Antonio Scotti
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Antonio Scotti (January 25, 1866-February 26, 1936) was an Italian baritone. He was principal baritone of the Metropolitan Opera for 25 years.
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[edit] Life
Scotti was born in Naples, and received his early training from a Mme. Trifari-Payanini and Vincenzo Lombardi. He made his debut in Malta in 1889, singing Amonasro in Giuseppe Verdi's Aida. Performances throughout eastern Europe and South America followed, as did engagements in Italy and Spain. In 1898 he debuted at La Scala as Hans Sachs. Scotti's American debut came in the fall of 1899, when he sang in Chicago; on December 27 of the same year he made his first appearance at the Metropolitan Opera, singing the title role in Don Giovanni. Scotti remained with the company for 35 years, becoming noted for his elegant, well-schooled performances in bel canto operas as well as in verismo roles; he was the first baritone to sing Scarpia in the United States, and appeared in the American premieres of Francesco Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur, Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari's Le donne curiose, Umberto Giordano's Fedora, Franco Leoni's L'Oracolo, and Isidore de Lara's Messaline. He also performed roles as diverse as Rigoletto, Malatesta, Sharpless, Falstaff, and Marcello at the Metropolitan, and appeared in many company premieres; he performed when his close friend Enrico Caruso made his company debut in Rigoletto, and sang Scarpia to fifteen different Toscas over the course of his career at the house.
Scotti formed his own opera company sometime after World War I; calling it the Scotti Opera Company, he managed it for four seasons while touring the United States. He celebrated his 25th anniversary with the Met on January 1, 1924 in a gala performance of Tosca. His final appearance with the company came on January 20, 1933, when he sang Chim-Fen in L'Oracolo; he had created the role in 1905.
Scotti was elected as an honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, the national fraternity for men in music, in 1917 at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. He died in Naples in 1936.
[edit] Notable roles
- Baron Scarpia, Tosca
- Chim-Fen, L'Oracolo
- Rigoletto, Rigoletto
- Iago, Otello
- Don Giovanni, Don Giovanni
- Amonasro, Aida
- Dr. Malatesta, Don Pasquale
- Falstaff, Falstaff
- Marcello, La Boheme
- Sharpless, Madama Butterfly
- Hans Sachs, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
[edit] Media
Scotti singing "Eri tu" from Un Ballo in Maschera
[edit] References
David Ewen, Encyclopedia of the Opera.
