Me protegge me difende

Oreste Mieli (1870-1924) was an Italian tenor who enjoyed a brief career in the Italian provinces in the years leading up to World War I. Born Oreste Mielino in Galbiate in Italy’s Lombardy region, Mieli made his debut…as a baritone…at age 22 as Alfonso in La Favorita at Ravenna’s Teatro Marinari. During the course of the next two years, the young singer essayed such baritone roles as Germont in La Traviata, Riccardo in I Puritani and the title role in Rigoletto. Realizing that he needed further training, however, he withdrew from the scene early in 1894 to retrain his voice. Emerging as a tenor in the fall of 1895, Mieli made a second debut as Roberto in Antonio Castracane’s now forgotten opera, Paron Giovanni at the Teatro Nuovo Fenice in Osimo. The tenor must have considered this performance something of an experiment, for it was an entire year before he set foot on the stage again. Mieli came back to the opera world at the Politeama Ternano in September of 1896, but in the rather high lying role of Fernando in La Favorita…not a role one would expect from an ex-baritone.

Eventually, Mieli’s repertoire would encompass some two dozen roles such as Alfredo in La Traviata, the Duke in Rigoletto, Loris in Fedora, Maurizio in Adriana Lecouvreur, Canio in Pagliacci, Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana, Rodolfo in La Bohème, Milio in Zazà, Florindo in Le Maschere, Don José in Carmen, and the title roles in Andrea Chénier, L’Amico Fritz and Fra Diavolo. One of the highlights of Mieli’s career occurred in November of 1904 when he sang the role of Dimitri in the world premiere of Franco Alfano’s Risurrezione at Turin’s Teatro Vittorio Emanuele under the baton of Tullio Serafin. The busy tenor was invited to many of Italy’s prominent provincial theaters…Rome’s Teatro Constanzi, Turin’s Teatro Vittorio Emanuele and Teatro Regio, the Teatro Bellini in Naples, La Fenice in Venice, Como’s Teatro Sociale, the Teatro dal Verme in Milan…as well as to Egypt and the Netherlands.

Following a performance of Fedora at Treviso’s Politeama Garibaldi in the spring of 1906, the 36-year-old Mieli left the stage. A year later, he returned…once again as a baritone…as Valentin in Gounod’s Faust at the Teatro Vittorio Emanuele in Turin. For the next six years, the ex-tenor made his mark on the world of provincial opera, singing Renato in Un Ballo in Maschera, di Luna in Il Trovatore, Jago in Otello, Amonasro in Aïda, Don Carlo in La Forza del Destino, Barnaba in La Gioconda, Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Alfio in Cavalleria Rusticana, Tonio in Pagliacci, Escamillo in Carmen, Malatesta in Don Pasquale and many others. Mieli’s repertoire as a baritone swelled to 35 roles…quite a few more than his tenor repertoire! In fact, it seemed that Mieli became more successful as a baritone than as a tenor. During his years as a baritone, he appeared on the stages of London, Paris, Marseille, Dublin, Belfast and Bucharest…as well as throughout Italy. In all, Mieli amassed a combined repertoire as a tenor and as a baritone of an impressive 60 roles.

Mieli’s final performance was as Scarpia in Puccini’s Tosca at the Teatro Ciscutti in Pola in the spring of 1913. The 43-year-old singer then withdrew from public life for good in order to spend more time with his growing family. Mieli returned to his birthplace to spend his retirement years and take advantage of the fruits of his labor. Sadly, the former stage artist barely had the opportunity to enjoy his retirement. Oreste Mieli was only 54 years old when he passed away in 1924.

Oreste Mieli recorded prolifically for Pathé, Columbia, The Anglo-Italian Commerce Company, Zonofono, Edison and the Gramophone Company. In a recording career that lasted barely seven years, the singer left behind over 250 cylinders and discs…an extraordinary achievement in those days. Unfortunately, as was the case of his older contemporary, Fernando de Lucia, Mieli seemed to employ downward transpositions in the recording studio for the sake of his own comfort. This makes it VERY difficult to properly pitch his records. However, I have done all that is humanly possible to reproduce these century old recordings at the correct speeds…or, at the very least, at speeds that sound “right”. In this recording, Mieli sings the cabaletta, "Me protegge, me difende" from Bellini's Norma. This was recorded in Milan for the Edison Company around 1902.