Giuseppe Danise

Giuseppe Danise (11 January 1882 – 9 January 1963) was an Italian operatic baritone. He sang to great acclaim throughout Italy and the Americas, appearing in lyric and dramatic roles from the Italian, French, Wagnerian, and Russian repertoire.

Christian Ehring
Giuseppe Danise seated at the piano in his home in New York
Born11 January 1882
9 January, 1963
OccupationItalian operatic baritone

Education and early career

Danise was born in Salerno, near Naples, to Pasqualina Capaldo, an amateur musician, and Enrico Danise, an official in the Italian government.[1] Though he began studies in law, he was urged to take up a career in singing, as he had a natural singing voice. He attended the Conservatorio di San Pietro a Majella in Naples, where he was trained first by Luigi Colonnese, a baritone of the previous generation whose own pedagogical lineage included Alessandro Busti and the castrato Girolamo Crescentini. According to Danise, for the first year he was only allowed to sing tones—no scales and no songs.[2] Studies with Abramo Petillo followed. Danise's first daughter, Floria, was born in 1905. A son, Enrico, was to follow in 1907.[3]

Advertisement in the May 9, 1910 edition of the Tbilisi-based Kavkaz: The Artistic Society Theater to a Gonsalez (Italian) Opera Company performance of La favorita, four-act opera with music by Donizetti. Singers listed include baritone Giuseppe Danise.

In 1906, he made his debut at the Teatro Bellini in Naples as Alfio in Cavalleria rusticana. Shortly thereafter he was hired as a leading baritone of the Gonsalez Opera Company, a touring company that traveled through the Balkans and throughout Russia and Siberia,[4] as was described by the soprano Germana Di Giulio in Lanfranco Rasponi's The Last Prima Donnas. For at least part of the tour, the company included, among others, tenor Alessandro Procacci, soprano Giulietta Battaglioli, lyric soprano Ernestina Gonsalez, and bass Ignazio Cesari. In the course of his two and a half years with this company, Danise sang 630 performances.

He returned to Italy in May 1912. Two weeks later he sang a concert in Trieste and was engaged there for the fall season. After that, he was engaged to sing at the Teatro Regio di Torino. During that engagement he was asked to go to La Scala for the centennial of Verdi's birth. Danise refused this request over differences about the repertoire.[5]

He continued building his Italian career to great success, singing in Bologna, Genoa, Rome, and Naples, among other places. He sang the role of Amonasro in Verdi's Aida at the opening of the Arena di Verona. In 1915 he performed at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome in the world premiere of the opera Una tragedia fiorentina by Mario Mariotti.

From May 1914 through September 1915, Danise sang primarily in South America, in theatres in Uruguay, Brasil, and Argentina, such as the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.

Back in Italy, the Italian arm of the HMV record company, La Voce del Padrone, made its first complete recording of Verdi's Rigoletto in May 1916, with Danise in the title role. Due to an unfortunate incident, however, some of the matrices were damaged before they made it to the fabrication process. The sections that were lost were re-recorded the following year with a different set of singers, Rigoletto being sung by Ernesto Badini. The complete but cobbled-together recording was issued in 1918 with the mixed cast.

Danise made his La Scala debut as the title role in the Scala premiere of Borodin's Prince Igor. He enjoyed great success in that house, opening a season with Spontini's Fernando Cortez and taking part in the Scala premiere of Zandonai's Francesca da Rimini and in the world premiere of Macigno by Vittorio De Sabata. In 1918, at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome, he sang in the world premiere of Vincenzo Michetti's Maria di Magdala.

Danise had to retire from the stage temporarily when he was conscripted to service in World War I. He was transferred from Milan to Rome, where he worked as a censor. During his stay in Rome, he sang at Teatro Costanzi (now known as the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma). It was at this time (1917–1918) that Danise first had occasion to sing with Beniamino Gigli, both performing in Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur.[5]

North American career and Metropolitan Opera

Danise was released from military duty on a special conscription. He traveled to Chile and stayed in South America and Latin America during a short period that he referred to as his vagabondage. At this time the Metropolitan Opera's leading baritone, Pasquale Amato, was in decline. Danise received a letter from Giulio Gatti-Casazza, then the general manager of the company.

Danise made his debut at Metropolitan Opera in the role of Amonasro in Aida. There he starred in the Met premiere of Giordano's Andrea Chénier, Catalani's Loreley, Lalo's Le roi d'Ys, and La Habanéra by Raoul Laparra. Over the next twelve years, he sang in 425 performances with the Met, sometimes traveling with the company to perform in other cities America—Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Cleveland chief among them. He was paired with the greatest singers of the age, including Emmy Destinn, Rosa Ponselle, Claudia Muzio, Amelita Galli-Curci, Giovanni Martinelli, Beniamino Gigli, Giacomo Lauri-Volpi, and José Mardones.

From 1922 to 1931, he appeared every year at the Ravinia summer opera in Chicago.

In 1925, he married Ines Rognoni (a former ballerina at La Scala) in West New York, New Jersey.[6] They later had two daughters, Aurora and Ebe. Also in 1925 the Supreme Court in Brooklyn issued an interlocutory decree of divorce to a Raffaela Danise. In lieu of alimony, Danise was made to pay her a complete financial settlement of $20,000.[7]

From 1921 to 1927, Danise recorded dozens of arias, art songs, popular songs, and religious works for Brunswick Records.[8][9] Most of them were done in the acoustic method, but a small handful of electrics show a voice of great sonority with an intense ring.

As a result of an economic crisis in 1932, the Metropolitan Opera began to reduce fees for its soloists, causing Danise not to renew his contract with the Metropolitan Opera.

He returned to Italy, performing again with great success at La Scala, now as Scarpia in Tosca and as Alfonso in Donizetti's La favorita; in 1933 at the Teatro Regio of Torino as Telramund in Lohengrin under Max von Schillings; as well as in 1933 at the Teatro Massimo Palermo as Scarpia; and in 1935 at the Teatro Carlo Felice Genova as Alfonso in La favorita. In the years 1935–37 he performed at the Opera of Rio de Janeiro as Scarpia, as Rigoletto, as Gianciotto in Francesca da Rimini, and as Germont père in La traviata alongside Brazilian soprano Bidu Sayão.

After retirement

Danise and Sayão became companions, and he retired to look after her voice, career, and interests. In 1946, the two divorced their respective first spouses,[10] were married in 1947, and then settled in the United States. While they maintained a summer home ("Casa Bidu") in Camden, Maine,[11] their usual home was at the Ansonia Hotel in New York City, where Danise opened a voice studio. He taught, among others, Regina Resnik (guiding her from soprano to mezzo-soprano), baritone Giuseppe Valdengo, Barry Morrell (guiding him from baritone to tenor), and bass Bonaldo Giaiotti.

Danise is buried next to Sayão's mother at the Woodlawn Cemetery in New York City.

Repertoire

Roles Danise is known to have performed:[12][13]

Sortable table
Composer Surname Composer Opera/Oratorio Role
Bellini Vincenzo Bellini I puritani Riccardo
Bizet Georges Bizet Carmen Escamillo
Borodin Alexander Borodin Prince Igor Prince Igor
Catalani Alfredo Catalani Loreley Hermann
Cilea Francesco Cilea Adriana Lecouvreur Michonnet
De Sabata Victor de Sabata Il macigno Martano
Donizetti Gaetano Donizetti Don Pasquale Dr. Malatesta
Donizetti Gaetano Donizetti La favorita Alfonso
Donizetti Gaetano Donizetti Lucia di Lammermoor Enrico
Franck César Franck Les Béatitudes baritone
Gialdini Gialdino Gialdini La bufera Mulaso
Giordano Umberto Giordano Andrea Chenier Carlo Gérard
Giordano Umberto Giordano Fedora De Siriex
Giordano Umberto Giordano Madame Sans-Gêne Napoleon
Giordano Umberto Giordano Siberia Gleby
Gomes Antônio Carlos Gomes Fosca Cambro
Gomes Antônio Carlos Gomes Il Guarany Gonzales
Gounod Charles Gounod Faust Valentin
Lalo Édouard Lalo Le roi d'Ys Karnac
Laparra Raoul Laparra La Habanera Ramon
Leoncavallo Ruggero Leoncavallo Mimi Pinson Marcello
Leoncavallo Ruggero Leoncavallo I pagliacci Tonio
Leoncavallo Ruggero Leoncavallo Zazà Cascart
Leroux Xavier Leroux Le chemineau (Il vagabondo) Vagabondo
Leroux Xavier Leroux Les cadeaux de Noël (I doni di Natale) Lean
Mariotti Mario Mariotti Una tragedia fiorentina Simone
Mascagni Pietro Mascagni Cavalleria Rusticana Alfio
Mascagni Pietro Mascagni Isabeau Re Raimondo
Mascagni Pietro Mascagni L'amico Fritz Rabbi David
Massenet Jules Massenet Le jongleur de Notre-Dame Boniface
Massenet Jules Massenet Thaïs Anthanaël
Meyerbeer Giacomo Meyerbeer Gli ugonotti Conte di Nevers
Meyerbeer Giacomo Meyerbeer L'africana Nelusko
Michetti Vincenzo Michetti Maria di Magdala Giuda
Montemezzi Italo Montemezzi Giovanni Gallurese Rivegas
Montemezzi Italo Montemezzi L'amore dei tre re Manfredo
Mussorgsky Modest Mussorgsky The Fair at Sorochyntsi Kum
Offenbach Jacques Offenbach Les contes d'Hoffmann Coppelius/Miracle/Dapertutto
Pacchierotti Ubaldo Pacchierotti Il santo Fedor
Ponchielli Amilcare Ponchielli La gioconda Barnaba
Puccini Giacomo Puccini La bohème Marcello
Puccini Giacomo Puccini La fanciulla del West Jack Rance
Puccini Giacomo Puccini Tosca Scarpia
Rossini Gioacchino Rossini Guglielmo Tell Guglielmo Tell
Rossini Gioacchino Rossini Il barbiere di Siviglia Figaro
Saint-Saëns Camille Saint-Saëns Samson et Dalila High Priest of Dagon
Spontini Gaspare Spontini Fernando Cortez Telasco
Thomas Abroise Thomas Hamlet (Amleto) Hamlet
Verdi Giuseppe Verdi Aïda Amonasro
Verdi Giuseppe Verdi Don Carlo Rodrigo
Verdi Giuseppe Verdi Ernani Don Carlo
Verdi Giuseppe Verdi Il trovatore Conte Di Luna
Verdi Giuseppe Verdi La battaglia di Legnano Rolando
Verdi Giuseppe Verdi La forza del destino Don Carlo di Vargas
Verdi Giuseppe Verdi La traviata Germont
Verdi Giuseppe Verdi Otello Iago
Verdi Giuseppe Verdi Rigoletto Rigoletto
Verdi Giuseppe Verdi Un ballo in maschera Renato
Wagner Richard Wagner Götterdämmerung Gunther
Wagner Richard Wagner Lohengrin Telramund
Wolf-Ferrari Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari I gioielli della Madonna Rafaele
Zandonai Riccardo Zandonai Francesca da Rimini Gianciotto
gollark: Altulous indeed.
gollark: Not AGAIN...
gollark: I would give you, I don't know, a something?
gollark: What do you have which is altier than that?
gollark: p@assw0rd123?

References
  1. "Giuseppe Danise". Music News. 14 (2): 12. July 28, 1922.
  2. D., J. (January 22, 1921). "Europe's Depression Stifling Art". Musical America: 19.
  3. "Selected U.S. Naturalization Records - Original Documents, 1790-1974 — Petition for Naturalization". Ancestry.com. District Court, Eastern District, New York. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  4. "Artistic Society Theater advertisement for La favorita and La traviata" (PDF). Kavkaz. May 9, 1910. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  5. Danise, Giuseppe. "Giuseppe Danise Remembers His Career". YouTube. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
  6. "Opera Singer, Manager Seeks Divorces at Reno". The Morning News (Wilmington, Delaware). July 13, 1946. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  7. "Divorces Giuseppe Danise". The New York Times. May 28, 1925. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  8. Laird, Ross (2001). Brunswick Records: A Discography of Recordings, 1916-1931 (Vol 1). Greenwood Publishing Group. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  9. Laird, Ross (2001). Brunswick Records: A Discography of Recordings, 1916-1931 (Vol 2). Greenwood Publishing Group. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  10. "Bidu Sayao and Manager Seek Divorces". The Philadelphia Enquirer. July 13, 1946.
  11. "Bidu Sayão". Record News: The Magazine for Record Collectors. 2. 1957.
  12. "Name Search For: Danise, Giuseppe [Baritone]". Met Opera Database: The Metropolitan Opera Archives. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  13. Marinelli Roscioni, Carlo. "Danise's career". Giuseppe Danise. Mirko Albini. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
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