Giuseppe Giacomini
Italian tenor who became a regular star at Covent Garden
GIUSEPPE GIACOMINI, who has died aged 80, was an Italian tenor known for his stentorian voice and dramatic stage presence.
He was often seen at the Royal Opera House in London, starting as a “charming villain and credible hero” in Puccini’s La faniculla del West in 1980 and only bowing out 20 years later as Cavaradossi in Tosca with Maria Guleghina in the title role, having also appeared in Cavalleria Rusticana with Josephine Barstow, Norma with Margaret Price and Turandot with Willard White.
“The voice could be poured out smoothly across the range, from gravelly depths to a top that soars aloft on apparently unending reserves of breath,” declared Gramophone magazine last year. “The thrilling notes, moreover, were tied together by a true legato.”
While Bepi, as he was known to his fans, did not enjoy the same name recognition as the Three Tenors, he was involved in several significant operatic events, including a royal gala in London, a performance in Moscow for Mikhail Gorbachev, a staging of Aida in front of the pyramids at Giza, and a performance of Turandot in Seoul to mark the opening of the 1988 Olympic Games.
While many considered him to be as impressive as Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti and José Carreras, the serious-minded singer was more self-effacing than his contemporaries, rarely playing to the gallery.
Nevertheless, he could deliver when the occasion demanded. After a 1981 Carnegie Hall tribute to the tenor Richard Tucker, who had died six years earlier, one critic noted how he “brought the house down in the loudest and most enthusiastic response of the evening” for his account of Nessun Dorma.
Giuseppe Giacomini was born in Veggiano, near Padua, on September 7 1940. As a child his only experience of music was in the local church choir, but on a school trip to the open-air opera at Verona his teachers noticed his powerful voice as he sang along with friends on the bus.
He entered the conservatory at Padua and made his debut aged 26 as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly at Vercelli.
Having sung in Vienna, Berlin, Milan and Paris, Giacomini made his first appearance at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, in 1976 as Don Alvaro in Verdi’s La Forza del Destino with Sherrill Milnes. He returned there over the next dozen years, appearing in Tosca with Grace Bumbry and Montserrat Caballé, Don Carlo with Marilyn Horne, and Macbeth directed by Sir Peter Hall.
Although not known for contemporary music, in 1990 he sang the role of Nanni in the world premiere of Marco Tutino’s La Lupa in Livorno. Two years later he took part in the 100th anniversary performance of Puccini’s Manon Lescaut at the Teatro Reggio di Torino. Although he nominally retired in 2000, he was still appearing a decade later, touring China with the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra.
Giacomini’s recorded legacy is limited and he was not a great fan of the medium. “The recent generations, especially, have been spoiled by recordings,” he told an interviewer in 2007. “Recordings are witnesses, but what we seem to forget is that there is always a technical interference inherent here. The voice must be heard in the temple, in the theatre, in the right theatre, without microphones, to be truly felt and appreciated.”
While on tour Giacomini, who was short, balding and wore bottle-bottom glasses, would often seek out the local Catholic church, although he sometimes betrayed his presence by singing at full pelt during Mass. Offstage he was shy and private, preferring to avoid publicity.
He was married to Massimiliana – “Liliana” – who survives him with their son and their daughter.
Giuseppe Giacomini, born September 7 1940, died July 28 2021