Verdi’s Macbeth premieres in Florence

Shakespeare adaptation marked change in composer’s style

The poster advertising the first
performance of the opera

Giuseppe Verdi’s operatic interpretation of the Shakespeare play Macbeth was performed for the first time on this day in 1847.

The premiere took place at the Teatro della Pergola in Florence, where the composer, already gaining fame at 33 years old but with his most successful years still to come, was under contract to the impresario Alessandro Lanari.

After his success with Nabucco, his third opera, which featured the great chorus, Va, pensiero, in 1842, Verdi rapidly found himself in demand. Macbeth would be his tenth opera, his eighth in just five years. Lanari, confident that anything bearing the up-and-coming maestro’s name would sell tickets, was happy to leave the choice of work to Verdi himself, and so did not give him a particular brief.

The theatre was known for its refined acoustics and had a reputation for supporting innovative work and Verdi, who already felt his artistic freedom was being compromised by a need to produce commercially viable output, saw an opportunity to shake off at least some constraints.

Having revered the English dramatist William Shakespeare from an early age, Verdi chose Macbeth for a number of reasons. First, he felt the nature of the play would allow him to focus on the drama of the story, rather than adhering strictly to bel canto convention, which demanded a structure built around vocal highlights, sometimes at the expense of realism and depth.

The play had been in Verdi’s mind for some time. What convinced him that the moment to work with it had arrived was the availability of Felice Varesi, a baritone renowned for his dramatic intensity, to cast in the title role.

He faced some challenges in bringing the project to fruition in the way he intended. There were disagreements with his librettist, Francesco Maria Piave, over how to convey the tone Verdi desired. A number of times, the composer asked his friend, Andrea Maffei, another librettist, to provide input as well, even rewriting parts of Piave's libretto.

His leading lady, the soprano Marianna Barbieri-Nini, who had worked with him on his sixth opera, I due Foscari, had to be coached not to infuse her performance with the vocal polish usually required. Keen to emphasise character. Verdi demanded that her Lady Macbeth be “ugly and evil.”

When Verdi’s Macbeth was unveiled, audiences were sceptical about the lack of a central romance and some critics were unsettled by its darkness. Structured in four acts, with the emphasis on Lady Macbeth’s ruthless ambition, Macbeth’s psychological unravelling and the three witches - represented in Verdi’s interpretation by three choral groups - as a driving force of fate, it was nonetheless deemed a success, if not the crowd-pleasing blockbuster Lanari might have been hoping for.

Felice Varesi, the first to
sing the title role

The Florentine audience, who were seen as traditionally more restrained, say, than those in Milan, respected it as a considered, serious and innovative work, if a little unusual. It toured Italy, reportedly being performed at 21 venues around the country, before making its United States debut in New York in 1850, and its United Kingdom debut in Manchester in 1860, although it was never seen as a runaway hit.

The composer himself was said to regard it as his greatest achievement to that point. Later he would talk about it in terms of marking the start of his move away from what he spoke of as his “galley years” as a composer, when he likened himself to a “galley slave”, endlessly under pressure in terms of workload, deadlines, and artistic constraints, as if chained to an oar.

Indeed, Macbeth is now seen as a landmark moment in Verdi’s career, signalling a transition towards the artistic depth that would set him apart as the greatest composer of Italy’s operatic history, placing him above even Giacomo Puccini and Gioachino Rossini as titans of the genre.

By the time he produced the substantially revised version of Macbeth he presented in Paris in 1865, the version generally performed today, he had written Rigoletto, Il trovatore, La traviata, Simon Boccanegra, Un ballo in maschera and La forza del destino, transforming his reputation from that of rising star to a creator of genuine masterpieces.

Verdi’s reverence towards Shakespeare never diminished, even though he would not return to the English playwright until the end of his career, signing off with Otello in 1887 and Falstaff, adapted from The Merry Wives of Windsor, in 1893.

It is thought this was down to a number of factors, among them the conventions of Italian opera in the 19th century, with star singers expecting showcase roles and impresarios wanting traditional theatre-filling melodrama. 

Verdi also had to feel artistically confident that he was able to do a Shakespeare play full justice and be supported by a librettist who could do likewise. Until his collaboration with Arrigo Boito, who worked with him on Otello and Falstaff, such a librettist never appeared.

The Teatro della Pergola, the historic
theatre in the centre of Florence

Travel tip:

Florence’s Teatro della Pergola, where Verdi’s Macbeth was performed before an audience for the first time, was inaugurated in December 1656. It is one of Italy’s oldest and most historically significant theatres, celebrated as the first substantial example of what came to be known as an Italian‑style theatre, with tiers of private boxes, a shift away from the traditional design based on a semi-circle of decreasing steps. It is said to have taken its name from the grape pergola that used to stand nearby. Built under the patronage of Cardinal Giancarlo de’ Medici, it was designed by the architect Ferdinando Tacca, quickly becoming a centre of Florentine cultural life. It was officially opened during the carnival of 1657, with the world premiere of the comic opera Il podestà di Colognole by Jacopo Melani. The genre of melodrama, which became the fundamental currency of opera in Italy, is said to have been born at the Teatro della Pergola, which hosted the premieres of two operas by Gaetano Donizetti,  Parisina d'Este and Rosmonda d’Inghilterra, in 1833 and 1834.  The Pergola also appears as a footnote in another famous story, it being the theatre at which Antonio Meucci, the Italian said to have been the real inventor of the telephone, was working as a stage technician when he constructed a prototype acoustic telephone to communicate between the stage and the theatre’s control room.  Located on Via della Pergola, the theatre is a short walk from Piazza del Duomo, and close to landmarks such as the Palazzo Bargello and the Basilica di Santa Croce. 

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The Baratta Salsamenteria Storica in Busseto, which
celebrates the career of a reputed former customer

Travel tip:

Giuseppe Verdi came from Busseto, a town in Emilia-Romagna about 45km (27 miles) from Parma, 35km (21 miles) from Piacenza and 25km (15 miles) from Cremona. The area has plenty to offer Verdi fans, who can visit the house where he was born, in 1813, in the village of Le Roncole, and the churches of Santa Maria degli Angeli and San Michele Arcangelo, where he played the organ. Visitors can also admire the Palazzo Orlandi, a beautiful house on Via Roma that Verdi bought in 1845, which he shared with his future wife, the soprano Giuseppina Strepponi, from 1849 to 1851. Verdi is said to have composed Luisa Miller, Stiffelio, Rigoletto and Il trovatore while living there. Look out also for the Rocca dei Marchesi Pallavicino, on Piazza Giuseppe Verdi, which houses the Teatro Giuseppe Verdi. In 1913, Arturo Toscanini conducted a performance of Falstaff there in celebration of the centenary of Verdi's birth and to raise funds for what is now a large monument of the seated composer located in the piazza. Visitors to the small town, which has a population of around 6,700 residents, are often drawn to the Baratta Salsamenteria Storica, a tavern and salumeria on Via Roma where Verdi was once reputed to be a regular customer. The tavern specialises in charcuterie boards loaded with local hams, salami and cheeses, which customers eat with chunks of country bread, washed down with red lambrusco wine, traditionally drunk from a bowl rather than a glass.

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More reading:

Giuseppina Strepponi, the soprano who inspired Verdi and Donizetti

How the premiere of Otello, Verdi’s penultimate opera, prompted 20 curtain calls

The Verdi chorus that, for many Italians, became the country’s national anthem

Also on this day:

1655: The birth of painter Giuseppe Maria Crespi

1835: The birth of astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli

1820: The birth of Victor Emmanuel II, first king of the unified Italy

1844: The birth of Umberto I, second king of the unified Italy

1972: The shocking death of publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli

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Adolfo Fumagalli - pianist and composer

‘Virtuoso of the left hand’ had brief but influential career

Adolfo Fumagalli was hailed as a 'first-rate'
pianist by Hungarian great Franz Liszt

The pianist and composer Adolfo Fumagalli, who is chiefly remembered for his extraordinary ability to play complicated pieces with only his left hand, was born on this day in 1828 in Inzago, a small town about 28km (17 miles) east of Milan.

Born into a family rich in musical talent, Fumagalli became known at a young age for his technical prowess and expressive style, a dazzling performer playing in the conventional two-handed fashion.

He studied piano at the Milan Conservatory from the age of nine to 19. It is noted that, as a 12 or 13-year-old, his performance playing variations on a march from Gioachino Rossini 's opera L'assedio di Corinto in the Conservatory hall created excitement.

Fumagalli made his public debut in Milan in 1848, at the age of 20. His talent was greeted with enthusiastic acclaim and he was soon captivating audiences across Europe at recitals in Turin, Paris, Belgium and Denmark. A letter written in 1853 by the great Hungarian composer Franz Liszt, described Fumagalli as a 'first-rate' pianist.

His switch to playing with one hand came not out of necessity, as was the case, for example, with the Austrian-born virtuoso Paul Wittgenstein after losing his right arm during World War One, but as part of a Romantic-era tradition among pianists to dazzle audiences with feats of technical brilliance.

Fumagalli saw playing with his left hand only as a daring artistic challenge to push the boundaries of what could be achieved with a single hand on the keyboard.

He composed pieces of his own but it was for his adaptation - for the left-hand only - of existing pieces that he became widely known and admired.

Of these so-called fantasie - fantasies - perhaps his most famous work, the “Grande Fantaisie sur Robert le Diable” by Meyerbeer, became a benchmark of virtuosity. 

Fumagalli in caricature, smoking
a cigar while playing left-handed

There is a caricature drawing of Fumagalli standing beside a piano, playing with his left hand while holding a cigar in his right hand, which might leave the impression that he was merely a novelty act, rather than a serious performer. 

In fact, apart from showcasing his technical ingenuity and staggering dexterity, he left an important legacy, having demonstrated for the benefit of aspiring pianists with injuries or other limitations that their handicaps could be overcome.

Other notable pieces in Fumagalli’s repertoire included operatic fantasies on Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma, Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, and Giuseppe Verdi’s I Puritani, which critics applauded for his imaginative reworking and interpretive depth. 

Fumagalli, whose brothers Carlo, Disma, Polibio, and Luca also became accomplished musicians and composers, would almost certainly have enjoyed a long career playing before audiences around the world had he been blessed with better health. 

However, after returning to Italy in 1854 following a period on tour, he developed tuberculosis and his health began to falter markedly. He continued to perform but on May 3, 1856, just two days after he had given a concert in Florence, he died.

He was just 27 years old and his death shocked the musical world, cutting short a career that many believed was on the cusp of greatness. 

Much of Fumagalli’s work has been lost but some pieces exist. Ferruccio Busoni, an Italian pianist popular in Europe and America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, included some of Fumagalli’s works in his active repertoire.

More recently, the Milanese pianist Adalberto Maria Riva has revived interest in Fumagalli’s music through both recordings and performances.

The sumptuous Villa Rey is one of several villas
lining the banks of the Martesana Canal in Inzago 

Travel tip:

With a population of around 11,000 today, Inzago is perhaps three times the size it was at the time of Adolfo Fumagalli’s birth, when it was a small town halfway between Milan and Bergamo surrounded by farmland. Today it is part of the Milan metropolitan area, although some 28km (11 miles) from the centre of the Lombardy capital. Its farming roots are still strong and a cattle fair is held in the town every Monday.  The town is divided in two by the Martesana Canal, which has a number of elegant villas – once the summer residences of noble Milanese families – along its banks. Many of these have returned to their former splendour in recent decades thanks to some private individuals who have renovated them. Among the most notable are Villa Aitelli, Villa Magistretti, Villa Rey and Villa Facheris. 

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The historic Milan Conservatory boasts an impressive
roll call of celebrated former pupils 

Travel tip:

The Milan Conservatory - also known as Conservatorio di musica “Giuseppe Verdi” di Milano - was established by a royal decree of 1807 in Milan, capital of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy. It opened the following year with premises in the cloisters of the Baroque church of Santa Maria della Passione in Via Conservatorio. Though Verdi famously failed his entrance exam here in 1832, the conservatory was later named in his honour, reflecting his towering influence on Italian music. By the 19th century, the conservatory had become a hub for public performances and contemporary music programs, embracing both tradition and innovation. More recently, it has become the first Italian conservatory to offer education across all musical languages, from classical to jazz and experimental forms.  The largest institute of musical education in Italy, its alumni as well as Adolfo Fumagalli include Giacomo Puccini, Amilcare Ponchielli, Arrigo Boito, Pietro Mascagni, Riccardo Muti and Ludovico Einaudi.

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More reading:

The 19th century violin virtuoso considered to be Paganini’s successor

Giuseppe Verdi, the composer who became a national symbol

The Italian jazz pianist who learned at the feet of American greats

Also on this day:

1882: The birth of Futurist painter Umberto Boccioni

1956: The birth of Carlo Urbani, the microbiologist who identified SARS virus

2012: The death of three-times Giro d’Italia champion Fiorenzo Magni 

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Arturo Toscanini - conductor

Cellist who became orchestra leader by chance

Arturo Toscanini is remembered as one of the 
most influential figures in 20th century music

The brilliant conductor Arturo Toscanini was born on this day in 1867 in Oltretorrente, a working-class neighbourhood of Parma, now part of Emilia-Romagna.

Toscanini came to be recognised as one of the most influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century. An intense individual who was a perfectionist in everything he did, as well as having a brilliant ear for detail in orchestral performances, he also had the gift of being able to remember complete musical scores after only one reading. 

At various times, he was the music director at Teatro alla Scala in Milan and at the New York Philharmonic. He became particularly well known in the United States after he was appointed the first music director of the NBC Symphony Orchestra. 

Toscanini had the privilege of conducting the world premieres of many of the greatest operas of his lifetime, including Pagliacci, La bohème, La fanciulla del West and Turandot, as well as Siegfried, Götterdämmerung, Salome, Pelléas et Mélisande and Euryanthe. 

The son of a tailor, Toscanini developed an interest in music at an early age and won a scholarship to Parma Conservatory, where he studied the cello. 

Toscanini (right) and the composer Giacomo Puccini
enjoyed a close professional relationship

He joined the orchestra of an opera company, with whom he toured Brazil. It was there, in Rio de Janeiro, that the young Arturo picked up the conductor’s baton for the first time, although entirely through circumstance.

Prior to a presentation of Verdi’s Aida, the singers refused to work with the locally hired conductor, Leopoldo Miguez, who abruptly resigned. His replacement was subjected to booing from the audience, who were unhappy with his performance, and also resigned, leaving the orchestra without a conductor and the next performance only hours away.

Aware of his ability to remember whole scores, a member of the orchestra suggested giving the baton to Toscanini. Only 19 years old and with no conducting experience, Toscanini was reluctant at first but was eventually persuaded to accept the invitation, aware that the whole tour was at risk of being cancelled if he did not.

In the event, he led the two-and-a-half hour performance flawlessly, and entirely from memory. He found he had a natural talent for the job. The audience warmed to his charisma and intensity and applauded his musicianship. He kept the baton for another 18 operas as the tour unfolded with great success.

Toscanini became one of the
most sought-after conductors

Word spread of his ability and he soon found himself in demand. He continued to play the cello, but his talent as a conductor brought so much work that opportunities to take his seat in the orchestra became fewer and fewer.

He made his conducting debut in Italy at the Teatro Carignano in Turin in November, 1886, leading the premiere of a revised version of Alfredo Catalani’s Edmea. He soon broadened his repertoire to symphonic concerts, his reputation growing so fast that in 1898 he was named principal conductor at La Scala, at the age of just 31.

He remained at the Milan theatre, Italy’s principal opera house, for 10 years before he was lured away to America for the first time by Giulio Gatti-Casazza, the former general manager at La Scala, who had taken the same role at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and persuaded Toscanini to join him there. 

Toscanini spent seven seasons at the Met, returning to Europe in 1915. He was due to leave New York on the British liner RMS Lusitania on May 7 but decided at the last moment to depart a week earlier on the Italian liner Duca degli Abruzzi. It proved a mightily fortuitous decision: the Lusitania never made it to its intended destination, sinking off the coast of Ireland after being torpedoed by a German u-boat. A total of 1,197 passengers and crew perished.

He maintained his transatlantic lifestyle, conducting around Europe and in the United States, leading the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra between 1928 and 1936. He ceased working in his native Italy, however, after falling foul of the Fascist leader, Benito Mussolini.

Mussolini was keen to attach himself to Toscanini, whom he described as ‘the greatest conductor in the world’ and wished to promote as a symbol of Italian excellence. But Toscanini had little truck with Fascism, defying Mussolini by refusing to conduct the party’s official hymn, Giovinezza.

Toscanini's tomb at the Cimitero Monumentale
in Milan, where he was buried after his death at 89

Eventually, though, his defiance rebounded on him when he refused to lead a rendition of Giovinezza at a concert in Bologna in 1931, in spite of the presence in the audience of a leading Fascist official. Afterwards, Toscanini was set upon by Blackshirts and badly beaten. His passport was confiscated and he was put under surveillance. The passport was eventually returned following a public outcry and as Italy entered World War Two he left the country.

Prior to that, he had considered retirement. Instead, he embarked on a new chapter of his career, leading the newly-formed NBC Symphony Orchestra. When Toscanini did finally retire, in 1954, he was 87 years old.

Although he reportedly had numerous affairs, notably with the American soprano, Geraldine Farrar, Toscanini was married only once, to Carla De Martini, who was a teenager when they met. They remained together from their wedding in 1897 to her death in 1951. They had three children, a son, Walter, and daughters Wally and Wanda.

Toscanini died on January 16, 1957, having suffered a stroke on New Year's Day at his home in the Riverdale section of the Bronx in New York City. He was 89. His body was returned to Italy and buried at the Cimitero Monumentale in Milan. His tomb carries an epitaph based on a remark he is said to have made at the end of the 1926 premiere of Puccini's unfinished Turandot.

"Qui finisce l'opera, perché a questo punto il maestro è morto - Here the opera ends, because at this point the maestro died".

The house where Toscanini was
born is now a museum of his life

Travel tip:

The house in Borgo Rodolfo Tanzi, in the Oltretorrente district of Parma, where Arturo Toscanini was born, is now a museum of his life, open to the public between 10am and 6pm from Wednesday to Sunday, closing on Monday and Tuesday. A 15-minute walk from the city centre and close to the sprawling green space of the Parco Ducale, the house was one shared by the Toscaninis and three other families. His father, a tailor who fought in Garibaldi’s army in the campaign to unite Italy, used the downstairs room as a workshop. Among the exhibits on display are photographs, theatre programmes and posters, letters to and from composers with whom he worked, such as Giacomo Puccini and Richard Strauss, and some of the clothes he wore to conduct. There is a letter from Albert Einstein, the German physicist and noted campaigner against racism, praising Toscanini for standing up to the Fascists.

Parma's 12th century baptistery
is among the city's main sights

Travel tip:

Parma is an historic city, famous for its Prosciutto di Parma ham and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, the true ‘parmesan’. In 1545 the city was given as a duchy to the illegitimate son of Pope Paul III, Alessandro Farnese, whose descendants ruled Parma till 1731. As well as Toscanini, the city’s musical heritage includes the composer, Giuseppe Verdi, who was born near Parma at Bussetto. The city has a prestigious opera house, the Teatro Regio, and a Conservatory named in honour of Arrigo Boito, who wrote the libretti for many of Verdi’s operas.  An elegant city with an air of prosperity common to much of Emilia-Romagna, Parma’s outstanding architecture includes an 11th century Romanesque cathedral and the octagonal 12th century baptistery that adjoins it, the church of San Giovanni Evangelista, which has a beautiful late Mannerist facade and bell tower, and the Palazzo della Pilotta, which houses the Academy of Fine Arts, the Palatine Library, the National Gallery and an archaeological museum.

Also on this day:

1347: The birth of Saint Catherine of Siena

1541: The birth of Francesco I, Grand Duke of Tuscany

1546: The birth of poet and courtesan Veronica Franco

1625: The death of poet Giambattista Marino

1927: The birth of politician Tina Anselmi

1940: The birth of record-breaking pop star Mina 

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The night Maria Callas made an audience weep

La Scala witnesses a stunning performance

Maria Callas's interpretation of Violetta was
seen as the finest performance of her stage career

Maria Callas gave a stunning performance that has gone down in history as her greatest ever portrayal of Violetta in La traviata on this day in 1955 at Teatro alla Scala opera house in Milan.

After the opening night of the production on May 28, it was reported in the press that Callas had driven the audience into a frenzy with her wonderful singing and powerful acting as she played the part of Giuseppe Verdi’s doomed heroine, who was a beautiful courtesan.

The character of Violetta is considered by opera experts to be one of the three finest roles ever portrayed by Callas and it is ranked alongside her performances in Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma and Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor.  

The staging by director Luchino Visconti for the 1955 production of La traviata provided the perfect setting for Callas with its ornate décor and costumes.

The conductor, Carlo Maria Giulini, later confessed that he had wept in the orchestra pit as she had sung.

At the end members of the audience cried out Callas’s name, sobbed uncontrollably and showered the stage with red roses, which the tearful singer picked up as she took a solo bow.

Callas shone in Visconti's lavish
Belle Époque stage settings

This gesture proved too much for tenor Giuseppe Di Stefano, who felt she was monopolising the attention of the audience. He stormed off the stage at the end of the performance and left the show for good that night.

Callas had moved the audience to tears in the scene where Violetta agrees to renounce Alfredo, the man she loves, to avoid spoiling the wedding prospects of his sister.

Sadly, Callas had only a few years of her career left ahead of her. After she left her husband for shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis in 1959, she hardly ever performed on stage again. Onassis subsequently left her to marry Jackie Kennedy and Callas died in 1977, aged just 53. 

Thankfully, her performance on that memorable night was recorded and the complete May 28 production can still be listened to on CD, MP3 and streaming platforms.

Verdi’s opera La traviata had premiered at La Fenice opera house in Venice about 100 years earlier. It was based on the 1852 novel by Alexander Dumas, La dame aux camelias.

La traviata means ‘fallen woman’ and refers to the main character, Violetta, who is a courtesan. The opera featured some of the most challenging and revered music in the entire soprano repertoire.

Milan's Teatro alla Scala, opened in 1778, is the
most famous opera house in the world

Travel tip:

Teatro alla Scala in Milan is Italy’s most famous opera house and Maria Callas made her debut there in 1950 as Aida.  The theatre, known to Italians simply as La Scala, is the leading opera house in the world. It opened in 1778 after fire had destroyed the Teatro Regio Ducale, which had previously been the home of opera in Milan. A new theatre for the city was built on the site of the former Church of Santa Maria alla Scala, which is how the theatre got its name. It was designed by neoclassical architect Giuseppe Piermarini. The world’s finest singers have appeared at La Scala during the last 240 years and the theatre has hosted the premieres of operas by Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi, and Puccini. La Scala’s original 18th century structure was renovated in 1907 and, after bomb damage during World War II, it was rebuilt and reopened in 1946.

The mediaeval Rocca Scaligera castle is the
dominant feature of the Sirmione skyline

Travel tip:

Maria Callas spent some happy years living in Sirmione, a resort on Lake Garda in Italy, after she married her first husband, Giovanni Battista Meneghini, an Italian businessman.  Villa Callas, which is still privately owned today, looks the same as it did when it was first purchased by Meneghini in the 1950s as a holiday home for the couple. There is a plaque outside the villa recording the dates when Maria Callas lived there. Sirmione, the historic centre of which is on a peninsula that divides the southern part of Lake Garda, is known for its thermal baths and Rocca Scaligera, a mediaeval castle overlooking the lake. Visitors can look round a museum dedicated to the life and performances of Maria Callas. At the the tip of the peninsula is the archaeological site of Grotte di Catullo, which encompasses a Roman villa, a museum and olive trees. 

Also on this day:

1369: The bith of condottiero Muzio Attendolo Sforza

1606: Caravaggio attacks and kills a man in Rome

1692: The birth of opera composer Geminiano Giacomelli

1839: The birth of author and journalist Luigi Capuana

1987: The birth of cricketer Leandro Jayarajah

1999: Da Vinci’s Last Supper goes back on display in Milan after 20 years of restoration

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Leo Nucci – operatic baritone

Singer renowned for his interpretation of Rigoletto

Leo Nucci's voice has maintained
its power even in his 70s

One of the most famous baritones in the world, Leo Nucci, was born on this day in 1942 in Castiglione dei Pepoli, a small town south of Bologna and, since making his stage debut in 1967, has been delighting opera audiences for more than 50 years.

The singer has performed his signature role of Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto more than 500 times all over the world. He had planned to retire in 2020, but changed his mind during the first Covid-19 lockdown when the area around his home near the city of Lodi was declared a red zone and subject to the toughest restrictions imposed by the Italian government.

He has said that he lost colleagues and friends to Covid and had the opportunity for reflection while he remained at his home, listening to the sounds of nature, broken only by the sirens of hundreds of ambulances taking victims of the virus to hospital. It was then he realised he ought to move forward in his career and play his role as a singer fully in order to be useful to others.

At the start of his career, Nucci studied with Giuseppe Marchese and won several singing competitions. He first appeared on stage in Spoleto as Figaro in Gioachino Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia. He then joined the chorus of La Scala in Milan. He made his solo debut there in 1975 when he again played Figaro.

He quickly became an international star and made his debut at London’s Royal Opera House in 1978 as Miller in Verdi's Luisa Miller. He played Renato/Ankerstrom in Un ballo in maschera, also by Verdi, at New York’s Metropolitan Opera in 1980. He then played the same role at the Paris Opera in 1981.

Nucci in his signature role, Rigoletto, which
he has performed more than 500 times

During his career he has appeared with such stars as Luciano Pavarotti, Joan Sutherland and Placido Domingo. In 2019, Nucci sang during the celebrations for the Verdi anniversary Verdi in Parma. Long associated with Verdi's baritone roles, Nucci’s singing and acting abilities have been displayed most notably in the roles of Rigoletto, Macbeth, the Count di Luna in Il trovatore, Iago in Otello and Falstaff.

He is married to the soprano Adriano Anelli, with whom he has a daughter. They first met in La Scala’s restaurant and, three and a half years after they were married, they appeared in Rigoletto together.

After lockdown restrictions were lifted in Italy, Nucci returned to the stage at the age of 78 in Verdi's La traviata, which was performed at La Scala and at the Arena di Verona.

He has been a trombone player for many years but more recently has learnt to play the cello. He has also embarked on directing the staging of operas, drawing on his years of performing experience.

The Palazzo Pepoli in Castiglione dei Pepoli
dates back to the late 15th century

Travel tip:

Castiglione dei Pepoli, Nucci's place of birth, can be found about 55km (34 miles) south of Bologna in Emilia Romagna, at the foot of Monte Gatta, in the Bolognese Apennines, on the border with Tuscany. It enjoys spectacular views over the valley of Brasimone. The small town takes its name from the noble Pepoli family of Bologna. At the centre, a small medieval square features the ancient Palazzo Pepoli, built towards the end of the 15th century, which is now the municipal administration headquarters. On the opposite side of the square stands a beautiful clock tower built in 1724.  According to legend, the nearby Santuario della Madonna di Bocca di Rio was built in the place where, in 1480, two shepherds had an apparition of the Virgin who asked them to erect in that forest a temple in her honour. The sanctuary has become a destination for pilgrimages from all over Italy.

Piazza della Vittoria in the centre of Lodi is
rated one of Italy's most beautiful squares

Travel tip:

Lodi, the city in the area where Nucci made his home, is in Lombardy, about 45km (28 miles) southeast of Milan and on the right bank of the River Adda. The main square, Piazza della Vittoria, has been listed by the Touring Club of Italy as among the most beautiful squares in Italy and it has porticoes on all four sides. Nearby Piazza Broletto has a 14th century marble baptismal font from Verona. Notable buildings include the 12th-century Romanesque cathedral, the 15th century church of the Incoronata. Lodi is an important agricultural and industrial centre noted for cheese, ceramics, wrought iron, and wool products. Historically, it is famous for being the scene of the first major battle led by the young Napoleon Bonaparte, who defeated the Austrians in the Battle of Lodi in 1796.  

Also on this day:

1118: The death of Adelaide del Vasto, Countess of Sicily

1839: The birth of politician Antonio Starabba, Marchese di Rudini

1858: The birth of gold prospector Felice Pedroni

1881: The birth of artist and illustrator Fortunino Matania

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Enrico Tamberlik – tenor

Imposing king of the high C sharp

At the height of his career, Enrico Tamberlik was
Italy's most admired tenore robusto

Opera singer Enrico Tamberlik, who is remembered for the quality of his remarkable high notes, was born on this day in 1820 in Rome.

At the height of his career, Tamberlik, whose name is also sometimes spelt Tamberlick, sang regularly at the Royal Opera House in London and in St Petersburg, Paris and America.

The singer is believed to have been of Romanian descent but was born in Italy and did all his vocal training in Naples, Bologna and Milan.

At the age of 17 Tamberlik made his debut in a concert and then made his first appearance on the operatic stage as Gennaro in Lucrezia Borgia by Gaetano Donizetti at the Teatro Apollo in Rome.

In 1841 he appeared under the name Enrico Danieli at the Teatro Fondo in Naples as Tybalt in I Capuleti e I Montecchi by Vincenzo Bellini.

A year later he made his debut at Teatro San Carlo in Naples under the name Enrico Tamberlik, which he used from then onwards.

Tamberlik made his London debut as Masaniello in Louis Auber’s La Muette de Portici at Covent Garden in 1850.

Enrico Tamberlik sang at the leading opera houses
of the world in a career spanning 45 years

In St Petersburg in 1862 in the premiere performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s La forza del destino, he appeared as Don Alvaro, a role that had been written specially for him.

He went on to sing in Moscow, Paris, Buenos Aires, Lisbon, Madrid and Barcelona with his extensive repertoire, which included all the leading tenor roles of the time.

Tamberlik was especially praised for the resonance and power of his high C sharp.  He succeeded Gaetano Fraschini as Italy’s leading ‘tenore robusto’.

He was said to have had an imposing appearance that helped him become an exciting interpreter of dramatic roles.

His last singing engagement in London was at Her Majesty’s Theatre in 1877. After touring Spain in 1881 he retired from the operatic stage. Tamberlik died in Paris three days before his 69th birthday.

The tenor Francesco Tamagno, whose career overlapped with that of Tamberlik, was regarded as his foremost successor. Tamagno made recordings in Italy in 1903 for the Gramophone and Typewriter Company and critics believe an echo of Tamberlik’s resonant voice and style has been preserved in them.

The Teatro Apollo in Rome as it would have looked
when Tamberlik was enjoying peak popularity

Travel tip:

The Teatro Apollo in Rome, where Tamberlik made his first appearance in an opera, was created from a medieval tower, the Torre dell’Annona, which had once acted as a prison. It became the Teatro Tordinona in the 17th century and then the Teatro Apollo in the late 18th century. The biggest theatre in Rome, it hosted the premieres of two Verdi operas but was demolished in 1888 when the embankments of the Tiber were built. A white marble fountain remains as a memorial marking the sport where the theatre once stood.

The Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, just around the corner
from Piazza Plebiscito, remains an important opera house

Travel tip:

Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, where Tamberlik first appeared under his own name, is the oldest opera house in the world, having opened in 1737, way ahead of La Scala in Milan and La Fenice in Venice. Built in Via San Carlo close to Piazza Plebiscito, the main square in Naples, Teatro di San Carlo quickly became one of the most important opera houses in Europe, renowned for its excellent productions. The theatre was designed by Giovanni Antonio Medrano for the Bourbon King of Naples, Charles I, and took just eight months to build. Both Donizetti and Rossini served as artistic directors at San Carlo and the world premieres of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor and Rossini’s Mosè in Egitto were performed there.


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Gaspare Campari - drinks maker

Bar owner who created classic red aperitif

Gaspare Campari created his eponymous
liqueur while running a bar in Novara

Gaspare Campari, whose desire to mix distinctive and unique drinks for the customers of his bar resulted in the creation of the iconic Campari aperitif, was born on this day in 1828 in Cassolnovo, a small town approximately 30km (19 miles) southwest of Milan.

He founded the company, subsequently developed by his sons, Davide and Guido, that would grow to such an extent that, as Gruppo Campari, it is now the sixth largest producer of wines, spirits and soft drinks in the world with a turnover of more than €1.8 billion.

Gaspare was the 10th child born into a farming family in the province of Pavia, where Cassolnovo is found, but he had no ambition to work on the land.  After working in a local bar, at the age of 14 he went to Turin, then the prosperous capital of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia.

He obtained an apprenticeship to Giacomo Bass, the Swiss proprietor of a pastry and liqueur shop on Piazza Castello.  He is also said to have worked at the historic Ristorante Del Cambio, on Piazza Carignano, as a waiter and dishwasher.

In 1850, by then in his early 20s and armed with the knowledge he had acquired in about eight years in Turin, he moved to Novara, some 100km (62 miles) northeast of Turin and about 50km (31 miles) west of Milan.

The Caffè Campari inside Milan's historic Galleria
Vittorio Emanuele II remains a popular bar today

There he rented the Caffè dell’Amicizia, in a prime spot at the junction of Corso Italia and Corso Cavour.  He built up a large clientele and began to experiment by making innovative new alcoholic concoctions for his customers.  Among them was a bitter aperitif he made by blending herbs and fruits, including the cascarilla plant and the chinotto orange.

Its distinctive red colour was created in the original version by the addition of carmine dye, derived from crushed cochineal beetles, although that ingredient is not used today.  Gaspare called it Bitter all’uso D’Hollanda, after a drink he had tasted on a visit to the Netherlands, but it was not long before patrons of the bar began to refer to it as Bitter del Signor Campari, and eventually simply Campari.  He began to bottle it in a workshop at the back of his premises, launching the Campari brand in 1860.

Married while in Novara, eventually becoming father to five children, he decided in 1862 to relocate to Milan, where he acquired a bar opposite the city's magnificent Gothic cathedral.  Five years later, as part of a plan to create a vast Piazza del Duomo, the building containing Campari’s car was earmarked for demolition.  Thankfully, Gaspare was handsomely compensated and moved into prestigious premises inside the new Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, the glass-vaulted shopping arcade that links Piazza del Duomo with Piazza della Scala.

Fortunato Depero's classic Camparisoda bottle
was designed in 1932 and is still in use today

It is said that the bar, situated on the left-hand side at the Piazza del Duomo entrance to the Galleria and named Caffè Campari, became a meeting place for musicians and composers, with Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Arrigo Boito and the music publisher Giulio Ricordi among those supposed to have visited.

When Gaspare died in 1882, aged just 54, his widow, Letizia, is said to have taken control of the company until his son, Davide, who had been born in the same year that his father had moved into the Galleria. Guido took over the running of the bar.

In 1904, production of Campari moved to a factory at Sesto San Giovanni, a growing industrial town to the north of Milan, which would remain in operation until 2005, when a new production site was opened in Novi Ligure, in the province of Alessandria in Piedmont.

Fiercely marketed by Davide, the famous drink became known across Italy and beyond, especially after the launch in 1932 of Camparisoda, the mix of Campari liqueur and soda water still sold in its trademark conical bottle, designed by the Futurist artist Fortunato Depero.

Nowadays, the Campari Group is a massive drinks conglomerate, with a portfolio of brands that includes Aperol and Grand Marnier liqueurs, SKYY Vodka, Wild Turkey bourbon, Glen Grant Scotch whisky, Bisquit Cognac and Cinzano vermouth.

The multi-tiered 121-metre high cupola of Novara's
Basilica of San Gaudenzio

Travel tip:

Novara, where Gaspare first created his famous drink, is in the Piedmont region. It is the second biggest city in the region after Turin. Founded by the Romans, it was later ruled by the Visconti and Sforza families. In the 18th century it was ruled by the House of Savoy. In the 1849 Battle of Novara, the Sardinian army was defeated by the Austrian army, who occupied the city. This led to the abdication of Charles Albert of Sardinia and is seen as the beginning of the Italian unification movement.  The most imposing building in Novara is the Basilica of San Gaudenzio, which has a 121-metre high cupola.

Novara hotels from Booking.com

The Piazza Delle Piane is an elegant square in the centre
of Novi Ligure, flanked by the Palazzo Delle Piane.

Travel Tip:

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the town of Novi Ligure, where Campari switched production in 2005, was once a renowned inland resort for rich Genoese families, whose numerous noble palaces adorn the historical centre. These include Palazzo Negroni, Palazzo Durazzo and Palazzo Delle Piane, situated in Piazza Delle Piane.  Novi has retained part of its walls, erected in 1447 and partly demolished in the 19th century, together with the tower of the Castle.  There is a museum, the Museo dei Campionissimi, devoted to Fausto Coppi and another famous cyclist, Costante Girardengo, who were both born there.  The town is now a centre for the production of chocolate, notably the Novi brand.

Find a hotel in Novi Ligure with Booking.com

Also on this day:

1501: The birth of botanist Pietro Andrea Mattioli

1863: The birth of writer and patriot Gabriele D’Annunzio

1921: The birth of business giant Gianni Agnelli


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Nabucco premieres in Milan

Verdi opera that became a symbol of the Risorgimento

The bill advertising the first staging
of Nabucco at La Scala in Milan

The opera Nabucco, with music by Giuseppe Verdi and a libretto by Temistocle Solera, was first performed on this day in 1842 at Teatro alla Scala in Milan.

The opera contains the famous chorus Va, pensiero, a lament for a lost homeland that many Italians now regard as their unofficial national anthem.

The opera and Verdi himself have become synonymous with the Risorgimento, the period in the 19th century when people worked to free the Italian states of foreign domination and unite them under the leadership of Victor Emmanuel, the King of Sardinia and Duke of Savoy.

It is said that during the last years of the Austrian occupation of Lombardia and the Veneto, for example, that Italian patriots adopted Viva Verdi as a slogan and rallying call, using the composer’s name as an acronym for 'Vittorio Emanuele Re d’Italia' - 'Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy'.

On the day of the composer’s funeral in Milan in 1901, a crowd of 300,000 people filled the streets and sang Va, pensiero, conducted by Arturo Toscanini, a moving event that showed how Verdi’s music had helped unite the Italian nation.

But Verdi nearly didn’t take up the offer to compose the music for Nabucco.

Verdi took up the offer to write the
music for Nabucco with reluctance

After a terrible two-year period, during which his young wife and two children had all died as a result of illnesses, Verdi had vowed never to compose music again.

During a chance meeting with Bartolomeo Merelli, La Scala’s impresario, Verdi was given a copy of Solera’s libretto, which had been rejected by another composer.

Verdi later recalled in his memoirs how he took the libretto home, threw it on the table with a violent gesture and it opened up in front of him. Verdi’‘s eye fell on the phrase, ‘Va, pensiero, sull’ali dorate’  - 'Fly, thought, on golden wings'.

He tried to ignore the libretto but eventually found himself sitting at the piano and setting the words to music.

It is claimed he was still reluctant about working on the score and tried to take the manuscript back to Merelli, but the impresario stuffed the libretto back in Verdi’s pocket, threw him out of his office and locked the door.

Verdi went home and continued to work on the music and by the autumn of 1841 the opera was complete.

The opening performance at La Scala on 9 March 1842 was an immediate success, establishing Verdi as a major composer. The opera is still regularly performed all over the world today.

Verdi's future wife, Giuseppina Strepponi,
was a member of the original cast

The original cast included the soprano Giuseppina Strepponi, who would later become Verdi's second wife.

Nabucco is named after King Nebuchadnezzar, who featured in the books of Jeremiah and Daniel in the Bible, and the opera follows the plight of the Jews he conquered and exiled. The chorus Va, pensiero - also known as the 'Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves' - captured the feeling of national pride among Italians at the time who were still living under Austrian domination.

In 1981 a journalist proposed replacing Italy’s official national anthem with Va, persiero. This never happened, but the political party Lega Nord - now La Lega - adopted it as its official hymn and the chorus is now sung at all party meetings.

In 2011, after conducting Va, pensiero at the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, the conductor Riccardo Muti made a speech protesting about cuts in Italy’s arts budget and then invited the audience to sing along in support of culture and patriotism.

Milan's Teatro alla Scala, one of the world's most prestigious
opera houses, is right in the centre of the city

Travel tip:

Teatro alla Scala is in Piazza della Scala in the centre of Milan across the road from the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, an elegant arcade lined with cafes, shops and restaurants which was built to link Piazza della Scala with Piazza del Duomo, Milan’s cathedral square. La Scala has a fascinating museum that displays costumes and memorabilia from the history of opera. The entrance is in Largo Ghiringhelli. It is open every day except the Italian Bank Holidays and a few days when it is closed in December. Opening hours are from 9.00 to 12.30 and 1.30 to 5.30 pm.

Rome's Teatro dell'Opera, rebuilt in the 1920s by the
architect Marcello Piacentini, seats 1600 spectators

Travel tip:

The Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, where conductor Riccardo Muti invited the audience to join in the chorus Va, pensiero in 2011, is a 1600-seat opera house in Piazza Beniamino Gigli. It was originally opened in 1880 as the Costanzi Theatre and has undergone several changes of name and many improvements over the years.

Rome hotels by Booking.com

Also on this day:

1454: The birth of explorer Amerigo Vespucci

1809: The birth of statesman and winemaker Bettino Ricasoli

1908: The founding of the Milan football club Internazionale

1948: The birth of politician Emma Bonino


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