Aldo Bottion
31 August 1933 Venice – 30 March 2009 Monte Carlo
Italian tenor born in Venice on August 31st, 1933. He was married to the soprano Gianna Galli. They sang together for many
years. Galli retired early and then owned a theatrical agency. Bottion sang mainly in Italy (especially at the Teatro La Fenice in
Venice), as a first tenor, from 1961 to the early 1980s. Then he successfully started a second career as a comprimario tenor.
Besides Italy, he sang at the Vienna Staatsoper in 1965 (Don Carlo), in Malta at the Manoel Theatre in 1966 (Adriana Lecouvreur), in
Madrid at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in 1967 (Traviata, with Montserrat Caballé), in Lausanne in 1967 (Traviata, with Virginia
Zeani), in Oviedo and Bilbao in 1969 (Norma). Also in Lisbon in 1968 (Tosca) and 1969 (Fedora and Norma).
He sang the tenor part in Verdi's Requiem in London in 1968, and in Piran (Slovenia) in 1970.
He also appeared in 1970 in Bregenz (Norma, with Cristina Deutekom), in Madrid in 1971, again at the Teatro de la Zarzuela
(Nabucco, with Elena Suliotis), and in 1971 at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House (Il tabarro, with Leontyne Price).
In 1974 he was Cassio in the Berlin "Otello" recording under Herbert von Karajan, with Jon Vickers, Mirella
Freni and Peter Glossop. As a comprimario, he was Altoum in Turandot at the Beijing
Forbidden City performances. He visited Japan (Nagoya,
Tokyo and Osaka) in 2000 with the Monte Carlo Opera, singing in Traviata.
He sang some 63 different roles and perhaps others I have been unable to find out.
Juan Dzazópulos
Additions:
He sang Il corsaro in Venezia in 1963 (open air at the Palazzo Ducale, end of August 1963), Don Carlo at the Opera di Roma (after Cecchele) in 1965,
Adriana Lecouvreur in Bologna and Malta in 1966 (with G. Galli) and later in Venezia. Pollione in Piacenza 1967, Luisa Miller in
Cagliari in April 1967, in June 1968 Rossini's Otello with the Opera di Roma at the Met, with Virginia Zeani (available on CD);
Cavalleria and Tosca in Bologna 1972, Tabarro in Trieste 1974/75,
Fedora with Zeani in Padova 1974.
Regarding the second career from the 1980s, I'd like to mention a role that is a principal, not a real comprimario:
he sang Leandro in Busoni's Arlecchino in Lugano 1984.
Alessandro Pagliazzi
In RA format
In RA format
In RA format
In memoriam
In RA format
In RA format
In RA format
In RA format
In RA format
Repertory
YEAR THEATRE OPERA ROLE
1961 – Venezia – La Fenice Lucrezia (Respighi) Bruto
1961 – Venezia – La Fenice Mondi celesti e infernali (Malipiero) Voce di tenore
1961 – Napoli – Teatro di Corte La finta semplice (Mozart) Fracasso
1962 – Venezia – La Fenice Macbeth (Verdi) Malcolm
1962 – Venezia – La Fenice Uno sguardo dal ponte (Rossellini) Rodolfo
1962 – Venezia – La Fenice El retablo de Maese Pedro (Falla) Pedro
1962 – Venezia – La Fenice Carmen (Bizet) Don José
1962 – Venezia – La Fenice Wozzeck (Berg) Tambourmajor
1963 – Venezia – La Fenice Parsifal (Wagner) Scudiero
1963 – Venezia – La Fenice La traviata (Verdi) Alfredo
1963 – Venezia – Palazzo Ducale Il corsaro (Verdi) Corrado
1963 – Roma – RAI Rigoletto (Verdi) Duca di Mantova
1965 – Venezia – Palazzo Ducale Otello (Verdi) Cassio
1965 – Roma – Opera Don Carlo (Verdi) Don Carlo
1966 – Venezia – La Fenice Missa solemnis (Beethoven) Tenor
1966 – Roma – Opera Messa da requiem (Verdi) Tenor
1966 – Bologna – Comunale Adriana Lecouvreur (Cilea) Maurizio
1967 – Milano – RAI Re Lear (Vito Farsi) Edgardo
1967 – Piacenza – Municipale Norma (Bellini) Pollione
1967 – Cagliari – Massimo Luisa Miller (Verdi) Rodolfo
1968 – Venezia – La Fenice Fedora (Giordano) Loris Ipanov
1968 – Lisboa – São Carlos Tosca (Puccini) Mario Cavaradossi
1968 – Napoli – San Carlo I due Foscari (Verdi) Jacopo Foscari
1968 – Venezia – La Fenice Medea (Cherubini) Giasone
1968 – Piacenza – Municipale Don Carlo (Verdi) Carlo
1969 – Torino – Nuovo Khovanshchina (Musorgskij) Andrej Khovanskij
1969 – Torino – RAI Conchita (Zandonai) Mateo
1969 – Napoli – San Carlo Mosè (Rossini) Elisero
1970 – Roma – RAI Vojna i mir (Prokofyev) Pierre
1970 – Firenze – Comunale Boccaccio (Suppé) Pietro
1970 – Torino – RAI Zingari (Leoncavallo) Radù
1970 – Firenze – Comunale Il tabarro (Puccini) Luigi
1971 – Trieste – Verdi Pagliacci (Leoncavallo) Canio
1971 – Madrid – La Zarzuela Nabucco (Verdi) Ismaele
1972 – Roma – RAI Ulisse (Dallapiccola) Eumeo
1972 – Venezia – La Fenice Madama Butterfly (Puccini) Pinkerton
1972 – Bologna – Comunale Cavalleria rusticana (Mascagni) Turiddu
1973 – Milano – RAI I cavalieri di Ekebù (Zandonai) Gösta Berling
1974 – Napoli – San Carlo Ognennij angel (Prokofyev) Mefisto
1974 – Venezia – La Fenice Fernand Cortez (Spontini) Alvaro
1974 – Milano – RAI La mandragola (Castelnuovo-Tedesco) Callemaio
1976 – Venezia – La Fenice La vedova scaltra (Wolf-Ferrari) Conte di Bosconero
1977 – Milano – RAI Una donna uccisa con dolcezza (Roberto Hazon) Lord John
1978 – Messina – Chiesa dell'Immacolata 9th Symphony (Beethoven) Tenor
1983 – Venezia – La Fenice Lucrezia Borgia (Donizetti) Rustighello
1984 – Venezia – La Fenice Der ferne Klang (Schreker) Chevalier
1985 – Venezia – La Fenice Z mrtvého domu (Janáček) Fika Morosov
1984 – Lugano – Palazzo Arlecchino (Busoni) Leandro
1986 – Venezia – La Fenice Attila (Verdi) Uldino
1987 – Bologna – Comunale La rondine (Puccini) Ruggero
1987 – Venezia – La Fenice Beatrice di Tenda (Bellini) Anichino
1988 – Parma – Regio Les contes d'Hoffmann (Offenbach) Nathanael
1988 – Venezia – La Fenice Salome (Strauss) Nazarener
1988 – Milano – Scala I due Foscari (Verdi) Fante del Consiglio
1990 – Venezia – La Fenice Ernani (Verdi) Don Riccardo
1991 – Milano – Scala La fanciulla del West (Puccini) Joe
1992 – Verona – Arena Nabucco (Verdi) Abdallo
1993 – Milano – Scala Fedora (Giordano) Barone Rouvel
1997 – Venezia – La Fenice Rigoletto (Verdi) Borsa
1998 – Beijing – Forbidden City Turandot (Puccini) Altoum
2000 – Nagoya – Aichi La traviata (Verdi) Giuseppe
2006 – Genova – Carlo Felice La favorite (Donizetti) Don Gasparo
2007 – Pesaro – Rossini Otello (Rossini) Doge
I wish to thank Juan Dzazópulos for the biographical notes and repertory.
I wish to thank Alessandro Pagliazzi for the correction of the date of death, and additions to the repertory & biographical notes.
I wish to thank Alessandro Pagliazzi for the recordings of Adriana Lecouvreur (live, Venezia La Fenice, 28 January 1967).
I wish to thank Tom Silverbörg for the recordings (Fedora, Giulietta e Romeo).
I wish to thank Albert Scerri for the recording (Forza).
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