De Luca, Giuseppe
De Luca, Giuseppe
De Luca, Giuseppe , notable Italian baritone; b. Rome, Dec. 25, 1876; d. N.Y., Aug. 26,1950. He studied with Vinceslao Persichini at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome. He made his first professional appearance in Piacenza (Nov. 6, 1897) as Valentine in Faust; then sang in various cities of Italy; from 1902, was chiefly in Milan at the Teatro Lirico, and from 1903 at La Scala; he created the principal baritone role in the premieres of Adriana Lecouvreur at the Teatro Lirico (Nov. 6,1902) and Madama Butterfly at La Scala (Feb. 17, 1904). He made his Metropolitan Opéra debut in N.Y. as Figaro in // Barbiere di Siviglia on Nov. 25, 1915, with excellent success, immediately establishing himself as a favorite; on Jan. 28,1916, he sang the part of Paquiro in the premiere of Goyescas by Granados, at the Metropolitan, of which he was a member until 1935. After a sojourn in Italy, he returned to the U.S. in 1940, and made a few more appearances at the Metropolitan, his vocal powers undiminished by age; he made his fare-well appearance in a concert in N.Y in 1947. He sang almost exclusively the Italian repertoire; his interpretations were distinguished by fidelity to the dramatic import of his roles and he was praised by critics for his finely graduated dynamic range and his mastery of bel canto.—
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire