He was the son of tenor Carlo Carpi (1842–1930), and the brother of soprano Carmen Carpi-Toschi. Fernando Carpi
studied voice at the Liceo musicale Bologna (among others with Umberto Masetti), and made his debut in 1898 in Lecce as the
title character in Gounod's Faust.
After a few years in Italy, he made guest appearances in Cairo, Athens, Marseille and Brussels in 1904, Barcelona and
Liège in 1905, and in 1906 at Covent Garden (Rigoletto, Faust, Alfredo and Cavaradossi), where he returned the
following season. In 1907, he was Stolzing (!) at the Costanzi in Rome.
Between 1908 and 1910, he was particularly successful in the Russian Empire (St. Petersburg, Odessa and Warsaw). In 1909 and
1910, he also sang at the Teatro São Carlos in Lisbon.
The next years, he was primarily in Italy (Rome, Torino, Parma, Trieste), but also went to Monte Carlo (1911, as Almaviva),
Madrid (1915) or Paris (Opéra, 1916, as Ernesto).
1916–18, he was a member of the Metropolitan Opera New York; then he made guest appearances at the Colón in
Buenos Aires (Julien in Louise), Montevideo, Santiago de Chile, Havanna and Chicago, to return to Italy only in 1920.
Further roles in his repertory: Duca, Elvino, Fernand, Nemorino, Wilhelm Meister, Massenet's des Grieux, Werther, Rodolfo,
Cavaradossi and Milio (Zazà).
He quit the stage in 1923 and became a successful voice teacher, first in Prague, then in Geneva. Among his many students were
Suzanne Danco, Ernst Haefliger, Geraint Evans and Zinka Milanov.
Reference 1: Kutsch & Riemens; reference 2
