Giuseppe Capponi

Capponi was born in Cantiano (Pesaro). His parents were Francesco Capponi and Lucia Vandiani.

Having a good voice, he began to devote himself to singing, studying with Cantiano's maestro di cappella, the composer Natale Pellicci. He was twenty-five when he entered, as a tenor, the choir of the Cappella della S. Casa di Loreto. There he was lucky enough to meet the tenor F. Borioni, who became interested in his musical education.

After his debut at the Teatro Valle in Rome as a comprimario during the carnival season 1858/59, he took up his first main role in Pesaro's carnival season in Norma in 1860.

From then, he sang in the most important Italian and foreign opera houses.

In April 1868, he made his debut at La Scala in Don Carlo, replacing the tenor G. Fancelli. On this occasion, he won praise not only for the timbre of his voice, but also for the dramatic expression.

Don Carlo was one of his favorite roles, and he sang it with success at the Teatro Regio in Turin (1868), in Trieste (1868) and Padova (1869).

On August 21st and 22nd, 1869, at the commemoration of Rossini in Pesaro, he participated in the performance of the Funeral Mass by Cherubini, and of Rossini's Stabat mater, conducted by Mariani.

In February 1872, he was chosen by Verdi as the first interpreter of Radames in the first Italian performance of Aida at La Scala, but was inhibited by illness, and replaced by G. Fancelli.

Then he participated, together with T. Stolz, M. Waldmann and F. Pandolfini, in a memorable edition of the work carried out in Parma on 20 April 1872, and obtained a triumph; this was followed by other performances in Padova in 1872 and Trieste in 1873.

Verdi chose him for his Messa da Requiem (Milan, Chiesa di S. Marco on 22 May 1874), conducted by Verdi himself and replicated on 25 May at La Scala under the direction of F. Faccio. Together with Stolz, Waldmann and Maini, Capponi moved to Paris, but his singing did not satisfy Verdi, who wrote about it: "Capponi goes from bad to worse ... he is transposing down by a quarter of a tone ..." (cf. Abbiati, p. 699).

Later, perhaps because he was already aware of an early decline, he left the company, did not follow them to London and was replaced by Angelo Masini.

He sang, however, in various Italian opera houses and successfully performed the role of Alvaro in La forza del destino at the Teatro San Carlo in Napoli (21 December 1876). He returned to the San Carlo in Ero e Leandro by G. Bottesini (8 April 1880).

He continued to sing until 1882, when his vocal decline became apparent at the Apollo Theater in Rome, where he took part in a cut version of La Juive to allow him to get along better with the part.

He retired to Loreto, where he was city councilor, and died there on August 6th, 1889.

In addition to many Verdi roles, he sang in Guarany, Ruy Blas, Jone, and in operas by Meyerbeer and Donizetti.

Bibliography: P. E. Ferrari, Spettacoli drammatico-musicali e coreografici in Parma dal 1628 al 1883, Parma 1884, pp. 146, 150, 260, 274
G. Sacerdote, Teatro Regio di Torino. Cronologia degli spettacoli rappresentati dal 1662 al 1890, Torino 1892, pp. 148 f, 153
G. Radiciotti, Aggiunte e correzioni ai dizionari biografici dei musicisti, in La critica musicale, V (1922), pp. 236 f
C. Gatti, Verdi, Milano 1931, I, p. 376; II, pp. 196, 239, 269 f
R. Celletti, Giuseppe Capponi, in: Enciclopedia dello Spettacolo, II, Firenze-Roma 1954, col. 1729 f
F. Abbiati, G. Verdi, Milano 1959
G. Monaldi, Cantanti celebri del secolo XIX, Roma n.y., p. 182
F. De Filippis/R. Arnese, Cronache del Teatro di S. Carlo (1737–1960), I, Napoli 1961, pp. 89 f
C. Schmidl, Dizionario universale dei musicisti, I, p.291
Gherardo Casaglia (2005), Giuseppe Capponi (once on www.amadeusonline.net)
Kutsch & Riemens
Luigi Bignami: Cronologia di tutti gli spettacoli rappresentati in Bologna, 1763–1880
Enciclopedia Treccani

Un posto d'onore bisogna concedere anche al Capponi, tenore di voce ben timbrata, che vibrava con bello squillo nelle note acute e conservava la purezza del metallo in tuta l'estensione della sua scala. Il Capponi non ha percorso lunga carriera: in compenso però il periodo della sua fioritura è stato ricco e rigoglioso. Gino Monaldi: Cantanti celebri