Death of a much-recorded Italian baritone, aged 84
mainGianpiero Mastromei died on September 8 and was buried today in his home town, Camaiore.
He sang Scarpia opposite both Pavarotti and Domingo and was recorded in Lohengrin with Christa Ludwig and Victoria de los Angeles.
His greatest success on record was a 1975 Philips album of Verdi’s Il Corsar, with Jessye Norman, Monserrat Caballe and Jose Carreras.
This is a terrific performance, I’ve never heard of him, but now I’ll look for his other work. I’ve occasionally become a fan of people right after they leave us.
I was surprised too, thought as a Met subscriber for over 30 years, I would have
heard about him at least, mentioned. Mystery. Never heard the mentioned
Verdi opera, think I’ll investigate on E-Bay or Amazon, or Arkiv. Powerful
voice almost in the bass baritone range? Don’t know if he was an acting
singer as Tito Gobbi was though, how many are though to be fair?
Ms. Wilkins
Gianpiero Mastromei was a premier artist. While he is remembered mostly for his verissimo roles, particularly Tosca, he was also a great Verdi artist in such roles as Macbeth, Simon Boccanegra, Forza, Othello. However, he also loved to sing Gianni Schicchi. He exploded on the opera scene in the role of Rigoletto, if I remember correctly in Parma. LaScala called him immediately. However he chose Aida as his first outing at La Scala. His rich voice, superb acting ability and gentle nature will be missed not only by the opera world but all who knew him and came to love him.