Ottavio Taddei

He studied singing at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, where in 1953 he sang Rodolfo at the Teatro dei Ravvivati, under the guidance of maestri such as Capuana.

His official debut was in Rigoletto in 1954 at the Sistina in Rom, where he also sang Duca and Edgardo.

He won an international competition reserved to young singers that allowed him to sing at the Teatro Nuovo in Milano, Teatro della Pergola in Firenze, Teatro Giglio in Lucca, Teatro Comunale in Modena and Teatro Eliseo in Roma. He also was successful in concert appearances.

In 1958, he sang in Costa Rica, Caracas as Duca and Edgardo.

He sang in Iris at the San Carlo in Napoli in 1959. The critic wrote:

La voce di Taddei è risultata armoniosa, con delicata vibrazione, con sicuro fraseggio, con gusto et espressione (ha svolto la sua parte).

He sang also there in Conchita and Il malato immaginario. (He is not listed at all in the San Carlo chronology by Carlo Marinelli Roscioni as Mateo in Conchita. Conchita was given in Naples for the last time on February 14, 1959. The role of Mateo was sung by Angelo Loforese. He is not mentioned either in Il malato immaginario, 12 May 1960, where the main tenor role seems to have been sung by Angelo Marchiandi, and in Iris the tenor was Borsò. Those three works were given several times. It is possible that some changes in the cast were not noted. However, that this happened three times for the same singer is very improbable. Maybe he sang those works in another theater in Napoli. Though it is also very improbable that two theaters in the same city gave those works at the same time. What about the review for Iris, an invention?).

He sang at the Teatro Margherita Genova as Rodolfo and at the Teatro Verdi Pisa as Edgardo.

Since 1960, he sang very often at the Teatro Comunale in Firenze, where he settled.

He toured Holland (not in opera), Switzerland, Turkey, Scotland, and Central America.

RAI appearances: 1960-1, Terra senza passato by Luigi Manenti (Terra senza passato was sung at the RAI Milano on March 25, 1961. Ottavio Taddei appears in the minor role of Giacomo. Renato Berti and Nestore Cattalini were also in the cast) and La guerra by Renzo Rosselini (La guerra was sung at the RAI Roma on January 7, 1961. The role of Erik was sung by Giacinto Prandelli. O. Taddei appeared as Un uomo); 1963 Pique Dame.

In 1966, he sang in Hamburg, Nürnberg and Frankfurt a. M. as Pinkerton. The same year, he sang in Firenze and Roma in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea.

After that, he sang mostly comprimario roles at the Comunale in Firenze and appeared in concerts.

He recorded Pinkerton for Allegro Royale in 1953. He is also to be heard in RAI live recordings.

He also taught singing, Francesco Anile was one of his students.

The name of Ottavio Taddei appears in the Zandonai biography as singing, in an otherwise symphonic concert on August 2, 1959 at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, two fragments from Conchita by Zandonai.
Reference: Kutsch & Riemens
Reference: Gino Dell'Ira Il firmamento lirico pisano, Grafica Zannini, Pisa, 1983

Chronology
1953
Siena, Teatro dei Ravvivati, La bohème (Rodolfo)
Siena, Teatro dei Ravvivati, Due oratori
1954
Roma, Teatro Sistina, Rigoletto (Duca)
Roma, Teatro Sistine, Lucia di Lammermoor (Edgardo)
1955
February, Grosseto, Teatro Comunale, La traviata (Alfredo)
May, San Miniato, Lucia di Lammermoor (Edgardo)
June 15, Milano, Teatro Nuovo, Madama Butterfly (Pinkerton)
July 17, San Miniato, Tosca (Mario)
July 20, Fucecchio, Arena Garibaldi, Lucia di Lammermoor (Edgardo)
September 6, Siena, Accademia Chigiana, concerto
September 8, Siena, Teatro dei Ravvivati,La bohème (Rodolfo)
October 6, Firenze, Teatro della Pergola, La bohème (Rodolfo)
December 30, Siena, Teatro dei Ravvivati, Lucia di Lammermoor (Edgardo)
?, Milano, Teatro Nuovo, Madama Butterfly (Pinkerton)
1956
March 17, Lucca, Teatro Giglio, Rigoletto (Duca)
July 12, San Miniato, Rigoletto (Duca)
July ?,  Montecatini Terme, Parco della Torretta, concerto
December 12, Modena, Teatro Comunale, Conerto
1957
May 12, Pistoia, Teatro Manzoni, concerto
1958
Roma, Teatro Eliseo, Il tabarro (Luigi)
San José (Costa Rica), Rigoletto (Duca)
San José (Costa Rica), Lucia di Lammermoor (Edgardo)
Caracas, Rigoletto (Duca)
Caracas, Lucia di Lammermoor (Edgardo)
1959
Firenze, Chiostro SS. Annunziata, concerto
Napoli, Teatro ?, Conchita (Mateo)  
Napoli, Teatro ?, Il malato immaginario
Treviso, Teatro Comunale, Madama Butterfly (Pinkerton)
Genova, Teatro Margherita, La bohème (Rodolfo)
Pisa, Teatro Verdi, Lucia di Lammermoor (Edgardo)
Ravenna, Piazzale della Loggetta Lombardesca, Madama Butterfly on August 9, with Lidia Nerozzi, 
Franco Mieli, Giannella Borelli,  Ezio Boschi, Edgardo Di Stasio, Corrado Benvenuti
1960
June 23, Firenze, Teatro Comunale, Messa da Requiem (Paisiello) with L. Londi, A. Ricci
Materassi, S. Maionica
1961
January 7, Roma, RAI, La guerra, Un'uomo with Olivero, Panni, Parandelli, Rubeo, Cesari, 
Freccia
March 25, Milano, RAI, Terra senza passato, as Giacomo with Aureliana Agnitti, Vera Montanari,
 Olga Santini, Palmira Vitali Marini, Boris Cannecchi, Nestore Catalani
April 11, Pisa, Teatro Verdi, Adriana Lecouvreur, L'abate with M. Oliero, Anna Maria Rota,
Nicola Filacuridi, Afro Poli, Manno Wolf Ferrari (total 2)
May 8, Firenze, Teatro Comunale, Don Carlo, L'araldo with C. Rubio, O.Dominguez, G. Gibin,
M. Zanasi, P. Washington, Vittori Gui (total 4)
May 25, Firenze, Teatro Comunale, Il mercante di Venezia, Baldassare with R. Carteri, 
R. Capecchi, G. Meneguzzer, R. Ongaro, F. Capuana (total 2)
1962
May 26, Firenze, Teatro Comunale, concerto with R. Panerai
Istanbul, Radio, Rigoletto (Duca)
Istanbul, Radio, Cavalleria rusticana (Turiddu)
Pisa, Teatro Verdi, Madama Butterfly (Pinkerton)
1963
July 23, Firenze, Teatro Comunale, Lucia di Lammermoor, Arturo with R. Scotto, A. Kraus, 
S. Bruscantini, P. Washingto, Bruno Rigacci (total 4)
Ankara, Andrea Chénier (Chénier)
November 26, Milano, RAI, Pique Dame, Il cerimoniere with Gianna Galli, Rena Grazioti, 
Miriam Pirazzini, Antonio Annaloro, Enzo Sordello, Walter ALberti, Arturo Basile
December 28, Firenze, Teatro Comunale, Madama Butterfly, Pinkerton with O. Fineschi, 
A. Erede (total 2)
1964
February, Pisa,  Teatro Verdi,  Madama Butterfly, Pinkerton with F. Cavalli, A. Poli, 
Annovazzi (total 2)
May 2, Firenze, Teatro Verdi, Dottor Faust, with R. Cesari, H. Handt, G. Loomis, Previtali 
(total 3)
December 23, Firenze, Teatro Comunale, Gianni Schicchi, Geraldo with R. Cesari, R. Ongaro, 
A. Marchiandi, A. M. Canali, G. Del Vivo, Bartoletti (total 3)
1965
January 21, Firenze, Teatro Comunale, Parsifal, Paggio with O. Wiener, G. Stern, E. Wollitz, 
E. Kozub, Herta Fischer, Lovro von Matačić (total 5)
June 1, Firenze, Teatro Comunale, Billy Budd, Capocoffa with A. Rinaldi, M. Picchi, w. Monachesi,
N. Rossi-Lemeni, Paul Strauss (total 3)
July 15, Firenze, Teatro Comunale, Turandot, Altoum with F. Labo, F. Tagliavini, Mietta Sighele, 
Gladys Kuchta, P. Washington, O. De Fabritiis (total 4)
Pistoia, Teatro Manzoni, La bohème (Rodolfo)
1966
January 9,  Firenze, Teatro Comunale, Turandot, Altoum with Liane Synek, Lidia Malimpietri, Milena 
Pauli, Bruno Prevedi, Giuseppe Campora, Renato Capecchi, Paolo Washington, Franco Mannino (total ?)
May 31,  Firenze, Teatro Comunale, Orfeide with R. Capecchi, A. Rinaldi, M. Olivero, Scherchen (total 3)
November 27,  Firenze, Teatro Comunale,L'incoronazione di Poppea, Soldato with C. Parada, M. Picchi, 
M. Parutto, b. Christoff, R. Ongaro, Carlo Franci (total 2)
Roma, Teatro dell'Opera, L'incoronazione di Poppea
Hamburg, Madama Butterfly (Pinkerton)
Nürnberg, Madama Butterfly (Pinkerton)
Frankfurt, Madama Butterfly (Pinkerton)
Trieste, Teatro Comunale, Judith
1967
Pisa, Teatro Verdi, Otello, Cassio with Antonietta Cannarile, Gioia Coli, Pier Miranda-Ferraro, 
Dino Dondi, Giuseppe Morelli
1972
Ravenna, Istituto del Nastro Azzurro, concert on October 8 with Giovanna Santelli, Marcella 
Merli, Benito Appoloni, Gianni Del Testa (piano) 

I wish to thank Juan Dzazópulos for the important corrections/additions. One more time we can see that the Kutsch & Riemens dictionary contains many mistakes.

Discography

Rondo-lette (a less than well-known US record company)
Madama Butterfly – Excerpts
Anna Maria Frati, soprano; Ottavio Taddei, tenor; Georgio Giorgetti, baritone; 
Maria Bertolini, mezzo-soprano;  
Orchestra and chorus of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino; 
Erasmo Ghiglia, conductor; Andrea Morosini, choral director.
Amore o grillo – Ancora un passo – Ieri son salita – Bimba, non piangere – Un bel dì vedremo – Che tua 
madre – Tutti i fiori – Waiting Music – Trio – Addio, fiorito asil – Tu, tu, piccolo Iddio