Alessio De Paolis (9 March 1893 – 5 March 1964) was an Italian

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

tic

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

who specialized in character roles. He was a prominent member of the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

where he sang from 1938 to 1964. At the Met De Paolis performed 51 different roles, primarily in the Italian and French repertoires, in a remarkable 1555 performances. In 1931, De Paolis created the role of Monsieur Le Beau in

Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari (born Ermanno Wolf) (January 12, 1876 – January 21, 1948) was an Italian composer and teacher. He is best known for his comic operas such as ''Il segreto di Susanna'' (1909). A number of his works were based on plays by ...

's opera '' La vedova scaltra''; in 1933 that of Frulla in

Riccardo Zandonai Riccardo Zandonai (28 May 1883 – 5 June 1944) was an Italian composer and conducting, conductor. Biography Zandonai was born in Borgo Sacco, Rovereto, then part of Austria-Hungary. As a young man, he showed such an aptitude for music that he ...

's opera ''

La farsa amorosa is an opera in three acts by Italian composer Riccardo Zandonai. The opera is on a comic subject, and was an attempt to revitalize the ''opera buffa'' tradition which flourished in Italy during the 18th and early 19th centuries. The story is ba ...

''; and in 1936 and that of Christian in

Franco Alfano Franco Alfano (8 March 1875 – 27 October 1954) was an Italian composer and pianist, best known today for his operas ''Cyrano de Bergerac'' (1936) and '' Risurrezione'' (1904), and for having completed Puccini's opera ''Turandot'' in 1926. He ha ...

's ''

Cyrano de Bergerac Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac ( , ; 6 March 1619 – 28 July 1655) was a French novelist, playwright, epistolarian, and duelist. A bold and innovative author, his work was part of the libertine literature of the first half of the 17th ce ...

''. De Paolis also performed in a number of commercial opera recordings. These include a famous 1959

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

recording of Puccini's ''

Turandot ''Turandot'' ( ; see #Origin and pronunciation of the name, below) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. Puccini left the opera unfinished at the time of his death in 1924; it ...

'' with

Birgit Nilsson Märta Birgit Nilsson (17 May 1918 – 25 December 2005) was a Swedish dramatic soprano. Although she sang a wide repertoire of operatic and vocal works, Nilsson was best known for her performances in the operas of Richard Wagner and Richard St ...

and

Jussi Björling Johan Jonatan "Jussi" Björling ( , ; 5 February 19119 September 1960) was a Swedish tenor. One of the leading operatic singers of the 20th century, Björling appeared for many years at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and less frequentl ...

in which he sings the role of the Emperor Altoum.

References

De Paolis, Alessio (Tenor)
Archives of the Metropolitan Opera, MetOpera Database.

External links

Photo of De Paolis as Goro (right) in ''Madama Butterfly'' at the Met, 1958.
Metropolitan Opera Archives Database. 1893 births 1964 deaths Italian operatic tenors 20th-century Italian male opera singers {{italy-opera-singer-stub