Italo Campanini

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Italo Campanini (June 30, 1845-November 14, 1896) was an Italian tenor. He was the brother of conductor Cleofonte Campanini.

Born in Parma, Campanini studied in that city before making his operatic debut in Il trovatore, in 1869, in Odessa. Further study with Francesco Lamperti in Milan followed, and in 1871 he returned to the stage in Bologna, scoring his first major success in the Italian premiere of Lohengrin. He toured the United States in 1873, and again between 1879 and 1880. At the Metropolitan Opera, on October 22, 1883, he sang the title role in the performance of Charles Gounod's Faust which inaugurated the company. After 1883 he lived primarily in New York City, serving as the Metropolitan's lead tenor; he was among the most popular tenors in the United States before Enrico Caruso.

Campanini died in Villa Vigatto in 1896.

[edit] Reference

• David Ewen, Encyclopedia of the Opera: New Enlarged Edition. New York; Hill and Wang, 1963.