
Francesc Viñas i Dordal (27 March 1863 – 14 July 1933) was a Spanish operatic
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 ...
. He is also known by the Spanish version of his name, Francisco Viñas and the Italian version, Francesco Vignas. He was particularly known for his performances in the operas of
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...
and sang in the first post-embargo production of ''
Parsifal
''Parsifal'' ( WWV 111) is a music drama in three acts by the German composer Richard Wagner and his last composition. Wagner's own libretto for the work is freely based on the 13th-century Middle High German chivalric romance ''Parzival'' of th ...
'' outside
Bayreuth
Bayreuth ( or ; High Franconian German, Upper Franconian: Bareid, ) is a Town#Germany, town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtel Mountains. The town's roots date back to 11 ...
.
Life and career
Viñas was born in
Moià
Moià () (Spanish: Moyá) is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Moianès, Catalonia, Spain. Since May 2015 it has been the capital of the new comarca of Moianès; previously it was in Bages
Bages () is a comarca (county) in the central reg ...
, a small town near
Barcelona
Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
. At the age of 23, he enrolled in singing lessons at the
Barcelona Conservatory where he studied under . After hearing him in some of the conservatory's concerts, Juan Goula, a principal conductor at the
Gran Teatre del Liceu
Gran may refer to:
People
*Grandmother, affectionately known as "gran"
* Gran (name)
Places
* Gran, the historical German name for Esztergom, a city and the primatial metropolitan see of Hungary
* Gran, Norway, a municipality in Innlandet coun ...
, urged him to study the title role of ''
Lohengrin
Lohengrin () is a character in German Arthurian literature. The son of Parzival (Percival), he is a knight of the Holy Grail sent in a boat pulled by swans to rescue a maiden who can never ask his identity. His story, which first appears in Wo ...
''. Viñas went on to make his operatic debut at the Liceu on 9 February 1888 in ''Lohengrin''. It was to become one of his signature roles.
[Aspinall, Michael (2006)]
Liner notes: ''The Complete Francisco Viñas''
. Marston Records. Retrieved 7 February 2013.
Julián Gayarre
Sebastián Julián Gayarre Garjón (9 January 1844 in Roncal, Navarre, Spain – 2 January 1890 in Madrid, Spain), better known as Julián Gayarre, was a Spanish opera singer who created the role of Marcello in Donizetti's '' Il Duca d'Alba'' ...
, another Spanish tenor noted for his Wagnerian roles, was in the audience at the Liceu for Viñas's debut and was reportedly so impressed with the performance that he gave Viñas his own Lohengrin costume.
Viñas soon received invitations to sing at other Spanish opera houses and in Italy. In the space of three years he sang Lohengrin 120 times.
He debuted at Milan's
La Scala
La Scala (, , ; officially , ) is a historic opera house in Milan, Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as (, which previously was Santa Maria della Scala, Milan, a church). The premiere performa ...
in 1889
and at Turin's
Teatro Regio in 1890, both times as Lohengrin. He first performed at
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist sit ...
in 1893, though he had earlier appeared in London in 1891, in the first performance there of ''
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 ...
''.
He also debuted in 1893 at the
Teatro di San Carlo
The Real Teatro di San Carlo ("Royal Theatre of Saint Charles"), as originally named by the Bourbon monarchy but today known simply as the Teatro (di) San Carlo, is a historic opera house in Naples, Italy, connected to the Royal Palace and ...
in Naples as Lohengrin, and at 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 ...
as Turiddu.
He did not reach the
San Carlo in Lisbon until 1904, and the
Teatro Colón
The Teatro Colón () is a historic opera house in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is considered one of the ten best opera houses in the world by National Geographic. According to a survey carried out by the acoustics expert Leo Beranek among leadin ...
in Buenos Aires until 1910, debuting at both inevitably as Lohengrin.
Viñas was a Wagner specialist, but had a repertoire of 37 operas including Verdi, the verismo composers, and French opera. He sang Tristan in 1908 in Lisbon. On 31 December 1913 he sang
Parsifal
''Parsifal'' ( WWV 111) is a music drama in three acts by the German composer Richard Wagner and his last composition. Wagner's own libretto for the work is freely based on the 13th-century Middle High German chivalric romance ''Parzival'' of th ...
at the
Liceu
The Gran Teatre del Liceu (; ; ), or simply Liceu, is a theater in Barcelona, Spain. Situated on La Rambla, it is the city's oldest theater building still in use for its original purpose.
Founded in 1837 at another location, the Liceu ope ...
in Barcelona, with
Margot Kaftal,
Cesare Formichi and
Vincenzo Bettoni, on the 30th anniversary of its Bayreuth premiere and thus the first night that the prohibition on its performance elsewhere was lifted. The Barcelona performance started at 10.30pm local time, half an hour before the embargo was officially lifted, to beat the authorised first performance in Bologna - see ''
Parsifal
''Parsifal'' ( WWV 111) is a music drama in three acts by the German composer Richard Wagner and his last composition. Wagner's own libretto for the work is freely based on the 13th-century Middle High German chivalric romance ''Parzival'' of th ...
''.
His Italian career closed with performances of Lohengrin in Bologna (1913) and Parsifal in Pisa (1914).
In 1918 he sang for the last time at the Teatro del Liceo in Barcelona, and after his retirement from the stage, he focused on promoting the Fruit Tree Festival in
Moià
Moià () (Spanish: Moyá) is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Moianès, Catalonia, Spain. Since May 2015 it has been the capital of the new comarca of Moianès; previously it was in Bages
Bages () is a comarca (county) in the central reg ...
that he himself had established in 1905. In 1932 he published ''El arte del canto'' (republished in 1963).
Viñas was married to the Italian operatic
mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano (, ), or mezzo ( ), is a type of classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A bel ...
Giulia Novelli (1859–1932) with whom he had a daughter, Mercè. His brother Marià Viñas i Dordal was a priest and musician, from 1912 the chapel master of
Barcelona Cathedral
The Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia (), also known as Barcelona Cathedral, is the seat of the Archbishop of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. The cathedral was constructed from the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries, with the principa ...
.
He died in his home town in 1933, from lung cancer.
Discography
Viñas made at least 76 records, 8 for G&T in 1903 and 68 for Fonotipia between 1905 and 1913. A complete reissue of his catalogue has been made by Marston Records.
Legacy
In 1963 the Francisco Viñas Singing Contest was founded in his honor.
"Tenor Viñas Contest"
Liceu
The Gran Teatre del Liceu (; ; ), or simply Liceu, is a theater in Barcelona, Spain. Situated on La Rambla, it is the city's oldest theater building still in use for its original purpose.
Founded in 1837 at another location, the Liceu ope ...
Francesc Viñas Contest
tenorvinas.com
References
See also the chronology and discography by Larry Lustig and Clifford Williams: “Francisco Viñas”, ''Record Collector'', Vol. 34 Nos. 5,6,7, July 1989
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vinas, Francesc
Opera singers from Catalonia
People from Moianès
1863 births
1933 deaths
Conservatori Superior de Música del Liceu alumni
Spanish operatic tenors
19th-century Spanish male opera singers
20th-century Spanish male opera singers