Notes on tenor Fraschini, creator of five Verdi opera tenor roles

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


Born in Pavia, Fraschini studied in his native city before debuting there in 1837 as Tamas in Gaetano Donizetti's Gemma di Vergy.

He continued singing Donizetti, performing in Torquato Tasso in Bergamo in 1839 and in Marino Faliero at La Scala in 1840.

Beginning in that year he was engaged at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, where he remained until 1853.

There he created roles in numerous operas by Giovanni Pacini, including La fidanzata corsa, La stella di Napoli, La regina di Cipro, Merope and Romilda di Provenza, and Faone in Saffò.

He also created Gerardo in Caterina Cornaro for Donizetti in 1844.

He sang in other Donizetti operas, too, including Linda di Chamounix, Maria di Rohan, La favorite, Poliuto, and Lucia di Lammermoor.

The force with which he delivered Edgardo's curse in the latter led to his nickname, "tenore della maledizione".[1]

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An early tenore di forza, he created several Verdian roles, beginning with Zamoro in Alzira in 1845.

He was also the first Corrado in Il corsaro (1848), Arrigo in La battaglia di Legnano (1849), the title role in Stiffelio (1850), and Riccardo in Un ballo in maschera (1859).

He also sang in Oberto, Ernani, I Lombardi, I masnadieri, Luisa Miller, and Il trovatore.

1856 saw him singing Henri in Les vêpres siciliennes in Rome, and in 1858 he was Gabriele Adorno in Simon Boccanegra for Naples.

Internationally, too, he sang a good deal of Verdi: at Her Majesty's Theatre in 1847 where he took part in the first London performance of I due Foscari; in 1863 at Madrid, where he sang in La forza del destino; and the following year at the Théâtre Italien in Paris where appeared in both in both La traviata and Rigoletto.

Fraschini retired in 1873, singing his farewell as Gennaro in Lucrezia Borgia in Rome.

He died in Naples in 1887.

The opera house in Pavia is named for him.[2]

References
1.^ a b Warrack and West (1996)
2.^ Teatro Fraschini

Casaglia, Gherardo, "Fraschini" (in Italian), Almanacco Amadeus, 2005. Accessed 1 February 2010.

Teatro Fraschini, La storia del Teatro Fraschini (in Italian). Accessed 1 February 2010.

Warrack, John and West, Ewan (eds.), "Fraschini, Gaetano", The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera, Oxford University Press, 1996. Accessed via subscription 1 February 2010.