Ezio Pinza
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Italian bass Ezio Pinza (18 May 1892 - 9 May 1957) was one of the outstanding opera singers of the first half of the 20th century. He spent twenty-two seasons at New York's Metropolitan Opera, appearing in more than 750 performances of fifty operas.
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[edit] Biography
Pinza was born in Rome and grew up in Ravenna. He studied at Bologna's Conservatorio Martini. His operatic debut was in 1914 as Oroveso in Norma in Cremona.
After World War I, he debuted at Rome in 1919 and Milan's La Scala in February, 1922. Pinza's Met debut came November 1926 in Spontini's La Vestale, with famed American soprano Rosa Ponselle in the title role. In 1929, he sang Don Giovanni, a role with which he was subsequently to become closely identified. He subsequently added the Mozart roles Figaro (in 1940) and Sarastro (in 1942) to his repertoire, as well as a vast number of Italian operatic roles of Bellini, Donizetti, and Verdi, as well as Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov (sung in Italian).
He sang with Arturo Toscanini and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra as the bass soloist in the 1935 performances of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis. One of the performances was broadcast and preserved on transcription discs; this recording has been issued on LPs and CDs.
After retiring from the Met in 1948, Pinza embarked on a second career on Broadway. In April 1949, he appeared in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific and his operatic, expressive performance of "Some Enchanted Evening" made him a matinee idol and a national celebrity. He also appeared in the Broadway production of Fanny in 1954, opposite Florence Henderson.
Pinza died at age 64. His funeral was held at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City.
Oddly, Pinza could not sight-read a musical score. He would listen to his part being played on the piano, and having heard it, he could sing it.
[edit] Films and Television
Pinza appeared in several films, beginning with Carnegie Hall (1947), which featured a number of famous classical singers, musicians, conductors, and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. He also appeared in a couple of MGM films (in Technicolor), including Mr. Imperium with Lana Turner and Strictly Dishonorable, both released in 1951. His final film appearance was as the famous Russian bass Feodor Chaliapin in the Technicolor film biography of impresario Sol Hurok, Tonight We Sing (1953); he sang a portion of Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov in the original Russian.
He hosted his own television program in 1951. In 1953 he appeared as the lead character Babbo Bonino, a retired opera singer, on the short-lived NBC series Bonino. He also made several live television appearances betweem 1951 and 1955.[1]
[edit] Recordings
He recorded extensively for the Victor Talking Machine Company, which became RCA Victor in 1929, recording primarily operatic arias as late as 1953. He made a few 78-rpm albums for Columbia Records in the mid 1940s; some of these have been reissued on LP and CD. He occasionally recorded popular songs and was featured on Columbia's original cast recording of South Pacific with Mary Martin, released on both LP and 78-rpm discs; this recording has been digitally remastered from the original magnetic tape recording by Sony for release CD. He was also featured in RCA's original cast album of Fanny.[2]
| Preceded by Ray Bolger for Where's Charley? |
Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical 1950 for South Pacific |
Succeeded by Robert Alda for Guys and Dolls |
