| Giuseppe di Stefano - Pippo - was born on 24 July 1921
at Motta Santa Anastasia, a village near Catania on the
island of Sicilia, Italy. He was educated at the Jesuit
seminary of St. Avialdo in Milano and wanted initially
to become a priest of the Catholic church. However, his
beautiful voice caused excitement why he decided to take
vocal classes. Initially he sang in two boys' choirs
in Milano, the Santa Maria Di Caravaggio and the Duomo,
and presented himself at two song contests in Milano
and Firenze in 1938, and won. He also sang in various
cafés, restaurants (Odeon, Milano) and cinemas
(Cristallo, Milano), where he sang before the projection
of the films started, and the repertory ranged from operatic
arias to Neapolitan songs and the latest dance hits.
He then spent the two subsequent years (1938-40) under
La Scala's Adriano Tocchio, and also sang tenor in the
chorus of La Scala.
1940 he passed on to baritone Luigi Montesanto, but
his studies were interupted by the 2nd World War. In
January 1941 he was called to military service in wartime
Milano but was saved from active military service due
to respiratory problems. Instead he sang, both inside
the military camps and outside, and became quite well
known in Milano under the pseudonym Nino Florio. When
the Germans arrived in Lombardia in 1943 he left the
country for Switzerland, where he sang in refugee camps
before appearing with the Radio Suisse Romande in Lausanne
throughout 1944 and 1945, recording excerpts from L'Elisir
d'Amore and Il Tabarro as well as Italian songs. In
Zürich (1944) he recorded italian songs for EMI
at the HMV studios. In Bern he participated in a memorial
at the St. Vincent Kathedrale (1945) in relation with
the ceasure of the hostilities.
He returned to Italy and Milano in 1945 where he reinitated
his lessons with Montesanto, who later became his manager.
He recorded italian songs yet again for EMI at the
HMV studios in Milano April 1946, under the name Nino
Florio. Then a few days later, and with the help of
Liduino Bonardi, a reputed manager, he made his professional
debut at Reggio Emilia on 20 April 1946 as Des Grieux
in Massenet's Manon.
Di Stefano was soon to be known throughout Italy and
appeared during the course of 1946 in Venezia (Les
Pêcheurs de Perles), Genova (Rigoletto), Lugo
(L'Amico Fritz, Rigoletto, La Traviata), Reggio Emilia
(L'amico Fritz), Bologna (La Sonnambula) Piacenza (Manon)
Ravenna (Manon, La Traviata) and Cesena (Manon). He
also appeared at the Liceu in Barcelona during 1946,
opening the season with Manon in March (further performances
in December), and La Sonnambula and Rigoletto in December
and January 1947.
Then Roma followed in January 1947 (La sonnambula,
Manon, I pescatori di perle), Trieste in February (I
pescatori di perle) and eventually Milano and La Scala
in March (Manon). February 1948 he was already at the
Met, where he debuted as the duke in Rigoletto and
subsequently appeared as Des Grieux in Manon. He stayed
during the 1948/49 season and performed in Mignon,
La Traviata, L'elisir d'amore, Gianni Schicchi (Rinuccio),
Falstaff (Fenton) La Boheme and Mefistofele (Faust).
He also sang in Baltimore, Boston, Miami, Dallas, Los
Angeles, Salt Lake City, Detroit, Pittsburgh and Cleveland
during the same season. He became the lyrical sensation
at the Met during these years (1948-52), yet a disaccordance
led to his farewell with the house in 1952, despite
his immense popularity. He returned five times to the
Met, for performances in Carmen (1955), Rigoletto,
Tosca and Faust (1956), and Les Contes d'Hoffman (1965).
September 1951 saw a spectacular encounter between
Giuseppe di Stefano and Maria Callas, as well as Tito
Gobbi, in La Traviata in Brazil, at the Theatro Municipal
of Sao Paulo. Yet another spectacular evening took
place in May the following year at the Palacio de Bellas
Artes in Mexico City, when Di Stefano sang again with
Callas in I Puritani. In Christmas 1952 they met again
in Milano for La Giaconda at La Scala.
|
Italian
tenor Giusppe di Stefano had a romantic lema for his
singing: "Ideally, people should not even notice
that I'm singing at all." He sang with impeccable
style, pureness and beauty and his secret was just to
sing, without gimmickry and artifacts. Close listening
to Di Stefano reveals that "besides not even trying
to show off, he is much more prone than other singers
to wander off beat or off pitch or to lose the shape
of a phrase, and he has perfect diction; but then, one
does not often have the time to listen to how he
sings, since what he sings occupies one's whole
attention" [Peter Hutchinson, 1997]. His timbre
and delivery was exceptional, with great personality,
but a limited technique ended his short, but brilliant
career by the mid 60's. His admirable "Do Di Petto" was
unique in the history of opera, but he sang with an open,
uncovered tone that damaged his vocal cords and with
the years his sweet and bella timbre had grown
coarse and hard, particularly with the assumption of
heavier roles not really suited for his vocal range.
The abuse provoked his premature disappearance on the
opera scene.
