L'assassinio di Florence Nightingake

The Sicilian-born tenor Giuseppe Di Stefano emerged in Switzerland after fleeing there when the Nazis took over Italy. There he made his first recordings after appearing on local radio in opera broadcasts. He made his operatic debut as Des Grieux in Massenet’s Manon at Regio Emilia on 20 April 1946 after which his rise was rapid. He débuted at La Scala in the same role in March 1947 and as the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto at the Metropolitan Opera the following year with Leonard Warren in the title role. These were Di Stefano’s golden years, singing roles such as Fenton in Verdi’s Falstaff, Almaviva in Il Barbiere de Siviglia, Nemorino in L’Elisir d’amore and Alfredo in La Traviata. His early 78rpm recordings from this period reveal a voice of great lyric beauty (CD 1 trs1-5) and when the repertoire was right and when he resisted putting pressure on his open-throated forward tone. His outgoing and exuberant, if insouciant, personality did not take restriction to heart. If he could sing a note or a phrase full out he did so and even on these early tracks in the revealing sound of CD one can detect a touch of dryness, even rawness, at the top of the voice although without detracting from the attraction of his pianissimo and mezza voce singing.

Robert J Farr, MusicWeb International