Tagliavini, Ferruccio
Tagliavini, Ferruccio
Tagliavini, Ferruccio, prominent Italian tenor; b. Reggio Emilia, Aug. 14, 1913; d. there, Jan. 28, 1995. He received his training from Brancucci in Parma and Bassi in Florence. In 1938 he won 1st prize for voice at the Maggio Musicale in Florence, where he made his operatic debut as Rodolfo in Oct. of that year. He then sang in various Italian opera houses. In 1942 he became a member of Milan’s La Scala, where he sang with distinction until 1953. In 1946 he toured South America and made his U.S. operatic debut as Rodolfo in Chicago. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y. on Jan. 10, 1947, again as Rodolfo, and remained on its roster until 1954. In 1961-62 he was again on the roster of the Metropolitan Opera. Among the roles he sang there were Count Almaviva, Edgardo, the Duke of Mantua, Alfredo, Cavaradossi, and Nemorino. In 1948--49 and again in 1952 he appeared at the San Francisco Opera. In 1950 he sang Nemorino with the visiting La Scala company at London’s Covent Garden, and returned there in 1955-56. After retiring from the operatic stage as Werther in Venice in 1965, he made some appearances as a concert artist. In 1941 he married Pia Tassinari.
Bibliography
U. Bonafini, F. T.: L’uomo, la voce (Reggio Emilia, 1993); P. Pellizzari, ed., Musicus perfectas: Studi in onore di L.F. T.: Prattico e speculativo nella ricorrenza del 65. compleanno (Bologna, 1995).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire