Antonio Tamburini
Encyclopedia
Antonio Tamburini was an Italian opera
tic baritone
.
Born in Faenza
, then part of the Papal States
, Tamburini studied the orchestral horn with his father and voice with Aldobrando Rossi, before making his debut as a singer, aged 18, in La contessa di colle erbose (Pietro Generali
). He went on to become one of the finest baritones of his age. He had a beautiful, smooth and flexible voice the quality of which is indicated by the bel canto
music written for him. He was renowned also for his good looks and impressive stage presence, often working with the tenor Giovanni Battista Rubini
and soprano Giulia Grisi
.
Tamburini is famous for his association with the operatic compositions of Bellini
such as I Puritani
. Indeed, he was one of the so-called "Puritani Quartet" of leading international singers, along with Grisi, Rubini and the bass Luigi Lablache
. The quartet was reunited on stage, albeit with Giovanni Mario
replacing Rubini, in 1843 at the premiere of Donizetti's Don Pasquale
.
A particular favourite with London
and Paris
audiences, Tamburini was married to the contralto
Marietta Gioia-Tamburini. They often sang together.
He died at Nice in 1876, aged 76.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
tic baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
.
Born in Faenza
Faenza
Faenza is an Italian city and comune, in the province of Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna, situated 50 km southeast of Bologna.Faenza is noted for its manufacture of majolica ware glazed earthenware pottery, known from the name of the town as "faience"....
, then part of the Papal States
Papal States
The Papal State, State of the Church, or Pontifical States were among the major historical states of Italy from roughly the 6th century until the Italian peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia .The Papal States comprised territories under...
, Tamburini studied the orchestral horn with his father and voice with Aldobrando Rossi, before making his debut as a singer, aged 18, in La contessa di colle erbose (Pietro Generali
Pietro Generali
Pietro Generali is a former basketball player from Italy, who won the silver medal with his national team at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.-References:...
). He went on to become one of the finest baritones of his age. He had a beautiful, smooth and flexible voice the quality of which is indicated by the bel canto
Bel canto
Bel canto , along with a number of similar constructions , is an Italian opera term...
music written for him. He was renowned also for his good looks and impressive stage presence, often working with the tenor Giovanni Battista Rubini
Giovanni Battista Rubini
Giovanni Battista Rubini was an Italian tenor, as famous in his time as Enrico Caruso in a later day. His ringing and expressive coloratura dexterity in the highest register of his voice, the tenorino, inspired the writing of operatic roles which today are almost impossible to cast...
and soprano Giulia Grisi
Giulia Grisi
Giulia Grisi, also known as Madame De Candia was an Italian opera singer...
.
Tamburini is famous for his association with the operatic compositions of Bellini
Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi , La sonnambula , Norma , Beatrice di Tenda , and I puritani...
such as I Puritani
I puritani
I puritani is an opera in three acts by Vincenzo Bellini. It was his last opera. Its libretto is by Count Carlo Pepoli, based on Têtes rondes et Cavaliers by Jacques-François Ancelot and Joseph Xavier Saintine, which is in turn based on Walter Scott's novel Old Mortality. It was first produced at...
. Indeed, he was one of the so-called "Puritani Quartet" of leading international singers, along with Grisi, Rubini and the bass Luigi Lablache
Luigi Lablache
Luigi Lablache was an Italian opera singer of French and Irish heritage. He was most noted for his comic performances, possessing a powerful and agile bass voice, a wide range, and adroit acting skills: Leporello in Don Giovanni was one of his signature roles.-Biography:Luigi Lablache was born in...
. The quartet was reunited on stage, albeit with Giovanni Mario
Mario (tenor)
Giovanni Matteo "Mario" was an Italian opera singer. The most celebrated tenor of his era, he was lionized by audiences in Paris and London.-Early life:...
replacing Rubini, in 1843 at the premiere of Donizetti's Don Pasquale
Don Pasquale
Don Pasquale is an opera buffa, or comic opera, in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. The librettist Giovanni Ruffini wrote the Italian language libretto after Angelo Anelli's libretto for Stefano Pavesi's Ser Marcantonio ....
.
A particular favourite with London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
audiences, Tamburini was married to the contralto
Contralto
Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...
Marietta Gioia-Tamburini. They often sang together.
He died at Nice in 1876, aged 76.
Roles created by Antonio Tamburini
- 1820 MercadanteSaverio MercadanteGiuseppe Saverio Raffaele Mercadante was an Italian composer, particularly of operas. While Mercadante may not have retained the international celebrity of Gaetano Donizetti or Gioachino Rossini beyond his own lifetime, he composed as impressive a number of works as either; and his development of...
: Violenza e Costanza (Atlante) - 1822 Mercadante: Adele ed Emerico (Generale Banner)
- 1822 Donizetti: Chiara e Serafina (Picaro)
- 1824 Donizetti: L'ajo nell'imbarazzoL'ajo nell'imbarazzoL'ajo nell'imbarazzo is a melodramma giocoso, or opera, in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. The Italian libretto was written by Jacopo Ferretti, after the 1807 play by Giovanni Giraud...
(Don Giulio) - 1826 Donizetti: Alahor in GranataAlahor in GranataAlahor in Granata is an opera in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti to an anonymous Italian libretto after Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian's text Gonzalve de Cordoue, ou Granade reconquise...
(title role) - 1827 Bellini: Il pirataIl pirataIl pirata is an opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani from a French translation of the tragic play Bertram, or The Castle of St Aldobrando by Charles Maturin...
(Ernesto) - 1828 Donizetti: Alina, regina di GolcondaAlina, regina di GolcondaAlina, regina di Golconda is an opera in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. The Italian libretto was written by Felice Romani after Michel-Jean Sedaine's French libretto for Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny's ballet-heroique Aline, reine de Golconde , in its turn based on the novel by Stanislas de Boufflers...
(Volmar) - 1828 Donizetti: Gianni di CalaisGianni di CalaisGianni di Calais is a melodramma semiserio, a "semi-serious" opera in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti , from a libretto by Domenico Gilardoni, based on Jean de Paris by Louis-Charles Caignes....
(Rustano) - 1828 Bellini: Bianca e FernandoBianca e FernandoBianca e Fernando is an opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini.There are two versions of this opera: the first, entitled Bianca e Gernando has a libretto by Domenico Gilardoni, after Bianca e Fernando alla tomba di Carlo IV, duca di Agrigento by Carlo...
(Filippo) - 1829 PaciniGiovanni PaciniGiovanni Pacini was an Italian composer, best known for his operas. Pacini was born in Catania, Sicily, the son of the buffo Luigi Pacini, who was to appear in the premieres of many of Giovanni's operas...
: Il talisamno (Riccardo Cuor di Leone) - 1829 Bellini: La stranieraLa stranieraLa straniera is an opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini, from a libretto by Felice Romani, based on L'étrangère by Charles-Victor Prévot, vicomte d'Arlincourt...
(Valdeburgo) - 1830 Donizetti: Imelda de' LambertazziImelda de' LambertazziImelda de' Lambertazzi is a melodramma tragico or tragic opera in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti from a libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola, based on the tragedy Imelda by Gabriele Sperduti. It received its first performance on 5 September 1830 at the Teatro San Carlo, Naples.-Performance history:The...
(Bonifacio) - 1831 Mercadante: Zaira (Orosmane)
- 1831 Donizetti: Francesca di FoixFrancesca di FoixFrancesca di Foix is a melodramma giocoso or opera in one act by Gaetano Donizetti from a libretto by Domenico Gilardoni, based on Françoise de Foix by Jean-Nicolas Bouilly and Emmanuel Mercier-Dupaty....
(il Re) - 1831 Donizetti: La romanzesca e l'uomo neroLa romanzesca e l'uomo neroLa romanzesca e l'uomo nero is a one-act farsa by Gaetano Donizetti. Domenico Gilardoni wrote the Italian libretto, probably basing it on L'homme noir by Eugene Scribe and Jean-Henri Dupin and Le coiffeur et le perruquier by Scribe, Edouard Mazères and Charles Nombret Saint-Laurent...
(Filidoro) - 1831 CocciaCarlo CocciaCarlo Coccia was an Italian opera composer. He was known for the genre of opera semiseria.- Life and career :...
: Edoardo Stuart in Scozia (title role) - 1832 Donizetti: FaustaFausta (opera)Fausta is a melodramma, or opera, in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. The Italian libretto was by Domenico Gilardoni, who died while writing it: the remainder was written by Donizetti. The opera debuted on 12 January 1832 at the Teatro San Carlo, Naples, and was written with prima donna Giuseppina...
(Costantino) - 1835 Donizetti: Marin FalieroMarino Faliero (opera)Marino Faliero is a tragedia lirica, or tragic opera, in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Giovanni Emanuele Bidéra wrote the Italian libretto, with revisions by Agostino Ruffini, after Casimir Delavigne's play...
(Israele Bertucci) - 1835 Bellini: I PuritaniI puritaniI puritani is an opera in three acts by Vincenzo Bellini. It was his last opera. Its libretto is by Count Carlo Pepoli, based on Têtes rondes et Cavaliers by Jacques-François Ancelot and Joseph Xavier Saintine, which is in turn based on Walter Scott's novel Old Mortality. It was first produced at...
(Riccardo) - 1836 Mercadante: I briganti (Hermann)
- 1843 Donizetti: Don PasqualeDon PasqualeDon Pasquale is an opera buffa, or comic opera, in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. The librettist Giovanni Ruffini wrote the Italian language libretto after Angelo Anelli's libretto for Stefano Pavesi's Ser Marcantonio ....
(Malatesta)
Sources
- Ashbrook, William, Donizetti and His Operas, Cambridge University Press, 1983. ISBN 0521276632
- Casaglia, Gherardo, "Antonio Tamburini", Almanacco Amadeus, 2005 (in Italian). Accessed 5 November 2010
- Randel, Don Michael (ed.), "Tamburini, Antonio, The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music , Harvard University Press, 1996. p. 900. ISBN 0674372999
- Rosselli, John, Singers of Italian Opera: The History of a Profession, Cambridge University Press, 1995, p. 152. ISBN 0521426979