Libero De Luca is an Italian lyric 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...

, particularly associated with the French repertory.

Life and career

De Luca was born in Kreuzlingen

Kreuzlingen

Kreuzlingen is a municipality in the district of Kreuzlingen in the canton of Thurgau in north-eastern Switzerland. It is the seat of the district and is the second largest city of the canton, after Frauenfeld, with a population of over 18,000...

, Switzerland, and studied voice at the Zurich Coservatory with Alfredo Cairati. After winning a first prize at an international voice competition in Geneva

Geneva

Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...

, in 1941, he made his professional debut the following year at the Solothurn

Solothurn

The city of Solothurn is the capital of the Canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. The city also comprises the only municipality of the district of the same name.-Pre-roman settlement:...

 Municipal Theatre.

After one season at the Bern Municipal Theatre, he became first tenor at the Zurich Opera

Zurich Opera

Oper Zürich is an opera company based in Zurich, Switzerland. The company gives performances in the Opernhaus Zürich which has been the company’s home for fifty years.-History:...

 in 1943 until 1949. During that period, he also appeared regularly to great acclaim at the Teatro San Carlo 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...

, the Royal Opera House

Royal Opera House

The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...

 in London, at La Monnaie

La Monnaie

Le Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie , or the Koninklijke Muntschouwburg is a theatre in Brussels, Belgium....

 in Brussels

Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

, and at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

.

In 1949, he made his debut at both the Opéra-Comique

Opéra-Comique

The Opéra-Comique is a Parisian opera company, which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with, and for a time took the name of its chief rival the Comédie-Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and was also called the...

 and the Palais Garnier

Palais Garnier

The Palais Garnier, , is an elegant 1,979-seat opera house, which was built from 1861 to 1875 for the Paris Opera. It was originally called the Salle des Capucines because of its location on the Boulevard des Capucines in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, but soon became known as the Palais Garnier...

, where he became first tenor in the French repertoire.

Being Italian, Libero De Luca was fluent in German, French and Italian, and excelled in all three repertories in lyric roles. He retired from the stage in 1961, and became a full-time voice teacher in Horn, Switzerland

Horn, Switzerland

Horn is a municipality in the district of Arbon in the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland. Horn is an exclave of Thurgau, enclaved in the canton of St. Gallen.-History:...

, near Lake Constance

Lake Constance

Lake Constance is a lake on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps, and consists of three bodies of water: the Obersee , the Untersee , and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein.The lake is situated in Germany, Switzerland and Austria near the Alps...

.

De Luca made several recordings, notably in Mignon

Mignon

Mignon is an opéra comique in three acts by Ambroise Thomas. The original French libretto was by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on Goethe's novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre. The Italian version was translated by Giuseppe Zaffira. The opera is mentioned in James Joyce's The Dead,...

and Manon

Manon

Manon is an opéra comique in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, based on the 1731 novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost...

, opposite Janine Micheau

Janine Micheau

Janine Micheau was a French singer, one of the leading lyric sopranos of her era in France.Janine Micheau was born in Toulouse, and studied voice at the Paris Conservatoire...

, Lakmé

Lakmé

Lakmé is an opera in three acts by Léo Delibes to a French libretto by Edmond Gondinet and Philippe Gille. Delibes wrote the score during 1881–82 with its first performance on 14 April 1883 at the Opéra Comique in Paris. Set in British India in the mid 19th century, Lakmé is based on the 1880 novel...

, opposite Mado Robin

Mado Robin

Madeleine Marie Robin, known as Mado Robin , was a French coloratura soprano.She was born in Yzeures-sur-Creuse, Touraine, where she owned the Château Les Vallées. A star of television and radio in the 1950s, she was well known in France...

, and Carmen

Carmen

Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...

, opposite Suzanne Juyol

Suzanne Juyol

Suzanne Juyol was a French opera singer, the leading dramatic soprano of her era in France.Suzanne Juyol studied at the Paris Conservatory, and made her professional debut at the Palais Garnier, in 1942, as Margared in Le roi d'Ys, followed by Fauré's Pénélope, Dukas's Ariadne, Marguerite in...

. There are also some operetta-recordings on Polydor, conducted by Franz Marszalek

Franz Marszalek

Franz Marszalek was a German conductor and composer, who was a leading figure in operetta. He began his studies in Wrocław, and moved to Berlin in 1933. He conducted the Cologne Radio Orchestra from 1949 to 1965, with an emphasis on operetta music...

.

Sources

• Alain Pâris, Dictionnaire des interprètes, Robert Laffont, 1989. ISBN 2-221-06660-X
• Paul Gruber, The Metropolitan Opera Guide to Recorded Opera, W.W. Norton & Company, 1993. ISBN 0-393-03444-5