Bastianini had a tragic life. At one point, he was the most renowned baritone in the opera world. And just a few years later, he suffered and died from cancer of the throat. However, in his prime, there was no baritone in the world like him. Having started out as a bass gave him the richness of his voice. Additionally, he places the air very high, and this air goes to the resonating cavities of his head. This gives him volume and overtones.
In the fall of 1954, Bastianini joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera and sang there regularly through May 1957. His roles at the Met during this time included Amonasro in Aida, Carlo Gérard, Conte di Luna in Il trovatore, Enrico, Germont, Marcello in La bohème, Escamillo in Carmen, Rodrigo in Don Carlo and the title role in Rigoletto.
He returned to the Met in January 1965, where he spent most of that year singing in several of his prior roles with the company and portraying Scarpia in Tosca. His 87th and final performance at the Met was as Rodrigo on December 11, 1965. It was also, coincidentally, the last performance of his career.
Donizetti, Poliuto
SEVERO
Decio, signor del mondo,
popolo armeno, a te m’invia: felice
egli ti brama, ed a tal uopo ingiunto
m’ha d’estirpar l’iniqua
sacrilega genia ribelle ai numi,
che s’annida fra voi, come tra i fiori
malvagia serpe.
(da sé)
In breve ti rivedrò, mia speme!
Il sen mi scuote
un palpitar frequente! …
La tua dolce presenza
il cor già sente!
Di tua beltade immagine
è questo sol ch’io miro;
piena è di te quest’aura,
piena del tuo respiro …
Ah! tutto in queste arene
parla contento e amor!
Celeste Iddio propizio
chiuse la mia ferita,
pur da te lunge, ah! Misero!
Io non sentia la vita …
Dappresso a te, mio bene,
saprò che vivo ancor! ecc.
Donizetti, Poliuto
SEVERO
Decius, lord of the world,
Armenian people, he sends me to you: happily
he longs for you and prescribes that
He has to uproot the morally wrong
Profane wicked rebelling against the gods,
That nestles between you lik, like among the flowers,
A wicked snake.
(To himself)
Soon I will see you again, my hope!
The feeling agitates me
A frequent racing of my heart!…
Your sweet presence
My heart already senses it!
The image of your beauty
It is the sun that I look at;
This aura is full of you,
Full of your breath…
Ah! everything in these arenas
Speak happily and of love!
Heavenly auspicious God
May my wound be closed
Although far from you, ah! Wretch!
I felt no life
Close to you, my love,
I will know that I still live!
Carlo – Ettore Bastianini
Alvaro – Franco Corelli
Verdi, La forza del destino, Act III duet
CARLO
Invano Alvaro ti celasti al mondo,
e d’ipocrita veste
scudo facesti alla viltà. Del chiostro
ove t’ascondi m’additâr la via
l’odio e la sete di vendetta; alcuno
qui non sarà che ne divida. Il sangue,
solo il tuo sangue può lavar l’oltraggio
che macchìo l’onor mio,
e tutto il verserò. Lo giuro a Dio.
Entra Don Alvaro, in abito da frate
ALVARO
Fratello …
CARLO
Riconoscimi.
ALVARO
Don Carlo! Voi, vivente!
CARLO
Da un lustro ne vo’ in traccia,
Ti trovo finalmente;
Col sangue sol cancellasi
L’infamia ed il delitto.
Ch’io ti punisca è scritto
Sul libro del destin.
Tu prode fosti, or monaco,
Un ‘arma qui non hai …
Deggio il tuo sangue spargere.
Scegli, due ne portai.
ALVARO
Vissi nel mondo, intendo;
Or queste vesti, l’eremo,
Dicon che i falli ammendo,
Che penitente è il cor.
Lasciatemi.
CARLO
Difendere
Quel sajo, né il deserto.
Codardo, te nol possono.
ALVARO
trasalendo
Codardo! Tale asserto …
frenandosi
No, no! Assistimi, Signore!
a Don Carlo
Le minaccie, i fieri accenti,
Portin seco in preda i venti;
Perdonatemi, pietà,
O fratel, pietà, pietà!
A che offendere cotanto
Chi fu solo sventurato?
Deh, chiniam la fronte al fato,
O fratel, pietà, pietà!
CARLO
Tu contamini tal nome.
Una suora mi lasciasti
Che tradita abbandonasti
All’infamia, al disonor.
ALVARO
No, non fu disonorata,
Ve lo giura un sacerdote!
Sulla terra l’ho adorata
Come in cielo amar si puote.
L’amo ancora, e s’ella m’ama
Più non brama questo cor.
CARLO
Non si placa il mio furore
Per mendace e vile accento;
L’arme impugna ed al cimento
Scendi meco, o traditor.
ALVARO
Se i rimorsi, il pianto omai
Non vi parlano per me,
Qual nessun mi vide mai,
Io mi prostro al vostro pié!
S’inginocchia
CARLO
Ah la macchia del tuo stemma
Or provasti con quest’atto!
ALVARO
balzando in piedi, furente
Desso splende più che gemma.
CARLO
Sangue il tinge di mulatto.
ALVARO
non potendo più frenarsi
Per la gola voi mentite!
A me un brando!
Glielo strappa di mano
Un brando, uscite!
CARLO
Finalmente!
ALVARO
ricomponendosi
No, l’inferno non trionfi.
Va, riparti.
Getta via la spada
CARLO
Ti fai dunque di me scherno?
ALVARO
Va.
CARLO
S’ora meco misurarti,
O vigliacco, non hai core,
Ti consacro al disonore.
Gli dà uno schiaffo
ALVARO
furente
Ah, segnasti la tua sorte!
Morte.
Raccoglie la spada
CARLO
Morte! A entrambi morte!
CARLO e ALVARO:
Ah! Vieni a morte,
A morte andiam!
Escono, correndo.
Verdi, la Forza del destino, Act III duet
CARLOS
In vain, Alvaro, have you concealed yourself
from the world, and hypocritically made
a monk’s habit a shield for your baseness.
Hatred and the thirst for revenge have pointed me
the way to the monastery where you are hiding.
There will be no one here to intervene between us.
Blood, your blood alone, can wash away
the outrage that stained my honour;
and I will spill it all, I swear to God!
Don Alvaro enters in a monk’s habit.
ALVARO
Brother …
CARLOS
Know who I am!
ALVARO
Don Carlos! You – alive!
CARLOS
For five years I have searched for you;
at last I’ve found you.
With blood alone can the disgrace
and the crime be wiped out.
That I should punish you
is written in the book of fate.
Once you were brave;
now, as a monk, you have no sword …
I must spill your blood:
choose, for I have brought two …
ALVARO
Once I lived in the world, so I understand;
now this robe, this retreat,
show that I am making amends for my misdeeds,
and that my heart is penitent.
Leave me!
CARLOS
Neither that monk’s habit
nor this solitary place
can protect you, coward!
ALVARO
starting forward
Coward! You dare to say …
restraining himself
Ah, no! Help me, Lord!
to Don Carlos
Let threats and violent words
be carried away by the winds.
Forgive me; have pity,
brother, have pity!
Why so insult one
who was only unfortunate?
Come, let us bow before fate;
brother, have pity!
CARLOS
You sully such a word.
Ah! You left to me a sister
who, betrayed, you abandoned
to infamy and dishonor.
ALVARO
No, she was not dishonored –
I swear it to you as a priest.
On earth, I adored her
as one can love in heaven.
I love her still; if she still loves me,
my heart asks for nothing more.
CARLOS
My rage is not to be placated
by lying and cowardly words;
take up a sword, traitor,
and do battle with me!
ALVARO
If remorse and tears
no longer plead for me,
I will do what no one has ever seen me do –
throw myself at your feet!
CARLOS
Ah, you have proved the stain
on your coat of arms by this act.
ALVARO
leaping to his feet in fury
It shines brighter than a jewel.
CARLOS
It is tinted with your half-breed’s blood.
ALVARO
unable to restrain himself
You lie in your throat!
Give me a sword, a sword – lead on!
He snatches one from his hand.
CARLOS
At last!
ALVARO
recovering himself
No – the devil
shall not triumph. Go, leave me.
He throws down his sword.
CARLOS
So you mock me?
ALVARO
Go.
CARLOS
If now, coward, you lack courage
to measure swords with me,
I condemn you to dishonor.
He slaps his face.
ALVARO
in a fury
Ah, now you have sealed your fate!
seizing the sword again
Death!
Ah! death, come forth to death! Let us go!
CARLOS
Death … death to both!
Ah! death, come forth to death! Let us go!
They rush off, left.
Ettore Bastianini
September 24, 1922 – January 25, 1967
This section is entirely taken from Bastianini’s obituary from the New York Times, published on January 27, 1967.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Ettore Bastianini, a leading operatic baritone, died last night at a clinic in the Lake Garda resort. He was 43 years old.
Mr. Bastianini sang several seasons with New York’s Metropolitan Opera.
Mr. Bastianini had been suffering from cancer of the vocal chords and epiglottis for four years, but he would not allow his affliction to be made public while he was alive, his physician Louis Perrotta said in New York yesterday.
After the condition was discovered, Mr. Bastianini continued to sing with one vocal chord and a paralyzed diaphragm until his final appearance at the Metropolitan Opera as Rodrigo in Verdi’s Don Carlo on 11/11/1965.
Acts of physical courage were common in his career. In his youth, the singer often competed in the Palio, the unusual horse race run on cobblestones bareback, around in Siena’s medieval piazza. Jockeys are permitted anything short of pulling a gun on their rivals.
At 18, he was a mechanic with the Italian Air Force in Africa. When it became clear that Italy was losing WWII, he and some friends, with only a sketchy knowledge of flying, stole a plane and flew back to Italy.
Mr. Bastianini, a choir singer, went to Florence to study as a basso. During a season in Cairo, he became a baritone. Before he came to the Metropolitan for the 1953-54 season, he had sung widely in Italy and had been a member of La Scala Opera of Milan. In 1955, co-starred with Maria Callas in a memorable production of “La Traviata”, staged by Luchino Vischonti.
He also sang in Bellini’s “Il Pirata” and Verdi’s “Ballo in Maschera” with Miss Callas.
Harold C. Schonberg, critic of The New York Times wrote on Dec. 26, 1953 of Mr. Bastianini’s Count di Luna in “Il Trovatore”: “He was a commanding figure on stage, a young-looking threatening count who moved assuredly through his stage business. His singing was up to par established by his previous appearances.”
On Dec. 3, 1955, Mr. Schoonberg wrote of Mr. Bastianini’s Gérard in “Andrea Chenier”, that “here is a fine vocal technique and a completely natural actor, one with presence and dignity on the stage.”
Of his final performances at the Met two years after he discovered his illness, Theodore Strongin wrote in The Times that “Ettore Bastianini as Roderigo was vocally steady throughout and always convincing as an actor.”
Mr. Bastianini and his wife were separated. They had a son.
The singer was given a funeral service in Milan yesterday, and on Saturday morning there will be another in his native Siena. His Metropolitan Opera colleagues , Carlo Bergonzi and Franco Corelli, will sing.