Piero Cappuccilli was considered one of the finest baritones of his generation. He was enormously admired within the field of opera for his rich, and abundant voice, fine vocal technique, and exceptional breath control. He focused on Italian repertory, particularly the operas of Verdi, singing 17 major roles.
He had very little to no tension in his voice, and his vocal production was excellent. There was no use of the throat muscles or the swallowing muscles to produce a tone. We don’t have singers like Cappuccilli today.
Verdi, Don Carlos, “Dio, che nell’alma infondere”
RODRIGO
È lui! desso! l’Infante!
CARLO
O mio Rodrigo!
RODRIGO
Altezza!
CARLO
Sei tu ch’io stringo al seno?
RODRIGO
O mio prence, signor!
CARLO
È il ciel che a me t’invia nel mio dolor…
RODRIGO
O amato prence!
CARLO
…angiol consolator!
RODRIGO
L’ora suonò;
te chiama il popolo fiammingo!
Soccorrer tu lo dêi;
ti fa suo salvator!
Ma che vid’io! quale pallor, qual pena!
Un lampo di dolor sul ciglio tuo balena!
Muto sei tu! sospiri! hai triste il cor!
Carlo mio, con me,
dividi il tuo pianto, il tuo dolor.
CARLO
Mio salvator, mio fratel, mio fedele,
lascia ch’io pianga in seno a te!
RODRIGO
Versami in cor il tuo strazio crudele,
l’anima tua non sia chiusa per me!
Parla!
CARLO
Lo vuoi tu?
La mia sventura apprendi,
e quale orrendo stral
il mio cor trapassò!
Amo…d’un colpevol amor…
Elisabetta!
RODRIGO
Tua madre! Giusto ciel!
CARLO
Qual pallor!
Lo sguardo chini al suol!
Tristo me! tu stesso, tu stesso,
mio Rodrigo, t’allontani da me?
RODRIGO
No, Rodrigo ancor t’ama!
Il tel posso giurar.
Tu soffri? tu soffri?
già per me l’universo dispar.
CARLO
O mio Rodrigo!
RODRIGO
Mio prence!
Questo arcano dal Re
non fu sorpreso ancora?
CARLO
No
RODRIGO
Ottien dunque da lui
di partir per la Fiandra.
Taccia il tuo cor;
degna di te opra farai,
apprendi omai in mezzo
a gente oppressa, a divenir un re!
CARLO
Ti seguirò, fratello.
(Suona una campana.)
RODRIGO
Ascolta!
Le porte dell’asil s’apron già;
qui verranno Filippo e la Regina.
CARLO
Elisabetta!
RODRIGO
Rinfranca accanto a me lo spirto che vacilla,
serena ancora la stella tua nei cieli brilla!
Domanda al ciel dei forti la virtù!
CARLO, RODRIGO
Dio, che nell’alma infondere
amor volesti e speme,
desio nel core accendere
tu dêi di libertà.
Giuriamo insiem di vivere
e di morire insieme.
RODRIGO
In terra, in ciel…
INSIEME
…congiungere ci può,
ci può la tua bontà.
Ah! Dio che nell’alma, ecc.
RODRIGO
Vengon già.
CARLO
O terror!
Al sol vederla io tremo!
RODRIGO
Coraggio!
(Filippo, conducendo Elisabetta, appare in mezzo ai
Frati. Filippo s’inginocchia per un istante davanti
alla tomba di Carlo Quinto, quindi prosegue il suo
cammino. Si sentono i Frati dentro.)
CARLO
Ei la fe’ sua!
CARLO
Io l’ho perduta!
CARLO
Io l’ho perduta! io l’ho perduta!
Ei sua la fe’! Gran Dio!
RODRIGO
Vien presso a me,
presso a me, il tuo cor più forte, più forte avrai!
CARLO, RODRIGO
Vivremo insiem e morremo insiem!
Sarà l’estremo anelito,
sarà, sarà un grido, un grido:
Libertà!
Vivremo insiem, morremo insiem!
grido estrem
Verdi, Don Carlos, “Oh God, who wished to instil”
RODRIGO
It is he! He himself! The Infante!
CARLO
My dear Rodrigo!
RODRIGO
Your Highness!
CARLO
Is it really you I clasp to my bosom?
RODRIGO
Oh, my Lord, my prince!
CARLO
Heaven has sent you to me in my suffering,…
RODRIGO
My beloved prince!
CARLO
…my consoling angel!
RODRIGO
The hour has struck;
the Flemish people call you!
You must help them;
appoint yourself their saviour!
But what do I see? How pale, how troubled you
Look
Misery shines in your eyes!
You are silent! You sigh! Your heart is sad!
Carlo, share your tears,
your grief, with me.
CARLO
My savior, my brother, my faithful friend,
let me weep on your bosom!
RODRIGO
Pour out your cruel torment into my heart,
do not close your soul to me!
Speak!
CARLO
You wish it?
Then learn of my misfortune,
and of the terrible shaft
that pierced my heart!
I love…with a guilty love..
Elisabetta!
RODRIGO
Your stepmother! Great heavens!
CARLO
How pale you’ve become!
You turn your eyes to the ground!
Woe is me! Do you, even you,
Rodrigo, abandon me?
RODRIGO
No, Rodrigo loves you still!
I can swear it to you.
You are suffering?
Then the whole universe is as nothing to me.
CARLO
O my Rodrigo!
RODRIGO
My prince!
Your secret has not yet
been discovered by the King?
CARLO
No!
RODRIGO
Then obtain his sanction
to leave for Flanders.
Silence your heart;
yours will be work worthy of you,
now among an oppressed people
learn to become King!
CARLO
I will follow you, brother.
(A bell sounds.)
RODRIGO
Hark!
The doors of the sanctuary are opening;
Filippo and the Queen will soon arrive.
CARLO
Elisabetta!
RODRIGO
Beside me, strengthen your wavering spirit,
once more your star will shine serenely in the sky!
Demand of God a hero’s strenght!
CARLO, RODRIGO
Oh God, who wished to instil
love and hope in our souls,
Thou must kindle within our hearts
a desire for liberty, etc.
We swear to live
and die together.
RODRIGO
On earth, in Heaven…
BOTH
…thy goodness
can unite us.
Oh God, who wished, etc.
RODRIGO
They are coming now.
CARLO
Oh, terror!
I tremble at the mere sight of her!
RODRIGO
Courage!
(Filippo, entering with his queen, kneels for a moment
at the tomb of Charles V and then proceeds. The monks
are heard from within.)
CARLO
He has made her his!
CARLO
I have lost her!
CARLO
I have lost her! I have lost her!
He made her his! Great God!
RODRIGO
Come close to me,
beside me your heart will be stronger!
CARLO, RODRIGO
We will live and die together!
our last breath
will be a cry:
Liberty!
We will live and die together!
Our last cry shall be:
Liberty
Verdi, Un ballo in maschera, “Alla vita che t’arride”
RENATO
Alla vita che t’arride
Di speranze e gaudio piena,
D’altre mille e mille vite
II destino s’incatena!
Te perduto, ov’è la patria
Col suo splendido avvenir?
E sarà dovunque, sempre
Chiuso il varco alle ferite,
Perché scudo del tuo petto
È del popolo l’affetto?
Dell’amor più desto è l’odio
Le sue vittime a colpir.
Te perduto, ecc.
Verdi, A Masked Ball, “Your life, so rich in joy”
RENATO
Your life, so rich in joy,
so full of hope,
is joined by Fate to thousands
of other lives!
If you are lost, what of our country,
what of its splendid future?
Can you be
forever safe from wounds,
because your people’s love
is shielding you?
Hate is quicker than love
in striking its victims,
if you are lost, etc.
Giordano, Andrea Chénier, “Nemico della Patria?!”
Nemico della Patria?!
È vecchia fiaba che beatamente
ancor la beve il popolo.
Nato a Costantinopoli? Straniero!
Studiò a Saint Cyr? Soldato!
Traditore! Di Dumouriez un complice!
E poeta? Sovvertitor di cuori e di costumi!
Un dì m’era di gioia
passar fra gli odi e le vendette,
puro, innocente e forte.
Gigante mi credea…
Son sempre un servo!
Ho mutato padrone.
Un servo obbediente di violenta passione!
Ah, peggio! Uccido e tremo,
e mentre uccido io piango!
Io della Redentrice figlio,
per primo ho udito il grido suo pel mondo
ed ho al suo il mio grido unito…
Or smarrita ho la fede
nel sognato destino?
Com’era irradiato di gloria
il mio cammino!
La coscienza nei cuor
ridestar delle genti,
raccogliere le lagrime
dei vinti e sofferenti,
fare del mondo un Pantheon,
gli uomini in dii mutare
e in un sol bacio,
e in un sol bacio e abbraccio
tutte le genti amar!
e in un sol bacio e abbraccio
tutte le genti amar!
Giordano, Andrea Chénier, “Enemy of the Fatherland”
Enemy of the fatherland?!
It’s an old fable that luckily
the public still swallows.
Born in Constantinople? A foreigner!
Studied at St Cyr? A soldier.
A Traitor! An accomplice of Dumouriez!
And a poet? A subvertor of hearts and of habits.
Once I was happy,
going about amongst the hatreds and the vendettas,
I thought my self a giant,
pure, innocent, and strong…
But still I’m a servant!
I’ve changed masters.
And obedient servant of violent passions!
Oh, it’s worse! I kill and I tremble,
and while I kill I weep!
I, a son of the revolution,
was the first to hear it’s cry to the world
and I joined my voice to its…
Now I’ve lost faith
in the destiny of my dreams?
How radiant with glory
my path was!
To reawaken conscience
in peoples’ hearts,
to gather up the tears
of the oppressed and of the suffering,
to make the world a paradise,
to change men into gods,
and with a single kiss,
with a single and embrace
to love all mankind!
And in a single kiss and embrace
to love all mankind!
Piero Cappuccilli
November 9 1926 – July 12 2005
Piero Cappuccilli was the very epitome of all that is best in the tradition of Italian baritones. He proved that conclusively at Covent Garden in 1976, on a notable visit by La Scala, and gave a quite overwhelming performance of the title role in Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra. This interpretation was housed in the highly imaginative production by Giorgio Strehler, first seen in 1971, with Claudio Abbado conducting.
Cappuccilli recalled the staging, saying that it was one of the most important events in postwar Italian opera. “Working with Strehler and Abbado, I was able to construct a whole character in all its complexity . . . The point of the production was to focus on Simone’s character, but not at the expense of the drama as a whole.”
The great success of one Verdi opera was subsequently repeated in another – Macbeth, again directed by Strehler. This was also a part in which Cappuccilli was well cast, capturing the haunted nature of the Shakespearian character. In both roles, all his gifts as a Verdi baritone were on display: a remarkable consistency of warm, burnished tone carried up and down his register, a seemingly limitless breath control, thoughtful phrasing and a purposeful, incisive delivery of the text. That served him admirably in the 17 Verdian roles he undertook in his career.
Born in Trieste, Cappuccilli studied with Luciano Donaggio at Teatro Giuseppe Verdi in Turin, where he began his career in small parts. His official debut was in a role that was to become a speciality with him – Tonio in Pagliacci, which he undertook at his final appearances at Covent Garden in 1989.
In 1959, EMI impresario Walter Legge, ever on the watch for new talent, brought Cappuccilli to London for the comparatively minor part of Masetto, in Giulini’s legendary recording of Don Giovanni. That led to him singing Enrico in Callas’s second set of Lucia Di Lammermoor. In the same year, he made his debut at the Metropolitan, New York, as Germont in La Traviata, another of his memorable roles at Covent Garden.
Cappuccilli’s debut at La Scala, as Enrico, came in 1964. That and Amonasro, in Aida, and Don Carlo, in Forza Del Destino, in the same house the following season confirmed him as one of the most eminent baritones of his day in Italian opera, and a worthy successor to Ettore Bastianini, who died while still in his prime. Cappuccilli’s scheming Iago was another Verdian part in which he excelled. He was soon singing his repertory in all the major houses.
In Salzburg, he was Rodrigo in Karajan’s Don Carlos (1975), and, four years later, he was a menacingly implacable Luna for the same conductor, on Karajan’s return to the Vienna State Opera.
Cappuccilli was far from being confined to Verdian parts. A video confirms how superb he was in catching the conflicting emotions of Gérard, in Giordano’s opera about the French revolution, Andrea Chénier, and, with his penetrating eyes and taut body language, he was the very epitome of a satyr as Scarpia in Tosca. The latter was the role of his farewell to La Scala in 1989.
He also helped in the revival of neglected roles – notably in Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux, with Leyla Gencer as Elizabeth I at San Carlo in 1964, and Bellini’s Il Pirata, with Monserrat Caballé in Florence in 1967.
Cappuccilli was a very present, extroverted performer, who sang with unstinting energy and, pardonably, threw in unwritten high notes when the mood took him. Like all the best Italian singers, he responded visibly to an audience’s favourable reception.
His career was ended by a severe car accident in 1992, after he had sung the title part in Verdi’s Nabucco at the Verona arena.