"Che Gelida Manina" was first sung one tone down!

by Luigi Speranza for "Gli Operai" jlsperanza@aol.com

I read from:

http://www.answers.com/topic/rodolfo-2

"Rodolfo was created in 1896 by Evan Gorga."

of whom, as an offlister told me, we lack a good recording. Apparently the only one of the Puccini tenors that have not been recorded (by Puccini tenor I mean those who CREATED roles). The source above, at www.answers goes on:

"[Gorga] was ill for most of the rehearsal period and was, in fact, not good enough for the role,"

I hope he signs this!

"although chosen by Puccini. The music had to be transposed down for him"

This is interesting. One tone, I expect. Making the top C not what it is. I wonder if one can count this as 'role creator' if he never created as MEANT to be created! So, who was the tenor who created the role as intended to be created?

"and his career was short — he later did well as an antique dealer."

An understatement: he created the grandest musical collection -- in Villa Borghese!

"Unusual is the Italianate tenor who does not want to sing this role. Among those who have shone
in it are Alessandro Bonci, Fernando De Lucia,"

--- he 'created the role' in the Covent Garden production, I understand, and also at La Scala --

"Aureliano Pertile, Dino Borgioli, Enrico Caruso (who sprang to international fame after singing
the role opposite Nellie Melba at Monte Carlo in 1902), Giovanni Martinelli, Beniamino Gigli, Jan Peerce and
Richard Tucker (brothers-in-law), Joseph Hislop, Ferruccio Tagliavini (who made his début in this
role in Florence in 1939), Fritz Wunderlich (in German), Jussi Björling, Giuseppe Di Stefano (who recorded
it opposite Maria Callas), Carlo Bergonzi, Nicolai Gedda, Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo,
José Carreras, Jerry Hadley, and Roberto Alagna — to mention only the most famous."