Antonio Tamburini and the Baritone Role

Reshetnikova Svetlana Vladimirovna PhD in Art History Senior Lecturer, Department of Vocal Art, Kazan State Conservatory named after N.G. Zhiganova 420004, Russia, Republic of Tatarstan, Kazan, Okolnaya str., 1 lana-budilova@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Chzhan Isyan Master student Kazan State Conservatory named after N.G. Zhiganova 420015, Russia, Republic of Tatarstan, Kazan, Pushkina str., 24 572901203@qq.com

Antonio Tamburini (1800-1876) was the most famous opera performer of the XIX century, a native of Faenza (Italy). He performed on the stages of the largest theaters in Italy, France, England and Russia.

He received his musical education in his homeland, Italy. His first music teacher was his father, French horn player Pasquale Tamburini, who taught his son to play wind instruments. However, at the age of 12, the boy discovered a pleasant voice and began working in the choir. The famous music critic of that time Castille Blas in the magazine Harmonicon (1833) noted that famous singers such as Domenico Mombelli, Giacomo David, Domenico Donzelli often came to small towns in Italy and participated in carnivals ^{[12, P.125]}. By a happy coincidence, during one of his visits to the carnival, Domenico Mombelli noticed the chorister Antonio and began to teach him singing. Then the young singer interned with Madame Pisaroni and other famous masters.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the system of vocal education was unified. Basses, tenors, contralto and sopranos were taught according to the same system, according to which the widest vocal range was developed, vocal technique was improved, and breathing was worked on. The singers were taught special vocal techniques: messa di voce (dynamic transition from forte to piano and back on one note), portamento (sliding voice). In addition, they were taught to improvise, ornament the melodies of vocal parts and perform cadences ^{[4, 20]}. The empirical teaching method prevailed in pedagogical practice, according to which the teacher demonstrated to the student with his voice how to sing ^{[1, 8]}.

Tamburini received excellent vocal training and already at the age of 16 made his debut on the stage of the theater in Ravenna, then he replaced one of the buffo basses (comic bass). Two years later, Antonio was already performing on the stage of the Bologna theater, and in 1819 he signed a contract with the theater in Piacenza and became one of the leading basso cantante^[17]. The voices of basso cantante ("it." – melodious bass) were distinguished by mobility and richness of sound. The most famous basses of that time were Luigi Lablache and Filippo Galli. The parts for them were written in a fairly high tessitura, so baritones, as well as basses, easily coped with such melodies ^{[10, 11, 19]}. Do not forget that it was only since the 1830s that the baritone was singled out as an independent voice type ^[9]. Previously, baritones were considered either high basses (basso cantante) or low tenors (baritenore) ^{[4, p.58]}. The term comes from two Greek words: (low) and (tone) and has existed in Italy since the XVII century ^[2]. This term referred to the low male voice in the choral score. The choral baritone needed to have sufficiently thick and saturated notes of the chest register. As a rule, the range of parts extended from the note "fa" of the large octave to the "fa" of the first. It should be noted that the range of modern baritones is one third higher ^[7].

Due to the fact that baritones at the beginning of the XIX century did not have their own repertoire, they performed high bass parts. So, in Tamburini's repertoire, basso cantante parts first appeared, such as Dandini in Cinderella and Mustafa in The Italian Woman in Algeria by J. Rossini, and later baritone ones. The performance of the above-mentioned parts required mastery of the widest vocal range and coloratura technique, which corresponded to Tamburini's voice. According to the testimony of Castile-Blas (Harmonicon, 1833), Antonio Tamburini's voice had a wide range, extending from the "la" major to the "fa" of the first octave, was distinguished by brightness and saturation of sound, "amazing flexibility and amazing dexterity" ^{[12, P.126]}.

The first theatrical performances brought Tamburini incredible success. Soon the fame of the young singer spread throughout Italy and he was invited to work at the Nuovo Theater. The Neapolitan theaters Nuovo, San Carlo and Del Fondo at the beginning of the XIX century were the centers of the development of opera art. The era of the castrato singers, who performed the main roles in seria operas (and sometimes in buffa operas), was nearing its end. With the coming to power of Marshal Murat, a ban on the participation of castrati in opera performances was introduced in Naples in 1809. And a year later, for the participation of contralto en travesty. They were forbidden to play male roles ^{[15, 16]}. This fact contributed to the rapid development of tenor, and subsequently bass and baritone performance. The divine voices of the castrati were replaced by earthly, more natural and masculine ones.

In those years, Saverio Mercadante, Stefano Pavesi, Pietro Generali, Gioacchino Rossini worked in Neapolitan theaters, Antonio Tamburini took part in the opera performances of these composers. The tradition of writing opera parts for certain performers, dating back to the XVIII century, was still preserved at the beginning of the XIX century. And the composers also created parts based on the soloists who are part of the main cast of the theater ^[4]. The first baritone parts written for Tamburini were Atlant (the leader of the counterfeiters) in the opera "Violence and Constancy, or Counterfeit Money" (Violenza e costanza, ossia I falsi monetari, Teatro Nuovo, Naples, 1820) and General Banner in the opera "Adele and Emerico, or the Forgotten Place" (Adele ed Emerico, ossia Il posto abbandonato,La Scala, Milan, 1822)Saverio Mercadante ^{[7, 18]}. He successfully performed these roles in theaters in Italy. His stage partner was often the contralto singer Marietta Gioia, whom Antonio soon married.

Antonio Tamburini's operatic career was successfully established thanks to his collaboration with Gaetano Donizetti and Vincenzo Bellini. The singer's talent inspired the above-mentioned authors to create many significant baritone parts representing various roles. For example, he acted in the roles of a noble lord and ruler: the Duke of Caldora in The Pirate (La Scala, Milan, 1827) by Vincenzo Bellini and the ruler of Rome Constantine in the opera Fausta (San Carlo, Naples, 1832) by Gaetano Donizetti; military commander: Colonel Riccardo in The Puritans (Thtre-Italien, Paris, 1843) Vincenzo Bellini and Arsenal chief Israel Bertucci in "Marino Faliero" (Thtre-Italien, Paris, 1835) by Gaetano Donizetti. In addition, he played the role of the hero-lover: Ernesto Volmar in the opera "Alina, Queen of Golconda" (Teatro Carlo Felice, Genoa, 1828) by Gaetano Donizetti, acting as the antipode of the tenor. And Dr. Malatesta in the opera "Don Pasquale" (Thtre-Italien, Paris, 1843) by Gaetano Donizetti, representing the friend and ally of the title character.

Tamburini successfully managed to perform comic roles in buffa operas, saturated with light coloratura, and dramatic ones in seria operas, requiring dense sounding and long breathing on cantilevered phrases. It was quite difficult to determine which roles were more successful in his performance. One of the magazines of the 1830s noted: "...his voice is better adapted to a brilliant and graceful style than to a heavy and tragic one; but he is no less admirable in the sentimental and passionate cantilena, which is currently one of the most important characteristics of the Italian school. In the first case, he is ideal in playing the roles of Dandini and Figaro, and in the second he is unsurpassed in "Lucia di Lammermoor" and "Puritans" ^{[14, P.39]}.

Since the 1830s, Tamburini left Italy and began touring the world. First, he went to Paris, where on the stage of the Italian Theater he successfully performed the main roles in the operas "Don Juan", "The Barber of Seville" and "Lucia di Lammermoor" ^[12]. And since the late 1830s, he performed alternately in Russia and in England. Tamburini was invited to St. Petersburg and worked there until 1852. At that time, such opera performers as Giovanni Battista Rubini, Pauline Viardot, Angiolina Bosio, Luigi Lablache, Giovanni Mario, Giulia Grisi, Camillo Everardi, Henrietta Nissen-Saloman and others shone in Russian theaters. The singers introduced the Russian public to the latest operas by Gioacchino Rossini, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Vincenzo Bellini, Gaetano Donizetti, Charles Gounod and Giuseppe Verdi ^{[3, 6]}.

In 1838, Tamburini went to London, where he had the opportunity to participate in the world premiere of the opera "Falstaff" (Her Majesty's Theatre, London) by the English composer Michael William Balfe. In this performance, he represented Ford (a jealous husband) ^[21].

In 1847, 1853-1855, the singer continued to perform on the English opera stage. However, his voice changed every day and became weaker, "the upper notes lost their strength, and the tremolo, which had always been his disadvantage, intensified" (Evening Mall, 1847) ^{[13, P. 8]}. Despite this, Tamburini worked on the opera stage until 1855, and from 1855 to 1869 he switched to concerts. Antonio Tamburini spent the last years of his life in Paris. He died in Nice in 1876.^[17]

Tamburini's creative biography is evidence that significant changes took place in the system of vocal and dramatic roles at the beginning of the XIX century. The baritones, who previously performed the comic parts of basso cantante or baritenore, have acquired their own repertoire. And the key role in the formation of the baritone role was played by the vocal creativity of Antonio Tamburini, who became one of the outstanding singers of his time. The owner of a beautiful flexible voice, he inspired composers of the Romantic era to create significant baritone roles. At the beginning of the 19th century, the roles of rulers, military leaders, and hero lovers were written for him. He appeared on stage as an ally of the main character and a rival of the tenor, becoming a full participant in the love triangle: tenor – soprano – baritone. All these changes in the system of vocal and dramatic roles allowed the baritone voice to rise to the highest level of the vocal hierarchy and firmly establish itself.