mario del monaco
Tenor
july 27, 1915

In the month of July we have already celebrated two giants of the operatic stage – Kirsten Flagstad and Giuseppe di Stefano.  Joining them at the end of the month is none other than the magnificent dramatic tenor, Mario del Monaco.

Mario del Monaco was born in Florence to an upper class Neapolitan father who was working in the public service, and a mother with Sicilian roots. Therefore it was not surprising that singing was in his veins! Both his parents were musical, and as a young boy, Mario studied the violin. Later it became obvious that his passion was singing, something of which his parents approved, and were prepared to support him in pursuing his chosen path.

Whilst studying at the Rossini Conservatorium in Pesaro, he met and sang with another student who was to become one of his leading ladies, Renate Tebaldi. Could they have guessed then, that they were both destined to be celebrated as one of the operatic dream teams in many of the greatest opera houses in the world? They were rivalled only by team Callas and di Stefano.

Arturo Melocchi was his vocal teacher in Pesaro and is credited for teaching the low larynx singing technique to del Monaco, which would in turn influence a certain Franco Corelli, and become eventually common knowledge influencing many tenors thereafter in some form or another.

Maestro Cherubino Raffaelli is also credited with recognising his talent and helping launch Del Monaco’s career.

At the tender age of 13, he sang Masani's Cantata, Narcissus but his official debut is recorded as a performance in the role of  Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly at Theatre Puccini, Milan, in January 1941.^[ich]

He sang throughout Italy during second world war. During the  1945-46 season he sang Radames in Aïda at the Verona Arena and Cavaradossi in Tosca, Canio in ICH Pagliacci and Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly at the Royal Opera Covent Garden. These years cemented his place as an exceptional dramatic voice and elegant stage persona in operatic history.

Del Monaco sang at the Metropolitan Opera in New York from 1951 to 1959, enjoying particular success in dramatic Verdi roles such as Radamès in Aïda. He soon took his place as one of four Italian tenor superstars of the 1950s and 60s. His other compatriot tenors being, Carlo Bergonzi, Franco Corelli and Giuseppe di Stefano.

Del Monaco’s trademark roles during this period were Giordano’s Andrea Chénier and Verdi’s Otello which he is reported to have performed 427 times. Though in the latest biography of his life, Monumentum Aere Perrenius, writer Elisabetta Romagnolo lists 218 performances. ^[ii]

So great was his identification with the role which he first tackled in 1950, and kept refining throughout his career, that when he was buried after succumbing to kidney disease in 1982, he was dressed in the costume of Otello.

The recording legacy of Mario del Monaco is extensive and will forever go down in the annals of operatic history as definitive interpretations of the operas he lent his voice to, and the partnerships he formed with the leading prima donnas and colleagues of the day.

In the words of his son, the stage director and general manager of several opera houses, Giancarlo del Monaco:

‘Mario Del Monaco was not only a tenor. Mario Del Monaco was the complete artist who besides a metallic and powerful voice, was gifted with an interpretative instinct which enabled him to identify himself with any character he performed, thanks also to his great charisma, acting skills and diction that made him unique and incomparable. So much so, that he was the only tenor to have performed „Otello” by Giuseppe Verdi 427 times.

People also loved his personality. He was conferred the highest decoration of the then Soviet Union, the „Order of Lenin”. The famous song „Un Amore così grande” was composed and arranged specially for him.

Thousand of pages would be needed to describe who Mario Del Monaco was. But if I am to define him in one single word, I would like to call him „The Tenor”’^[iii]