Alberto Erede

Alberto Erede (8 November 1909 – 12 April 2001) was an Italian conductor, particularly associated with operatic work.

Born in Genoa, Erede studied there before studying in Milan, then with Felix Weingartner at Basle, and after this with Fritz Busch at Dresden. He made his debut in Turin in 1935, conducting "Der Ring des Nibelungen". He also conducted at the Salzburg Festival. Fritz Busch invited him to Glyndebourne in England, where he conducted several performances before the war. He went back to England after the war, in 1946, to become music director of the New London Opera Company. From 1950 to 1955 he conducted at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York. From 1956 he was at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein and was the musical director there from 1958 to 1962. He conducted Wagner's "Lohengrin" at Bayreuth in 1968, being the first Italian to appear there since Arturo Toscanini.

He died in Monte Carlo in 2001.

Recordings

Erede conducted the earlier series of Italian opera on long-playing Decca Records featuring Renata Tebaldi and the Accademia di Santa Cecilia (Rome) Orchestra and Chorus, during the 1950s. Some are listed below:
* Puccini: "La boheme" - with Giacinto Prandelli, Hilde Gueden, Giovanni Inghilleri, Raphael Arié, Fernando Corena. (Decca LP LXT 2622-3). (Before 1953. EMG review April 1958).
* Puccini: "Tosca" - with Giuseppe Campora, Enzo Mascherini, Dario Caselli, Fernando Corena, Antonio Sacchetti. (Decca LP LXT 2730-1). (Before 1953. EMG review Nov 1952).
* Puccini: "Madama Butterfly" - with Nell Rankin, Giuseppe Campora, Giovanni Inghilleri, Piero de Palma. (Decca LP LXT 2638-40). (1951).
* Puccini: "Turandot" - with Inge Borkh (Tebaldi sang the minor role of Liu), Mario del Monaco, Fanelli, Renato Ercolani, Fernando Corena, etc. (Decca LP LXT 5128-30). (EMG review May 1955).
* Verdi: "Aida" - with Ebe Stignani, Mario del Monaco, Fernando Corena, Aldo Protti. (Decca LP LXT 2735-7). (Before 1953).
* Verdi: "Otello" - with Mario del Monaco, Aldo Protti, Piero de Palma, Luisa Ribacchi (Decca LP LXT 5009-11). (EMG review Dec 1954).

(Tebaldi's later recordings with the Accademia di Santa Cecilia were conducted by Molinari-Pradelli.)

* Donizetti: "La favorita" - Giulietta Simionato, Jerome Hines, Gianni Poggi, Ettore Bastianini, with Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (Decca LP LXT 5146-8). (1955).
* Rossini: "Il barbiere di Siviglia" - Giulietta Simionato, Cesare Siepi, Fernando Corena, Cavallari, Misciano (Decca LP LXT 5283-5). (1956).
* Erede's Bayreuth 1968 "Lohengrin" is available on Melodram CD.

References

* H. Rosenthal and J. Warrack, "Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera" (OUP, London 1974 printing).
* E. Sackville-West and D. Shawe-Taylor, "The Record Year 2" (Collins, London 1953).
* E.M.G., "The Art of Record Buying 1960" (London 1960).
* E.M.G. "The Monthly Newsletter".