Dino Borgioli
The great Florentine lyric tenor was born in 1891 and prior to embarking upon a career as a musician, obtained a law degree. It was a decision forced upon him by his family, who expected that a practical education in a respected discipline would provide him with a comfortable living.
Dino had other ideas, and, using part of his early income, placed himself under the guidance of Eugenio Giachetti, who directed him to the lyric repertoire, with an emphasis on those operas that would showcase his quite remarkable top register.
On 23 September 1917, Borgioli made his official opera debut in Donizetti’s “La Favorita” at Milan’s Teatro dal Verme with Nini Frascani as his beloved Leonora. The engagement was an enormous success and he was almost immediately engaged for revivals of “I Puritani” at Genoa, Rome and Palermo during the winter of 1918. So well received were these and several other subsequent engagements that before the year was spent, he debuted at the pinnacle of Italian theaters, La Scala, in Don Pasquale with Rosina Storchio and Ernesto Badini under the direction of Tullio Serafin.
The Great War ended in November, and Naples San Carlo mounted a splendid five month season in which both Borgioli and Tito Schipa were featured, though their paths would not cross again. In fact, much has been written about their “rivalry”, a competition that never existed.
Borgioli concentrated on the roles that rose to a top C and beyond, while Schipa wisely concentrated on those operas whose tessiture remained solidly in the middle of the voice. At the San Carlo, Borgioli appeared in “I Puritani” with Aires Borghi-Zerni, Apollo Granforte and Oreste Luppi while Schipa sang in Mascagni’s “L’Amico Fritz”. Debuts for Dino at Catania’s Massimo Bellini and Palermo’s Teatro Massimo preceded his first visit to Spain, where on 15 June 1919, he debuted at Bilbao’s Teatro Arriaga in “La Favorita” and later sang in “Manon” with Storchio.
During the winter season of 1919-20 Madrid, Barcelona and Lisbon presented Borgioli to wildly enthusiastic audiences, and he was invited to return to Spain for important engagements over several additional seasons. Borgioli’s first visit to South America was indeed an auspicious one. The continent’s most important theater, the Colon of Buenos Aires offered Dino a thirty performance season in eight roles, and on 23 May 1921 he debuted in “Manon” with Ninon Vallin, one of SouthAmerica’s reigning stars. At season’s end, Dino and Maria Barrientos along with other members of the company toured to Rosario, Cordoba, Tucuman, Santa Fe, Parana and La Plata.
In February and March 1922, Monte Carlo’s Salle Garnier presented Dino in “La Favorita”, “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” and “La Boheme” and in August, Dino debuted at Venice in “I Puritani” with the incredibly high voiced Ada Sari. The final duet, “Credeasi Misera” was greeted by an ovation that suspended the performance for nearly five minutes.
Borgioli returned to La Scala in January of 1924 for performances of “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” and “La Sonnambula” with Toti dal Monte and it was during this engagement that he was contracted for a sixth month tour to Australia with the Melba/Williamson company. Toti had been retained by Melba to coordinate the recruitment of the finest artists available, and, in addition to Borgioli, Augusta Concato, Lina Scavizzi, Nino Piccaluga, Antonio Marquez, Apollo Granforte and Umberto di Lelio joined an ensemble that visited Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide. Dino debuted at Melbourne’s His Majesty’s Theater in “Lucia di Lammermoor” on 31 March 1924 and was to appear in six other operas as well as several concerts. Borgioli was fond of recalling, “I had the high honor and singular privilege of appearing with Dame Nellie, herself, in both “Faust” and “Boheme”. Her voice remains a miracle.” Melba returned the compliment, emphasizing her admiration for his “histrionic graces”.
Ladislas de Noskowski, the critic of the Sydney Mail declared that Borgioli’s Faust “ displayed great opulence of tone, remarkable resonance and beautiful phrasing”. However, the Age’s critic, in reviewing his Edgardo, declared “I can discern no particular charm in his voice”. Despite the occasional note of discontent, commentary was overwhelmingly enthusiastic and audiences responded in kind. The season ended at Adelaide in early October, after which he and Toti returned to Sydney for concerts before returning to Europe.
While still in Australia, Borgioli had been contacted to sing at Covent Garden, and on 15 June 1925 he debuted as Edgardo with his favorite partner, Toti, whose debut it also was. The revival was a dismal failure and a second performance was replaced by “Il Barbiere di Siviglia”, which fared no better. Toti’s Rosina was roundly criticized as “being acceptably sung when she did not have to act, and reasonably acted when she did not have to sing”. Borgioli was criticized for a lack of suavity, but when he and Toti attempted a third opera, Rigoletto, Dino was praised as a “vigorous and generally excellent Duke”. Quotes from the London Times.
The summer of 1926 occupied Borgioli’s time with a visit to Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo. It was the last of the Walter Mocchi tours and encompassed a very starry roster: Bianca Scacciati, Iva Pacetti, Bidu Sayao, Yvonne Gall, Francesco Merli, Carlo Galeffi, Armand Crabbe, Granforte and Nazzareno de Angelis. Borgioli sang in “Rigoletto”, “Manon”, the World Premiere of “Um Caso Singular” and “I Puritani” before travelling to Cairo for a brief season at the Kursaal. Covent Garden saw Dino as the Duke on 1 June 1927, to no particular effect, and was replaced at the third performance by Tom Burke, in whom the audience seemed to find more favor. It was clearly a reaction in support of protests from the press regarding the “ shoddy treatment” of British singers in favor of visitors, whose talents are certainly not to be preferred”.
The Municipal of Santiago engaged Dino for a two month season and on 17 Septmember 1927 he debuted in “La Boheme” to excellent notices and intense audience response. The press rather viciously complained about both the quality of the productions and of the ensemble , exempting only Gilda Dalla Rizza, Carlo Galeffi, Giacomo Lauri Volpi and Borgioli from their otherwise global dismissals . When Borgioli appeared as Des Grieux, El Mercurio reported “La Reve was rewarded with a prolonged and justified ovation” and when he sang in Faust, he was described as “the darling of the audience”. So impressive were his critical receptions that Dino was persuaded to sign a contract for the following season before leaving Chile, and he did return in August of 1928 for Manon, Adriana Lecouvreur, and repeats of Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Chopin. As in the previous year, Borgioli was praised as a “ welcome relief from the current state of opera at the Municipal.
Borgioli participated in several concert tours of the United States before finally making his “American” opera debut on 15 October 1932 at San Franciso. The evening inaugurated the War Memorial Opera House and Dino sang Cavaradossi to the unforgettable Tosca of Claudia Muzio.
Portions of the performance are preserved, albeit in poor sound, on both Lp and CD. He was very warmly received and remained for the whole season, appearing in “Rigoletto”, “Lucia di Lammermoor”, “Faust” and “La Traviata”. His colleague, Francesco Merli, had been protested after a single performance of Edgardo, and Borgioli replaced him in later performances, to generous praise
In the autumn of 1933 he appeared at the War Memorial in “Manon”, “Cavalleria Rusticana”, “La Traviata” and “La Boheme”. There were murmurs of a fixed tone and too much pressure when he sang Turiddu, but high accolades were offered when he sang Rodolfo. The Chicago Auditorium welcomed him on its opening night, 26 December, when he sang Cavaradossi with another of the greatest Toscas of the time, Maria Jeritza. He wisely avoided heavier roles and completed a very successful season with Rodolfo, the Duke and Des Grieux.
Dino returned to Covent Garden for ‘La Boheme” and a universally praised production of “La Cenerentola” in June 1934. His partnership with Conchita Supervia in the Rossini opera has become the stuff of legends, and critics gasped with astonishment, declaring that it had not seemed possible that reviews of the production at Florence the previous year would possibly be confirmed. If anything, London’s wags and pundits were even more lavish in their unbridled superlatives. In August, Dino arrived at Salzburg, where he had debuted in 1930, for performances of Don Ottavio under the leadership of Bruno Walter.
A third season at San Francisco preceded a very disappointing debut for Borgioli at New York’s Metropolitan Opera House on New Year’s Eve 1934 as Rodolfo. He was tepidly received by audiences and reviewed as “dry of voice and rigid of manner” – The Morning Telegraph. Though he completed his contract with Don Ottavio, Des Grieux and a concert, it was a singularly unhappy experience and he never returned.
1935 brought with it a debut at the Paris Opera and return engagements at Salzburg and London’s Covent Garden. On 8 November, Dino and Eva Turner gave a joint recital for the BBC. The two duets served their talents very poorly, she in “O Soave Fanciulla” he in “In Questa Reggia” and commentary was unflattering to both. Their solos were much more congenially received. It was at this time that Borgioli settled permanently in London and married the Australian soprano, Patricia Mort.
Borgioli decided, on bad advice, to persist in testing the “spinto” repertoire both in opera and on the concert stage. During the 1938 San Francisco season he sang scenes from “Don Carlo” with Ebe Stignani and Richard Bonelli in a concert, and the critical response was not unlike that at London. One commentary in the San Franciso Chronicle wondered aloud “Has Borgioli ever been so foolish as to sing the whole role. If so, it is probably our good fortune not to have witnessed it! ”
The lesson had been learned and he returned to the more congenial territory of Ottavio, Ernesto, Fenton, Alfredo and Almaviva, whence his reviews were consistently excellent, often commenting on his freshness of voice and ease of technique. In 1939, ar Glyndebourne, Borgioli sang his opera farewell as Don Ottavio but he continued to give concerts for another ten years, with great success.
He also taught himself the art of the easel and after a few years of experimentation there were several exhibits in London. At the end of World War II, London’s Cambridge Theater appointed Borgioli its artistic director, a post he retained for several years. He was also renowned as a pedant and coach almost until the day of his death, 13 September 1960.
Borgioli’s recorded legacy is not only impressive as pure vocalism, but is enormous in its breadth. Aside from a large number of selections from the lyric tenor opera repertoire, he left cherished mementos of songs from the Germany, France, England and Italy. Though little has been released in CD format, there is a fine sample on Club 99 (CL 99-14) including two among my favorite recordings, Duetto delle Ciliege from “L’Amico Fritz with the delightful Rosetta Pampanini and Richard Strauss’ “Morgen”. Preiser has also released a very representative collection.
© Bob Rideout
Dino had other ideas, and, using part of his early income, placed himself under the guidance of Eugenio Giachetti, who directed him to the lyric repertoire, with an emphasis on those operas that would showcase his quite remarkable top register.
On 23 September 1917, Borgioli made his official opera debut in Donizetti’s “La Favorita” at Milan’s Teatro dal Verme with Nini Frascani as his beloved Leonora. The engagement was an enormous success and he was almost immediately engaged for revivals of “I Puritani” at Genoa, Rome and Palermo during the winter of 1918. So well received were these and several other subsequent engagements that before the year was spent, he debuted at the pinnacle of Italian theaters, La Scala, in Don Pasquale with Rosina Storchio and Ernesto Badini under the direction of Tullio Serafin.
The Great War ended in November, and Naples San Carlo mounted a splendid five month season in which both Borgioli and Tito Schipa were featured, though their paths would not cross again. In fact, much has been written about their “rivalry”, a competition that never existed.
Borgioli concentrated on the roles that rose to a top C and beyond, while Schipa wisely concentrated on those operas whose tessiture remained solidly in the middle of the voice. At the San Carlo, Borgioli appeared in “I Puritani” with Aires Borghi-Zerni, Apollo Granforte and Oreste Luppi while Schipa sang in Mascagni’s “L’Amico Fritz”. Debuts for Dino at Catania’s Massimo Bellini and Palermo’s Teatro Massimo preceded his first visit to Spain, where on 15 June 1919, he debuted at Bilbao’s Teatro Arriaga in “La Favorita” and later sang in “Manon” with Storchio.
During the winter season of 1919-20 Madrid, Barcelona and Lisbon presented Borgioli to wildly enthusiastic audiences, and he was invited to return to Spain for important engagements over several additional seasons. Borgioli’s first visit to South America was indeed an auspicious one. The continent’s most important theater, the Colon of Buenos Aires offered Dino a thirty performance season in eight roles, and on 23 May 1921 he debuted in “Manon” with Ninon Vallin, one of SouthAmerica’s reigning stars. At season’s end, Dino and Maria Barrientos along with other members of the company toured to Rosario, Cordoba, Tucuman, Santa Fe, Parana and La Plata.
In February and March 1922, Monte Carlo’s Salle Garnier presented Dino in “La Favorita”, “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” and “La Boheme” and in August, Dino debuted at Venice in “I Puritani” with the incredibly high voiced Ada Sari. The final duet, “Credeasi Misera” was greeted by an ovation that suspended the performance for nearly five minutes.
Borgioli returned to La Scala in January of 1924 for performances of “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” and “La Sonnambula” with Toti dal Monte and it was during this engagement that he was contracted for a sixth month tour to Australia with the Melba/Williamson company. Toti had been retained by Melba to coordinate the recruitment of the finest artists available, and, in addition to Borgioli, Augusta Concato, Lina Scavizzi, Nino Piccaluga, Antonio Marquez, Apollo Granforte and Umberto di Lelio joined an ensemble that visited Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide. Dino debuted at Melbourne’s His Majesty’s Theater in “Lucia di Lammermoor” on 31 March 1924 and was to appear in six other operas as well as several concerts. Borgioli was fond of recalling, “I had the high honor and singular privilege of appearing with Dame Nellie, herself, in both “Faust” and “Boheme”. Her voice remains a miracle.” Melba returned the compliment, emphasizing her admiration for his “histrionic graces”.
Ladislas de Noskowski, the critic of the Sydney Mail declared that Borgioli’s Faust “ displayed great opulence of tone, remarkable resonance and beautiful phrasing”. However, the Age’s critic, in reviewing his Edgardo, declared “I can discern no particular charm in his voice”. Despite the occasional note of discontent, commentary was overwhelmingly enthusiastic and audiences responded in kind. The season ended at Adelaide in early October, after which he and Toti returned to Sydney for concerts before returning to Europe.
While still in Australia, Borgioli had been contacted to sing at Covent Garden, and on 15 June 1925 he debuted as Edgardo with his favorite partner, Toti, whose debut it also was. The revival was a dismal failure and a second performance was replaced by “Il Barbiere di Siviglia”, which fared no better. Toti’s Rosina was roundly criticized as “being acceptably sung when she did not have to act, and reasonably acted when she did not have to sing”. Borgioli was criticized for a lack of suavity, but when he and Toti attempted a third opera, Rigoletto, Dino was praised as a “vigorous and generally excellent Duke”. Quotes from the London Times.
The summer of 1926 occupied Borgioli’s time with a visit to Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo. It was the last of the Walter Mocchi tours and encompassed a very starry roster: Bianca Scacciati, Iva Pacetti, Bidu Sayao, Yvonne Gall, Francesco Merli, Carlo Galeffi, Armand Crabbe, Granforte and Nazzareno de Angelis. Borgioli sang in “Rigoletto”, “Manon”, the World Premiere of “Um Caso Singular” and “I Puritani” before travelling to Cairo for a brief season at the Kursaal. Covent Garden saw Dino as the Duke on 1 June 1927, to no particular effect, and was replaced at the third performance by Tom Burke, in whom the audience seemed to find more favor. It was clearly a reaction in support of protests from the press regarding the “ shoddy treatment” of British singers in favor of visitors, whose talents are certainly not to be preferred”.
The Municipal of Santiago engaged Dino for a two month season and on 17 Septmember 1927 he debuted in “La Boheme” to excellent notices and intense audience response. The press rather viciously complained about both the quality of the productions and of the ensemble , exempting only Gilda Dalla Rizza, Carlo Galeffi, Giacomo Lauri Volpi and Borgioli from their otherwise global dismissals . When Borgioli appeared as Des Grieux, El Mercurio reported “La Reve was rewarded with a prolonged and justified ovation” and when he sang in Faust, he was described as “the darling of the audience”. So impressive were his critical receptions that Dino was persuaded to sign a contract for the following season before leaving Chile, and he did return in August of 1928 for Manon, Adriana Lecouvreur, and repeats of Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Chopin. As in the previous year, Borgioli was praised as a “ welcome relief from the current state of opera at the Municipal.
Borgioli participated in several concert tours of the United States before finally making his “American” opera debut on 15 October 1932 at San Franciso. The evening inaugurated the War Memorial Opera House and Dino sang Cavaradossi to the unforgettable Tosca of Claudia Muzio.
Portions of the performance are preserved, albeit in poor sound, on both Lp and CD. He was very warmly received and remained for the whole season, appearing in “Rigoletto”, “Lucia di Lammermoor”, “Faust” and “La Traviata”. His colleague, Francesco Merli, had been protested after a single performance of Edgardo, and Borgioli replaced him in later performances, to generous praise
In the autumn of 1933 he appeared at the War Memorial in “Manon”, “Cavalleria Rusticana”, “La Traviata” and “La Boheme”. There were murmurs of a fixed tone and too much pressure when he sang Turiddu, but high accolades were offered when he sang Rodolfo. The Chicago Auditorium welcomed him on its opening night, 26 December, when he sang Cavaradossi with another of the greatest Toscas of the time, Maria Jeritza. He wisely avoided heavier roles and completed a very successful season with Rodolfo, the Duke and Des Grieux.
Dino returned to Covent Garden for ‘La Boheme” and a universally praised production of “La Cenerentola” in June 1934. His partnership with Conchita Supervia in the Rossini opera has become the stuff of legends, and critics gasped with astonishment, declaring that it had not seemed possible that reviews of the production at Florence the previous year would possibly be confirmed. If anything, London’s wags and pundits were even more lavish in their unbridled superlatives. In August, Dino arrived at Salzburg, where he had debuted in 1930, for performances of Don Ottavio under the leadership of Bruno Walter.
A third season at San Francisco preceded a very disappointing debut for Borgioli at New York’s Metropolitan Opera House on New Year’s Eve 1934 as Rodolfo. He was tepidly received by audiences and reviewed as “dry of voice and rigid of manner” – The Morning Telegraph. Though he completed his contract with Don Ottavio, Des Grieux and a concert, it was a singularly unhappy experience and he never returned.
1935 brought with it a debut at the Paris Opera and return engagements at Salzburg and London’s Covent Garden. On 8 November, Dino and Eva Turner gave a joint recital for the BBC. The two duets served their talents very poorly, she in “O Soave Fanciulla” he in “In Questa Reggia” and commentary was unflattering to both. Their solos were much more congenially received. It was at this time that Borgioli settled permanently in London and married the Australian soprano, Patricia Mort.
Borgioli decided, on bad advice, to persist in testing the “spinto” repertoire both in opera and on the concert stage. During the 1938 San Francisco season he sang scenes from “Don Carlo” with Ebe Stignani and Richard Bonelli in a concert, and the critical response was not unlike that at London. One commentary in the San Franciso Chronicle wondered aloud “Has Borgioli ever been so foolish as to sing the whole role. If so, it is probably our good fortune not to have witnessed it! ”
The lesson had been learned and he returned to the more congenial territory of Ottavio, Ernesto, Fenton, Alfredo and Almaviva, whence his reviews were consistently excellent, often commenting on his freshness of voice and ease of technique. In 1939, ar Glyndebourne, Borgioli sang his opera farewell as Don Ottavio but he continued to give concerts for another ten years, with great success.
He also taught himself the art of the easel and after a few years of experimentation there were several exhibits in London. At the end of World War II, London’s Cambridge Theater appointed Borgioli its artistic director, a post he retained for several years. He was also renowned as a pedant and coach almost until the day of his death, 13 September 1960.
Borgioli’s recorded legacy is not only impressive as pure vocalism, but is enormous in its breadth. Aside from a large number of selections from the lyric tenor opera repertoire, he left cherished mementos of songs from the Germany, France, England and Italy. Though little has been released in CD format, there is a fine sample on Club 99 (CL 99-14) including two among my favorite recordings, Duetto delle Ciliege from “L’Amico Fritz with the delightful Rosetta Pampanini and Richard Strauss’ “Morgen”. Preiser has also released a very representative collection.
© Bob Rideout