Ferruccio A. Giannini (1868–1948) was an

Italian-American Italian Americans () are Americans who have full or partial Italians, Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeastern United States, Northeast and industrial Midwestern United States, Midwestern ...

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 ...

opera singer Opera is a form of Western 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 lib ...

and

theater director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

, and member of the Giannini family.

Early life and education

Ferruccio A. Giannini was born on 15 November 1868 in

Ponte d'Arbia Ponte, a word meaning ''bridge'' in Italian, Portuguese, and Galician languages, may refer to: Places England *Pontefract, a town in the Metropolitan City of Wakefield France *Ponte Leccia, a civil parish (hameau) in the department of Haute-Cors ...

, to Givanni Giannini and Euphemia Cardosi. In 1885, Giannini emigrated to the United States aged 17. In

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Giannini studied singing under Eleodoro De Campi.

Career

In 1891, Giannini made his debut in Boston. Before settling in Philadelphia in 1893, he performed in the Strakosch Opera Company until around 1892, when he met Antonietta Brigilia. A singing teacher, he opened a small theater in Philadelphia where he organized operas and concerts with his students. He was then the founder of the Verdi Opera House in Philadelphia (1905). He also founded the Royal Marine Band of Italy (originally Banda Rossa) in the late 1890s. Between 1896 and 1913 he recorded for numerous recording companies, namely

Berliner Berliner is most often used to designate a citizen of Berlin, Germany Berliner may also refer to: People * Berliner (surname) Places * Berliner Lake, a lake in Minnesota, United States * Berliner Philharmonie, concert hall in Berlin, Germany ...

, Victor, the Columbia Phonograph Co. and Rex. Married to the violinist Antonietta Briglia, their three children all had brilliant careers in the world of opera. Dusolina Giannini was a famous dramatic soprano who performed on the main stages of Europe and America. Eufemia Giannini Gregory was a voice teacher at the Curtis Institute of Music for 40 years, counting celebrities such as Anna Moffo and Judith Blegen among her students .

Vittorio Giannini Vittorio Giannini (October 19, 1903 – November 28, 1966) was an American neoromanticism, neoromantic composer of operas, songs, symphonies, and band works, and member of the Giannini family. Life and work Giannini was born in Philadelphia on Oct ...

was a renowned composer of operas.

Recording sessions

In 1896, Ferruccio Giannini was contacted by Emile Berliner and offered to record opera excerpts for the

Berliner Gramophone Berliner Gramophone – its discs identified with an etched-in "E. Berliner's Gramophone" as the logo – was the first (and for nearly ten years the only) disc record label in the world. Its records were played on Emile Berliner's invention, the ...

company's headquarters in Philadelphia. There, he recorded his first plate, an excerpt of Rigoletto's "La donna è mobile" (Berliner 967). A few months later, he returned and recorded numerous plates from March 1896 to November 1898, and in 1899 he participated in three recording sessions, totalling over 83 confirmed recordings (under numerous iterations of around 60 matrix numbers), of which less than half are preserved online. He also recorded from June 1903 to October 1904 for the Victor Talking Machine Co. and the Columbia Phonograph Co. and from 1908 to 1913 for Rex records. Additionally, there are a few gold-moulded cylinders recorded for the Edison Phonograph Co. from ca. 1905.

Notable recordings

Berliner 967 - " La Donna è Mobile" ("

Rigoletto ''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play '' Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had c ...

") Berliner 902a - "Siciliana" ("

Cavalleria Rusticana ''Cavalleria rusticana'' (; ) is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from an 1880 Cavalleria rusticana (short story), short story of the same name and subsequent ...

") Berliner 903 - "Di Quella Pira" (" Il Trovatore") Berliner 932 - "Viva il Vino" ("Cavalleria Rusticana") Berliner 905a - "M'appari" ("

Martha Martha (Aramaic language, Aramaic: מָרְתָא‎) is a Bible, biblical figure described in the Gospels of Gospel of Luke, Luke and Gospel of John, John. Together with her siblings Lazarus of Bethany, Lazarus and Mary of Bethany, she is descr ...

") Berliner 902/971 - "The Palms" Berliner 983 - "Questa o quella" ("Rigoletto") Berliner 985 - " Funiculi Funicula" (sic) -Berliner 1740 (likely unreleased master) - "Quando le sere al placido" ("

Luisa Miller ''Luisa Miller'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play '' Kabale und Liebe'' (''Intrigue and Love'') by the German dramatist Friedrich von Schiller. Verdi's initial idea f ...

") +Berliner 0572 -"Miserere" (Il Trovatore") -Victor 2404 - "Funiculi Funicula" -Victor 2506 - "Violets" Columbia 1738 - "Miserere" ("Il Trovatore") Rex F 5088 - "E lucevan le stelle" ("

Tosca ''Tosca'' is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1 ...

In popular culture

During his life, Ferruccio Giannini only achieved mild success, having to close his theatre in 1929 due to economical hardships (his theatre venue was meant to be for low-price opera sessions and events, so it had to work on an extremely tight budget) and not giving too many full opera concerts outside of student debuts and extra-ordinary events. Though, nowadays his popularity had been ever-so-slightly increasing due to the phenomenon of vintage resurrection, having uncovered some of his early records. It is remarkable the plate BeA 0572 ("Miserere"), having been used all over the album "

Everywhere at the End of Time ''Everywhere at the End of Time'' is the eleventh recording by the Caretaker, an alias of English electronic musician James Leyland Kirby. Released between 2016 and 2019, its six albums use degraded samples of ballroom music to portray the st ...

", representing an advanced stage of dementia (due to its extremely poor audio definition).

Personal life

In 1894, Giannini married the

violinist The following lists of violinists are available: * List of classical violinists * List of contemporary classical violinists * List of jazz violinists * List of popular music violinists * List of Indian violinists * List of Persian violinists * Li ...

Antonietta Briglia Giannini. Together the couple had six children: * Euphemia Giannini Gregory (1895–1979), a

voice teacher A voice teacher or singing teacher is a musical instructor who assists adults and children in the development of their abilities in singing. Typical work A voice teacher works with a student singer to improve the various skills involved in sing ...

at the

Curtis Institute of Music The Curtis Institute of Music is a private conservatory in Philadelphia. It offers a performance diploma, a Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in opera, and a Professional Studies Certificate in opera. All students attend on a full scholarshi ...

. * Raimondo Giannini (1897–1900), died aged 2 years and 3 months. * Dusolina Giannini (1899–1986),

dramatic soprano A dramatic soprano is a type of operatic soprano with a powerful, rich, emotive voice that can sing over, or cut through, a full orchestra. Thicker vocal folds in dramatic voices usually (but not always) mean less agility than lighter voices but a ...

prima donna In opera or ''commedia dell'arte'', a prima donna (; Italian for 'first lady'; : ''prime donne'') is the leading female singer in the company, the person to whom the ''prime'' roles would be given. ''Prime donne'' often had grand off-stage pe ...

and

music teacher Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as elementary or secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a research area in which scholars do origina ...

. * Ferruccio Giannini (1902–1902), died age 10 months. *

(1903–1966), a

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

. * Francis Ferruccio Giannini (1908–1982),

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

. Giannini's

niece In the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a niece or nephew is a child of an individual's sibling or sibling-in-law. A niece is female and a nephew is male, and they would call their parents' siblings aunt or uncle ...

was

Margaret Giannini Margaret Joan Giannini (May 27, 1921 – November 22, 2021) was an American physician and a specialist in assistive technology and rehabilitation. She was the first director of the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabi ...

. In 2005, the

Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) is the governmental agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, responsible for the collection, conservation, and interpretation of Pennsylvania's heritage. The commission cares for histo ...

erected a

historical marker A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, or in other places referred to as a historical marker, historic marker, or historic plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, bearing text or an image in relief, or both, ...

at the site of the Giannini family home.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Giannini, Ferruccio 1868 births 1948 deaths Italian tenors 20th-century Italian singers