Voice Detective - The Voice Detective

TITO GOBBI, BARITONE, OCTOBER 24, 1913

‘The first time anyone noticed my voice was when I was at elementary school, which was the first stage of our education. Our singing teacher was preparing us for an end-of-term performance to take place before the general inspector and our parents. We were to do a sort of chorus of national songs, and at one of our rehearsals our teacher, Maestro Bevilacqua, started going around the class muttering to himself. Finally he stopped in front of me and exclaimed: ‘You’re the culprit! You’re shouting like a mad dog – its terrible! You keep silent. But as we don’t want the inspector to know you are not singing, simply open and shut your mouth and pretend to sing.’’ Tito Gobbi

Such was the vocal debut of one of the greatest operatic baritones of the twentieth century, and one of the most admired interpreters of the classic Italian repertoire, who dominated the stage with his presence, acting and vocal intelligence.

Tito Gobbi was born on the 24th October 1913 in Bassano del Grappa , a true son of the Veneto, to a successful mercantile family of the region that traced its presence there for centuries. The potential of his voice however, was noticed by a family friend, Baron Zanchetta hearing him sing, looked out the window and asked who was singing. The Baron summoned young Tito and told him he was a baritone and should seriously consider singing as a profession. At this stage, young Tito had never given thought to it, having considered himself more a painter, but ‘the Barone had planted the first germ of an idea in my mind, and he even gave me a few basic singing lessons.’ Tito accompanied his father to Rome for an opinion from the great Sicilian tenor, Giulio Crimi, who heard something in his voice, but recommended three months to see if there really was a vocal talent to work with. In this period of his life Tito supported himself by painting Roman subjects for tourists, which gives a small indication of his artistic talent. He also met his wife, who was an accompanist for Crimi and eventually Crimi took Tito into the household, believing he had the gifts and temperament of a great singer.

There were a number of ‘false starts’ to his professional career. Most depressingly in 1934 as the Count in La sonnambula in Gubbio which his family and Crimi attended. When Tito tentatively asked about the performance, Crimi’s response was, ‘My address,’ he replied grimly, is so and so. If you think you had better go on studying, come and see me tomorrow. Otherwise – good-bye.’ A short spell of study followed at La Scala where according to an amusing anecdote in his autobiography, much to his embarrassment, he fluffed his one line appearance as a Herald in Simone Boccanegra by coming in thirty seconds too early.

Better fortune was to follow when he stepped in at the Teatro Adriano in Rome in 1937 to sing the part of Germont. It was this appearance that brought him to the attention of Tullio Serafin who auditioned him and brought him into the Teatro Reale in Rome. Serafin was a great inspiration and taskmaster. Gobbi wrote, ‘He was utterly generous when generosity was called for, but equally he was ruthless if the situation demanded it.’ According to Gobbi, ‘The regime of work was severe. During my first six years at the Teatro Reale I learned sixty-six roles, not actually singing all of them on the stage of course but learning them in depth and sometimes ‘covering’ for more experienced singers.’ From 1938 he began to sing regularly at the Teatro Reale. His first great success was in a piece one does not normally associate with a great interpreter of Verdi and Puccini; in 1942 he played Wozzeck in the Italian premiere of Berg’s eponymous opera.

Following the war he made his first international appearances in Stockholm (1947) and the USA (1948), and his international reputation grew with the roles of Boccanegra, Posa, Iago, Rigoletto and Falstaff. He also most memorably was the Scarpia to Callas’s interpretation of Tosca and we are thankful to the black and white film made of the second act of Tosca to have a glimpse of how they both captivated an audience with their interpretative ability. Ever a thoughtful performer, his stage presence, charisma and acting ability was phenomenal. Those that saw and heard him during the 40s, 50s and 60s gave glowing reports: ’intelligence, musicianship and acting ability, allied to a fine though not large voice, made Gobbi one of the dominant singing actors of his generation.’ J.B. Steane wrote, ’Gobbi’s voice was one of the most beautiful I ever heard. If the reader rightly detects a note of defiance in that, it must be because both of us know that beauty of sound was not among the qualities most conspicuously attributed to him.…he paid the usual price of the actor-singer…people were so busy looking at him that they almost forgot to think about what they heard.’ And perhaps what is the greatest compliment of all, ‘…if the genie of the magic lamp or the operator of the time-machine were to offer a voyage back to hear one voice from the past ‘live’ experience, I would ask for Gobbi.’

Gobbi made numerous recordings and also appeared in twenty-six films. In 1965 he was invited to produce a Simone Boccanegra at Covent Garden and Chicago which launched a second career as an opera producer. His views on opera production align with his dramatic sensibility: ‘my first feeling is one of responsibility towards the composer and the librettist. I do not aim at headlines proclaiming, ‘“Tito Gobbi’s controversial production”. I have no ambition to read in any newspaper, “A piquant experience awaited us at the Opera last night, for when the curtain rose on Tito Gobbi’s production of Otello we found ourselves in the world of Watteau” (or Breughel, or God knows who). My simple intention is that the audience should find themselves on such an occasion in the world of Verdi and Shakespeare.’

A man of many gifts, he was generous and fair with his colleagues. When he acted as a manager and arranged a concert with Beniamino Gigli, he refused to take any commission. Gigli was so impressed with Gobbi’s integrity, he returned the favour by singing gratis at a benefit concert in Bassano. He gave singing master classes, was a fine painter, and authored two essential books; his autobiography and ‘Tito Gobbi on his World of Opera’ in which he outlined his interpretation of roles and thoughts on singers and singing.

He passed away in 1981.