Giuseppe Taddei was an important baritone in the post war period. He had a resonant sound and could move the voice. He also had a remarkably long career, singing well into his 70s. He is said to have been a great Amonsaro. An excerpt from a Mexico City Aida with Callas is below. Listen, and see what you think.
Verdi, Aida, “O tu che sei d’osiride”
AMONASRO
A te grave cagion
M’adduce, Aida.
Nulla sfugge al mio sguardo.
D’amor ti struggi
Per Radamès, ei t’ama, e lo attendi.
Dei Faraon la figlia è tua rivale…
Razza infame, aborrita e a noi fatale!
AIDA
E in suo potere io sto!
Io, d’Amonasro figlia!
AMONASRO
In poter di lei!
No! se lo brami
La possente rival tu vincerai.
E patria, e trono, e amor, tutto tu avrai.
Rivedrai le foreste imbalsamate,
Le fresche valli, i nostri templi d’or.
AIDA
Rivedrò le foreste imbalsamate,
Le fresche valli, i nostri templi d’or.
AMONASRO
Sposa felice a lui che amasti tanto,
Tripudii immensi ivi potrai gioir.
AIDA
Un giorno solo di sì dolce incanto,
Un’ora di tal gioia, e poi morir!
AMONASRO
Pur rammenti che a noi l’Egizio immite,
Le case, i templi e l’are profanò,
Trasse in ceppi le vergini rapite;
Madri, vecchi,
Fanciulli ei trucidò.
AIDA
Ah! ben rammento quegl’infausti giorni!
Rammento i lutti che il mio cor soffrì.
Deh, fate, o Numi, che per noi ritorni
L’alba invocata de’ sereni dì.
AMONASRO
Rammenta…
Non fia che tardi.
In armi ora si desta
Il popol nostro; tutto è pronto già,
Vittoria avrem. Solo a saper mi resta
Qual sentiero il nemico seguirà.
AIDA
Chi scoprirlo potria? chi mai?
AMONASRO
Tu stessa!
AIDA
Io!
AMONASRO
Radamès so che qui attendi…Ei t’ama…
Ei conduce gli Egizii…
Intendi?
AIDA
Orrore!
Che mi consigli tu? No! no! giammai!
AMONASRO (con impeto selvaggio)
Su, dunque! sorgete,
Egizie coorti!
Col fuoco struggete
Le nostre città.
Spargete il terrore,
Le stragi, le morti.
Al vostro furore
Più freno non v’ha.
AIDA
Ah padre!
AMONASRO (respingendola)
Mia figlia ti chiami!
AIDA
Pietà!
AMONASRO
Flutti di sangue scorrono
Sulle città dei vinti.
Vedi? dai negri vortici
Si levano gli estinti.
Ti additan essi e gridano:
Per te la patria muor!
AIDA
Pietà! Ah padre, pietà!
AMONASRO
Una larva orribile
Fra l’ombre a noi s’affaccia.
Trema! le scarne braccia
Sul capo tuo levò.
Tua madre ell’è, ravvisala,
Ti maledice…
AIDA (nel massimo terrore)
Ah! padre! no!…Ah! pietà, padre!, ecc.
AMONASRO (respingendola)
Non sei mia figlia!
Dei Faraoni tu sei la schiava!
AIDA
Ah! Pietà! Pietà!
Padre, a costoro schiava non sono;
Non maledirmi, non imprecarmi;
Ancor tua figlia potrai chiamarmi,
Della mia patria degna sarò.
AMONASRO
Pensa che un popolo vinto, straziato,
Per te soltanto risorger può…
AIDA
O patria! o patria…quanto mi costi!
AMONASRO
Coraggio! ei giunge, là tutto udrò.
Verdi, Aida, the Nile scene
AMONASRO
A grave matter
has brought me here, Aida.
Nothing escapes my eyes.
Love for Radamès is killing you.
He loves you too. You are waiting for him.
The daughter of the Pharaohs is your rival –
Princess of a hated race, our deadly enemy.
AIDA
And I am in her power!
I, the daughter of Amonasro!
AMONASRO
In her power!
No! if you wish,
you can defeat your powerful rival,
and fatherland, throne and love will all be yours.
You will see again our fragrant forests,
the cool valleys and the golden temples.
AIDA
1 shall see again our fragrant forests,
the cool valleys and the golden temples.
AMONASRO
Happy bride of the one you love,
you shall know great joys at last.
AIDA
One day of such enchantment,
one hour of such great joy – then I can die!
AMONASRO
You have not forgotten that pitiless Egypt
defiled our altars, temples and homes,
carrying off our maidens in slavery,
murdering our mothers, our old men and out
children?
AIDA
Ah, I remember well those unhappy days,
and the mournful sorrow which filled my heart!
Ah, grant, O gods, that for us may return
the dawn of this peaceful days for which we pray.
AMONASRO
Remember…
It cannot be long delayed.
Our people even now are ready for battle;
all is prepared, and we shall conquer.
One thing is lacking – for me to know
the route that the enemy will follow.
AIDA
Who could find out? Who?
AMONASRO
You could!
AIDA
I!
AMONASRO
I know you are waiting for Radamès. He loves you.
He is the Egyptian captain.
Do you understand?
AIDA
A horrid thought!
What are you asking of me? No, never!
AMONASRO (fiercely)
Arise then
soldiers of Egypt!
Sack and burn
our cities!
Spread terror,
rape and death!
There is no rein now
to your fury!
AIDA
Ah, father! father!
AMONASRO (repulsing her)
You call yourself my daughter!
AIDA
Have pity!
AMONASRO
Waves of blood are flowing
over the vanquished cities.
See – from the black swirls
the dead arise.
They point at you and cry,
“Because of you, our country dies!”
AIDA
Have pity! Father, have pity!
AMONASRO
A horrid spectre
rises in the shadows before us.
Tremble, for over your head
it lifts its bony arms.
It is your mother – see her,
she is cursing you!
AIDA (terrified)
Ah! father! no! have pity! etc.
AMONASRO (repulsing her)
You are not my daughter!
You are the slave of the Pharaohs!
AIDA
Ah! Have pity! Have pity!
Father, I am not their slave.
Do not curse me nor revile me –
you will call be daughter again,
for I shall be worthy of my country.
AMONASRO
Remember that a whole people, conquered
and suffering, can rise again through you!
AIDA
O fatherland, what a price I must pay, for thee!
AMONASRO
Be brave! He is coming now. I shall hear all.
Donizetti, La Favorita, “Vien Leonora”
Alfonso
(seguendo con lo sguardo Don Gasparo)
Ma de’ malvagi invan sul capo mio
sventure impreca invida rabbia, invano;
di tutti l’inique trame io scerno.
Per te, mia vita, affronterei l’averno.
Vien, Leonora, a’ piedi tuoi
serto e soglio il cor ti pone.
Ah! se amare il re tu puoi,
mai del don si pentirà,
lo splendor delle corone
cede innanzi alla beltà.
De’ nemici tuoi lo sdegno
disfidar saprò per te;
se a te cessi e l’alma e il regno,
io per gli altri ancor son re.
De’ miei dì compagna io voglio
farti, o bella, innanzi al ciel,
al mio fianco unita in soglio,
al mio fianco nell’avel.
(movendo incontro a Don Gasparo, che ritorna, e col quale s’intrattiene)
Per la festa previen tutta mia corte.
Donizetti, La Favorita, “Come Leonora”
ALFONSO
following Don Gasparo with his eyes
But the wicked in vain
On my head misfortunes curse envious rage, in vain;
Of all the iniquitous plots I see.
For you, my dear, I would face hell.
Come, Leonora, at your feet
I lay my throne and a wreath.
Ah! if you can love the king,
He will never regret the gift,
The splendor of crowns
yields before beauty.
I will defy the disdain
Of your enemies for you;
If your soul and kingdom cease,
I am still king for the others.
I want to make you my companion in my days,
Oh, beauty, before heaven,
United at my side on the throne,
At my side in the tomb.
(moving to meet Don Gasparo, who returns, and with whom he converses)
My entire court is coming for the celebration.
Giuseppe Taddei
June 26, 1916 – June 2, 2010
Giuseppe Taddei was a distinguished Italian baritone, who made his Metropolitan Opera debut to glowing notices in 1985 at the astonishing age of 69.
Born in Genoa on June 26, 1916, Mr. Taddei made his operatic debut in 1936, as the Herald in a production of Wagner’s “Lohengrin” in Rome. In the decades that followed, he performed on many of the great opera stages of Europe, including those of the Vienna State Opera, La Scala and Covent Garden.
Taddei studied in Rome. He sang at the Rome Opera until being conscripted into the army in 1942. After the war, he resumed his opera career and appeared for two seasons at the Vienna State Opera. He made his debut in London in 1947, at the Cambridge Theatre. The following year, 1948, saw his debut , at the Salzburg Festival, La Scala in Milan, the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples.
In the 1950s, Taddei appeared in the United States with the San Francisco and Dallas Civic Operas; he was also long known to listeners here through his many recordings. In the 1960s, he sang in New York in concert performances.
But until Sept. 25, 1985, when he stepped onto the stage at Lincoln Center in the title role of Verdi’s “Falstaff,” Mr. Taddei had never sung at the Met. The production, conducted by James Levine, also starred Adriana Maliponte and Brent Ellis.
At his curtain call, The New York Times reported, Mr. Taddei received “a rafter-shaking ovation.”
Opera exacts a great toll on the voice. Singers often retire in their 50s, at least from weightier fare. Appearing at a major opera house in one’s late 60s is highly unusual; making a debut at that age, breathtakingly so. To do so to the kind of rapturous reviews Mr. Taddei received is almost beyond contemplation.
What apparently stood Mr. Taddei in good stead was the Italian bel canto tradition — the lighter, less forceful style of singing in which he had been trained — which can let its practitioners extend their careers beyond the usual retirement age.
In all, Mr. Taddei performed with the Met 21 times. Besides Falstaff, which he sang in 1985 and 1986, he appeared as Dr. Dulcamara in “L’Elisir d’Amore,” by Donizetti, in 1988.
Why did Taddei make his debut at the Met so late in life? As Taddei explained in a 1985 interview with The Times, the reasons centered on diplomacy, or rather what he saw as the lack of it. In 1951, he said, Rudolf Bing, then the Met’s general manager, asked him to audition. That did not sit well with Taddei, who was already a star in Europe. He declined Mr. Bing’s request.
In 1958, Taddei said, the Met tried to engage him again, at $600 a week. That did not sit well with Mr. Taddei, who asked for more money. The Met declined his request.
A quarter-century went by. Then, in the early 1980s, after Mr. Taddei sang a well-received Falstaff at the Salzburg Festival in Austria, Mr. Levine, the Met’s music director at that time, approached him. He offered Mr. Taddei the part of Fra Melitone in Verdi’s “Forza del Destino” — a role typically billed sixth from the top.
That did not sit well with Mr. Taddei. As he told The Times, “I said thank you, but coming for the very first time, I think I should come as protagonista.”
And thus, as Falstaff, Taddei went onstage a world-renowned singer and came back a star.