Born Antoni Marquès i Francisca, he was from a poor family, and a papermaker apprentice. It's not clear how his vocal talent emerged
(rumors that he joined an important choir or studied at the conservatory in Barcelona have been proven wrong), but in any case, he found a patron
who, in spite of not being wealthy himself, was so convinced of the young man's vocal gift that he scrambled up enough money to have
Marquès study first at home and then even in Milano in 1910, with the retired tenor Melchor Vidal (who was also the teacher of Elvira de
Hidalgo and Graziella Pareto).
The selfless patron did not live to see his protégé's debut after just a few months' work with Vidal, in Lucia di Lammermoor
in Cantù, a small town near Como. Marquès spent the year 1911 in the Italian provinces; in January 1912, he made his Spanish debut
in Zaragoza (where he appeared in Traviata, Lucia again, La favorite and La Gioconda. Then he sang all over Spain
with touring companies. In his native Barcelona, he sang for the first time in November 1913, at the new Teatre Soriano. The next month, he made
his debut at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid.
From 1914, Marquès was a fixture of the operatic scene in Barcelona, with excursions to Madrid, Menorca or Valencia. In 1917/18, he joined
another touring troupe (headed by Mercedes Capsir). Upon returning to Barcelona in April 1918, he made his debut at the Teatre del Liceu as
Alfredo. Uuntil then, he had always appeared at secondary stages in that city of incredibly many theaters; and he was back to those secondary
stages after just two performances at the Liceu. He sang a long season in Lisbon that year (at the Coliseo dos Recreios), appeared at the Gran
Teatro in Madrid in 1919, returned to Valencia in 1920, and joined a troupe that toured Cuba and Mexico in late 1920.
In 1921, he stayed in Barcelona all year long, but in 1922, he returned to Italy, touring several towns until arriving at the Teatro Dal Verme in
Milano in December, where he sang his first Otello (to Hina Spani's Desdemona). It was a huge success, and Otello should become his signature
role. He was also Vasco da Gama at the Dal Verme. In 1923, he was in South America: primarily in Chile, but also in Peru and Argentina, and
successful enough to be hired by Nellie Melba for her Australian tour. Marquès sang Otello in Melbourne (April 1924), with Melba and Apollo
Granforte: an enormous success. The troupe stayed in Melbourne until June, then in Sydney and Adelaide; Marquès sang Manrico, Turiddu,
Canio, Samson, and Edgardo.
After one year in Barcelona (with excursions to Porto and Lisbon), he joined the (so-called) Boston Opera Company, which performed at the
Manhattan Opera, though. Marquès sang Otello, Don José, Manrico and Andrea Chénier – and made two recordings for
Victor, "O paradiso" and "Vesti la giubba" – his only two recordings, unfortunately considered such a failure that the matrices were
destroyed. Those were the only recordings he ever made.
Spring 1926 was spent in Barcelona (at the Teatro Bosque, this time), winter 1926/27 in Italy (notably at the Regio in Parma). After another year
in Barcelona, he was back to Italy in early 1928: at the Carlo Felice in Genova (where he appeared in Il pirata), the Sociale in Trento
and the Adriano in Rome.
In January 1929, he sang again at the Liceu in Barcelona, stepping in for Manuel Salazar as
Otello. When Salazar recovered, Marquès went to Italy again (Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, Otello). Then he went on another South American
tour: Santiago de Chile, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, São Paulo... Marquès was hugely successful. Back to Barcelona, he was again
Otello at the Liceu (February 1931), then he traveled to Sicily (Catania, Palermo and Messina, at secondary theaters in all three cities), and to
Rome, where he sang Otello, Radames, Chénier and Canio in November and December, as well as in Terra santa by Paolo Salviucci.
These were his final international appearances.
In Spain, he sang intermittently until January 1939: strangely, much more often than before at the Liceu, then of course at smaller theaters in
Barcelona (particularly the Tivoli), plus in Valencia, Girona and Mataró. He died just two years after his retirement.
Reference and picture source: the fantastic website Interprets
Catalans Historics
