Carlo Tagliabue

Carlo Tagliabue (Mariano Comense, January 13, 1898 – Monza, April 5, 1978) was an Italian baritone.

After studies with Leopoldo Gennai and Annibale Guidotti he made his debut in Lodi, Italy, in "Loreley" and "Aida". His debuts in Genoa (1923), Torino, La Scala (1930), Rome (1931), and Naples (1931) were all in "Tristan und Isolde" (sung in Italian). He also performed in Wagner's "Götterdämmerung", "Tannhäuser" and "Lohengrin". However, Tagliabue would go on to excel in the Verdian repertoire, especially "La forza del destino", "Aida", "Rigoletto", "La traviata", "Nabucco", and "Otello". He created the role of Basilio in Respighi's "La fiamma" in 1934.

His international career included Buenos Aires' Teatro Colón (1934), the Metropolitan Opera, New York (1937-39), and San Francisco Opera and Covent Garden, London (1938). Tagliabue's last performance was in 1955 at La Scala, at the famous performance of "La traviata" conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini and directed by Luchino Visconti, where Maria Callas scandalized the public by throwing her shoes off.

In his book "Voci Parallele" Giacomo Lauri-Volpi wrote, " [Tagliabue] is the only survivor of a school that knows that in Rigoletto, in Ballo in Maschera, Trovatore, Traviata a melodramatic piece should be sung, measured and breathed musically in line with the mastery of great art."

ources

*Lauri-Volpi G. (1955) "Voci parallele". Milan
*Rosenthal, Harold (1992), 'Tagliabue, Carlo' in "The New Grove Dictionary of Opera", ed. Stanley Sadie (London) ISBN 0-333-73432-7