Giuseppe Lenghi-Cellini - Cujus animam (Parlophon, 1913) скачать в хорошем качестве

Giuseppe Lenghi-Cellini - Cujus animam (Parlophon, 1913)

Giuseppe Lenghi-Cellini (1881-1938) was an Italian-British tenor whose lengthy career encompassed opera, concerts, radio and recordings. Born Giuseppe Lenghi in Modena, the future tenor began singing in local choirs as a child but gave no thought to a musical career. Lenghi enrolled in the University of Bologna at age 16, focusing on legal studies. He received his doctorate in 1904 and went into practice soon after. Lenghi had studied voice during his university days and continued studies with Vincenzo Lombardi, the mentor of Caruso. He also received musical coaching from conductor Luigi Mancinelli, who advised Lenghi to abandon his law practice for a singing career. The tenor also abandoned his other musical effort, the cello. Years later, Lenghi joked that his lack of talent for that instrument led him to become a singer instead! According to most sources, Lenghi-Cellini made his debut in Pistoia as the Duke in Rigoletto in 1907. Disappointed with his lack of progress, the young tenor traveled to England, settling in London in 1908. Despite his lack of stage experience, he passed himself off as a seasoned Italian tenor, a tactic that worked. Lenghi-Cellini was invited by Dame Maggie Teyte to serve as an assisting artist for her London recitals, making his debut at Aeolian Hall on October 5, 1909. Other engagements throughout the British Isles followed, including appearances at Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre, Stockton and Thornaby Choral and Orchestral Society, Middlesbrough Symphony, Chelsea Palace, The London Coliseum, and the Wolverhampton Orchestral Society. To supplement his income, Lenghi-Cellini also worked as a song plugger for such London publishers as Francis, Day & Hunter, Darewski House, Enoch & Sons, and West & Company. Lenghi-Cellini made his Covent Garden debut on April 20, 1912 as Don José in Carmen. He sang a series of concerts with Tetrazzini at the Albert Hall in June and returned to Covent Garden the following month as Canio in Pagliacci. Unfortunately, Lenghi-Cellini never gained a foothold at Covent Garden and a contract with the Chicago Opera was cancelled due to the outbreak of war. Lenghi-Cellini decided to cut his losses and concentrate on smaller, less formal venues. Sadly, the tenor’s life was about to undergo a terrible change. After five years of wedded bliss, Lenghi-Cellini’s 24 year old wife, Vivian, died in childbirth in May 1915. To deal with his grief, the tenor threw himself into his work, singing a benefit concert in Leicester just two nights later. Eventually, Lenghi-Cellini decided he needed a bigger distraction from his loss. In November, he returned to Italy and enlisted in the Army. Lenghi-Cellini spent the next three years in uniform and received the Military Cross for bravery during the battle of Piave. Back in London in May 1919, the tenor picked up where he left off, joining Luisa Tetrazzini during the diva’s 1919 farewell tour of the UK. During the summer of 1924, Lenghi-Cellini travelled to Australia and New Zealand for a series of well received concerts, picking up an endorsement deal from Heenzo’s Cough Drops as a bonus! England, however, was his home, and he enjoyed enormous popularity as a music hall entertainer. During the 1920s the tenor appeared regularly at The London Palladium, Caernarfon Pavilion, the Alhambra, Coventry Opera House, London’s Philharmonic Hall, the Sam Vickers’ Operatic Concert Series, Queen’s Hall, New Brighton’s Winter Gardens, Margate Resort, Louis XIV Restaurant, London, The Trocadero Restaurant, and Piccadilly Hotel. In November of 1925, Lenghi-Cellini made his radio debut in a broadcast of Act I of Tosca and performed in a cabaret show titled “Au Lapin Qui Saute” at London’s National and Regional Theatres in November 1930. Lenghi-Cellini remarried in 1930 and began to limit his concert performances. He was, however, a regular presence on BBC radio. The tenor sang regularly over the airwaves for the next several years, giving one of his final performances with the BBC on January 8, 1937. Giuseppe Lenghi-Cellini died in London on March 19, 1938. He was 56. Despite his inability to forge a major operatic career, Giuseppe Lenghi-Cellini boasted a diverse repertoire of opera and oratorio, including La Bohème, Tosca, Cavalleria Rusticana, La Traviata, Samson et Dalila, Faust, Song of Hiawatha, Stabat Mater, and Messiah. Contemporary reviews suggest that the tenor was an inconsistent performer, which might explain why he was never able to establish himself on the world opera scene. He did, however, make a decent living in British music halls and smaller opera houses. Lenghi-Cellini recorded prolifically for Parlophon, Vocalion, Marathon, Coliseum, and Piccadilly between 1911 and 1929. His recordings present a well controlled lyric tenor and a very unique (and arguably indulgent!) sense of musicality. Here, Lenghi-Cellini sings “Cujus animam” from Rossini’s Stabat Mater. This was recorded in London for the Parlophon label in May 1913.