Arturo Melocchi

Arturo di Giuseppe Melocchi (December 9, 1879 – October 25, 1960) was an Italian baritone and voice teacher who is best known for having been the teacher of dramatic tenor Mario Del Monaco and whose method influenced the voice and technical development of tenor Franco Corelli.

Arturo Melocchi was born in Milan. He studied at the Regio Conservatorio di Milano under Giuseppe Gallignani, who was also the director of the Conservatory. On November 13, 1907 Melocchi graduated, receiving his license to be a singer, as well as to become a teacher of singing at any public school in Italy. His exams—with diploma requirements nearly identical to those of the old conservatorio system—consisted of the following:

Melocchi's scorecard showed that he had already proven himself expertly prepared and capable in the complementary studies of piano, theory, harmony, scenic arts, and physiology of the vocal organs, as well as the standard cultural studies in Italian history, poetry, and literature.

Melocchi became a teacher of singing at the Conservatory, appointed by Gallignani. In January 1912 he was called to take the title the Chair of Singing at the Liceo Musicale Rossini in Pesaro. He held this position uninterruptedly until 1941.

Around 1932 a young Mario Del Monaco—whose voice had been dangerously lightened in his studies with Luisa Melai-Palazzini, destroying its natural emission and timbre—began to consult and take lessons from Melocchi, who reeducated his voice with the appropriate exercises, gradually returning it its power, its breadth and natural ease, and giving it its full homogeneity along the entire range from low B♭ to high D♭. However, not yet satisfied with the progress he had achieved, Del Monaco began to make up and add to his technique, in order to get more from his vocal organs. In 1936, Del Monaco won a prize that gave him the opportunity to study his craft at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. This experience, in which he was again assigned inappropriate light repertoire, caused him to lose his voice nearly completely. In 1938, he returned to Pesaro, where he attempted to resume his studies with Melocchi. At first Melocchi did not take Del Monaco back, but at the insistence of Rina Filippini (later Del Monaco's wife), Melocchi accepted the tenor into his studio, and within six months, Del Monaco's voice was rebuilt to the state that quickly carried him forward to becoming the greatest dramatic tenor of the mid-20th century.