Edgardo Gherlinzoni (1876-1961) was an Italian tenor who enjoyed a relatively brief career in the early 20th century. Born in the Northern Italian town of Stellata, Gherlinzoni demonstrated musical talent from a very early age and attracted much attention from locals for his singing. In spite of his vocal abilities, the young man initially trained to be a shoemaker (or a bricklayer, depending on which biography you believe). Gherlinzoni gave little thought to a career as a singer until the late 1890s when he began working with a local operetta troupe. However, the pay was so paltry that he soon resumed his earlier profession just to make ends meet. After a few more false starts… including a return to operetta and a failed venture in the retail industry…Gherlinzoni launched into a brief but intensive period of vocal study. It was during this period that he made the acquaintance of Tullio Serafin. The famed conductor, then in the infancy of his career, saw the potential in the young tenor and encouraged him to pursue a career on the operatic stage. In particular, Serafin advised Gherlinzoni to concentrate on the treacherously high lying role of Arturo in I Puritani. The conductor felt that, with the young tenor’s easy top, this role would fit him like a glove.
It was as Arturo that Gherlinzoni made his official debut in June of 1903 at the Teatro Carignano in Turin. During that same season, he also sang the Duke in Rigoletto with the company. The young tenor’s reputation spread rapidly throughout Italy and engagements followed in Savona, Parma, Trieste, Milan, Lugo, Modena, Bologna, Padua, Bari, Genoa, Venice and Rimini. Gherlinzoni’s first engagement outside of his native country occurred in December of 1908, when he travelled to the Teatro Reale in Madrid to sing what had become his signature role, Arturo. Although appearances in Brussels, Alexandria, St. Petersburg, Zagreb and Warsaw followed, Gherlinzoni’s career was fated to be an Italian provincial affair.
Gherlinzoni’s career was also fated to be a very brief one. At the early age of 42, he left the stage and pursued concert work for a few years. His last recorded appearance was a gala concert at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna on October 8, 1921. After that performance, the tenor disappeared from public life, with the intention of trying his hand in the business world again. When this venture failed, Gherlinzoni turned to teaching, with a bit more success. Essentially a self-taught singer who had barely learned the fundamentals of reading music, the aging ex-tenor was not exactly in great demand from major music schools. He did, however, manage to eke out a meager living by teaching private lessons from his home. Eventually, even this venture failed and, destitute and forgotten, Edgardo Gherlinzoni was moved to a nursing home in Ferrara where he spent his final years. His death on November 15, 1961 went largely unnoticed, barely meriting a notice in the press, a sad comedown for such a fine artist.
There are numerous reasons for the obscurity into which Edgardo Gherlinzoni has fallen. First, there was the brevity of his operatic career…barely 15 years. Second, apart from a few appearances at major houses…the Petruzzelli in Bari and the dal Verme in Milan among them…the tenor essentially spent his career in the smaller theaters of Italian provinces. Third, his repertoire only encompassed about a dozen roles, including Rodolfo in La Bohème, Alfredo in La Traviata, the Duke in Rigoletto, Enzo in La Gioconda, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Faust in both Gounod’s work and Boito’s Mefistofele, Faone in Pacini’s Saffo, Accaro in William Legrand Howland’s Sarrona, and, of course, Arturo in I Puritani. And fourth, Gherlinzoni’s recorded legacy is quite scarce…about a dozen discs for Columbia and an obscure pair for Odeon. It is on this paltry legacy that the tenor’s reputation lies. On Gherlinzoni’s discs we hear an evenly produced lyric instrument with top notes easily extending to high C. We also hear tremendously eloquent phrasing, sensitive musicality and a rare sense of detail. Unfortunately, one also notices a number of glaring rhythmic mistakes and coordination issues with the orchestra. While these errors may very well have been the fault of the conductor or studio musicians, they certainly don’t help cement the reputation of Gherlinzoni as a first-rate artist. Perhaps a few retakes might have been in order. Here, Gherlinzoni joins soprano Camilla Pasini (1875-1935) for the duet "È il sol dell' anima" from Verdi's Rigoletto. This recording was made in Milan for the Columbia label in 1908.