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Baritone Mattia Battistini was born on February 27, 1856 in
Contigliano, near Rome. In Rome, he studied voice with Eugenio Terziani and
later with Vencesleo Persichini. In 1878, he made his professional debut at
the Teatro Argentina in Donizetti's La Favorita on less than a day's notice.
He was a great success, and over the next several years sang throughout
northern Italy in Il Trovatore, La Forza del Destino, Rigoletto, Les
Huguenots, L' Africaine, I Puritani, Lucia di Lammermoor, Ernani, and many
other operas. In 1881, he traveled to South America and on his return
stopped at Madrid and Seville to sing Figaro in The Barber of Seville. In
1883, he sang at Covent Garden in London and had a mild success, but how
could such a young singer expect to steal headlines from the likes of
Sembrich, Marconi, and Edwuard de Reszke? In 1888, he returned to South
America, but the voyage was very difficult -- that was the last time
Battistini crossed the Atlantic. He felt that crossing the English Channel
was as long as he wanted to be on a ship again. Massenet was so beguiled by
his voice that he rewrote the tenor role of Werther so that Battistini could
sing it. Beginning in 1893, he spent long periods of time each season in
Russia. The opera house at St. Petersburg included on its roster Marcella
Sembrich, Fernando de Lucia, Adamo Didur, and many other great singers from
the turn of the century. From this point on, his career was a succession of
triumphs matched by few singers in the history of opera. He sang several
Russian operas including Russlan and Ludmilla by Glinka, The Demon by
Rubinstein, and The Queen of Spades and Eugene Onegin by Tchaikovsky. He
would sing in Italian while his colleagues sang the original Russian text.
His last opera performances were in Padua, 1921, when he repeated his
Rigoletto. He continued to perform in recitals and concerts until 1927, an
astonishing 49 years after his debut. He died on November 7, 1928, at Colle
Baccaro near Rieti.
Battistini had one of the most beautiful baritone voices ever recorded. It
was not the largest voice but, because of his exemplary control, it had a
commanding presence. His voice was quite agile and he could crescendo and/or
diminuendo with ease in any range. If his voice had any weakness, it was in
the lower register which, at least on recording, does not carry well. On
several recordings, he transposed the lower notes up an octave as in his
recording of "Eri tu" from Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera.
Battistini was already 45 years old when he made his first recordings in
1902, and he continued to record until 1924 when he was 67. In all, he
recorded over 100 items, and each one has examples which we would want every
singer to listen to and to understand. His earliest recordings are prime
examples of great singing (Romophon 82008-2), with the aria from Eugene
Onegin representing the pinnacle of vocal performance. He ends the aria on
an unwritten high F that proceeds to swell and then diminish away into
nothingness. He recorded many arias several times during his career, and
while the voice was more secure in the earlier recordings, the later ones
show little loss of technical prowess. The consistency of his artistry is
the most truly remarkable aspect of this "King of the Baritones."
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