Miguel Barrosa

Miguel García Barrosa Argüelles (that's his full name) was an officer in the Spanish army, and fought the Rif War in Morocco (1921–26). After that war, he was deployed to Jerez de la Frontera, where he was invited to a reception held by a local aristocrat, and sang "Recondita armonia" for the other guests. One of them was another aristocrat from Jerez, general Miguel Primo de Rivera – Spain's right-wing military dictator since 1923. Primo de Rivera was thrilled by Barrosa's voice, and immediately sent him to Milano for vocal studies.

Barrosa made his debut in 1933 in Como as Pinkerton (which would always remain his favorite role). For the next nine years, he made a busy career going back and forth between Italy and Spain, while nominally still being a Spanish officer. The complete list of places where he sang (largely based on his own notes), is long indeed, albeit many of them are small or very small: A Coruña, Avilés, Barcelona, Bari, Belluno, Bengasi, Bergamo, Bern, Bilbao, Bologna, Brescia, Busseto, Catania, Catanzaro, Città di Castello, Como, Córdoba, Enna, Ferrara, Fidenza, Firenze, Frascati, Garlasco, Genève, Genova, Gijón, Granada, Gubbio, Ivrea, Jerez de la Frontera, Las Palmas, Lecco, Legnano, Lisboa, Livorno, Lugano, Lyon, Madrid, Milano, Monte Carlo, Montevarchi, Monticelli d'Ongina, Napoli, Nice, Oviedo, Padova, Pamplona, Pavia, Perugia, Pesaro, Pescara, Porto, Rivoli, Roma, Sanremo, San Severo, Santander, Savigliano, Sestri Levante, Siragusa, Soresina, Torino, Tortona, Treviso, Tripoli, Valencia, Valletta, Venezia, Ventimiglia, Verona, Vicenza, Vigo, Zadar, Zaragoza. He was praised for his easy top notes.

According to Barrosa, the operas he sang most were Madama Butterfly (900 times) and Rigoletto (approximately 500 times).

From 1942, he stayed in Spain because of World War II, but now he left the army so as to be able to continue his career. He sang into the 1950s, then he became an impresario (organizing opera seasons at a few Spanish theaters) and above all, a famous voice teacher; Luis Lima and Pedro Lavirgen were among his students.

As far as recordings, his is a mysterious case; rumour has it that he recorded the Faust cavatina in Monte Carlo; Kutsch and Riemens say he made HMV records – both is highly dubious. What he did make is a few private recordings, one of which can be heard above.