Once again, I present to you a tenor I hadn’t heard of . Umberto Borsò was a dramatic tenor who sang in Europe and the Metropolitan Opera in the 50s and 60s. Borso often was part of ad hoc companies who performed for weeks and even months in some parts of the world that were starved for real Italian singers and were too poor or too far to receive the greatest stars of the 50s and the 60s.
I think that he had a dramatic voice with a lot of squillo in it (“squillo” is the Italian term for a ringing sound in the voice; in English, we call it “ping”). I also that, in least in the excerpts here, he sang very well. I will leave it to you to decide what you think.
Verdi, Il trovatore, “Di quella pira”
Manrico
Di quella pira l’orrendo foco
Tutte le fibre m’arse avvampò!…
Empi spegnetela, o ch’io tra poco
Col sangue vostro la spegnerò…
Era già figlio prima d’amarti
Non può frenarmi il tuo martir.
Madre infelice, corro a salvarti,
O teco almeno corro a morir!
Ruiz, Chorus of soldiers
All’armi, all’armi! eccone presti
A pugnar teco, teco a mori
Verdi, The troubadour, “Of that pyre”
Manrico
The flames of that terrible pyre
inflamed and consumed all my being!…
Pitiless men, put it out, or I will shortly
do it with your own blood…
I was your son before I began to love you,
Your torments won’t stop me.
Unhappy mother, I run to rescue you
or I shall die with you!
Ruiz, Chorus of soldiers
To arms, to arms! here it is, quickly
We’ll stab you, we’ll kill you!
Verdi, Aida, “Celeste Aida”
RADAMÈS
Se quel guerrier
Io fossi! se il mio sogno
S’avverasse!… Un esercito di prodi
Da me guidato… e la vittoria… e il plauso
Di Menfi tutta! E a te, mia dolce Aida,
Tornar di lauri cinto…
Dirti: per te ho pugnato, per to ho vinto!
Celeste Aida, forma divina.
Mistico serto di luce e fior,
Del mio pensiero tu sei regina,
Tu di mia vita sei lo splendor.
Il tuo bel cielo vorrei redarti,
Le dolci brezze del patrio suol;
Un regal serta sul crin posarti,
Ergerti un trono vicino al sol.
Verdi, Aida, “Heavenly Aida”
RADAMÈS
If I were
that warrior! If my dreams
were to come true! A valiant army
led by me… and victory… and the acclamations
of all Memphis! And to return to you, my sweet Aida,
crowned with laurels…
to tell you: for you I fought, for you I conquered!
Heavenly Aida, form divine,
mystical garland of light and flowers,
of my thoughts you are the queen,
you are the light of my life.
I would return to you your lovely sky,
the gentle breezes of your native land;
a royal crown on your brow I would set,
build you a throne next to the sun.
Verdi, Otello, “Di ti giocondo”
DESDEMONA (ancora presso alla soglia)
Dio ti giocondi, o sposo
dell’alma mia sovrano!
OTELLO
(andando incontro a Desdemona e prendendole la mano)
Grazie, madonna.
Datemi la vostra eburnea mano.
Caldo mador ne irrora
la morbida beltà.
DESDEMONA
Essa ancor l’orme ignora
del duolo e dell’età.
OTELLO
Eppur qui annida il demone
gentil di mal consiglio,
che il vago avorio allumina
del piccioletto artiglio.
Mollemente alla prece
s’atteggia e al pio fervore…
DESDEMONA
Eppur con questa mano
io v’ho donato il core.
Ma riparlar ti debbo di Cassio.
OTELLO
Ancor l’ambascia del mio morbo m’assale;
tu la fronte mi fascia.
DESDEMONA (sciogliendo un fazzoletto)
A te.
OTELLO
No! il fazzoletto voglio
ch’io ti donai.
DESDEMONA
Non l’ho meco.
OTELLO
Desdemona, guai se lo perdi! Guai!
Una possente maga ne ordìa
Io stame arcano:
ivi è riposta l’alta malìa
d’un talismano.
Bada! smarrirlo,
oppur donarlo è ria sventura!
DESDEMONA
Il vero parli?
OTELLO
Il vero parlo.
DESDEMONA
Mi fai paura!…
OTELLO
Che!? l’hai perduto forse?
DESDEMONA
No…
OTELLO
Lo cerca.
DESDEMONA
Fra poco… lo cercherò…
OTELLO
No, tosto!
DESDEMONA
Tu di me ti fai gioco!
Storni così l’inchiesta di Cassio;
astuzia è questa del tuo pensier.
OTELLO
Pel cielo! l’anima mia si desta!
Il fazzoletto…
DESDEMONA
È Cassio l’amico tuo diletto.
OTELLO
Il fazzoletto!
DESDEMONA
A Cassio, a Cassio perdona…
OTELLO
Il fazzoletto!
DESDEMONA
Gran Dio! nella tua voce
v’è un grido di minaccia!
OTELLO
Alza quegl’occhi!
DESDEMONA
Atroce idea!
OTELLO
(prendendola a forza sotto il mento e per le spalle e
obbligandola a guardarlo)
Guardami in faccia!
Dimmi che sei!
DESDEMONA
La sposa fedel d’Otello.
OTELLO
Giura! giura e ti danna…
DESDEMONA
Otello fedel mi crede.
OTELLO
Impura ti credo.
DESDEMONA
Iddio m’aiuti!
OTELLO
Corri alla tua condanna,
di’ che sei casta.
DESDEMONA (fissandolo)
Casta, lo son!
OTELLO
Giura e ti danna!
DESDEMONA
Esterrefatta fisso
lo sguardo tuo tremendo,
in te parla una Furia
la sento e non l’intendo.
Mi guarda! il volto e l’anima
ti svelo; il core infranto
mi scruta… io prego il cielo
per te con questo pianto;
per te con queste stille
cocenti aspergo il suol.
Guarda le prime lagrime (rip.)
che da me spreme il duol.
Le prime lagrime!
OTELLO
S’or ti scorge il tuo demone,
un angelo ti crede
e non t’afferra.
DESDEMONA
Vede l’Eterno la mia fede!
OTELLO
No! la vede l’inferno!
DESDEMONA
La tua giustizia impetro, sposo mio!
OTELLO
Ah! Desdemona! Indietro!
indietro! indietro!
DESDEMONA
Tu pur piangi?! e gemendo
freni del cor lo schianto!
E son io l’innocente
cagion di tanto pianto!
Qual è il mio fallo?
OTELLO
E il chiedi?
Il più nero delitto
sovra il candido giglio
della tua fronte è scritto.
DESDEMONA
Ahimè!
OTELLO
Che? non sei forse una vil cortigiana?
DESDEMONA
Ciel!
No…. no… pel battesimo
della fede cristiana!
OTELLO
Che?
DESDEMONA
Ah! non son ciò che esprime
quelle parola orrenda!
(Mutando d’un tratto l’ira nella più terribile calma
dell’ironia, Otello prende Desdemona per mano e la
conduce alla porta d’onde entrò.)
OTELLO
Datemi ancor l’eburnea mano,
vo’ fare ammenda.
Vi credea (perdonate
se il mio pensiero è fello)
quella vil cortigian
che è la sposa d’Otello.
Verdi, Othello, “God keep you happy”
DESDEMONA (still standing near the door)
God keep you happy, my husband,
sovereign of my soul!
OTHELLO
(going to meet Desdemona and taking her hand in his)
Thank you, my lady.
Give me your ivory hand.
Warm moistness bedews
its soft beauty.
DESDEMONA
It knows not yet the imprint
of sorrow or of age.
OTHELLO
And yet here lurks the plausible
devil of ill counsel,
who emblazons the ivory beauty
of this little claw-like limb.
With soft deceit he poses
as prayer and pious fervour…
DESDEMONA
And yet with this same hand
I gave my heart to you.
But I must speak again to you of Cassio.
OTHELLO
I have that pain again;
bind you my forehead.
DESDEMONA (unfolding a handkerchief)
Here, my lord.
OTHELLO
No! I would have the handkerchief
that I gave to you.
DESDEMONA
I have it not about me.
OTHELLO
Desdemona, woe if you should lose it! Woe!
A powerful sibyl devised
the magic web of it:
within it there reposes the high witchcraft
of a talisman.
Take heed! To lose it,
or give it away, were perdition!
DESDEMONA
Speak you the truth?
OTHELLO
I speak the truth.
DESDEMONA
You frighten me!…
OTHELLO
What!? Have you lost it then?
DESDEMONA
No…
OTHELLO
Fetch it.
DESDEMONA
In a little while… I shall fetch it…
OTHELLO
No, now!
DESDEMONA
You are making sport of me!
Thus you put me from my suit for Cassio;
your thought is cunning.
OTHELLO
By heaven! My soul is roused!
The handkerchief…
DESDEMONA
Cassio is your very dearest friend.
OTHELLO
The handkerchief!
DESDEMONA
To Cassio, to Cassio extend forgiveness…
OTHELLO
The handkerchief!
DESDEMONA
Great God! I hear a note
of menace in your voice!
OTHELLO
Raise your eyes!
DESDEMONA
Horrible fancy!
OTHELLO
(seizing her forcibly under the chin and by the
shoulders so that she has to look at him)
Look in my face!
Tell me who you are!
DESDEMONA
Othello’s faithful wife.
OTHELLO
Come, swear it, damn yourself…
DESDEMONA
Othello esteems me honest,
OTHELLO
Unchaste do I esteem you.
DESDEMONA
God help me!
OTHELLO
Hasten to your damnation,
swear that you are chaste.
DESDEMONA (meeting Othello’s eyes)
I am chaste.
OTHELLO
Swear it and damn yourself!
DESDEMONA
Horror-struck, I gaze into
your stern and terrifying eyes,
I hear a fury in your words
but do not comprehend them.
Look at me! My face, my soul
I show you; my stricken heart
search well… I pray to heaven
for you with these my tears;
for you these burning drops
I shed upon the ground.
Behold the first tears ever wrung
from me by suffering.
The first tears!
OTHELLO
If your daemon were to see you now
he’d take you for an angel
and not seize you.
DESDEMONA
The Eternal sees my innocence!
OTHELLO
No! Hell sees it!
DESDEMONA
Your justice, I implore, my lord!
OTHELLO
Ah! Desdemona! Away!
Away! Away!
DESDEMONA
You also weep?! and groaning
stem the anguish of your heart!
And am I then the innocent
motive of these tears!
What sin have I committed?
OTHELLO
And would you ask?
The blackest of crimes
upon the lily fairness
of your brow is written.
DESDEMONA
Alas!
OTHELLO
What? Are you not a common courtesan?
DESDEMONA
Heaven!
No … no … by the baptism
of the Christian faith!
OTHELLO
What?
DESDEMONA
Ah! I am not the thing expressed
by that horrendous word!
(Othello’s mood changing suddenly from the most
towering rage to an even more terrifying ironic calm, he
takes Desdemona’s hand and leads her to the door by
which she had previously entered.)
OTHELLO
Give me your ivory hand again,
I would make amends.
I took you (forgive me
if my thought displeases you)
for that common courtesan
that married with Othello.
Umberto Borsò
April 3, 1923 – November 26, 2018
For almost half a century, Borsò distinguished himself for the high quality and breadth of his repertoire (from Tosca to Andrea Chénier, from Otello to Cavalleria Rusticana), as evidenced by his performances at theaters such as La Scala in Milan, the Metropolitan in New York, the Bolshoi in Moscow, Covent Garden in London, and the Vienna State Opera.
Borsò sang alongside some of the greatest performers (Renata Tebaldi, Magda Olivero, Maria Caniglia, Marcella Pobbe, Gertrude Grob-Prandl (Turandot), Montserrat Caballé, Birgit Nilsson, Tito Gobbi, Giangiacomo Guelfi (Aida, La Fenice in Venice)), under the direction of maestros such as Napoleone Annovazzi, Arturo Basile, Oliviero De Fabritiis, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Franco Patané, Tullio Serafin, and with directors such as Luchino Visconti, who directed him in Il Trovatore in 1963 in Moscow, the same year in which he made his debut at La Scala in Milan, again in Il Trovatore. He made his debut at the Teatro Comunale in Florence as Mario in Tosca, with Magda Olivero and Ettore Bastianini, in January 1965. Borsò sang in 153 performances of Aida, 135 of Il Trovatore, 78 of Andrea Chénier, 66 of Tosca, 44 of La Forza del Destino, and 39 of Otello.
Following the death of his father and his family’s difficult decision to move to Pisa , a new phase of Borsò’s life began. However, the tenor never severed his ties with the town where he had spent his childhood, which were in fact strengthened thanks to the reopening of the Teatro del Popolo in 2009, to which he gladly donated his stage costumes. He died in Rome.