Beniamino Gigli, whose surname translated into English means Lilies has his birthday today. Certainly his lirico-spinto voice was as perfect, sweet and beautiful as his namesake.
Gigli’s career took on super-stardom in the English speaking world, when he was hired by the Metropolitan Opera New York and had the unenviable task of following in footsteps of Enrico Caruso after Caruso’s untimely and sudden death. Comparisons were inevitable; but it didn’t
take long for the honey voiced Gigli to win over his audiences with his flexible, lyrically ringing voice and masterful implementation of mezzo voce.
However, even before this, in 1918 he was discovered and eagerly signed up by HMV, later transferring to Victor records. He went on to become the best selling tenor of the electric 78 rpm disc of the post World War I era. His recordings received glowing reviews and achieved the equivalent honour of being constantly on the top selling charts of the day.
Apart from singing, Gigli appeared as an actor making over twenty films between 1935-1953. He even has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, apart from receiving numerous awards and honours for his contribution to the arts and charities.
Before his retirement he completed a world wide tour of farewell recitals some of which were captured in recordings. These recordings demonstrate how sweet and flexible as ever his voice was at the age of 65.
During his 12 year’s residence at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, it was said the Gigli’s participation in charitable causes raised over USD 1 million with his participation in just under 1000 benefit concerts.
Gigli’s definitive recordings of Neapolitan songs leads me to give a hint about the next episode of the Voice Detective Show coming soon….unmissable. Ciao for now!