
Mattia Battistini (27 February 1856 – 7 November 1928) was an Italian operatic
baritone
A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...
, referred to as the "King of Baritones" in multiple publications.
[Steane, J.B., 1998. Singers of the Century, vol. 2. Amadeus Press, Portland, pp. 48–52.]
Early life
Battistini was born in
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
on 27 February 1856. He spent most of his childhood in the Collebaccaro di Contigliano village, near
Rieti
Rieti (; , Sabino: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, with a population of 47,700. It is the administrative seat of the province of Rieti and see of the diocese of Rieti, as well as the modern capital of the Sabina region.
T ...
, where his parents owned an estate.
His grandfather Giovanni and uncle Raffaele were personal physicians to
the Pope
The pope is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the pope was the sovereign or head of sta ...
, and his father, Cavaliere Luigi Battistini, was a professor of
anatomy
Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...
at the
University of Rome. Battistini attended the Collegio Bandinelli and later the Istituto dell' Apollinare.
Battistini dropped out of law school to study music with Emilio Terziani (who taught composition) and with Venceslao Persichini (professor of singing) at the
Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia—then the Liceo Musicale of Rome. Battistini worked with conductor
Luigi Mancinelli and the composer Augusto Rotoli and consulted with baritone
Antonio Cotogni to refine his technique.
Early career
Battistini made his operatic début at the
Teatro Argentina
The Teatro Argentina (directly translating to "Theatre Argentina") is an opera house and theatre located in Largo di Torre Argentina, a square in Rome, Italy. One of the oldest theatres in Rome, it was constructed in 1731 and inaugurated on 31 ...
, Rome, as Alfonso in
Donizetti
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was an Italian Romantic composer, best known for his almost 70 operas. Along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, he was a leading composer of the ''bel canto'' opera ...
's ''La favorita''. The date for this has often been given as 11 December 1878, although 9 November 1878 is the correct date according to certain sources.
During the first three years of his professional career, he toured Italy, singing principal roles in such varied operas as ''
La forza del destino'', ''
Il trovatore'', ''
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 ...
'', ''
Il Guarany'', ''Gli Ugonotti'', ''Dinorah'', ''L'Africana'', ''
I Puritani
' (''The Puritans'') is an 1835 opera by Vincenzo Bellini. It was originally written in two acts and changed to three acts before the premiere on the advice of Gioachino Rossini, with whom the young composer had become friends. The music was set ...
'', ''
Lucia di Lammermoor
''Lucia di Lammermoor'' () is a (tragic opera) in three acts by Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian-language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's 1819 historical novel '' The Bride of Lammermoor''. ...
'', ''
Aïda'', and ''
Ernani
''Ernani'' is an operatic ''dramma lirico'' in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on the 1830 play ''Hernani (drama), Hernani'' by Victor Hugo.
Verdi was commissioned by the Teatro La Fenice in Ve ...
''. He also participated in several operatic premières. In 1881 he went to
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
for the first time, touring South America for more than 12 months. On his return trip, he appeared in
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 ...
and
Madrid
Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
where he sang Figaro in
Rossini
Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. He gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano p ...
's comic masterpiece ''
Il Barbiere di Siviglia''.
In 1883, he undertook his first visit to the
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orch ...
at London's
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 ...
, where he appeared as Riccardo in
Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini (; ; 3 November 1801 – 23 September 1835) was an Italian opera composer famed for his long, graceful melodies and evocative musical settings. A central figure of the era, he was admired not only ...
's ''I Puritani'' in a stellar cast containing
Marcella Sembrich
Prakseda Marcelina Kochańska (February 15, 1858 – January 11, 1935), known professionally as Marcella Sembrich, was a Polish dramatic coloratura soprano. She is known for her extensive range of two and a half octaves, precise intonation, ch ...
,
Francesco Marconi, and
Edouard de Reszke. He also sang opposite leading soprano
Adelina Patti
Adelina Patti (19 February 184327 September 1919) was a Spanish-Italian opera singer. At the height of her career, she was earning huge fees performing in the music capitals of Europe and America. She first sang in public as a child in 1851, a ...
in other Covent Garden productions.
Battistini made his debut at the
Teatro San Carlo in
Naples
Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...
in 1886. Two years later, he once more sailed to Buenos Aires to fulfill a series of singing engagements; but this proved to be his last trans-Atlantic excursion, and he never appeared again in South America. He also avoided North America despite receiving overtures from the management of the New York
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 ...
. In his absence, Battistini's core repertoire was allocated to the Italian baritones
Mario Ancona
Mario Ancona (28 February 1860 – 23 February 1931), was a leading Italian baritone and master of bel canto singing. He appeared at some of the most important opera houses in Europe and America during what is commonly referred to as the "Gold ...
,
Giuseppe Campanari
Giuseppe Campanari (17 November 1855 – 31 May 1927) James Francis Cooke (1921) ''Great Singers on the Art of Singing'', Theodore Presser Co.Cooke (1921) gives his date of birth as 17 November 1858 but this is unlikely given the d.o.b. of his b ...
,
Antonio Scotti, and after 1908
Pasquale Amato
Pasquale Amato (21 March 1878 – 12 August 1942) was an Italians, Italian operatic baritone. Amato enjoyed an international reputation but attained the peak of his fame in New York City, where he sang with the Metropolitan Opera from 1908 unti ...
.
Battistini is said to have developed a permanent horror of oceanic travel due to his adverse experiences on the particularly rough 1888 voyage to Buenos Aires. 1888 was also the year of his début at
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 ...
, Milan. La Scala's audiences acclaimed him, and he was re-engaged for the next season.
The Russian years

From 1892 onwards, Battistini established himself as an immense favorite with audiences at Russia's two imperial theatres in
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
and Moscow: the
Mariinsky and the
Bolshoi respectively. He returned to Russia regularly, appearing there for 23 seasons in total, and touring extensively elsewhere in eastern Europe, using
Warsaw
Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...
as his stepping-stone. He would journey to Warsaw, Saint Petersburg, Moscow, and
Odessa
ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...
like a prince, traveling in his private rail coach with a retinue of servants and innumerable trunks containing a vast stage wardrobe renowned for its elegance and lavishness. The composer
Jules Massenet
Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (; 12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty. The two most frequently staged are ''Manon'' (1884 ...
was prepared to adjust the role of
Werther
''Werther'' is an opera (''drame lyrique'') in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann (who used the pseudonym Henri Grémont). It is loosely based on Goethe's epistolary novel ''The S ...
for the baritone range when Battistini elected to sing it in Saint Petersburg in 1902, such was the singer's prestige.
The industrious Battistini also appeared with some regularity in Milan, Lisbon, Barcelona, Madrid, Berlin, Vienna, Prague, Budapest, and Paris (where he sang for the first time in 1916). But his many social connections in Russia, and the favor that he enjoyed with the imperial family and the nobility, ensured that Russia—more than perhaps even Italy—became his artistic home before the outbreak of the
First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, in 1914. The war led to the destruction, by the
Bolsheviks
The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...
in 1917, of the
Tsar
Tsar (; also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar''; ; ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, цар, car) is a title historically used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean ''emperor'' in the Euro ...
ist regime and the aristocratic society that had enriched touring Italian opera stars like Battistini and his tenor compatriots
Francesco Tamagno, Francesco Marconi, and Angelo Masini. This history-shaping political development, coupled with Battistini's refusal to sing in the Americas, meant that his career after the war's conclusion in 1918 was confined to Western Europe.
Battistini's choice of bride had befitted his esteemed social status in Tsarist Russia and the West; he married a Spanish noblewoman, Doña Dolores de Figueroa y Solís, who was the offspring of a marquis and a cousin of Cardinal
Rafael Merry del Val.
In January 1900, Battistini and a young Russian admirer, Varvara Grigorievna Kovalensky (1878–1946), had a son Petya (1900–1972). For around ten years, Battistini and Varvara corresponded and worked out details of Petya's upbringing, eventually enrolling him at the
Collegio Nazareno under the name Pietro Kovalensky. Though mother and father never married (Battistini was already married and a devout Catholic) and broke off contact, they did reconcile after Varvara's husband Vladimir Mrosovsky died. By that point, Petya (now known as Peter Mrosovsky) had finished school in England and graduated from
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
. There he had been friends with the likes of
Nabokov, to whom he introduced
James Joyce's ''
Ulysses'' with a first edition copy smuggled from Paris.
Final years and death
Battistini formed his own company of singers following the 1914–1918 war. He toured with them and appeared frequently in concerts and recitals. He sang in England for the final time in 1924 and gave his last concert performance one year before his death. His voice was reportedly still steady, responsive, and in good overall condition.
His last singing engagement occurred in
Graz
Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...
, Austria, on 17 October 1927. He withdrew to his estate at Collebaccaro di Contigliano, Rieti, dying there from heart failure on 7 November 1928.
Battistini also taught voice in later years; among his pupils were the Basque baritone Celestino Sarobe and the Greek baritone
Titos Xirellis.
Recordings
Battistini's initial sequence of records was cut in Warsaw in 1902 for the
Gramophone and Typewriter Company. Between 1906 and 1924, he recorded extensively for the
Gramophone Co Ltd and its associated companies. His records were issued in the US by
Victor. Battistini's last recording session took place in February 1924. The earliest of his discs feature a piano accompanist but his later sung offerings were backed by a small band of orchestral musicians and, occasionally, a few choristers.
Selected reissues
On vinyl long-playing disc
EMI
EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...
, the original producer, issued a complete Battistini collection late in the LP era, remastered from the original 78-rpm
shellac
Shellac () is a resin secreted by the female Kerria lacca, lac bug on trees in the forests of India and Thailand. Chemically, it is mainly composed of aleuritic acid, jalaric acid, shellolic acid, and other natural waxes. It is processed and s ...
discs by audio technician Keith Hardwick.
On compact disc
*Mattia Battistini: The Complete Recordings 1898–1924, 6 CDs, Marston Records 2015 (USA).
*The Complete Recordings: Mattia Battistini, Volume 1 (1902–1911), Romophone (UK).
*Mattia Battistini: a recital of arias by
Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...
,
Flotow,
Donizetti
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was an Italian Romantic composer, best known for his almost 70 operas. Along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, he was a leading composer of the ''bel canto'' opera ...
,
Gounod
Charles-François Gounod (; ; 17 June 181818 October 1893), usually known as Charles Gounod, was a French composer. He wrote twelve operas, of which the most popular has always been ''Faust (opera), Faust'' (1859); his ''Roméo et Juliette'' (18 ...
,
Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi ( ; ; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto, a small town in the province of Parma, to a family of moderate means, recei ...
,
Ambroise Thomas
Charles Louis Ambroise Thomas (; 5 August 1811 – 12 February 1896) was a French composer and teacher, best known for his operas ''Mignon'' (1866) and ''Hamlet (opera), Hamlet'' (1868).
Born into a musical family, Thomas was a student at the C ...
, Preiser—''Lebendige Vergangenheit'' (Austria).
*Mattia Battistini: ''Il Re dei Baritoni'', Preiser—''L.V.'' Austria; a 2-CD edition that boasts a discerningly chosen and well-transferred cross-section of the singer's large, recorded output.
*Mattia Battistini, Volumes 1–3, Pearl (UK).
*Mattia Battistini Rarities, Volumes 1–2, Symposium (UK).
This singer is found, too, on many historical CDs devoted to vocal compilations.
An appreciation of his recordings
Mattia Battistini was esteemed as one of the greatest of singers and even a cursory acquaintance with his many discs will make it clear why he was so celebrated by his contemporaries. Amongst the arsenal of vocal weapons that he displays on record was the perfect blending of his
registers coupled with the sophisticated use of ornamentation, portamento, and ''fil di voce'', as well as an array of
rubato and
legato
In music performance and notation, legato (; Italian for "tied together"; French ''lié''; German ''gebunden'') indicates that musical notes are played or sung smoothly, such that the transition from note to note is made with no intervening si ...
effects. His art was perfected before the advent of "passion-torn-to-tatters"
verismo
In opera, , from , meaning 'true', was a post-Romantic operatic tradition associated with Italian composers such as Pietro Mascagni, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Umberto Giordano, Francesco Cilea and Giacomo Puccini.
''Verismo'' as an operatic ge ...
opera in the 1890s, and together with the likes of
Pol Plançon and
Mario Ancona
Mario Ancona (28 February 1860 – 23 February 1931), was a leading Italian baritone and master of bel canto singing. He appeared at some of the most important opera houses in Europe and America during what is commonly referred to as the "Gold ...
(and, to a lesser extent,
Alessandro Bonci
Alessandro Bonci (February 10, 1870 – August 9, 1940) was an Italian lyric tenor known internationally for his association with the '' bel canto'' repertoire. He sang at many famous theatres, including New York's Metropolitan Opera, Milan's La ...
), he represented the twilight of the art of male
bel canto
, )—with several similar constructions (, , , pronounced in English as )—is a term with several meanings that relate to Italian singing, and whose definitions have often been misunderstood. ''Bel canto'' was not only seen as a vocal technique ...
singing on disc.
Fortunately, the sound of Battistini's clear, high-placed, and open-throated baritone voice took well to the primitive acoustic recording process with only his very lowest notes sounding pallid. He also handled the trying conditions of the early sound 'studios', with their boxy confines and wall-mounted recording funnel, much better than did many of his contemporaries, who often felt inhibited or intimidated by their uninspiring surroundings. His singing was considered to be 'old-fashioned', even in the circa-1900 era. Consequently, his discs provide a retrospective guide to Italian singing practice of the early-to-mid-19th century (the era of
Gaetano Donizetti
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was an Italian Romantic music, Romantic composer, best known for his almost 70 operas. Along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, he was a leading composer of the ''be ...
and
Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini (; ; 3 November 1801 – 23 September 1835) was an Italian opera composer famed for his long, graceful melodies and evocative musical settings. A central figure of the era, he was admired not only ...
)—as well as exemplifying the "grand manner" style of vocalism for which much
Romantic operatic music was written. Battistini delivers this kind of music in a virile, bold, and patrician way. He is not averse, however, to showing off his voice by prolonging top notes or embellishing the written score with a liberality that might surprise 21st-century listeners who are imbued with the modern notion that a composer's work is sacrosanct.
Perhaps Battistini's most historically illuminating recording is that of "Non mi ridestar", the Italian version of "Pourquoi me reveiller", a
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 ...
aria
In music, an aria (, ; : , ; ''arias'' in common usage; diminutive form: arietta, ; : ariette; in English simply air (music), air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrument (music), instrumental or orchestral accompan ...
from
Massenet
Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (; 12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty. The two most frequently staged are ''Manon'' (1884 ...
's'' Werther''. Massenet transposed the protagonist's role downwards for baritone in a special version made especially for Battistini, harking back to an age when composers tailored their musical parts to fit the talents of one singer, and a singer of Battistini's stature could make almost any modifications seem acceptable. For those listeners sampling Battistini's discography for the first time, his touchstone recorded performances include versions of arias from ''
Don Sebastiano'', ''
Macbeth
''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...
'', ''
Don Carlos
''Don Carlos'' is an 1867 five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French-language libretto by Joseph Méry and Camille du Locle, based on the 1787 play '' Don Karlos, Infant von Spanien'' (''Don Carlos, Infante of Spain'') by Fried ...
'', ''
Tannhäuser
Tannhäuser (; ), often stylized "The Tannhäuser", was a German Minnesinger and traveling poet. Historically, his biography, including the dates he lived, is obscure beyond the poetry, which suggests he lived between 1245 and 1265.
His name ...
'' and ''L'Africana''—plus a scintillating series of excerpts of Don Carlo's scenes from ''Ernani'', arguably his greatest part, which he committed to wax in 1906. For an evaluation of Battistini's technique, style, and legacy on disc, see his entry in Volume One of Michael Scott's survey ''
The Record of Singing
''The Record of Singing'' is a compilation of classical-music singing from the first half of the 20th century, the era of the 78-rpm record.
It was issued on LP (with accompanying books) by EMI, successor to the Gramophone Company — perhaps the ...
'' (published by Duckworth, London, 1977, ).
Bibliography
Elsa Boscardini, of the Istituto Eugenio Cirese in Rieti, has published several pamphlets about Battistini, namely:
*''Mattia Battistini, breve profilo storico-biografico'' (1980);
*''L'arte di Mattia Battistini'' (1981);
*''Mattia Battistini entusiasma le platee umbre'' (1993);
*''Mattia Battistini, il favorito di Pietroburgo'' (1994);
*''Mattia Battistini, interprete delle melodie di Donizetti'' (1998); plus
*''Dolores Figueroa y Solís, la esposa de Mattia Battistini'' (written in Spanish and illustrated).
See also the following books:
Celletti, Rodolfo (1996): ''The History of Bel Canto''. Oxford & London, Oxford University Press;
Celletti, Rodolfo (1964): ''Le grandi voci''. Rome, Istituto per la collaborazione culturale;
Chuilon, Jacques (1996): ''Battistini Le Dernier Divo''. Paris, Romillat, AND, an English-language edition of Chuilon's detailed book, translated by E. Thomas Glasow, with a new preface by
Thomas Hampson
Thomas Walter Hampson (born June 28, 1955) is an American lyric baritone, a classical singer who has appeared world-wide in major opera houses and concert halls and made over 170 musical recordings.
Hampson's operatic repertoire spans a range ...
, and including a CD with 19 titles, and numerous rare photos from Chuilon's private collection, namely, Chuilon, Jacques (April 2009): ''Mattia Battistini, King of Baritones and Baritone of Kings'', Lanham, MD, USA, Scarecrow Pres
Fracassini, G. (1914): ''Mattia Battistini''. Milano, Barbini;
Karl Josef Kutsch and
Leo Riemens
Leonardus Antony Marinus Riemens (3 December 1910 – 3 April 1985) was a Dutch musicologist and cultural journalist. He wrote a book about Maria Callas, and together with Karl-Josef Kutsch began a reference book about opera singers in 1962, whic ...
, editors (2000): ''
Großes Sängerlexikon
''Großes Sängerlexikon'' (''Biographical Dictionary of Singers'', literally: Large singers' lexicon) is a single-field dictionary of singers in classical music, edited by Karl-Josef Kutsch and Leo Riemens and first published in 1987. The fi ...
'' Basel, Saur;
Lancellotti, A (1942): ''Le voci d' oro''. Rome, Palombi;
Monaldi, G (1929): ''Cantanti Celebri''. Rome, Tiber; and
Palmeggiani, Francesco (1977): ''Mattia Battistini, il re dei baritoni'' Milano, Stampa d' Oggi Editrice, 1949 (reprinted with discography, W.R. Moran, editor, New York, Arno Press).
References
External links
History of the Tenor / Mattia Battistini / Sound Clips and Narration 1989
{{DEFAULTSORT:Battistini, Mattia
1856 births
1928 deaths
Italian operatic baritones
People from the Province of Rieti
19th-century Italian male opera singers
20th-century Italian male opera singers
Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia alumni