Otello fu

Ugo Piovano: Otello fu, Rugginenti Editore, Milano 2005, 687 pages

This big book replaces the small and best book so far issued on Tamagno, Il titanico oricalco. It contains a very detailed biography of Tamagno, a discussion of his records, a chronology with repertory, a bibliography, and an index of photographs. There is no index of names however. It has many fine pictures, including one of his debut as Riccardo. The discography contains the Tamagno matrices not sung by Tamagno. It has also a very lengthy description of what went on during the different recording sessions and ongoing discussions after his death. The book has letters and reviews. The chronology is taken directly from Tom Kaufman, unfortunately without an attempt to do a day by day, so that we still do not know how many Otello performances Tamagno sang. Angelo Masini, a tenor who had never sung at La Scala, was also considered for the role of Otello and therefore make his Scala debut. Normally everybody else mentions Giovanni Battista De Negri as a possible choice for Otello. This has been debunked. Unbelievable as it seems, there is another Tamagno book in the pipeline. If the author keeps the format he used for his other books, we will get a day by day hopefully. This book is in Italian and recommended.