{"id":6865,"date":"2025-11-09T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/voicedetective.com\/?p=6865"},"modified":"2025-11-09T19:46:45","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T18:46:45","slug":"lg-aureliano-pertile-tenor-november-09-1885","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/voicedetective.com\/de\/2025\/11\/lg-aureliano-pertile-tenor-november-09-1885\/","title":{"rendered":"AURELIANO PERTILE, TENOR, NOVEMBER 09, 1885"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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AURELIANO PERTILE
TENOR
NOVEMBER 09, 1885<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\u2018I still thought of my friend\u2019s famous uncle as the large, muffled-up gentleman in a scarf, when onto the stage came what seemed to me an almost godlike figure who proceeded to sing as I had never heard anyone sing before. My companion, the audience, the very theatre itself almost ceased to exist. I sat there riveted, with never a thought of leaving, until the curtain fell for the last time.\u2019 <\/i> Tito Gobbi[1]<\/sup><\/a>
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So wrote Tito Gobbi, reminiscing years later, well before he had even contemplated becoming a singer, about a friend who convinced the boy Tito, to come with him and hear \u2018his uncle\u2019 sing.<\/p>\n

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It is telling in that Aureliano Pertile was a singer who captivated the audience with his singing, acting and presence.<\/p>\n

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Born on the 9 November 1885 in the town of Montagnana,[2]<\/sup><\/a> just seventeen days after the town\u2019s other great tenor, Giovanni Martinelli, one wonders if there had been something in the elements at their conception or birth that contributed to this mediaeval walled town in the Veneto producing two great tenors in such a short space of time.<\/p>\n

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Pertile studied in Padua and debuted at the age of 26 in 1911 performing in Vicenza in Flotow\u2019s Martha<\/i>. He attracted notice first in Naples in the 1913-1914 season at San Carlo in Naples in Madama Butterfly<\/i> and Carmen<\/i>. further success followed in Rome 1915-16 and finally La Scala 1916 in Francesca da Rimini<\/span>, and it was La Scala that was to remain his stalwart home opera house throughout his career.[3]<\/sup><\/a> From 1922 to 1937 he sang at La Scala every year.[4]<\/sup><\/a> His had great success in 1922 in Mefistofele<\/i>, and thereafter became a favourite with Toscanini. \u2018Pertile was particularly suited to verismo roles which needed instant emotional engagement, and in many ways hinted at tenors to come. Toscanini appreciated his musicianship and no-nonsense attitude to the composer\u2019<\/span>s notes\u2019 wrote John Potter.[5]<\/sup><\/a> After 1937 he performed less and at the end of the second world war he retired.[6]<\/sup><\/a> It is also a possibility that his connection with Toscanini was a liability in Fascist Italy.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>

What is certain though is he sang with \u2018burning sincerity\u2019, that he was \u2018capable of the most refined, imaginative and memorable art, a voice of unique character, and a communicator whose utterance goes (in Beethoven\u2019s phrase) \u2018from the heart to the heart.\u2019[7]<\/sup><\/a> He excelled in the verismo roles; Chenier, Canio, Maurizio (Adriana Lecouvreur<\/i>), Paolo (Francesca da Rimini)<\/i>, Turiddu; but also increasingly took on the dramatic Verdi and some Wagner roles such as Manrico, Riccardo (Un ballo in maschera<\/i>),Lohengrin and Stolzing (Meistersinger<\/i>). Although to some critics his voice was not beautiful or powerful, \u2018and the tone, rather thick in the middle register, took on nasal and guttural inflections\u2019[8]<\/sup><\/a>, he possessed in lyrical moments a vibrant and incisive quality, ideal for verismo roles. \u2018Pertile stood out because of his fine enunciation, variety of expression and unusual interpretative gifts\u2019.[9]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

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What is also certain is the respect that later tenors accorded the singer and artist. To quote directly from the witness of Steane, the great Italian tenors of the following decades owed him a debt:<\/p>\n

\u2019Pertile was to be my model, my ideal, throughout all my long career\u2019 (Bergonzi)<\/p>\n

\u2018Pertile was a singer who influenced all tenors, in my case in a way that was constant and decisive.\u2019 (Corelli)<\/p>\n

\u2018To him goes the gratitude of all tenors who could draw upon the fountain of the purest Italian lyricism.\u2019 (Del Monaco)<\/p>\n

\u2018Caruso, Pertile, Schipa, Gigli \u2026 and then \u2026 who?\u2019 (Di Stefano)<\/p>\n

\u2018a serious, conscientious and musical artist \u2026 a technique all his own, inimitable.\u2019 (Pavarotti)[10]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

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If the statements of these tenors are taken as a whole, we know the measure of Pertile\u2019s greatness.<\/p>\n

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Following his retirement from the stage in 1946, he continued to teach singing at the Milan Conservatorium until his death in 1952.[11]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

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As a conclusion, we can agree with the anecdote recored by Ethan Mordden.<\/p>\n

\u2018Who was Aureliano Pertile?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018The greatest purely Italian spinto tenor of the (twentieth) century.\u2019[12]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

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[1]<\/span><\/sup><\/a> GOBBI, TITO., MY LIFE<\/u>., MACDONALD AND JANE\u2019S, LONDON (1979). P.128<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[2]<\/span><\/sup><\/a> CELLETTI, RODOLFO. \/ GUALERZI, PREGLIASCO., PERTILE, AURELIANO<\/u> IN MACY, LAURA., THE GROVE BOOK OF OPERA SINGERS<\/u>. OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS (2008). P.378<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[3]<\/span><\/sup><\/a> IBID. P.378<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[4]<\/span><\/sup><\/a> STEANE, J.B., SINGERS OF THE CENTURY<\/u>, VOLUME 1.,  DUCKWORTH, LONDON (1996). P.142<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[5]<\/span><\/sup><\/a> POTTER, JOHN., TENOR HISTORY OF A VOICE., YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS, NEW HAVEN AND LONDON (2009)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[6]<\/span><\/sup><\/a> IBID. P.142<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[7]<\/span><\/sup><\/a> IBID. P.144<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[8]<\/span><\/sup><\/a> IBID. P.378<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[9]<\/span><\/sup><\/a> IBID. P.378<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[10]<\/span><\/sup><\/a> IBID. P. 141 from which all these statements are taken<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[11]<\/span><\/sup><\/a> IBID. P. 378<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[12]<\/span><\/sup><\/a> MORDDEN, ETHAN., THE NEW BOOK OF OPERA ANECDOTES<\/u>. OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, (2020). P.273<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘I always had a very romantic concept of music. For me, it was something that came from the soul, something not contrived but spontaneous – lifting you, fulfilling you naturally’. Victoria de los Angeles <\/p>\n

Born in Barcelona on this day in 1923 to poor but hard-working parents , Victoria de los Angeles was one of the most loved performers of her time. Her connection with audiences, whether on the opera stage or concert hall podium was the very essence of her art. In her own words, \u2018With a good audience, I find that I can do things that I really never believed to be possible. When all you\u2019ve got to sing to is a microphone, there\u2019s none of that human warmth! When I sing in an opera house or a concert hall, I have an intuitive feeling about the audience\u2019s response. That is very important. I gain confidence from them. I find that I can do things for them that I really didn\u2019t believe would be possible. But in a recording studio you really have to forget about that altogether.\u2019 <\/p>\n

Her beginnings were not auspicious, as by her own report, she was a shy child. It was music and singing that helped her overcome this shyness, and it was her elder sister Carmen that encouraged her to sing and when she was sixteen-years-old entered Victoria in a local vocal competition that nudged her in the direction of considering singing as a career rather than medicine or literature. <\/p>\n

She began studies at the Barcelona Conservatorio with Dolores Frau, who was to remain her only singing teacher. To her great good fortune young Victoria came to the notice of a well-connected music-lover and semi-professional musician, Jos\u00e9 Maria Lama\u00f1a, whose father had been at one time President of the Conservatorio, and who performed regularly with Ars Musica. Ars Musica had been founded by Lama\u00f1a in 1935 as a seven-piece chamber ensemble with the goal of reviving older Spanish repertoire. Lama\u00f1a not only found financial backers from Catalan aristocrats and industrialists to support her studies, but managed Victoria\u2019s burgeoning career, providing her with her style (under-stated with simple gold bracelet, pearl earrings, classical dress), from which she never deviated throughout her long career. Lama\u00f1a \u2018had no intention of allowing Victoria to sing for money until she was ready. The preparation of a great voice is like the honing of a blade. If the initial work is well and patiently done, the blade will need only a little stropping for it to retain its keenness.\u2019 <\/p>\n

Her professional debut, nevertheless, was at age 19 in Barcelona as Mim\u00ec in La boh\u00e8me. The year was 1941. Her Madrid debut in 1947, was with non-other than Beniamino Gigli in Manon. It was decided that her Madrid debut needed to be with star quality given her growing reputation. On the back of winning the Geneva Singing Competition in 1947, she was invited to La scala, but in her shyness and desire to be back \u2018home\u2019 as soon as possible, she turned down the offer! In the words of her biography she received a phone call whilst in Geneva:<\/p>\n

[Oldani] \u2019We heard the broadcast. Magnificent. We would very much like you to come and sing for us here.\u2019
\n\u2018Oh, I\u2019d love to, but I\u2019m afraid I\u2019m going home today. I\u2019ve got my ticket here.\u2019
\n\u2018I quite understand, of course, but I am sure we can arrange something. It would only be a brief detour. You could change your ticket and fly back via Milan.\u2019
\n\u2018No, thank you. I want to go home. They\u2019re waiting for me.\u2019
\n\u2018Um\u2026I don\u2019t think you understand. This is La Scala. We are asking that you come to sing for us at La Scala.\u2019
\nAn incredulous Oldani put down the telephone in Milan. <\/p>\n

International success was not guaranteed and indeed her first recital in Scandinavia in a 2000-seat hall had only twenty-seven people in the audience. This was repeated in Latin America when in Brazil a mere twelve people attended. \u2018I nearly invited the twelve people there to come up on stage,\u2019 Victoria remembers. \u2018It was a lovely concert – pure music-making with friends.\u2019 <\/p>\n

By 1950 de los Angeles had been invited to Covent Garden, and in 1951 she made her Metropolitan Opera debut and she regularly sang at both houses until 1961. <\/p>\n

Her most notable roles were Rosina, Violetta, Madama Butterfly, Mim\u00ec, Manon, and Desdemona in the Italian repertoire; Marguerite, Melisande and Carmen in the French and she appeared two years running in Bayreuth as Elisabeth. Her experience at Bayreuth seems to have been one of her happiest professional engagements and her appreciation of Wieland Wagner as a producer was immense as she later commented, \u2018In many ways those are the best artistic conditions in which I ever worked.\u2019 <\/p>\n

What of her voice though? How did those who heard her live react? J.B.Steane wrote, \u2018For a start, the voice in its prime was so pure and so opulent. To song after song you could listen with uninterrupted pleasure to the sheer sound, with never a scrape nor a rattle, never a hint of surface wear or anything mean about the quality. But that of itself gives a poor idea, for it tells of what there was not\u2026.\u2019 Her colleague, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf said of her, \u2018She is quite astounding. She sings with miraculous ease and her legato is unsurpassed. Once in 1952 (or so) I heard her as Violetta and I decided not to sing it again.\u2019 Shawe-Taylor noted that she, \u2018possessed a warm, vibrant instrument of unusual clarity and flexibility, somewhat dark and southern in quality but capable of much tonal variety. In her best years the timbre of her voice was exceptionally sweet, and she was a most communicative artist in both song and opera.\u2019 <\/p>\n

Her rapport with audiences was legendary, but she was also a consummate \u2018singing obsessive\u2019. She enjoyed talking about singing and was ever-ready to learn from others; she said of Marian
\nAnderson, for example, \u2019I have never discussed singing with anyone as much as with Marian. She was an almost mystic force. What Toscanini was to conducting, she was to singing. I admired her for the simplicity of her approach to singing. Like me, she sang from the heart or not at all. She was also an extraordinarily supportive and generous colleague.\u2019 <\/p>\n

During the seventies she had almost confined herself to recitals, where she felt more fulfilled with the audience response. As an encore, it was noted that; \u2019Even then there could be another treat in store, for sometimes instead of bringing Gerald Moore back with her she would return alone but with guitar. \u2018Adios Granada\u2019 she would sing: the bold projected middle voice would fill the hall, the sensuous melisma told of dark faces and flickering shadows in a sunny land,\u2026\u2019 She performed the Catalan folk-song, \u2018Song of the Birds\u2019, for the closing ceremony of the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992 and her last concert tour was to Australia in 1995. Victoria de los Angeles died in home town of Barcelona on the 15 January 2005. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6866,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[74],"class_list":["post-6865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legendary-singers","tag-legendary-singers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/voicedetective.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/voicedetective.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/voicedetective.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voicedetective.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voicedetective.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/voicedetective.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voicedetective.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/voicedetective.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voicedetective.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voicedetective.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}