Rmv infobox, a tenor's voice is never called his instrument |
24.84.57.167 (talk) I agree, but there was sort of a consensus some time ago and it was agreed upon that this would be how it is done. If you look at other singer's articles, most are the same. |
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{{Infobox musical artist 2 |
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[[Image:Giuseppe_Di_Stefano.jpg|thumb|250px|Giuseppe Di Stefano]] |
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|Name = Giuseppe Di Stefano |
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|Background = khaki |
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|Img = Giuseppe_Di_Stefano.jpg |
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|Img_capt = Giuseppe Di Stefano |
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|Born = [[July 24]], [[1921]]<br>[[Catania|Catania, Sicily]] |
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|Died = |
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|Occupation = [[Singer|Opera Singer]] |
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|Genre = [[Opera]] |
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|Years_active = [[1946]] - [[1992]] |
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|Instrument = [[Voice]] ([[tenor]]) |
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}} |
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'''Giuseppe Di Stefano''' (born [[24 July]] [[1921]]) is a famous [[opera]] [[tenor]] whose career spanned from the late [[1940s]] to the early 1970s. Famous in his own right, he was also known for his long association with [[Maria Callas]], with whom he performed and recorded many times and with whom he was briefly romantically involved. |
'''Giuseppe Di Stefano''' (born [[24 July]] [[1921]]) is a famous [[opera]] [[tenor]] whose career spanned from the late [[1940s]] to the early 1970s. Famous in his own right, he was also known for his long association with [[Maria Callas]], with whom he performed and recorded many times and with whom he was briefly romantically involved. |
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Revision as of 18:08, 18 May 2007
Template:Infobox musical artist 2
Giuseppe Di Stefano (born 24 July 1921) is a famous opera tenor whose career spanned from the late 1940s to the early 1970s. Famous in his own right, he was also known for his long association with Maria Callas, with whom he performed and recorded many times and with whom he was briefly romantically involved.
Biography
Giuseppe Di Stefano was born in Motta Santa Anastasia, a village near Catania, Sicily. He was the only son of a carabiniere turned cobbler and his dressmaker wife. Di Stefano was educated at a Jesuit seminary and briefly contemplated entering the priesthood. Di Stefano made his operatic debut in 1946 in Reggio Emilia as Des Grieux in Massenet's Manon, the role with which he made his La Scala debut the following year. He made his debut with the Metropolitan Opera in 1948 as the Duke in Rigoletto, and he went to perform regularly in New York for many years. In 1957, Di Stefano made his British debut at the Edinburgh Festival as Nemorino in L'Elisir d'Amore and his Royal Opera House, Covent Garden debut in 1961 as Cavaradossi in Tosca.
As a singer, Di Stefano was admired for his excellent diction, unique timbre, and passionate delivery, and particularly for his sweet silky soft tones. In his Metropolitan radio debut in Faust, he attacked the high C forte and then softened to a pianissimo. Rudolf Bing said this was the most beautiful sound he ever heard come out of a human throat. But the heavier roles that he began to take on were not really suited for a lyric tenor, and by the mid 1960s he had all but ended his operatic career. (Tenor Luciano Pavarotti modeled himself after Di Stefano, and on the 1992 PBS television program Pavarotti and the Italian Tenor,[1] a vocal coach explained that Di Stefano's technique was faulty because he did not use the passagio in his voice as he should have.) In 1973, he accompanied Maria Callas on her final recital tour, an undertaking that was eventually aborted in 1974 due to the vocal shortcomings of both singers. His final operatic role was as the aged emperor in Turandot in July 1992.
Recordings with Maria Callas
In spite of the fact that his career was cut short, Di Stefano sang the tenor leads in several of the most famous recordings that Maria Callas ever made, all of which were for EMI. Among them were Rigoletto, the double-bill of Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci, and the 1953 Tosca, considered by many to be possibly Callas's greatest recording. All of these were done in the 1950s, and the Rigoletto and the Tosca are widely considered among the definitive versions of these operas.
Diani Beach incident
In December 2004, Di Stefano was critically injured in his home in Diani, Kenya after a brutal beating by unknown attackers. The retired singer was ambushed in his car with his wife as they prepared to drive from their villa in Diani, a coastal resort near Mombasa on the Indian Ocean. As of December 7, the singer was still unconscious a week after the attack and being fed intravenously, with doctors hopeful of recovery after several operations. He was then flown to the San-Raffaele-clinic at Milan, Italy.