Daniele Barioni

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Daniele Barioni (born Copparo, Ferrara, Italy, 6 September 1930 is a retired opera singer).

[edit] Early career

At the beginning he sang as a baritone, but soon his true tenor voice was discovered. He made his debut in 1949 at the Circolo Italia, in Milan, in a concert with the Chilean soprano Claudia Parada. His operatic debut was in 1954 as Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana at the Teatro Nuovo, in Milan. During his first year of career he also sang in Tosca and Madame Butterfly.

[edit] Further career

In 1955 he sang in Egypt and South Africa, and on 20 February 1956 he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, in Tosca with Delia Rigal and George London. In the next season he added La Boheme, Madame Butterfly and La Traviata, and in the season 1958 to 1959 Cavalleria Rusticana with such success that it was taken in a tour for different cities in th USA and Canada. He sang at the Met for seven years, a total of 54 performances. His last role there was in the 1962-1963 season, the Italian Tenor in Der Rosenkavalier. After 1962 he did not return to the MET but sang continiously in other American cities until 1975.

Though for many years his career was mostly developed in the United States, he sang in Italy in different cities and theaters, and also in Brazil, Mexico , Argentina, Canada, Portugal, France, Germany and Ireland. In 1958 he appeared in an Italian film, Carosello di Canzoni. Though he was a favorite in Rome where he sang for many years at the Opera and Caracalla, he sang at the famous La Scala only in 1966, as Pinkerton and Turiddu. Though his repertory was basically that of a spinto tenor and he was always asked to repeat his well-known roles in Tosca, Fanciulla del West or Cavalleria Rusticana, he also obtained acclaim in Nabucco, Macbeth, Fedora, Andrea Chenier, Turandot and Gioconda, as well as in some operas not associated with his type of voice, such as Lucia di Lammermoor and Rigoletto , or rarely performed like, Lucrezia by Respighi, La Rondine by Puccini or La Vida Breve by De Falla. His repertory included a total of 31 different operas.

Barioni and Maria Callas sang together only once, a single performance of La traviata on 6 February 1958 with Mario Zanasi as Germont.

Barioni married in 1957 the Italian-American pianist Vera Franceschi. In 1958 their son Giulio Barioni was born. She died prematurely of leukemia in 1966. Her death also meant the decline of Barioni's career as a singer. From 1975 to 1980 he appeared in opera and concerts, but not so often as in previous years. His last appearance was in a concert with Renata Tebaldi at the Teatro Comunale, in Ferrara, in 1981, to receive the Premio Frescobaldi 1980.

Mario del Monaco gave the following commentaries on Barioni:

"Sei la piú bella voce di tenore dei nostri giorni". Vai sicuro, che nessuno ti puó fregare" (1959)
"Per fortuna che Barioni si é defilato, altrimenti ci mandava tutti a rapanelli"

[edit] Recordings

His only commercial recording was La rondine with Anna Moffo (RCA-1966). Considered much better, however, are his live performances issued on several private labels. Some years ago in Italy were issued several LPs with mostly live material: