Zaza piccola zingara

Riccardo Stracciari - Zaza - Zaza, piccola zingara - Orchestre dirigé par Leoncavallo - Fonotipia 74171 enregistré le 22 avril 1909
« Riccardo Stracciari (né le 26 juin 1875 à Casalecchio di Reno et mort le 10 octobre 1955 à Rome) était un chanteur d'opéra italien, l'un des plus grands barytons de sa génération pour la beauté de la voix et la facilité du régistre aigu
Stracciari commence à chanter dès 1894, comme membre de chœur et dans de petits rôles de soutien dans une troupe d'opérette. Il étudie ensuite à Bologne avec Ulisse Masetti, et y débute en 1899, au Teatro Communale, dans La Resurezione di Cristo de Pesori, puis à Rovigo, en Marcello de La Bohème.
Il chante dans différents théâtres d'Italie, avant de faire ses débuts à La Scala de Milan en 1904. Il entreprends alors une carrière internationale avec des débuts au Royal Opera House de Londres en 1905, au Metropolitan Opera de New York en 1906, à l'Opéra de Paris en 1909, au Teatro Real de Madrid en 1909, Teatro Colón de Buenos Aires en 1913, au Lyric Opera de Chicago en 1917, à l'Opéra de San Francisco en 1925.
Stracciari s'adonne également au professorat à Rome à partir de 1940, tout en continuant à chanter jusqu'à son retrait définitif de la scène en 1944, après 50 années de carrière.
Stracciari est tenu comme l'un des plus grands chanteurs de tous les temps pour le contrôle absolu de l'émission et du souffle, capable d'éclat, d'une belle agilité, et des plus subtiles nuances, tenu pour le meilleur Figaro et Rigoletto du XXe siècle (rôles dont il enregistre les premières intégrales en 1928). Il brilla d'un mème éclat dans le répertoire du bel canto (Ashton, Alfonso, di Luna, Germont, Amonasro, etc) et du vérisme (Scarpia, Sharpless, etc), il chanta aussi Wolfram, Valentin avec grand succès.
Également tenu comme un éminent pédagogue, il eut pour élèves, notamment, Alexander Sved, Paolo Silveri, Boris Christoff. »


Riccardo Stracciari (June 26, 1875 – October 10, 1955) was a leading Italian baritone. His repertoire consisted mainly of Italian operatic works, with Rossini's Figaro and Verdi's Rigoletto becoming his signature roles during a long and distinguished career which stretched from 1899 to 1944.
Born in Casalecchio di Reno near Bologna, Italy, Stracciari first sang in an operetta chorus during 1894. He then entered the Bologna Conservatory, undertaking vocal studies with Umberto Masetti. He made his professional debut in 1899, at the Teatro Communale in Bologna, in Pesori's sacred work La risurrezione di Christo. The following year he made his operatic debut as Marcello in Puccini's La bohème in Rovigo. After appearing in various Italian opera houses, he made his debut at Italy's leading operatic venue, La Scala, Milan, in 1904.
Stracciari's career quickly became international, with debuts at the Royal Opera House in London in 1905, followed by his first appearance at the New York Metropolitan Opera on December 1, 1906, as Germont in La traviata with Marcella Sembrich and Enrico Caruso. During his two seasons at the Met, his roles included: Rigoletto, Ashton, Amonasro, Nélusko, Valentin, Marcello, Sharpless, Lescaut, Alfio, Tonio, and Di Luna. He also appeared with the Chicago Opera, the San Francisco Opera, the Paris Opéra, the Teatro Real in Madrid and the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.
Stracciari performed widely, too, in his native Italy and retired from the stage in 1944. He is above all associated with Rossini's great comic creation Figaro, in Il barbiere di Siviglia, which he sang an estimated 1000 times, and Rigoletto, in Verdi's tragic opera of the same name. He made complete recordings of these two works in 1929, opposite Mercedes Capsir and Dino Borgioli. Both of these recordings are of particular historical value as illustrations of Italian singing styles of that period.
Stracciari sang in an era that was rich in outstanding operatic voices. But despite the high quality of the competition which he faced from rival singers, he is still widely considered to have been one of the finest Italian baritones of the 20th century, owing to the beauty of his voice during its peak period, his imposing interpretive style and his first-rate vocal technique. America's foremost soprano of the post World War I-era, Rosa Ponselle, was an enthusiastic admirer of Stracciari's singing.
He also became a distinguished teacher at the music conservatories of Naples and Rome. Among his most notable students were Raffaele Arié, Paolo Silveri, Giulio Fioravanti, Zdeněk Otava, Mario Laurenti and Boris Christoff. He died in Rome aged 80.
Source : Wikipédia