Carlo Baucardé
Encyclopedia
Carlo Baucardé or Boucardé (1825 – 1883) was an Italian
operatic tenor
who sang leading roles throughout Italy, as well as in London, Madrid, Paris, and New York. He is most remembered today for creating the role of Manrico in Verdi's opera Il trovatore
and the title role in Donizetti's Poliuto
.
to a family of French
origin. According to contemporary accounts, he had originally been employed in the palace kitchen of the Grand Duke of Tuscany
where he first attracted attention by his talent for cookery, and later by his talent for singing which enabled him to receive musical training.
His earliest known appearance was in Florence in 1847 as Carlo ("Il bravo") in Mercadante
's Il bravo. Between 1848 and 1850, he sang frequently in Naples
at the Teatro San Carlo. He appeared in three operas by Verdi, all in their first performances at that theatre: I Lombardi alla prima crociata
as Arvino (1848), Macbeth
as Malcolm (1849) , and I masnadieri
as Carlo (1849). He also sang there in the premiere of Donizetti's Poliuto
in the title role (1848) and in the theatre's first performance of his La favorita as Fernando (1850).
Baucardé made his London debut to considerable popular acclaim as Oronte in I Lombardi alla prima crociata during the 1850 season of Italian opera at Her Majesty's Theatre
. During that season he also performed the leading tenor roles in Verdi's I due Foscari
, Bellini
's I puritani
, and Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia
. Benjamin Lumley
, the Director of Her Majesty's Theatre at the time, wrote of Baucardé:
In 1851, Baucardé sang the title tole in the world premiere of Gualtiero Sanelli's Camoëns at the Teatro Regio in Turin
where he also sang Gualtiero in Bellini's Il pirata
(1852), Arturo Talbot in his I puritani (1852), and the Duke of Mantua in Verdi's Rigoletto
(1852). Baucardé achieved particular success as the Duke, both in Turin and elsewhere. Verdi then cast Baucardé as the first Manrico in Il trovatore
, although he had previously wanted Raffaele Mirate
for the role. The premiere at the Teatro Apollo in Rome
on 19 January 1853 was a great success not only for Verdi, but also for Baucardé. His popular acclaim in the role increased when he substituted a high C for the original G
in the finale of "Di quella pira
" during a later performance of Trovatore in Florence. He went on to sing Manrico for the Paris premiere of the opera on 23 December 1854 at the Théâtre-Italien. The following month, he again appeared at the Théâtre-Italien in the title role of Pacini
's now forgotten opera, L'ultimo dei Clodovei.
Despite his great popularity in Italy, Baucardé failed to impress one British observer, Frances Minto Elliot
. Writing under the pseudonym
"Florentia", she described his 1854 Rome performance in Lucrezia Borgia thus:
Baucardé was married to a prominent, but notoriously temperamental soprano, Augusta Albertini (1827-1898) and often sang with her. When she was proposed for the role of Mina in the 1857 premiere casting of Verdi's Aroldo
, Verdi wrote to his librettist Francesco Maria Piave
:
From 1859 to 1860, the couple sang at the Academy of Music
in New York, but the venture was not successful. By then, Baucardé was past his prime. He retired from the stage in 1863 and died in his native Florence on 22 January 1883.
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
operatic tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
who sang leading roles throughout Italy, as well as in London, Madrid, Paris, and New York. He is most remembered today for creating the role of Manrico in Verdi's opera Il trovatore
Il trovatore
Il trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. Cammarano died in mid-1852 before completing the libretto...
and the title role in Donizetti's Poliuto
Poliuto
Poliuto is a tragedia lirica, or tragic opera, by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian libretto after Pierre Corneille's play Polyeucte . It was composed in 1838 and first performed on 30 November 1848 at the Teatro San Carlo, Naples...
.
Life and career
Carlo Baucardé was born in FlorenceFlorence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
to a family of French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
origin. According to contemporary accounts, he had originally been employed in the palace kitchen of the Grand Duke of Tuscany
Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany
Leopold II of Tuscany was the last reigning grand duke of Tuscany ....
where he first attracted attention by his talent for cookery, and later by his talent for singing which enabled him to receive musical training.
His earliest known appearance was in Florence in 1847 as Carlo ("Il bravo") in Mercadante
Saverio Mercadante
Giuseppe 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...
's Il bravo. Between 1848 and 1850, he sang frequently in Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
at the Teatro San Carlo. He appeared in three operas by Verdi, all in their first performances at that theatre: I Lombardi alla prima crociata
I Lombardi alla prima crociata
I Lombardi alla prima crociata is an operatic dramma lirico in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera, based on an epic poem by Tommaso Grossi. Its first performance was given at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan on 11 February 1843...
as Arvino (1848), Macbeth
Macbeth (opera)
Macbeth is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi, with an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave and additions by Andrea Maffei, based on Shakespeare's play of the same name...
as Malcolm (1849) , and I masnadieri
I masnadieri
I masnadieri is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Andrea Maffei, based on Die Räuber by Friedrich von Schiller....
as Carlo (1849). He also sang there in the premiere of Donizetti's Poliuto
Poliuto
Poliuto is a tragedia lirica, or tragic opera, by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian libretto after Pierre Corneille's play Polyeucte . It was composed in 1838 and first performed on 30 November 1848 at the Teatro San Carlo, Naples...
in the title role (1848) and in the theatre's first performance of his La favorita as Fernando (1850).
Baucardé made his London debut to considerable popular acclaim as Oronte in I Lombardi alla prima crociata during the 1850 season of Italian opera at Her Majesty's Theatre
Her Majesty's Theatre
Her Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre, in Haymarket, City of Westminster, London. The present building was designed by Charles J. Phipps and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who established the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at the theatre...
. During that season he also performed the leading tenor roles in Verdi's I due Foscari
I due Foscari
I due Foscari is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on a historical play, The Two Foscari by Lord Byron....
, 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...
's 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...
, and Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia
Lucrezia Borgia (opera)
Lucrezia Borgia is a melodramma, or opera, in a prologue and two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote the Italian libretto after the play by Victor Hugo, in its turn after the legend of Lucrezia Borgia. Lucrezia Borgia was first performed on 26 December 1833 at La Scala, Milan with...
. Benjamin Lumley
Benjamin Lumley
Benjamin Lumley, opera manager and solicitor, was born Benjamin Levy, in 1811, the son of a Jewish merchant Louis Levy, and died 17 March 1875 in London.-Beginnings at His Majesty's Theatre:...
, the Director of Her Majesty's Theatre at the time, wrote of Baucardé:
In 1851, Baucardé sang the title tole in the world premiere of Gualtiero Sanelli's Camoëns at the Teatro Regio in Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
where he also sang Gualtiero in Bellini's Il pirata
Il pirata
Il 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...
(1852), Arturo Talbot in his I puritani (1852), and the Duke of Mantua in Verdi's Rigoletto
Rigoletto
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
(1852). Baucardé achieved particular success as the Duke, both in Turin and elsewhere. Verdi then cast Baucardé as the first Manrico in Il trovatore
Il trovatore
Il trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. Cammarano died in mid-1852 before completing the libretto...
, although he had previously wanted Raffaele Mirate
Raffaele Mirate
Raffaele Mirate was a celebrated Italian operatic tenor who had an active career from the 1830s through the 1860s. Known for his intelligent phrasing and bright and powerful vocal timbre, he was regarded as an outstanding interpreter of the tenor roles in the early and middle period operas of...
for the role. The premiere at the Teatro Apollo in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
on 19 January 1853 was a great success not only for Verdi, but also for Baucardé. His popular acclaim in the role increased when he substituted a high C for the original G
G (musical note)
Sol, So, or G is the fifth note of the solfège starting on C. As such it is the dominant, a perfect fifth above C.When calculated in equal temperament with a reference of A above middle C as 440 Hz, the frequency of Middle G note is approximately 391.995 Hz...
in the finale of "Di quella pira
Di quella pira
Di quella pira is a popular tenor aria sung by Manrico in Act 3, Scene 2 of Giuseppe Verdi's opera, Il trovatore.-Setting:...
" during a later performance of Trovatore in Florence. He went on to sing Manrico for the Paris premiere of the opera on 23 December 1854 at the Théâtre-Italien. The following month, he again appeared at the Théâtre-Italien in the title role of Pacini
Giovanni Pacini
Giovanni 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...
's now forgotten opera, L'ultimo dei Clodovei.
Despite his great popularity in Italy, Baucardé failed to impress one British observer, Frances Minto Elliot
Frances Minto Elliot
Frances Minto Elliot was a prolific English writer, primarily of non-fiction works on the social history of Italy, Spain, and France and travelogues. She also wrote three novels and published art criticism and gossipy, sometimes scandalous, sketches for The Art Journal, Bentley's Miscellany, and...
. Writing under the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
"Florentia", she described his 1854 Rome performance in Lucrezia Borgia thus:
Baucardé was married to a prominent, but notoriously temperamental soprano, Augusta Albertini (1827-1898) and often sang with her. When she was proposed for the role of Mina in the 1857 premiere casting of Verdi's Aroldo
Aroldo
Aroldo is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on and adapted from their earlier 1850 collaboration, Stiffelio...
, Verdi wrote to his librettist Francesco Maria Piave
Francesco Maria Piave
Francesco Maria Piave was an Italian opera librettist who was born in Murano in the lagoon of Venice, during the brief Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy. His career spanned over twenty years working with many of the significant composers of his day...
:
From 1859 to 1860, the couple sang at the Academy of Music
Academy of Music (Manhattan)
The Academy of Music was a New York City opera house, located at East 14th Street and Irving Place in Manhattan. The 4,000-seat hall opened on October 2, 1854. The New York Times review declared it to be an acoustical "triumph", but "In every other aspect .....
in New York, but the venture was not successful. By then, Baucardé was past his prime. He retired from the stage in 1863 and died in his native Florence on 22 January 1883.