Charismatic Tenor

Tenor Giuseppi di Stefano was heard on 2MBS-FM singing in one of his great operatic roles on the night before he died at the age of 86 on 3 March. Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci was broadcast in Historic Recordings with di Stefano singing the leading role of Canio. We are pleased to be able to bring you di Stefano this month in another of his great roles as Manrico in Verdi’s Il Trovatore, also in Historic Recordings on Sunday 4th at 8pm. In June there will also be a special tribute program. The great singer had been incapacitated since 2004 after an accident and in a coma since last December.

Giuseppe di Stefano was born in Sicily, lived in Milan from the age of six and sang in his local church choir. The discovery of his voice is said to have been when, at the age of 16, he burst into song after winning at cards. A friend suggested that he have is voice trained and consequently he studied with two of the great baritones of the day, Luigi Montesanto and Mariano Stabile. His career was delayed due to being conscripted into the Italian army during World War II and his first success was in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’Amore in a radio production in Switzerland just after the war. His stage debut in Milan was in Massenet’s Manon in the role of des Grieux.

Giuseppe di Stefano and soprano Maria Callas made an exciting and formidable duo during the years that they sang together in most of the great romantic operas. They first appeared together in 1951 in Sao Paolo, Brazil, in a production of La Traviata and were virtually inseparable in the stage productions of the great opera houses of the world and in the recording studio. Although di Stefano was the most acclaimed tenor of his day in the 1950s and early 60s, his voice declined early due to his prodigious use of it. Luciano Pavarotti ‘took the crown’ of the world’s leading tenor after replacing di Stefano who became ill after one performance of Tosca at Covent Garden in 1963. He continued to sing until 1971, retiring at the age of 40.

Speaking of Giuseppe di Stefano, the Italian Culture Minister, Francesco Rutelli, remarked that he was ‘one of the great opera singers, who was known, loved and respected around the world’. As well as having a beautiful lyric tenor voice with superb articulation, di Stefano was very handsome, had an attractive bubbling personality and a charisma that drew all to him.