixty six, and ten years later, on 16 September 1962, at Montagnana, there was a tribute to two famous sons who had remained close friends throughout their lives. Letters and telegrams arrived from around the World, including from Maria Caniglia, Tito Schipa, Gilda Dalla Rizza, Ebe Stignani, Gina Cigna, Mafalda Favero, Carmen Melis, Margherita Carosio and Apollo Granforte.
One was reprinted in Momento Sera of Rome. It began “I am now living in Spain and so am unable to accept the gracious invitation to attend the ceremonies at Montagnana. The honor of having been invited has moved me deeply, and I am very grateful ……………. Their voices were able to elevate the heart of man to a place where only beauty and truth are found”. Signed, Giacomo Lauri-Volpi.
Giovanni Martinellli spoke that day before thousands, including such legends as Toti dal Monte, Giuseppe Lugo, Gino Bechi, Iris Adami Corradetti, Carlo Tagliabue, Benvenuto Franci, and, from London, Eva Turner. Wanda and Wally Toscanini were seated in the front row. Martinelli told them that he greatly appreciated the enormous honor bestowed upon him, but that it really should be Pertile’s day. The next morning, newspapers throughout Italy reported the events of “Aureliano Pertile Day”.
His was without doubt the most impressive and important career of any tenor in this century within Italy, and his accomplishments outside of its borders were equally significant. One need only remember his four seasons at Covent Garden in twelve assignments to recognize that he was a singer who appealed not only to Mediterranean tastes. Pertile’s name is to be found in the annals of the most important opera houses in Europe and at every international theater in Chile, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. He recorded over one hundred and seventy arias and songs, as well as three complete operas, each of which has been transferred to LP and CD in several incarnations. They are Il Trovatore, Aida and Carmen, the first two, at least, considered among the reference works of recorded art. It is a legacy that had no equal in its time. There was Enrico Caruso, and then, there was Aureliano Pertile.
To his remarkable life and to his memory!
Enormous thanks to Pete Wilson and Tom Kaufman for their generosity and help in assembling this article.
© Bob Rideout