Amore o grillo

Guido Ciccolini (1882-1963) was an Italian tenor who enjoyed a respectable career during the first quarter of the 20th century. Born in Rome, he studied with legendary baritone Antonio Cotogni at the Santa Cecilia Academy and made his debut as Alfredo in La Traviata in Bologna in 1907. Within a year, the young tenor was travelling abroad, with appearances in Ghent, Brussels, Paris, London, Belfast, Dublin and Amsterdam. Upon his return to Italy, Ciccolini made numerous appearances in Naples and Palermo. He undertook a tour of Eastern Europe in 1910 that took him to Warsaw, St. Petersburg, Odessa and Moscow. In April of 1912, Ciccolini was scheduled to sail to New York but a last minute addition to his concert schedule compelled him to change his reservation. This quirk of fate saved the tenor’s life, for the ship on which he had been scheduled to travel was the ill-fated Titanic.

Following the June, 1914 Italian premiere of Wolf-Ferrari’s I Quatro Rusteghi in Milan, Ciccolini finally made his North American debut in Boston as Rodolfo in La Bohème. A tour of Canada followed as well as appearances in Havana. Ciccolini became a popular fixture in Chicago, New York and Boston, singing a variety of roles including the Duke in Rigoletto, Almaviva in Barbiere di Siviglia, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana, Canio in Pagliacci, Cavaradossi in Tosca, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Vasco da Gama in L’Africana and the title role in Faust. In 1922, at the peak of his career, the 40-year-old Ciccolini suddenly left the operatic stage. Now a resident of Monmouth County, New Jersey, the tenor decided to concentrate on raising his growing family. There were, however, a few sporadic appearances over the years. Ciccolini was coaxed to the vaudeville stage in the early 1920s, where he demonstrated a real knack for presenting popular American love songs. As a result, many a piece of mid 1920s sheet music bears Ciccolini’s photograph. He spent time in Hollywood where he became friends with stars Charlie Chaplin and Rudolph Valentino. It was a tearful Ciccolini who sang Massenet’s Élégie at Valentino’s funeral in 1926. The tenor even made his way to the big screen, appearing in an early Vitaphone short in 1929. However, these forays into public life were few and far between. Ciccolini avoided the spotlight for the remaining four decades of his life and died in 1963 at the age of 81.

Ciccolini made dozens of recordings for Victor, The Gramophone Company and Edison between 1910 and the late 1920s. In these recordings one hears a sturdy lirico-spinto instrument possessed by a musical and tasteful artist. Although his performances are heartfelt and passionate, Ciccolini avoids descending into the self-indulgent excesses heard in many of his provincial Italian contemporaries. Here, Ciccolini joins forces with American baritone Thomas Chalmers (1884-1966) for the duet "Amore o grillo" from Act I of Puccini's Madama Butterfly. The two artists' voices blend well and Ciccolini's voice rings out with impressive B flats. This recording was made for the Edison Company on June 20, 1917.