Pau Civil
Pau Civil (Pablo in Spanish, Paolo in Italian) graduated in business studies so as to comply with family tradition, although
those studies totally failed to intrigue him. He started working in business, and soon knew that he wanted to be a singer
instead – a wish that his family vehemently opposed. While doing his military service, the young man decided to do what he
wanted to, whether his parents liked it or not. He studied voice in Barcelona, first as a baritone, then as a tenor.
He started singing professionally in 1925, on a very modest level. His first appearance was as Duca in a performance organized
by his own friends at the casino in El Masnou (close to Barcelona); he was successful, and was hired by the small Teatro Bosque
in Barcelona proper, then by a touring troupe whose impresario preferred to evaporate, leaving his company stranded in Zaragoza.
Civil, penniless, had to be saved by the one uncle that had always supported his singing ambition. He sang on in small towns
(like his native Teià), until in October 1926, he was hired to sing Cavaradossi and Duca in Palma de Mallorca in excellent
casts: his soprano partners were Carmen Bau Bonaplata and Mercedes Capsir, respectively. Capsir took him under her wing, studied
Edgardo with him, and in 1927 took him on a tour on which he could sing his new part to her own Lucia.
After that experience, Civil decided to go to Milano for further studies, funded by two opera buffs from Barcelona. Having
taken private voice lessons for a few months, he made a contract with the artist manager Enrico Barbacini, who organized his
Italian debut in Catanzaro (Faust), then a Traviata in Cannes (with Elvira de Hidalgo), and a recording contract with Columbia.
In 1928, Civil won a Catalan scholarship for singers for studies abroad; Francisco Viñas was in the jury, and enthusiastic
about Civil, whom he advised to sing Lohengrin. Civil learned the role, and it should become one of his most successful.
He went back to Italy, and Barbacini made him sing Rodolfo (another future signature role) in Genova, and Puccini's des Grieux
at the Teatro Malibran in Venice. Next was Alfredo in Palermo, then the only Manrico of his career at the Teatro Dal Verme in
Milano, where he also sang Alfredo and Cavaradossi.
In July 1930, he was in Barcelona to make his Italian wife acquainted with his family, and to sing Rodolfo at the Teatre Olympia.
Then he left for his first (of three consecutive) tours of the Netherlands: 68 performances between Faust, Lucia di
Lammermoor, Manon, Bohème, Tosca, Traviata, Madama Butterfly, Cavalleria
rusticana and Don Pasquale – a superlative success for Civil. Between his Dutch tours, he sang in Italy:
Palermo, Udine, and above all, his first Lohengrin in Modena (May 1932).
In November 1933, he made his debut at the Liceu in Barcelona as Paco in La vida breve, followed by Pinkerton and Javier
in María del Carmen by Enric Granados.
Otherwise, he continued his career in Italy; for instance at the Teatro Coccia in Novara in 1934 (where he sang not only
Cavaradossi and Edgardo, but jumped in in Isabeau and learned the difficult part of Folco in few days), at La Fenice in
Venice (1935, La Wally, and Baldo by Cicogna), or in Vigevano (where he added another signature part to his
repertory: Enzo Grimaldo).
At the end of 1935, all Spaniards were banned from working in Italy (Spain had dared to support international sanctions against
Italy because of the war that the Fascist regime waged on Ethiopia). But since two Italian citizens depended on Civil's income
(his little son and his wife, who wrote a letter to Mussolini for that matter), Civil was exempted within days, and could
continue his career in Italy: Parma, EIAR (the national Italian radio, where he sang very frequently), Verona (Teatro
Filarmonico), Bologna, Florence (Teatro Comunale). Civil added several rare or new operas to his repertory as he was an easy
learner.
One of those rarities opened him the gates of La Scala: Goyescas by his fellow countryman Granados (28 December 1937). Now
he made a top-notch career throughout Italy: Naples, Rome, Bergamo, Bologna, Trieste, Palermo, Bari, La Scala, La Fenice, and he
returned to all those theaters again and again. His most important new roles were Don José, Stolzing and Arrigo (Vespri
siciliani).
The last days of 1941 and the first of 1942, he was back to the Liceu after a quite long absence, for Adriana Lecouvreur,
Les pêcheurs de perles and Madama Butterfly.
In 1942, he lost a large part of his savings because of an investment gone wrong, and when he and his family moved to Barcelona
in July 1943 due to Italy's waning fortunes of war, their economic situation was less than comfortable. He sang first at a lot
of provincial theaters, and in December again at the Liceu. In 1944, he toured Spain and Portugal, appearing in Madrid, Sevilla,
Valencia, Porto or Lisbon; and in December, he scored a triumph at the Liceu as Lohengrin. A few days later, he substituted an
ailing Giacomo Lauri-Volpi, at last moment's notice, in Manon Lescaut, an opera that he hadn't sung for five years. It
was another triumph (Lauri-Volpi, a notoriously difficult character, never again spoke a word with Civil). From then on, Civil
was very frequently at the Liceu, interrupted by guest appearances throughout Spain.
In 1947, he joined the San Carlo Opera Company for a long tour of the US and Canada.
In 1949, Civil was back to Italy, in a way that must have been unusual even for this extraordinarily versatile singer: in
January, he sang in Die lustige Witwe for RAI (the new national radio) in Torino – and in February in
Khovanshchina at La Scala!
After his return to Spain, and appearances in Valencia, he founded his own troupe that toured all of Spain, with performances in
Spanish translation. He toured Spain also on his own, places like Bilbao, Pamplona, San Sebastián, Palma de Mallorca,
Valencia or Las Palmas. From 1952 to 1954, he was back at the Liceu every year. In the provinces, he continued his career until
1956: on 25 September, he gave his farewell performance as Edgardo at the Teatre Calderón in Barcelona.
But he didn't retire: immediately upon giving up singing, he became a stage director at the Liceu. He worked as such until 1966;
then he was a professor of singing at the conservatory of the Liceu (until 1984).
Rigoletto – El Masnou, Casino, 9 August 1925 Marina – Barcelona, Bosque, 1925 Tosca – Palma de Mallorca, Principal, August 1926 Lucia di Lammermoor – Zaragoza, 1927 Pagliacci – 1927 Faust – Catanzaro, Municipale, 1928 La traviata – Cannes, 1928 La bohème – Genova, summer 1928 Il trovatore – Milano, Dal Verme, late 1928 or early 1929 Don Pasquale – Holland tour, winter 1930/31 Manon – Holland tour, winter 1930/31 Cavalleria rusticana – Holland tour, winter 1930/31 Madama Butterfly – Holland tour, winter 1930/31 Falstaff – Holland tour, winter 1930/31 Lohengrin – Modena, Storchio, 10 May 1932 La vida breve – Barcelona, Liceu, 23 November 1933 María del Carmen (composer: Granados) – Barcelona, Liceu, 28 December 1933 Isabeau – Novara, Coccia, 13 January 1934 Iris – Sanremo, Casino, April 1934 Francesca da Rimini – Piacenza, Municipale, 19 January 1935 Baldo (composer: Cicogna) – Venezia, Fenice, 30 April 1935 La Wally – Venezia, Fenice, 16 May 1935 La Gioconda – Vigevano, Cagnoni, 5 October 1935 Le astuzie di Bertoldo (composer: Ferrari-Trecate) – Parma, Regio, 26 January 1936 Turandot – Padua, Verdi, 6 February 1936 La fiamma (eomposer: Respighi) – Bologna, Comunale, 28 August 1936 Imelda (composer: Gandino) – Bologna, Comunale, 10 December 1936 Notturno romantico (composer: Pick-Mangialli) – Trieste, Verdi, 21 January 1937 Lucrezia (composer: Respighi) – Milano, Scala, 24 February 1937 La morte di Frine (composer: Rocca) – Milano, Scala, 24 April 1937 Carmen – Adria, Littorio, 12 September 1937 Goyescas (composer: Granados) – Milano, Scala, 28 December 1937 Fedora – Brescia, Grande, 4 February 1938 Proserpina (composer: Bianchi) – Milano, Scala, 23 March 1938 Alcassino e Nicoletta (composer: Barbieri) – Napoli, San Carlo, 16 April 1938 Simon Boccanegra – Firenze, Comunale, 28 April 1938 La cattedrale (composer: Mariotti) – Bergamo, Donizetti, 21 September 1938 Boris Godunov (role: Grigorij) – Bergamo, Donizetti, 8 October 1938 La Nave (composer: Montemezzi) – Roma, dell'Opera, 14 December 1938 L'amore dei tre re – Trieste, Verdi, 25 February 1939 Madonna Oretta (composer: Riccitelli) – Roma, dell'Opera, 14 March 1939 Un ballo in maschera – Genova, 1939 Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg – Roma, dell'Opera, 10 December 1939 Conchita (composer: Zandonai) – Trieste, Verdi, 18 January 1940 Il revisore (composer: Zanella) – Trieste, Verdi, 20 February 1940 La campana sommersa (composer: Respighi) – Roma, dell'Opera, 27 March 1940 I vespri siciliani – Roma, dell'Opera, 3 October 1940 Fedra (composer: Pizzetti) – Roma, dell'Opera, 23 January 1941 La zolfara (composer: Mulè) – Palermo, Massimo, 16 March 1941 Adriana Lecouvreur – Fano, Fortuna, 22 August 1941 Les pêcheurs de perles – Barcelona, Liceu, 30 December 1941 Risurrezione – Trieste, Verdi, 17 January 1942 Cecilia – Roma, dell'Opera, 24 February 1942 Cassandra (composer: Gnecchi) – Roma, dell'Opera, 21 March 1942 Andrea Chénier – Prato, Metastasio, 24 April 1943 Doña Francisquita – Badalona, August 1946 Khovanshchina – Milano, Scala, 9 February 1949 Die lustige Witwe – Trieste, Castello di S. Giusto, 29 August 1950 Im weißen Rössl – Trieste, Castello di S. Giusto, 2 September 1950 Byron in Venezia (composer: Aunos) – A Coruña, Colòn, 29 June 1951 Der Graf von Luxemburg – Trieste, Castello di S. Giusto, 9 August 1951 Die Fledermaus – Trieste, Castello di S. Giusto, 21 August 1951 Amaya (composer: Guridi) – San Sebastián, Victoria Eugenia, 18 January 1952 Werther – Las Palmas, Pérez Galdós, 8 May 1952 Viktoria und ihr Husar – Trieste, Castello di S. Giusto, 7 August 1952 Soledad (composer: Manén) – Barcelona, Liceu, 30 December 1952 La llama (composer:Uzandizaga) – San Sebastián, Victoria Eugenia, 17 January 1953 La risurrezione di Cristo – Barcelona, Liceu, 1 March 1953 Canigó (composer: Massana) – Barcelona, Liceu, 21 May 1953 Don Gil de Alcalá (composer: Penella) – Barcelona, Liceu, 3 June 1954 Luisa Fernanda – 1954/55 La tabernera del puerto – 1954/55 Amboto (composer: Zapirain) – San Sebastián, Victoria Eugenia, 18 January 1955 Reference 1 and picture source: the fantastic website Intèrprets catalans històrics
I would like to thank Ashot Arakelyan for the recording (Carmen). I wish to thank Richard J Venezia for the recording (Manon Lescaut). I would like to thank Thomas Silverbörg for the recording (Fedora). I wish to thank Juan Dzazópulos for the new discography. |
