Mario del Monaco (1915-1982) was a legendary Italian dramatic tenor, whose career took him to major theaters on both sides of the Atlantic. He was born in Florence to a musical family and began studying violin as a child. Singing, however, was his passion, and he gave his first public performance at the age of 13. Del Monaco’s operatic debut (of sorts) was as Arturo in an amateur production of Lucia di Lammermoor when he was just 17. Realizing that he was not the lyric tenor his teachers insisted he was, he entered Pesaro’s Rossini Conservatory, where he studied with Arturo Melocchi. The celebrated pedagogue helped to cement his student’s technique, allowing him to grow into a true dramatic tenor. In 1939 del Monaco debuted at the Teatro Comunale in Cagli as Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana. A more “official” debut occurred on New Year’s Eve 1940 as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly at Milan’s Teatro Puccini. WWII found the tenor serving in the Italian army, but after the war’s end, del Monaco’s career began in earnest. During the mid to late ‘40s, he made important debuts at the Arena di Verona, Milan’s La Scala, London’s Covent Garden, and the major theaters of Rome, Naples, Barcelona, Lisbon and Stockholm. He first travelled overseas for engagements in Buenos Aires, Rio and Mexico City and made his U.S. debut in San Francisco as Andrea Chénier on October 31, 1950.
Del Monaco was invited by Rudolf Bing to sing a performance of Manon Lescaut with the Met the following month. The tenor’s November 27th debut with the company was not as well received as one might hope. Douglas Watt of the NY Daily News referred to del Monaco as “A one-time loser”. Cecil Smith of Musical America was a bit more encouraging. “Mr. Del Monaco revealed no faults that a little grooming could not eliminate”, he opined. Most critics praised the tenor’s good looks, manly physique and robust voice, but agreed that his stage deportment was antiquated and that his constant fortissimo singing was exciting, but tedious. Del Monaco was invited back to the Met a year later, singing Radames in Aïda on opening night in 1951. He remained with the company for nine seasons, singing over 140 performances of 16 roles including the leads in Il Trovatore, La Gioconda, Tosca, Pagliacci, Carmen, Norma, and the title roles in Ernani, Andrea Chénier, Samson et Dalila and Otello.
Del Monaco enjoyed the life of an opera star and the financial rewards that came with it. His palatial villa (“paid for by bad reviews”, as he was fond of saying) was home to his other passion, sports cars. His wife, former opera singer Rina Filippini, told reporters that she would buy her husband a boat. When asked why, she replied, “Mario loves cars too much”…a prophetic quip. On December 15, 1963, as the tenor was driving near Rome, he lost control of his car on the rain slick pavement, causing a horrific crash. Del Monaco was rushed to a Rome hospital, where he was found to have a shattered right femur, broken pelvis, fractured ribs, injuries to his kidneys, as well as a torn lip and other severe cuts. His condition was reported as serious and he spent the next three months in the hospital, undergoing surgeries and recuperating.
After nearly a year out of commission, del Monaco came back in his most celebrated role, Otello, with Philadelphia Grand Opera in October of 1964. His career continued in Europe and the Americas, in both opera and concert, for the next decade. However, chronic renal failure compelled the tenor to curtail his performances in his late 50s, and he bade farewell to the stage in Vienna as Canio in 1975. In retirement, del Monaco remained active, giving interviews, coaching young singers and even making a film, Primo Amore, in 1978. Sadly, his health continued to deteriorate. On October 16, 1982, as the great tenor was arriving at a Venice hospital for dialysis, he suffered a heart attack and died at the age of 67.
Mario del Monaco was a man of many talents. He was an accomplished painter whose work was often exhibited. He was a motion picture actor, appearing in eight films, as well as providing the singing voice for Ermanno Randi in The Young Caruso (1951). His repertoire of over 40 operas included La Forza del Destino, La Fanciulla del West, Turandot, Il Tabarro, Fedora, Adriana Lecouvreur, Les Troyens, Francesca da Rimini, Die Walküre, and Lohengrin. The charismatic tenor, “The Brass Bull of Milan”, as he was called, was able to send audiences into a frenzy with his trumpeting top notes, yet critics were quick to condemn him for always singing at full throttle. Del Monaco WAS capable of sensitive singing. He simply preferred to give the public what they eagerly expected from him. Here, del Monaco sings “Amor ti vieta” from Giordano’s Fedora. This was recorded during a performance at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples in 1965 with Francesco Molinari Pradelli at the podium.
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