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Edoardo Garbin - Donna non vidi mai

Edoardo Garbin (1865-1943) was an Italian lirico-spinto tenor who made a specialty of verismo roles during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born to a farming family in Padua, the young Garbin showed musical promise from an early age. He began working with celebrated bass Antonio Selva (creator of Silva in Ernani and Count Walter in Luisa Miller) in the mid-1880s. Following Selva’s death in 1889, Garbin continued his vocal studies with Vittorio Orefice (teacher of Aureliano Pertile), who continued to build the young tenor’s technique. Garbin’s debut occurred on September 6, 1891 at the Teatro Comunale in Vicenza as Don Alvaro in La Forza del Destino. Within four months, Garbin was singing the Duke in Rigoletto at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples and in October of 1892, he was entrusted with the role of Don Fernando Guevara in the world premiere of Franchetti’s much heralded Cristoforo Colombo at Genoa’s Teatro Carlo Felice. Garbin continued his meteoric rise. Less than a year and a half after his debut, he created the role of Fenton in the world premiere of Verdi’s final opera, Falstaff. Was the young tenor really ready to take on such an assignment, though? Verdi, it seems, had his doubts. The great composer had originally tried to secure Angelo Masini for the role of Fenton but had to settle on Garbin when the legendary tenor proved to be unavailable. Verdi coached the role with Garbin for a solid month, during which time the composer fired off a letter to publisher Ricordi, expressing his dissatisfaction. Verdi complained that the tenor was simply not picking up the part quickly enough. The composer stated that Garbin needed, “…a pedant who would teach him notes, tempo and clear words well.” Verdi also complained to Ricordi of Garbin’s habit of spreading his final vowels. “For example,” he wrote, “when he pronounces ‘che gli risponde alla sua parolaaa’, the ‘a’ is so open that his voice changes and seems to be somebody else’s.” Somehow, composer and tenor managed to find the right mutual wavelength and Garbin sang in the opera’s premiere at La Scala on February 9, 1893. Incidentally, the Nanetta to Garbin’s Fenton, Austrian born soprano Adelina Stehle (1860-1945), was to become the tenor’s frequent singing partner, as well as his wife. Garbin built a major career in Italy, but was never invited to sing in North America. In fact, the English-speaking world seemed to have little use for Edoardo Garbin. His one season in London (1908) was a total disaster, with one critic describing his Cavaradossi as “miserable”. Luckily, much of Europe, including Germany, Austria, Russia, Poland, Spain and Portugal (not to mention South America) had a much greater appreciation for the tenor’s talents. His repertoire included leading roles in such works as La Bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, Manon Lescaut, Fedora, Adriana Lecouvreur, Andrea Chénier, Cavalleria Rusticana, Iris, Loreley, Mefistofele, La Gioconda, La Traviata, Rigoletto, Carmen, Manon and Lohengrin. Garbin created the role of Milio Dufresne in the world premiere of Leoncavallo’s Zazà in Milan in November of 1900. He also had the honor of creating four roles in operas which never entered the standard repertoire, Spiro Samara’s Rhea (Florence, 1908), Héllera by Italo Montemezzi (Turin, 1909), Giocondo Fino’s La Festa del Grano (Turin, 1910) and La Dubarry by Ezio Camussi (Milan, 1912). After passing the age of 50, Garbin began to curtail his operatic performances. After a final La Bohème at Florence’s Teatro Pergola in 1918, Garbin left the stage for good. He retired to Brescia, where he passed away in 1943 at the age of 78. Edoardo Garbin’s death marked the end of an era. The tenor was the last surviving male singer to have premiered a Verdi opera. Edoardo Garbin made dozens of recordings between 1902 and 1913 for The Gramophone and Typewriter Company, Fonotipia and Columbia. The tenor runs the gamut from truly stellar to almost hopelessly inept in these discs. Some of Garbin’s recordings reveal careless musicianship (late entrances abound), a dull and colorless timbre (bringing to mind Verdi’s complaint about overly spread vowels) and painfully flat notes. During introductions or between phrases he can frequently be heard coughing or clearing his throat. When he is at his best, however (which is much of the time, to be fair), the tenor offers phrases of vocal and artistic eloquence that are truly breathtaking. In this recording, Garbin sings "Donna non vidi mai" from Puccini's Manon Lescaut. This was recorded in Milan for the Fonotipia label in November of 1904.