Alessandro Bonci

Alessandro Bonci
Bonci in 1911
Born	(1870-02-10)February 10, 1870 Cesena, Kingdom of Italy
Died	August 10, 1940(1940-08-10) (aged 70) Rimini, Kingdom of Italy

Alessandro Bonci (February 10, 1870 – August 9, 1940) was an Italian lyric tenor known internationally for his association with the bel canto repertoire. He sang at many famous theatres, including New York's Metropolitan Opera, Milan's La Scala and London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Biography

A native of Cesena, Romagna, Bonci started out as an apprentice shoemaker. He secured a music scholarship to the Rossini Conservatory in Pesaro, working for five years with Carlo Pedrotti (the teacher of the heroic tenor Francesco Tamagno) and then Felice Coen. He also had private singing lessons in Paris with the retired baritone Enrico Delle Sedie.

Alessandro Bonci made his debut in

Bonci was a demure man and his voice was not overly large. It was sweet-toned, stylish and supple, with excellent high notes and an easy high C. He sang with what at the time would have been considered a standard vibrato, though later generations (until our own) preferred a slower one.

References

• David Ewen, Encyclopedia of the Opera: New Enlarged Edition, New York; Hill and Wang, 1963.
• Michael Scott, The Record of Singing, London; Duckworth, 1977.
• J.B. Steane
  , The Grand Tradition, London; Duckworth, 1974.
• Harold Rosenthal and John Warrack, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera (Second Edition); Oxford University Press, 1980.

Specific

External links

• Works by Alessandro Bonci at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Alessandro Bonci at Internet Archive
• History of the Tenor - Sound Clips and Narration
• preserved recordings of Alessandro Bonci at Internet Archive: Salut, Faust (1918),..Lusia Miller (1918),.. Lucia di Lammermoor (1913)
• Alessandro Bonci cylinder recordings, from the
  UCSB Cylinder Audio Archive at the University of California, Santa Barbara
  Library.