Angelo Masini

You'll often read that Angelo Masini was born in Terra del Sole, but it's not true; he was only baptized there, but born in the larger town nearby, Forlì (and on November 27th and not 28th, that's again the date of his baptism). Since his parents were not married and Forlì was part of the Papal States, where extra-marital cohabitation was frowned upon, the baby was taken away from his parents and raised by foster mothers; only at age the age of almost 6 (his parents had married meanwhile), he was allowed back into the family. He grew up in poverty, and learned the trade of a cobbler from his father, whereas his passion was singing.

At about 18, he started taking voice lessons in his native town with the belcanto soprano Gilda Minguzzi Zoli. In 1864, he married.

After his debut as Pollione in April 1868 in Finale Emilia, the well-known impresario Luigi Scalberni offered him a three-year contract, and made him appear in Cagliari throughout winter 1868/69. Masini was not particularly successful; his stage fright was so intense that he got panic attacks. Next, Scalberni wanted him to sing Fernand at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna – but the conductor called him inadequate and refused to work with him. But Scalaberni was true to his inexperienced tenor, and brokered him to Tortona, where he finally had success.

He sang, for the next couple of years, primarily in theaters controlled by Scalaberni: Mantova, Bologna, Ravenna, Cesena, Venice or Pisa; but he also sang in Rome, Florence, Torino, Modena, Rovereto, Foligno. In 1873, he sang in Ferrara, Lucca, Palermo, and for the first time abroad, at the São Carlos in Lisbon, where he sang his first Duca di Mantova: it was to become his most famous role. He was so successful in Lisbon that they hired him for the entire season of the following year.

Masini would never sing at La Scala, and yet that theater played an important role in his career: when he auditioned there in 1874, the famous editor Giulio Ricordi heard him, and enthusiastically recommended him to Giuseppe Verdi, who was looking for a cast for an international tour with his Messa da Requiem. Verdi heard Masini, the same year, at his successful Florence debut (as Radames), but also in Rome, where Masini was indisposed as Don Alvaro, so Verdi hesitated. In 1875, he finally decided to accept Masini, but only after personally training him for his part. The Requiem tour was a triumph, in Paris, in London, in Vienna, in Venice, in Florence, and Masini had got it made. Still in 1875, he and Verdi returned to Paris, and appeared together in Aida at the Théâtre des Italiens, with even more spectacular success than with the Requiem: the theater's box office realized the highest revenues in its history. At the end of the year, Masini sang in Cairo.

From then on, he was but rarely in Italy. In September 1876, he sang in St. Petersburg for the first time (debut as Radames), and went on to Moscow. Russia became the land of his greatest successes; it remained a center of his activity through the end of his career. In 1877, he returned to St. Petersburg and Moscow, Vienna and Paris, and sang a lot in Spain (Sevilla, Granada, Málaga). From 1878 to 1881, he was primarily St. Petersburg, plus he appeared in Warsaw, Vienna and Monte Carlo; he was also to sing Faust in London, but left after a sharp dispute with impresario James Mapleson.

In 1881, he was so immensely successful in Barcelona that the Madrid Teatro Real offered him a seven-year contract at a giant fee, so he withdrew from Russia and stayed in Spain until 1887, although he faced some opposition from part of the audience that favored Gayarre and Stagno. Other than in Madrid, he sang in Barcelona, Sevilla, Valencia and Lisbon, but also in Forlì, Faenza, Teramo, Naples and Florence. In 1887 and 1889, he went on tour in South America, but from 1888, he focused again on Russia. All in all, he would sing there 43 seasons in 30 years, from 1876 to 1905.

Outside Russia, he sang only sporadically for the next few years: in 1890 in Madrid, in 1891 in Faenza, in 1892 in Lisbon. From 1893 to 1895, he also went to Lisbon, Barcelona, Madrid, Florence, Naples, San Marino, other than of course appearing in Russia.

In 1895, his voice began to decline; nonetheless, he continued his career until taking his stage farewell in 1905 as Almaviva at the Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt in Paris, with Titta Ruffo as Figaro.

Angelo Masini never recorded. His voice was described as powerful, slightly veiled and of particular sweetness; he had an unusually long breath, and his mezza voce was as extraordinary as his coloratura. But he obviously also adamantly disapproved of any guidance by conductors. His singing earned him a fortune, and he died as a rich man.

Reference

I wish to thank Thomas Silverbörg for the picture (top).

Luigi Inzaghi Il tenore Angelo Masini (1844–1926), Raffaelli Editore, December 2002, Roma

I wish to thank Tom Kaufman for putting a copy of his unpublished chronology on Angelo Masini at my disposal.