Rubini, Giovanni Battista
Rubini, Giovanni Battista
Rubini, Giovanni Battista , celebrated Italian tenor; b. Romano, near Bergamo, April 7, 1794; d. there, March 3, 1854. His teacher was Rosio of Bergamo. After an auspicious debut in Pavia (1814), he appeared in Naples (1815–25), where he profited from further study with Nozzari. On Oct. 6, 1825, he sang in Paris, where he scored his first triumphs in Rossini’s operas at the Théâtre-Italien. His performances of the leading parts in the operas of Bellini and Donizetti were also very successful, and there is reason to believe that Rubini’s interpretations greatly contributed to the rising fame of both of those composers. Between 1831 and 1843 he sang in Paris and London; in 1843 he undertook a tour with Liszt, traveling with him in the Netherlands and Germany; in the same year he sang in Russia with tremendous acclaim; visited Russia again in 1844, then returned to Italy, where he bought an estate near his native town, and remained there until his death; for some years he gave singing lessons. He pubi. 12 lezioni di canto moderno per tenore o soprano and an album of 6 songs, L’addio.
Bibliography
C. Traini, Il cigno di Romano: G.B. R. (Romano, 1954).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire