Fernando Corena

Fernando Corena (December 22, 1916 - November 26, 1984) was a Swiss bass, one of the greatest buffo of the post-war era, enjoyed a long and successful career at the Metropolitan Opera, heralded as the true successor to comic Italian bass Salvatore Baccaloni.

Life and career

Fernando Corena was born in Geneva, Switzerland, to a Turkish father (the name was Korena) and an Italian mother. He studied theology at the Fribourg University, hoping to become a priest. After winning a vocal contest, he turned his attention to music. He first studied in his native Geneva, 1937-38. He was then noticed by Italian conductor Vittorio Gui, who encouraged him to complete his vocal studies in Milan, with Enrico Romani.

At the beginning of World War II, he returned to Switzerland, where he performed regularly on radio broadcasts, and made a few appearances at the Zurich Opera House.

His official professional debut was in Trieste, as Varlaam in "Boris Godunov", in 1947. He then appeared throughout Italy, singing the standard repertory, Sparafucile, Escamillo, Scarpia, etc. In 1949, he took part in the creation of Goffredo Petrassi's "Il cordovano" at La Scala in Milan. Although he did not fully surrender the serious bass roles, he steadily moved into the buffo roles and found his career moving more switftly upward.

Corena's Metropolitan Opera debut took place as Leporello in "Don Giovanni" on February 6, 1954. He established himself almost immediately as a favorite singer in that house. For a quarter of a century, he all but owned the great comic roles such as the two Bartolos, in Mozart's "Le nozze di Figaro" and Rossini's "Il barbiere di Siviglia", Mustafa in "L'Italiana in Algeri", Dulcamara in "Elisir d'amore", Sulpice in "La fille du régiment", "Don Pasquale", Melitone in "La forza del destino", "Falstaff", "Gianni Schicchi", as well as character roles such as Benoit in "La bohème", the sacristan in "Tosca", which was his farewell role at the Met in 1978.

Aside from his close relationship to New York, Corena enjoyed considerable success elsewhere, notably Chicago and San Francisco. He also appeared at the Edinburgh and Salzburg Festivals, Covent Garden in London, the Vienna State Opera,Berlin, Amsterdam, Buenos Aires, etc.

Corena possessed a big, handsome, resonant voice that lacked sufficient flexibilty to deliver accurately the complexities of Rossini's florid writing. However, his complete involvement in his characters, and sheer physical presence and acting abilities, more than made up for any vocal technical shortcomings.

Corena left many recordings of his best roles, notably Bartolo in "Le nozze di Figaro", under Erich Kleiber, Leporello in "Don Giovanni", under Josef Krips, Mustafa in "L'Italiana in Algeri", Bartolo in "Il barbiere di Siviglia", Dulcamara in "L'elisir d'amore", "Don Pasquale", Fra Melitone in "La forza del destino", opposite Renata Tebaldi, Mario del Monaco, Ettore Bastianini, Giulietta Simionato, Cesare Siepi, "Gianni Schicchi", etc. He also recorded the role of Rodolfo in "La sonnambula", opposite Joan Sutherland in 1962.

Fernando Corena died in Lugano, Switzerland, on November 26, 1984, four weeks short of his 68th birthday.

Sources

* Alain Pâris, "Dictionnaire des interprètes et de l'interpretation musicale au XX siècle" (2 vols), Ed. Robert Laffont (Bouquins, Paris 1982, 4th Edn. 1995, 5th Edn 2004). ISBN 2-221-06660-X
* Roland Mancini and Jean-Jacques Rouveroux, (orig. H. Rosenthal and J. Warrack, French edition), "Guide de l’opéra", Les indispensables de la musique (Fayard, 1995). ISBN 2-213-01563-6
* "Metropolitan Opera Encyclopedia", edited by David Anderson ISBN 0-671-61732-X