Ramón Vinay (August 31, 1911 – January 4, 1996) was a famous Chilean

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

tic

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...

with a powerful, dramatic voice. He is probably best remembered for his appearances in the title role of Giuseppe Verdi's tragic opera '' Otello''.

Biography

He started his operatic career as a baritone in Mexico in 1938. He later switched to

, making a second debut in 1943 and forging a successful international career after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Vinay eventually returned to the baritone fold in 1962 and retired from the stage in 1969. Even as a tenor, however, his vocal timbre retained its dark, baritonal colouration. He was the son of Jean Vinay Robert and Rosa Sepúlveda. Born in

Chillán Chillán () is the capital List of cities in Chile, city of the Ñuble Region in the Diguillín Province of Chile located about south of the country's capital, Santiago, near the geographical center of the country. It is the capital of the new � ...

, Chile, Vinay earned particular renown throughout the operatic world for his interpretation of the role of Otello. For a time, he made the part his own. Perhaps his most significant appearance as Otello occurred in 1947, in a radio broadcast of the opera under the baton of Arturo Toscanini. His colleagues on this occasion were Herva Nelli,

Giuseppe Valdengo Giuseppe Valdengo (May 24, 1914, Turin – October 3, 2007, Aosta) was an Italian operatic baritone. ''Opera News'' said that, "Although his timbre lacked the innate beauty of some of his baritone contemporaries, Valdengo's performances were i ...

and Nan Merriman, together with the NBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. This performance was subsequently issued by RCA Victor on both LP and CD. In recent years, it has appeared on CDs issued by other companies, notably on the Guild label. Many critics consider it the best complete ''Otello'' ever recorded. A fine actor, Vinay was also the first tenor to sing the role of Otello on television. That was in 1948, in the initial telecast of an entire opera from the Met. He also sang Otello at La Scala, in

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label= Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

and at the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Ope ...

, Covent Garden. In all, he performed it hundreds of times. He is said to be one of the two opera singers to have sung both Otello and Iago (the baritone villain) in Verdi's tragic masterpiece during the course of a career (the other being Carlos Guichandut). Vinay's overall tenor repertoire was comparatively ample. It also embraced heavy

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

ian roles (he sang at the Bayreuth Festival in 1952–57), as well as Canio in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, Don José in

Bizet Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, '' Carmen'', which has become o ...

's Carmen and Samson in Saint-Saëns's

Samson et Dalila ''Samson and Delilah'' (french: Samson et Dalila, links=no), Op. 47, is a grand opera in three acts and four scenes by Camille Saint-Saëns to a French libretto by Ferdinand Lemaire. It was first performed in Weimar at the (Grand Ducal) Theater ( ...

. Apart from Iago, the baritone parts which he performed included Telramund, Bartolo, Falstaff and Scarpia. In 1971, he also briefly returned from retirement to perform as the Grand Inquisitor in Verdi's

Don Carlo ''Don Carlos'' is a five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French-language libretto by Joseph Méry and Camille du Locle, based on the dramatic play '' Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien'' (''Don Carlos, Infante of Spain'') by Friedr ...

, a role originally written for the bass voice. He was a National Patron of

Delta Omicron Delta Omicron () is a co-ed international professional music honors fraternity whose mission is to promote and support excellence in music and musicianship. History Delta Omicron International Music Fraternity was founded on September 6, 1909 at ...

, an international professional music fraternity.Delta Omicron
He died in Mexico, aged 84. Vinay was married to Oklahoma-born soprano Tessie Mobley.

Selected recordings

*Bizet – Carmen (Stokowski/Heidt, Pease, M. Koshetz) – Eklipse *Leoncavallo – Pagliacci (Antonicelli/Quarteraro, Warren, Thompson) – Guild *Saint-Saëns – Samson et Dalila (Cellini/Stevens) – VAI *Verdi – Otello (Toscanini/Nelli, Valdengo) – RCA *Verdi – Otello (Busch/Albanese, Warren) – Preiser Arkadia *Verdi – Otello (Furtwängler/Martinis, Schöffler) – EMI *Verdi – Otello (Cleva 1950/1951/excerpts/Steber, Guarrera) – Preiser *Verdi – Otello (Beecham 1958/Stella, Taddei, Modesti) – Idis *Wagner – Lohengrin (Sawallisch/Thomas, Silja, Varnay, Crass) – Philips *Wagner – Parsifal (Krauss/Mödl, London, Weber, Uhde, Greindl) – Arlecchino *Wagner – Parsifal (Knappertsbusch/Mödl, Fischer-Dieskau, Greindl) – Myto *Wagner – Der Ring des Nibelungen (Keilberth/Mödl, Resnik, Hotter, Windgassen, Uhde, Weber) – Melodram *Wagner – Der Ring des Nibelungen (Krauss/Varnay, Hotter, Resnik, Greindl, Malaniuk) – Gala *Wagner – Tannhäuser (Keilberth/Brouwenstijn, Fischer-Dieskau, Greindl)- Melodram *Wagner – Tristan und Isolde (Jochum/Varnay, Neidlinger, Weber, Malaniuk) – Melodram *Wagner – Tristan und Isolde (Karajan/Mödl, Weber, Hotter, Malaniuk) – Myto *Recital live (Arias by Verdi, Leoncavallo, Saint-Saëns, Wagner, duets with Ljuba Welitsch) – Melodram *Four Famous Met-Tenors of the Past (Peerce, Björling, Tucker) – Preiser – LV *Met – 100 Singers – RCA

Audio examples

Richard Wagner, Walküre 2. Aufzug: "Weh! Weh! Suessestes Weib!" Dirigent: Clemens Krauss; Festspielhaus Bayreuth, 1953

Richard Wagner, Lohengrin 2. Aufzug: "Erhebe dich, Genossin meiner Schmach!" (as Telramund) Dirigent: Wolfgang Sawallisch; Festspielhaus Bayreuth, 1962

Richard Wagner, Lohengrin 2. Aufzug: "Du wilde Seherin" (as Telramund) Dirigent: Wolfgang Sawallisch; Festspielhaus Bayreuth, 1962

References

External links

Ramon Vinay, 1911–1996Discography
(Capon's Lists of Opera Recordings) To the list of the selected recordings, could be added the ''Die Walkure'' production of 1957, with the Orchester der Bayreuth Festspiele conducted by Hans Knappertsbusch. Ramon Vinay sings Siegmund with Birgit Nillson as Sieglinde. This latter became known as the "Legendary 1957 Bayreuth Production". {{DEFAULTSORT:Vinay, Ramon 1911 births 1996 deaths Heldentenors Chilean opera singers 20th-century Chilean male singers Chilean people of French descent Operatic tenors People from Chillán 20th-century male opera singers 20th-century Chilean male artists