Ettore Bastianini
Among the baritones whom I have seen on stage, Ettore Bastianini had the most beautiful voice and was the most impressive in appearance. Others have certainly shown a greater flair for drama, and he was not among the most adventurous in terms of repertoire. Intonation was not always fastidious and there was, at times, a lack of passion in his phrasing, but there was no sound like his in my experience. It has been described by others as “burnished”, but it was much more than that. It was a perfectly centered voice, able to sustain itself without stress throughout its range, and it had both an amazing resonance below the staff and a glorious bloom at the top. It ended much too quickly. Bastianini died at the age of forty four after a five year struggle with cancer, a battle that was courageously fought both in his private life and on the stages of the world. This is his story.
Ettore Bastianini was born on 24 September 1922 at Siena, Italy and, after completing elementary school, was brought by his mother to Gaetano Vanni, who assumed responsibility for the young boy’s education and musical training. Ettore was engaged by the Coro della Metropolitana and, for several years sang in a variety of local events including the annual Palio at Siena. He was conscripted into the Italian Air Force in late 1944 and remained in the military for only a few months, as the war was quickly winding down. On 28 January 1945 Ettore made his debut as a soloist in a concert at the Teatro Rex of Siena, singing “Vecchia zimarra” from La Boheme and “La Calunnia” from Il Barbiere di Siviglia. Yes, Ettore Bastianini began his professional life as a bass and he was to remain one for seven years.
In November and December of 1945 Ettore appeared at Ravenna and Forli as Colline and in March 1946 he sang two concerts at the Teatro Comunale of Firenze, where he received excellent reviews. Later in the year he sang Sparafucile and Don Basilio at Rubiera, the Bonzo in Madama Butterfly, Sparafucile and Don Basilio at Firenze, and debuted at Pisa’s Teatro Verdi, again as Basilio.
Bastianini received his first international attention when he traveled with an Italian troupe to Cairo in the winter of 1947. Gino Bechi was the featured baritone and Dina Mannucci Contini assumed the major soprano roles. Ettore sang in Rigoletto, Barbiere di Siviglia, and for the first time in Lucia di Lammermoor. The company appeared at Alexandria after which Ettore returned to Italy for a series of concerts at Forli, Ferrara and Firenze. Later in the year he sang Ferrando in Il Trovatore at Lucca and Ferrara and, at Ferrara he sang Alvise in La Gioconda for the first time. During the winter of 1948 Bologna, Forli, Ravenna, Ferrara and Como all saw him as Colline and in late February he debuted at Parma’s Teatro Regio as Alvise. In April he sang Brander in Berlioz’s Damnation of Faust at Genoa and on 24 April he debuted at La Scala as Tiresia in Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex with Suzanne Danco and Gino Penno. September found him at Cento where, for the first time, he sang Gounod’s Mephistofele and in December he debuted at Barcelona’s Liceo as Il Talpa in Tabarro and Betto di Signa in Gianni Schicchi. The year ended at Novara with his first assumptions of Ramfis. As with so many others, Ettore was busy but the career was not assuming any particular luster or notoriety. He confided to friends that he thought he might try his hand at the baritone repertoire, in which he felt vocally comfortable, but he was persuaded that his talents lay in the darker and deeper areas of his voice and that he should persist in his chosen course. After a period of soul searching, he decided that they were right. But, not for long.
Bastianini returned to Cairo in the winter of 1949 where he appeared in Il Trovatore with Maria Caniglia and Galliano Masini, Barbiere di Siviglia with Tito Gobbi, Rigoletto with Gobbi and La Sonnambula. At Alexandria he added Il Re in Aida and then traveled to Caracas where he debuted as Ramfis. The season offered La Boheme, Lucia di Lammermoor and Rigoletto. In December he returned to Barcelona for I Puritani and Aida, again singing Ramfis, and closed the year at Parma with Fedora and Madama Butterfly.
1950 found Ettore back in Egypt where he sang Lothario in Mignon for the first time partnered by Gianna Pederzini, Grenvil in Traviata with Virginia Zeani, Lucia di Lammermoor with Beniamino Gigli and in Il Trovatore and La Forza del Destino with Carla Castellani. At Alexandria he added Abimelech in Samson and Dalilah with Pederzini and Renato Gavarini and Rigoletto with Gino Bechi. Later in the year, at Lucca, he sang the Count in Manon with Clara Petrella and Timur in Turandot. Turin’s radio station presented him in a broadcast of Smetana’s Bartered Bride and in early 1951 he returned again to Cairo and Alexandria for a long season in Aida, Barbiere, Turandot and Guglielmo Tell. In April he sang his last performances as a bass when he repeated Colline at Turin’s Teatro Alfieri. He was convinced that his role in opera would be fulfilled as a baritone and he left the stage for seven months to restudy both his technique and his repertoire.
On 17 January 1952 at Siena, Bastianini made his stage debut as a baritone in the role of Giorgio Germont with Mannucci Contini and Gustavo Gallo. It was not a success, and he was forced to leave the stage again for a period of intense vocal exercise intended to secure the top of the voice. When he returned to opera in July, it was an entirely different story. After Rigoletto at Siena and Amonasro at Pescara he sang Germont to the Violetta of Virginia Zeani at Bologna and it was an enormous success. In fact, the top of his voice was the center of praise in the press. He was immediately engaged by the Teatro Comunale of Firenze for Tschaikovsky’s Pique Dame, when he sang Yeletzky to the Lisa of Sena Jurinac and the Countess of Gianna Pederzini. 1953 began with a guest appearance at Hamburg as Michele in Il Tabarro and from there he returned to Firenze for Lucia di Lammermoor with Maria Callas and Giacomo Lauri Volpi. In March, at Firenze, he sang Rossini’s Figaro for the first time and in April he appeared as Olivier in Strauss’ Capriccio at Genoa. He returned to the Comunale of Firenze during the Maggio Musicale and sang Andrej in Prokofiev’s War and Peace with Rosanna Carteri and Franco Corelli. It was this engagement that solidified his place in the opera centers of Italy. The reviews were superb for all, but Bastianini was particularly praised for his magnificent tonal splendor. He returned to Germany for guest appearances at Augsburg in Aida and in La Forza del Destino, the latter with Leonie Rysanek.
After a few additional performances in Italy, including Pearl Fishers at Trieste, Bastianini left for the United States and his debut at the Metropolitan Opera. He had, miraculously, in less than two years, established a firm enough reputation that he was about to sing in the most important theater in the Western Hemisphere. On 5 December, he debuted as Germont with Licia Albanese and Richard Tucker. The reviews were somewhat disappointing. He was generously praised for his beautiful voice but was generally found to be somewhat pedestrian in his stage manner though extraordinarily handsome. In fact, it was his very youthful appearance as the aging aristocrat that seemed most to put off those who were initially not persuaded. However, response was very enthusiastic and he later sang in Il Trovatore with Zinka Milanov, Elena Nikolaidi and Kurt Baum and in Lucia di Lammermoor with Lily Pons and Jan Peerce. New York’s love affair with the dashing new baritone would continue for the next seven years.
Contracts were pouring in and Ettore was faced with making decisions about engagements for the first time in his career. Como presented him in Pearl Fishers, Trieste’s Teatro Verdi staged Thais, and he debuted on 13 February 1954 at Venice’s La Fenice in Lucia di Lammermoor with Callas and Luigi Infantino In March he debuted at Genoa’s Carlo Felice in La Forza del Destino with Caterina Mancini, Giulietta Simionato, Roberto Turrini and Giorgio Tozzi and a week later the Genoese saw Ettore in Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors. In April he toured to Strasbourg and other French cities in La Forza del Destino, again with Mancini, and on 10 May he made his first appearance as a baritone at La Scala. The opera was Eugen Onegin and his partners were Renata Tebaldi, Cloe Elmo, Giuseppe Di Stefano and Raffaele Arie. It was a celebrated occasion for all the participants and Bastianini was immediately engaged for another Tschaikovsky work, Masepa, which was presented at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino with Magda Olivero and Boris Christoff.
After performances of Rigoletto at Augsburg, Bastianini sang in La Forza del Destino at Enna with Adriana Guerrini and toured to Perugia, San Benedetto del Tronto, L’Aquila, Macerata, Avezzano, and Chiangiano Terme with Rigoletto also featuring the young Gianna D’Angelo. On 25 August he debuted at Rome’s Caracalla as the hunchbacked jester, again with D’Angelo as well as Di Stefano, and after La Boheme at Turin with Clara Petrella, he returned to New York for a five month season with the Metropolitan Opera company. Bastianini’s New York season included La Traviata, Aida, Andrea Chenier, La Boheme and Don Carlo, during which he took a short break to appear with the San Antonio Opera Company in Lucia di Lammermoor with Lily Pons. Following his return to New York he toured with the Met to Philadelphia, Cleveland, Boston, Dallas and Houston.
On 28 May 1955 La Scala presented the historic Visconti production of La Traviata with Callas, Di Stefano and Bastianini under Giulini’s direction. It is preserved on tape, Lp and CD and is among the author’s most treasured recordings. All three soloists are at the peak of their powers and there are moments throughout the performance that I consider to have been unequalled in any documentation with which I am familiar. Di Stefano was to leave after the premiere, but Ettore remained in the production for an additional three evenings, partnered at the later performances by Giacinto Prandelli. In June he joined Prandelli and Zeani at Rome’s Teatro dell’Opera for two additional performances of Traviata and in August, he debuted at Naples’ Arena Flegrea as Carlo Gerard. In October Monterrey, Mexico saw him as Marcello with Victoria de los Angeles as an exquisite Mimi, after which he traveled to Chicago for his debut as Riccardo in I Puritani with Callas, Di Stefano and Nicola Rossi Lemeni. The evening was remembered by Claudia Cassidy as among the greatest expositions of bel canto style in her very long memory. Following this unqualified conquest, Ettore appeared with Callas, Ebe Stignani and Jussi Bjorling in the legendary, elusive and fabled Il Trovatore, elusive because there have been recurring rumors of the existence of a tape for lo these forty five years, though none has ever surfaced.
Bastianini made a brief stop at the Met in Aida and Andrea Chenier, after which he returned to Italy for Il Tabarro at Firenze with Clara Petrella and Mirto Picchi. And so, his year ended. It had been an exceptional parade of triumphs, but it was only the first flush in a pattern that would continue for several more years, until……………
His engagement at Firenze continued with La Gioconda on 7 January 1956. In the cast were Anita Cerquetti, Ebe Stignani, Gianni Poggi and Giuseppe Modesti. After a repeat of La Traviata at La Scala with Maria Callas, he returned to the Metropolitan Opera for La Boheme, Rigoletto, Lucia di Lammermoor and Il Trovatore as well as a Gala Concert in honor of Italy’s president, Giovanni Gronchi, in which Bastianini sang “Cortigiani”. In April he returned to La Scala for Un Ballo in Maschera and later, to Firenze’s Maggio Musicale for La Traviata with Tebaldi and Don Carlo with Cerquetti, Barbieri and Siepi. At Caracalla he portrayed Germont with Zeani and Gianni Raimondi after which he sang Figaro at the Verona Arena.
In the late summer he sang at Bilbao in Il Trovatore with Mancini and in Rigoletto, and at Seville, he debuted as Figaro. After a brief visit to Mexico, he returned to Chicago for Il Trovatore, La Traviata, La Forza del Destino with Tebaldi, Simionato, Tucker and Rossi-Lemeni and La Boheme with Tebaldi and Bjorling. It was during this season that the justly famous concert of 10 November was recorded, with Tebaldi, Simionato and Tucker. He appeared for the first time at Naples’ Teatro San Carlo on 1 Dec as Valentin in Faust and later in the month he sang Figaro.
On 6 January 1957, Bastianini sang in Un Ballo in Maschera at Firenze and it is preserved on record and CD. The author considers it to be the greatest document extant of Anita Cerquetti, though the sound is problematic. He returned to the Met for Il Trovatore, La Boheme, Aida, Carmen with Rise Stevens, Don Carlo and La Traviata and after closing the season in New York he toured with the company to Baltimore, Boston, Cleveland, Richmond, Atlanta and Dallas. On 29 May, for RAI, Ettore recorded Il Trovatore with Leyla Gencer, Fedora Barbieri and Mario Del Monaco, and in June Firenze presented him in an all star revival of Ernani with Cerquetti, Del Monaco and Christoff. It is well documented on recording and is a superb performance, beautifully balanced and thrillingly conducted by Dimitri Mitropoulos. The summer was spent at Naples with La Gioconda and at the Verona Arena in Carmen with Barbieri and Corelli and in La Boheme with Stella and Di Stefano. In October, Ettore returned to Mexico where, at the capitol, he sang in Carmen and Aida, and at Monterrey in Un Ballo in Maschera, Carmen and La Traviata. The year ended with an opening night at La Scala, Un Ballo in Maschera with Callas, Di Stefano and Simionato. It is a well known performance, and it is not an exaggeration to state that, in an evening of superb performances “Eri tu” was the highlight. The ovation was enormous.
1958 was a repeat of the previous year, new productions at Italy’s most important theaters and debuts at some of the world’s premiere opera centers. On 15 March he appeared at Naples in another of his fabled documented revivals, La Forza del Destino with Tebaldi, Corelli and Christoff and at La Scala he appeared with Callas and Corelli in Il Pirata, one of Callas’ few unrecorded operas at that theater. On 1 June, following performances of L”Elisir d’Amore with Scotto and Di Stefano, Ettore sang the role of Nabucco on the occasion of Cerquetti’s debut at La Scala. Simionato, Poggi and Nicola Zaccaria completed the cast. Near month’s end Ettore debuted at Brussels in Tosca with Tebaldi and Di Stefano to an hysterical ovation. Salzburg saw him for the first time on 26 July, when he sang in Don Carlo with Jurinac, Simionato, Fernandi and Siepi under the leadership of Von Karajan, a highly truncated performance, beautifully recorded and magnificently performed.
At Verona Bastianini sang in La Favorita with Simionato and Poggi and on 15 September he debuted at the Vienna Staatsoper as Rigoletto with Hilde Gueden and Di Stefano. He was a sensation and continued his season with Don Carlo, La Traviata and in Un Ballo in Maschera with Birgit Nilsson, Simionato and Di Stefano. After another visit to Mexico, he returned to Chicago for Il Trovatore followed by La Traviata with Eleanor Steber and Leopold Simoneau after which he opened the Naples season in Andrea Chenier with Stella and Corelli. The year ended at La Scala in Handel’s Eracle with Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, Barbieri and Corelli. Ettore had reached the pinnacle of his, by now, unequalled career. Opening nights and new productions were the norm and he savored every minute of his fame and adulation. There were a few mountains still to be climbed, but they would be conquered.
1959 opened with La Boheme at La Scala. The first night cast included Renata Scotto and Gianni Raimondi and there were twelve performances. Ettore returned to Vienna for La Traviata and on 20 February he debuted at Lisbon’s Sao Carlo as Di Luna partnered by a remarkably imperious Regine Crespin. After performances of Ernani at La Scala, Bastianini returned to Lisbon for Lucia di Lammermoor with D’Angelo and Alfredo Kraus. The spring found him back at Milan for Il Tabarro with Clara Petrella and Il Trovatore. At Vienna he appeared in Un Ballo in Maschera, Don Carlo and Rigoletto and on 23 June he returned to Milan for a gala concert in honor of Charles De Gaulle. Ettore appeared in act three of Ernani with Gabriella Tucci and Corelli.
On 8 July Bastianini appeared at Firenze’s Giardino dei Boboli. Dan Kessler remembers - “Bastianini appeared as Nabucco, the only time I saw him. What a voice, a rich baritonal sound that I will never forget. Margherita Roberti was the Abigaille” .
Later in the month he appeared at La Scala in Carmen with Simionato, Tucci and Di Stefano and at Verona in Il Trovatore with Tucci, Simionato and Corelli. After Pagliacci at Naples and a visit to Bilbao for Il Trovatore and Aida with Roberti, Barbieri and Corelli, Bastianini returned to Vienna for Don Carlo, Un Ballo in Maschera, Tosca, Rigoletto, Carmen and Pagliacci. He had firmly established his place as the major Italian baritone in that city and would continue to sing a staggering number of performances, to the delight of the Viennese until the very end of his career.
At Dallas, he appeared in Lucia di Lammermoor with Maria Callas and in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. On 28 November Naples’ San Carlo opened its season with Adriana Lecouvreur, a revival that was intended for Renata Tebaldi. Two days before the performance was scheduled, immediately after the final dress rehearsal, Tebaldi announced that she was indisposed and would not be able to appear. Into the breach came Magda Olivero, who, with Ettore, Simionato and Corelli, gave one of the defining performances of the century. It is preserved on CD for all to hear, an astonishing display of vocalism from all four principals. It remains among the greatest operatic documents that the author has ever heard. On 13 December the San Carlo presented Ettore and Virginia Zeani in Thais and on the 26 he ended the year at Rome in Un Ballo in Maschera with Stella and Di Stefano.
1960 began at La Scala with Andrea Chenier. Tebaldi had recovered and appeared with Ettore and Del Monaco in a memorable revival. Shortly thereafter Bastianini returned to the Met where, on 1 February he appeared in La Forza Del Destino with Rysanek, Tucker, and Siepi. Ed Rosen remembers - “I recall a Forza that Bastianini did in 1960 with Rysanek and Tucker. He was very hoarse most of the night, but his voice finally came into focus in the great last act duet with the tenor. Tucker kept patting him on the back during their curtain calls”
The author remembers - “It was my first encounter with Rysanek, Bastianini and La Forza del Destino. I was swept away with the grandeur of the opera, of the singing and especially of the overture, which was performed just before the Convent Scene. I remember very impressive and sonorous voices rising over wonderful orchestral effects. I also attended his single performance of Trovatore with Stella, Bergonzi and Simionato, and a monumental performance of Andrea Chenier on 5 March, the night after Leonard Warren’s death. Milanov, Bergonzi and Ettore were all at their very best, but it is “Nemico della Patria” that remains the indelible memory. The aria was thunderously received by a capacity audience that demonstrated its appreciation for several minutes”.
Ed Rosen, once more - “Bastianini always stopped the show with his singing of “Nemico della Patria”. One could even make a good argument that he stole the show”.
At this time, there was no other baritone career that could approach Ettore’s. It was of a stature that will rarely be found in any annals. La Scala presented him in Un Ballo in Maschera in April and Vienna hosted him in Aida, Tosca with Gre Brouwenstijn and Di Stefano, La Boheme, Un Ballo in Maschera, Carmen, Don Carlo, Andrea Chenier and Rigoletto. The Chenier performance has been released on a Cetra CD and is my favorite performance among those with Tebaldi. She, Bastianini and Corelli are all in glorious voice.
After Don Carlo at Salzburg and Cavalleria Rusticana with Simionato at the Verona Arena, Ettore returned to Vienna for Andrea Chenier with Stella and Bergonzi, Aida with Leontyne Price, Un Ballo in Maschera with Stella, Simionato and Di Stefano, La Forza del Destino with Stella, Simionato and Di Stefano, Carmen with Jean Madeira, La Boheme, and Tosca. On 27 November, in Ernani, he again opened the Naples season and on 7 December he and Corelli partnered Maria Callas in her historic return to La Scala in Donizetti’s Poliuto. It is among the greatest of his performances and among the most important historical documents of this century. 1960 ended at Scala with his inimitable Rodrigo.
1961 was little different from the preceding year; at La Scala Bastianini sang in La Forza del Destino, I Puritani with Scotto, Lucia di Lammermoor with Sutherland and Raimondi Don Carlo with Stella, Fiorenza Cossotto, Flaviano Labo and Christoff and in a gala concert honoring Queen Elizabeth of England. At Palermo he debuted in Nabucco and in Vienna he sang in Boheme, La Forza del Destino, Andrea Chenier, Un Ballo in Maschera, Carmen, Don Carlo, and Aida. On 19 June Ettore returned to Venice for Andrea Chenier with Stella and Corelli and his summer continued with Carmen at the Verona Arena with Simionato, Scotto and Corelli and Nabucco at Firenze. After a return to Vienna for five operas, Ettore debuted at Berlin in Il Trovatore with Mirella Parutto, Fedora Barbieri and Corelli. On 6 October he debuted at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House as Nabucco with Lucille Udovich, Renato Cioni and Giorgio Tozzi, and he later sang in Un Ballo in Maschera and Rigoletto, the last opera being repeated in Los Angeles. At Dallas, in November, he sang in Lucia di Lammermoor with Sutherland and on 7 December, Ettore again opened the Scala season, this time in Verdi’s Battaglia di Legnano with Stella and Corelli.
In February 1962 Bastianini debuted at Covent Garden in Un Ballo in Maschera with Amy Schuard, Regina Resnik, Joan Carlyle and Jon Vickers and was well applauded though it would be his only appearance at that theater. His Scala season included performances of La Favorita, Rigoletto, La Traviata and Il Trovatore while at Vienna he sang in Don Carlo, Rigoletto, Un Ballo in Maschera, La Boheme and Aida. On 31 July he, Leontyne Price, Simionato and Corelli sang in an all star revival of Il Trovatore at Salzburg and it is preserved on CD. It has been the subject of superlatives for thirty five and more years, many people considering it to be the finest performance of the opera ever recorded. The author would agree with that assessment. In the autumn, Ettore returned to Vienna for five operas and to San Francisco for Il Trovatore, Pagliacci and La Boheme. At Los Angeles he sang in Tosca with Dorothy Kirsten. After a return to Chicago as Rigoletto, Bastianini again opened the La Scala season on 7 December in Il Trovatore with Stella, Cossotto and Corelli.
During January of 1963 Bastianini sang seven roles in Vienna and then disappeared from the stage for two months. It cannot be stressed enough in telling this story that his illness was not known to anyone but his family. He had gone to Bern Switzerland for cancer treatments. The world understood that he was on a vacation. From this point until the end of his career, Vienna was to be his center of activity and he made relatively few appearances elsewhere. By the time Bastianini left the stage he had appeared at the Staatsoper in ninety nine separate revivals. He repeated Trovatore at Salzburg in the summer of 1963 and debuted at Tokyo in the same opera in October. On 12 December he sang in Don Carlo at La Scala
After performances of Rigoletto at Zurich and Nabucco at Strasbourg in January 1964, Bastianini again suspended activity, this time for four months, and still the opera world was told nothing other than that he was taking it easy. Outside of a single performance of Il Trovatore at Prato, Italy, the rest of the year was spent on the stage of the Vienna Staatsoper, and on 26 December, Ettore returned to Naples for Damnation of Faust with Simionato. 1965 began with Pagliacci and Aida at Vienna followed by four performances of Tosca at Firenze with Olivero and Eugenio Fernandi. In late January, he returned to the Metropolitan Opera for La Forza del Destino, Lucia di Lammermoor and Tosca.
Ed Rosen, again - “Unfortunately, my strongest memories of Bastianini were his final performances at the Met. He sounded just dreadful. Nobody knew he was suffering from throat cancer, and, he was booed, especially after the Tosca. He made a disgusted gesture, walked off the stage and would not bow again.”
Mike Richter remembers - “ I saw him once in Lucia di Lammermoor with Moffo and Alexander in 1965. He was an excellent Enrico in that company; solid and four-square with a voice that still rang out freely.”
The author remembers Tosca - “ I was rather stunned at the lack of power in the voice and in its basic dryness. It was a benefit performance and expectations ran high. He disappointed everyone, though he still looked quite wonderful. Like Ed, I remember some booing. We didn’t know the truth, and it makes it all the sadder”.
Ettore appeared in Cairo as Iago and Rigoletto, and after another visit to Vienna as Marcello and Rodrigo, he traveled to Tokyo for concerts. The end of Bastianini’s career came in the United States, strangely enough. In San Francisco he sang in Andrea Chenier with Tebaldi and Tucker, a performance that Tebaldi remembered as pathetic and wrenching. At Chicago, Ettore sang in Aida with Leontyne Price and he closed out his career in Don Carlo at the Metropolitan Opera on 11 December 1965. The cast included Martina Arroyo, Biserka Cvejic, Bruno Prevedi, and Jerome Hines.
Ettore retreated to Siena where he lived in semi seclusion with his dog, Zabo, being visited only by family members and Franco and Loretta Corelli, who were constant sources of strength and encouragement through the horrors of the next year. Ettore Bastianini died on 25 January 1967 and is buried in his beloved Siena. It was not until his death was announced that the outside world, the rest of us, even knew that he had been ill.
Kurt Youngmann remembers - “Lost in Siena a number of years ago, I came across a street called “Via Ettore Bastianini”. I assume it was named after him although he could have had the same name as someone else. In any case, I was thrilled to see the street”. Kurt continues - “The voice was described by someone as an ‘uncut diamond’”. The author appends - “with no sharp edges”.
To his memory!
© Bob Rideout
Ettore Bastianini was born on 24 September 1922 at Siena, Italy and, after completing elementary school, was brought by his mother to Gaetano Vanni, who assumed responsibility for the young boy’s education and musical training. Ettore was engaged by the Coro della Metropolitana and, for several years sang in a variety of local events including the annual Palio at Siena. He was conscripted into the Italian Air Force in late 1944 and remained in the military for only a few months, as the war was quickly winding down. On 28 January 1945 Ettore made his debut as a soloist in a concert at the Teatro Rex of Siena, singing “Vecchia zimarra” from La Boheme and “La Calunnia” from Il Barbiere di Siviglia. Yes, Ettore Bastianini began his professional life as a bass and he was to remain one for seven years.
In November and December of 1945 Ettore appeared at Ravenna and Forli as Colline and in March 1946 he sang two concerts at the Teatro Comunale of Firenze, where he received excellent reviews. Later in the year he sang Sparafucile and Don Basilio at Rubiera, the Bonzo in Madama Butterfly, Sparafucile and Don Basilio at Firenze, and debuted at Pisa’s Teatro Verdi, again as Basilio.
Bastianini received his first international attention when he traveled with an Italian troupe to Cairo in the winter of 1947. Gino Bechi was the featured baritone and Dina Mannucci Contini assumed the major soprano roles. Ettore sang in Rigoletto, Barbiere di Siviglia, and for the first time in Lucia di Lammermoor. The company appeared at Alexandria after which Ettore returned to Italy for a series of concerts at Forli, Ferrara and Firenze. Later in the year he sang Ferrando in Il Trovatore at Lucca and Ferrara and, at Ferrara he sang Alvise in La Gioconda for the first time. During the winter of 1948 Bologna, Forli, Ravenna, Ferrara and Como all saw him as Colline and in late February he debuted at Parma’s Teatro Regio as Alvise. In April he sang Brander in Berlioz’s Damnation of Faust at Genoa and on 24 April he debuted at La Scala as Tiresia in Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex with Suzanne Danco and Gino Penno. September found him at Cento where, for the first time, he sang Gounod’s Mephistofele and in December he debuted at Barcelona’s Liceo as Il Talpa in Tabarro and Betto di Signa in Gianni Schicchi. The year ended at Novara with his first assumptions of Ramfis. As with so many others, Ettore was busy but the career was not assuming any particular luster or notoriety. He confided to friends that he thought he might try his hand at the baritone repertoire, in which he felt vocally comfortable, but he was persuaded that his talents lay in the darker and deeper areas of his voice and that he should persist in his chosen course. After a period of soul searching, he decided that they were right. But, not for long.
Bastianini returned to Cairo in the winter of 1949 where he appeared in Il Trovatore with Maria Caniglia and Galliano Masini, Barbiere di Siviglia with Tito Gobbi, Rigoletto with Gobbi and La Sonnambula. At Alexandria he added Il Re in Aida and then traveled to Caracas where he debuted as Ramfis. The season offered La Boheme, Lucia di Lammermoor and Rigoletto. In December he returned to Barcelona for I Puritani and Aida, again singing Ramfis, and closed the year at Parma with Fedora and Madama Butterfly.
1950 found Ettore back in Egypt where he sang Lothario in Mignon for the first time partnered by Gianna Pederzini, Grenvil in Traviata with Virginia Zeani, Lucia di Lammermoor with Beniamino Gigli and in Il Trovatore and La Forza del Destino with Carla Castellani. At Alexandria he added Abimelech in Samson and Dalilah with Pederzini and Renato Gavarini and Rigoletto with Gino Bechi. Later in the year, at Lucca, he sang the Count in Manon with Clara Petrella and Timur in Turandot. Turin’s radio station presented him in a broadcast of Smetana’s Bartered Bride and in early 1951 he returned again to Cairo and Alexandria for a long season in Aida, Barbiere, Turandot and Guglielmo Tell. In April he sang his last performances as a bass when he repeated Colline at Turin’s Teatro Alfieri. He was convinced that his role in opera would be fulfilled as a baritone and he left the stage for seven months to restudy both his technique and his repertoire.
On 17 January 1952 at Siena, Bastianini made his stage debut as a baritone in the role of Giorgio Germont with Mannucci Contini and Gustavo Gallo. It was not a success, and he was forced to leave the stage again for a period of intense vocal exercise intended to secure the top of the voice. When he returned to opera in July, it was an entirely different story. After Rigoletto at Siena and Amonasro at Pescara he sang Germont to the Violetta of Virginia Zeani at Bologna and it was an enormous success. In fact, the top of his voice was the center of praise in the press. He was immediately engaged by the Teatro Comunale of Firenze for Tschaikovsky’s Pique Dame, when he sang Yeletzky to the Lisa of Sena Jurinac and the Countess of Gianna Pederzini. 1953 began with a guest appearance at Hamburg as Michele in Il Tabarro and from there he returned to Firenze for Lucia di Lammermoor with Maria Callas and Giacomo Lauri Volpi. In March, at Firenze, he sang Rossini’s Figaro for the first time and in April he appeared as Olivier in Strauss’ Capriccio at Genoa. He returned to the Comunale of Firenze during the Maggio Musicale and sang Andrej in Prokofiev’s War and Peace with Rosanna Carteri and Franco Corelli. It was this engagement that solidified his place in the opera centers of Italy. The reviews were superb for all, but Bastianini was particularly praised for his magnificent tonal splendor. He returned to Germany for guest appearances at Augsburg in Aida and in La Forza del Destino, the latter with Leonie Rysanek.
After a few additional performances in Italy, including Pearl Fishers at Trieste, Bastianini left for the United States and his debut at the Metropolitan Opera. He had, miraculously, in less than two years, established a firm enough reputation that he was about to sing in the most important theater in the Western Hemisphere. On 5 December, he debuted as Germont with Licia Albanese and Richard Tucker. The reviews were somewhat disappointing. He was generously praised for his beautiful voice but was generally found to be somewhat pedestrian in his stage manner though extraordinarily handsome. In fact, it was his very youthful appearance as the aging aristocrat that seemed most to put off those who were initially not persuaded. However, response was very enthusiastic and he later sang in Il Trovatore with Zinka Milanov, Elena Nikolaidi and Kurt Baum and in Lucia di Lammermoor with Lily Pons and Jan Peerce. New York’s love affair with the dashing new baritone would continue for the next seven years.
Contracts were pouring in and Ettore was faced with making decisions about engagements for the first time in his career. Como presented him in Pearl Fishers, Trieste’s Teatro Verdi staged Thais, and he debuted on 13 February 1954 at Venice’s La Fenice in Lucia di Lammermoor with Callas and Luigi Infantino In March he debuted at Genoa’s Carlo Felice in La Forza del Destino with Caterina Mancini, Giulietta Simionato, Roberto Turrini and Giorgio Tozzi and a week later the Genoese saw Ettore in Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors. In April he toured to Strasbourg and other French cities in La Forza del Destino, again with Mancini, and on 10 May he made his first appearance as a baritone at La Scala. The opera was Eugen Onegin and his partners were Renata Tebaldi, Cloe Elmo, Giuseppe Di Stefano and Raffaele Arie. It was a celebrated occasion for all the participants and Bastianini was immediately engaged for another Tschaikovsky work, Masepa, which was presented at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino with Magda Olivero and Boris Christoff.
After performances of Rigoletto at Augsburg, Bastianini sang in La Forza del Destino at Enna with Adriana Guerrini and toured to Perugia, San Benedetto del Tronto, L’Aquila, Macerata, Avezzano, and Chiangiano Terme with Rigoletto also featuring the young Gianna D’Angelo. On 25 August he debuted at Rome’s Caracalla as the hunchbacked jester, again with D’Angelo as well as Di Stefano, and after La Boheme at Turin with Clara Petrella, he returned to New York for a five month season with the Metropolitan Opera company. Bastianini’s New York season included La Traviata, Aida, Andrea Chenier, La Boheme and Don Carlo, during which he took a short break to appear with the San Antonio Opera Company in Lucia di Lammermoor with Lily Pons. Following his return to New York he toured with the Met to Philadelphia, Cleveland, Boston, Dallas and Houston.
On 28 May 1955 La Scala presented the historic Visconti production of La Traviata with Callas, Di Stefano and Bastianini under Giulini’s direction. It is preserved on tape, Lp and CD and is among the author’s most treasured recordings. All three soloists are at the peak of their powers and there are moments throughout the performance that I consider to have been unequalled in any documentation with which I am familiar. Di Stefano was to leave after the premiere, but Ettore remained in the production for an additional three evenings, partnered at the later performances by Giacinto Prandelli. In June he joined Prandelli and Zeani at Rome’s Teatro dell’Opera for two additional performances of Traviata and in August, he debuted at Naples’ Arena Flegrea as Carlo Gerard. In October Monterrey, Mexico saw him as Marcello with Victoria de los Angeles as an exquisite Mimi, after which he traveled to Chicago for his debut as Riccardo in I Puritani with Callas, Di Stefano and Nicola Rossi Lemeni. The evening was remembered by Claudia Cassidy as among the greatest expositions of bel canto style in her very long memory. Following this unqualified conquest, Ettore appeared with Callas, Ebe Stignani and Jussi Bjorling in the legendary, elusive and fabled Il Trovatore, elusive because there have been recurring rumors of the existence of a tape for lo these forty five years, though none has ever surfaced.
Bastianini made a brief stop at the Met in Aida and Andrea Chenier, after which he returned to Italy for Il Tabarro at Firenze with Clara Petrella and Mirto Picchi. And so, his year ended. It had been an exceptional parade of triumphs, but it was only the first flush in a pattern that would continue for several more years, until……………
His engagement at Firenze continued with La Gioconda on 7 January 1956. In the cast were Anita Cerquetti, Ebe Stignani, Gianni Poggi and Giuseppe Modesti. After a repeat of La Traviata at La Scala with Maria Callas, he returned to the Metropolitan Opera for La Boheme, Rigoletto, Lucia di Lammermoor and Il Trovatore as well as a Gala Concert in honor of Italy’s president, Giovanni Gronchi, in which Bastianini sang “Cortigiani”. In April he returned to La Scala for Un Ballo in Maschera and later, to Firenze’s Maggio Musicale for La Traviata with Tebaldi and Don Carlo with Cerquetti, Barbieri and Siepi. At Caracalla he portrayed Germont with Zeani and Gianni Raimondi after which he sang Figaro at the Verona Arena.
In the late summer he sang at Bilbao in Il Trovatore with Mancini and in Rigoletto, and at Seville, he debuted as Figaro. After a brief visit to Mexico, he returned to Chicago for Il Trovatore, La Traviata, La Forza del Destino with Tebaldi, Simionato, Tucker and Rossi-Lemeni and La Boheme with Tebaldi and Bjorling. It was during this season that the justly famous concert of 10 November was recorded, with Tebaldi, Simionato and Tucker. He appeared for the first time at Naples’ Teatro San Carlo on 1 Dec as Valentin in Faust and later in the month he sang Figaro.
On 6 January 1957, Bastianini sang in Un Ballo in Maschera at Firenze and it is preserved on record and CD. The author considers it to be the greatest document extant of Anita Cerquetti, though the sound is problematic. He returned to the Met for Il Trovatore, La Boheme, Aida, Carmen with Rise Stevens, Don Carlo and La Traviata and after closing the season in New York he toured with the company to Baltimore, Boston, Cleveland, Richmond, Atlanta and Dallas. On 29 May, for RAI, Ettore recorded Il Trovatore with Leyla Gencer, Fedora Barbieri and Mario Del Monaco, and in June Firenze presented him in an all star revival of Ernani with Cerquetti, Del Monaco and Christoff. It is well documented on recording and is a superb performance, beautifully balanced and thrillingly conducted by Dimitri Mitropoulos. The summer was spent at Naples with La Gioconda and at the Verona Arena in Carmen with Barbieri and Corelli and in La Boheme with Stella and Di Stefano. In October, Ettore returned to Mexico where, at the capitol, he sang in Carmen and Aida, and at Monterrey in Un Ballo in Maschera, Carmen and La Traviata. The year ended with an opening night at La Scala, Un Ballo in Maschera with Callas, Di Stefano and Simionato. It is a well known performance, and it is not an exaggeration to state that, in an evening of superb performances “Eri tu” was the highlight. The ovation was enormous.
1958 was a repeat of the previous year, new productions at Italy’s most important theaters and debuts at some of the world’s premiere opera centers. On 15 March he appeared at Naples in another of his fabled documented revivals, La Forza del Destino with Tebaldi, Corelli and Christoff and at La Scala he appeared with Callas and Corelli in Il Pirata, one of Callas’ few unrecorded operas at that theater. On 1 June, following performances of L”Elisir d’Amore with Scotto and Di Stefano, Ettore sang the role of Nabucco on the occasion of Cerquetti’s debut at La Scala. Simionato, Poggi and Nicola Zaccaria completed the cast. Near month’s end Ettore debuted at Brussels in Tosca with Tebaldi and Di Stefano to an hysterical ovation. Salzburg saw him for the first time on 26 July, when he sang in Don Carlo with Jurinac, Simionato, Fernandi and Siepi under the leadership of Von Karajan, a highly truncated performance, beautifully recorded and magnificently performed.
At Verona Bastianini sang in La Favorita with Simionato and Poggi and on 15 September he debuted at the Vienna Staatsoper as Rigoletto with Hilde Gueden and Di Stefano. He was a sensation and continued his season with Don Carlo, La Traviata and in Un Ballo in Maschera with Birgit Nilsson, Simionato and Di Stefano. After another visit to Mexico, he returned to Chicago for Il Trovatore followed by La Traviata with Eleanor Steber and Leopold Simoneau after which he opened the Naples season in Andrea Chenier with Stella and Corelli. The year ended at La Scala in Handel’s Eracle with Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, Barbieri and Corelli. Ettore had reached the pinnacle of his, by now, unequalled career. Opening nights and new productions were the norm and he savored every minute of his fame and adulation. There were a few mountains still to be climbed, but they would be conquered.
1959 opened with La Boheme at La Scala. The first night cast included Renata Scotto and Gianni Raimondi and there were twelve performances. Ettore returned to Vienna for La Traviata and on 20 February he debuted at Lisbon’s Sao Carlo as Di Luna partnered by a remarkably imperious Regine Crespin. After performances of Ernani at La Scala, Bastianini returned to Lisbon for Lucia di Lammermoor with D’Angelo and Alfredo Kraus. The spring found him back at Milan for Il Tabarro with Clara Petrella and Il Trovatore. At Vienna he appeared in Un Ballo in Maschera, Don Carlo and Rigoletto and on 23 June he returned to Milan for a gala concert in honor of Charles De Gaulle. Ettore appeared in act three of Ernani with Gabriella Tucci and Corelli.
On 8 July Bastianini appeared at Firenze’s Giardino dei Boboli. Dan Kessler remembers - “Bastianini appeared as Nabucco, the only time I saw him. What a voice, a rich baritonal sound that I will never forget. Margherita Roberti was the Abigaille” .
Later in the month he appeared at La Scala in Carmen with Simionato, Tucci and Di Stefano and at Verona in Il Trovatore with Tucci, Simionato and Corelli. After Pagliacci at Naples and a visit to Bilbao for Il Trovatore and Aida with Roberti, Barbieri and Corelli, Bastianini returned to Vienna for Don Carlo, Un Ballo in Maschera, Tosca, Rigoletto, Carmen and Pagliacci. He had firmly established his place as the major Italian baritone in that city and would continue to sing a staggering number of performances, to the delight of the Viennese until the very end of his career.
At Dallas, he appeared in Lucia di Lammermoor with Maria Callas and in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. On 28 November Naples’ San Carlo opened its season with Adriana Lecouvreur, a revival that was intended for Renata Tebaldi. Two days before the performance was scheduled, immediately after the final dress rehearsal, Tebaldi announced that she was indisposed and would not be able to appear. Into the breach came Magda Olivero, who, with Ettore, Simionato and Corelli, gave one of the defining performances of the century. It is preserved on CD for all to hear, an astonishing display of vocalism from all four principals. It remains among the greatest operatic documents that the author has ever heard. On 13 December the San Carlo presented Ettore and Virginia Zeani in Thais and on the 26 he ended the year at Rome in Un Ballo in Maschera with Stella and Di Stefano.
1960 began at La Scala with Andrea Chenier. Tebaldi had recovered and appeared with Ettore and Del Monaco in a memorable revival. Shortly thereafter Bastianini returned to the Met where, on 1 February he appeared in La Forza Del Destino with Rysanek, Tucker, and Siepi. Ed Rosen remembers - “I recall a Forza that Bastianini did in 1960 with Rysanek and Tucker. He was very hoarse most of the night, but his voice finally came into focus in the great last act duet with the tenor. Tucker kept patting him on the back during their curtain calls”
The author remembers - “It was my first encounter with Rysanek, Bastianini and La Forza del Destino. I was swept away with the grandeur of the opera, of the singing and especially of the overture, which was performed just before the Convent Scene. I remember very impressive and sonorous voices rising over wonderful orchestral effects. I also attended his single performance of Trovatore with Stella, Bergonzi and Simionato, and a monumental performance of Andrea Chenier on 5 March, the night after Leonard Warren’s death. Milanov, Bergonzi and Ettore were all at their very best, but it is “Nemico della Patria” that remains the indelible memory. The aria was thunderously received by a capacity audience that demonstrated its appreciation for several minutes”.
Ed Rosen, once more - “Bastianini always stopped the show with his singing of “Nemico della Patria”. One could even make a good argument that he stole the show”.
At this time, there was no other baritone career that could approach Ettore’s. It was of a stature that will rarely be found in any annals. La Scala presented him in Un Ballo in Maschera in April and Vienna hosted him in Aida, Tosca with Gre Brouwenstijn and Di Stefano, La Boheme, Un Ballo in Maschera, Carmen, Don Carlo, Andrea Chenier and Rigoletto. The Chenier performance has been released on a Cetra CD and is my favorite performance among those with Tebaldi. She, Bastianini and Corelli are all in glorious voice.
After Don Carlo at Salzburg and Cavalleria Rusticana with Simionato at the Verona Arena, Ettore returned to Vienna for Andrea Chenier with Stella and Bergonzi, Aida with Leontyne Price, Un Ballo in Maschera with Stella, Simionato and Di Stefano, La Forza del Destino with Stella, Simionato and Di Stefano, Carmen with Jean Madeira, La Boheme, and Tosca. On 27 November, in Ernani, he again opened the Naples season and on 7 December he and Corelli partnered Maria Callas in her historic return to La Scala in Donizetti’s Poliuto. It is among the greatest of his performances and among the most important historical documents of this century. 1960 ended at Scala with his inimitable Rodrigo.
1961 was little different from the preceding year; at La Scala Bastianini sang in La Forza del Destino, I Puritani with Scotto, Lucia di Lammermoor with Sutherland and Raimondi Don Carlo with Stella, Fiorenza Cossotto, Flaviano Labo and Christoff and in a gala concert honoring Queen Elizabeth of England. At Palermo he debuted in Nabucco and in Vienna he sang in Boheme, La Forza del Destino, Andrea Chenier, Un Ballo in Maschera, Carmen, Don Carlo, and Aida. On 19 June Ettore returned to Venice for Andrea Chenier with Stella and Corelli and his summer continued with Carmen at the Verona Arena with Simionato, Scotto and Corelli and Nabucco at Firenze. After a return to Vienna for five operas, Ettore debuted at Berlin in Il Trovatore with Mirella Parutto, Fedora Barbieri and Corelli. On 6 October he debuted at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House as Nabucco with Lucille Udovich, Renato Cioni and Giorgio Tozzi, and he later sang in Un Ballo in Maschera and Rigoletto, the last opera being repeated in Los Angeles. At Dallas, in November, he sang in Lucia di Lammermoor with Sutherland and on 7 December, Ettore again opened the Scala season, this time in Verdi’s Battaglia di Legnano with Stella and Corelli.
In February 1962 Bastianini debuted at Covent Garden in Un Ballo in Maschera with Amy Schuard, Regina Resnik, Joan Carlyle and Jon Vickers and was well applauded though it would be his only appearance at that theater. His Scala season included performances of La Favorita, Rigoletto, La Traviata and Il Trovatore while at Vienna he sang in Don Carlo, Rigoletto, Un Ballo in Maschera, La Boheme and Aida. On 31 July he, Leontyne Price, Simionato and Corelli sang in an all star revival of Il Trovatore at Salzburg and it is preserved on CD. It has been the subject of superlatives for thirty five and more years, many people considering it to be the finest performance of the opera ever recorded. The author would agree with that assessment. In the autumn, Ettore returned to Vienna for five operas and to San Francisco for Il Trovatore, Pagliacci and La Boheme. At Los Angeles he sang in Tosca with Dorothy Kirsten. After a return to Chicago as Rigoletto, Bastianini again opened the La Scala season on 7 December in Il Trovatore with Stella, Cossotto and Corelli.
During January of 1963 Bastianini sang seven roles in Vienna and then disappeared from the stage for two months. It cannot be stressed enough in telling this story that his illness was not known to anyone but his family. He had gone to Bern Switzerland for cancer treatments. The world understood that he was on a vacation. From this point until the end of his career, Vienna was to be his center of activity and he made relatively few appearances elsewhere. By the time Bastianini left the stage he had appeared at the Staatsoper in ninety nine separate revivals. He repeated Trovatore at Salzburg in the summer of 1963 and debuted at Tokyo in the same opera in October. On 12 December he sang in Don Carlo at La Scala
After performances of Rigoletto at Zurich and Nabucco at Strasbourg in January 1964, Bastianini again suspended activity, this time for four months, and still the opera world was told nothing other than that he was taking it easy. Outside of a single performance of Il Trovatore at Prato, Italy, the rest of the year was spent on the stage of the Vienna Staatsoper, and on 26 December, Ettore returned to Naples for Damnation of Faust with Simionato. 1965 began with Pagliacci and Aida at Vienna followed by four performances of Tosca at Firenze with Olivero and Eugenio Fernandi. In late January, he returned to the Metropolitan Opera for La Forza del Destino, Lucia di Lammermoor and Tosca.
Ed Rosen, again - “Unfortunately, my strongest memories of Bastianini were his final performances at the Met. He sounded just dreadful. Nobody knew he was suffering from throat cancer, and, he was booed, especially after the Tosca. He made a disgusted gesture, walked off the stage and would not bow again.”
Mike Richter remembers - “ I saw him once in Lucia di Lammermoor with Moffo and Alexander in 1965. He was an excellent Enrico in that company; solid and four-square with a voice that still rang out freely.”
The author remembers Tosca - “ I was rather stunned at the lack of power in the voice and in its basic dryness. It was a benefit performance and expectations ran high. He disappointed everyone, though he still looked quite wonderful. Like Ed, I remember some booing. We didn’t know the truth, and it makes it all the sadder”.
Ettore appeared in Cairo as Iago and Rigoletto, and after another visit to Vienna as Marcello and Rodrigo, he traveled to Tokyo for concerts. The end of Bastianini’s career came in the United States, strangely enough. In San Francisco he sang in Andrea Chenier with Tebaldi and Tucker, a performance that Tebaldi remembered as pathetic and wrenching. At Chicago, Ettore sang in Aida with Leontyne Price and he closed out his career in Don Carlo at the Metropolitan Opera on 11 December 1965. The cast included Martina Arroyo, Biserka Cvejic, Bruno Prevedi, and Jerome Hines.
Ettore retreated to Siena where he lived in semi seclusion with his dog, Zabo, being visited only by family members and Franco and Loretta Corelli, who were constant sources of strength and encouragement through the horrors of the next year. Ettore Bastianini died on 25 January 1967 and is buried in his beloved Siena. It was not until his death was announced that the outside world, the rest of us, even knew that he had been ill.
Kurt Youngmann remembers - “Lost in Siena a number of years ago, I came across a street called “Via Ettore Bastianini”. I assume it was named after him although he could have had the same name as someone else. In any case, I was thrilled to see the street”. Kurt continues - “The voice was described by someone as an ‘uncut diamond’”. The author appends - “with no sharp edges”.
To his memory!
© Bob Rideout