Paolo Silveri (b. Ofena, 28 December 1913 – d. Rome, 3 July 2001) was an Italian

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 ...

, particularly associated with the Italian repertory, one of the finest Verdi baritones of his time.

Biography

Silveri studied first in Capestrano (L'Aquila) then in Milano with Perugini, and later in Rome with Riccardo Stracciari and the bass Giulio Cirino (father of Silveri's wife Delia), making his debut there as Hans Schwartz, a bass role, in '' Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg'' in 1939. After further studies, he made new debut as a baritone in 1944, as Germont in Rome. Thereafter, he rapidly sang throughout Italy, notably at the San Carlo in Naples, and La Scala in Milan, debut as de Luna in 1949. Also appeared at the Royal Opera House in London, in 1946, and at the Paris Opéra, debut in 1951, as Renato. Silveri made his debut in the USA at the Metropolitan Opera in 1950, as

Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; full title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanish legen ...

with Fritz Reiner conducting. There he also sang

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 ...

and Posa. He attempted the role of

Otello ''Otello'' () is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on William Shakespeare, Shakespeare's play ''Othello''. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, first performed at the La Scala, Teatro alla Scala, M ...

in Dublin in 1959, thus being one of a few singers to professionally perform both as a bass, baritone and tenor, but quickly reverted to baritone roles. He was especially noted for his interpretations of Verdi operas and some other roles like Scarpia (Tosca), Figaro (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Guglielmo Tell and Don Giovanni. He can be heard on complete recordings of '' Nabucco'', '' La traviata'', '' Il trovatore'', '' Simon Boccanegra'', '' Don Carlo'', '' La Gioconda'', and '' Tosca''. Silveri retired from the stage in 1968 after a last performance of Rigoletto in Budapest with his daughter Silvia in the role of Gilda, and taught in Rome, where he died at age 87 in the summer of 2001.

References

* ''Le Guide de l'opéra'', R. Mancini & J-J. Rouvereux, Fayard, 1986.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Silveri, Paolo 1913 births 2001 deaths Italian operatic baritones 20th-century Italian male opera singers People from the Province of L'Aquila