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Franco Bonisolli

'Peacock' operatic tenor

Tuesday 04 November 2003 01:00 GMT
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Franco Bonisolli, opera singer: born Rovereto, Italy 25 May 1938; married; died Vienna 30 October 2003.

An Italian lyric tenor who developed into a heroic tenor, Franco Bonisolli sang successfully for nearly 30 years in Europe and the United States. His career was not without its difficulties. Described by the American critic Arthur Bloomfield as "that endearing peacock of the operatic stage" - some other critics were not so polite - Bonisolli was involved in several disputes with managements. At the Vienna State Opera during the dress rehearsal of Il trovatore, the audience booed Bonisolli, singing Manrico. The tenor immediately threw down his sword in front of the prompt box and walked off stage. The performance, due to be televised, had to be cancelled.

In Barcelona, again in Il trovatore, Bonisolli mis-hit the top C he always inserted at the end of "Di quella pira". The audience applauded, nevertheless, but Bonisolli came on stage and, unaccompanied, let forth a blood-curdling top C in compensation. At a performance of Rigoletto in Vienna, the audience booed because no top Cs were allowed, but that was hardly Bonisolli's fault.

As Bloomfield wrote, the tenor could be endearing. He could sing softly most beautifully if he so desired; he could phrase very stylishly if he wanted to; he could even act if he put his mind to it. The trouble was, he too often did not take the trouble to do any of those things. However, he sang with great generosity and when in good voice was a most exciting performer.

Franco Bonisolli was born in Rovereto in 1938. His first intention was to be an actor, but he studied singing privately and in 1961 won an International Singing Competition at Spoleto. There he made his début the following year as Ruggero in Puccini's La rondine, returning in 1963 as the Prince in Prokofiev's Love for Three Oranges. In 1965 he made his US début at Dallas as Alfredo in La traviata. Alfredo became the favourite role of the early part of his career, and he made a very successful film of La traviata in 1967, with Anna Moffo as Violetta. The soundtrack was issued separately as a recording.

Meanwhile, during the late 1960s, he sang Des Grieux in Massenet's Manon at Amsterdam and Barcelona; he sang the title role of Gounod's Faust in Brussels; and took part in the world premieres of Nino Rota's Aladino e la lampada magica, as a charismatic Aladdin, in Naples (1968), and of Franco Mannino's Luisella, based on a story by Thomas Mann, at Palermo (1969). Bonisolli made his British début with Scottish Opera as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly and returned to Spoleto to sing Michele in Menotti's The Saint of Bleeker Street. In 1969 he made his début at La Scala in Milan, as Cleomene in L'assedio di Corinto, a prestigious new production of Rossini's serious opera.

Having sung Alfredo in San Francisco in 1969, Bonisolli made his Metropolitan Opera début in 1971 as Count Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia. At the Met he also sang Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore, Faust, Alfredo and the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto. These roles were predominantly lyrical, while the tenor was already beginning to take on heavier, more dramatic parts, such as Cellini in Berlioz's Benvenuto Cellini, which he sang in 1973 at a concert performance in Rome, or Arnold in Guillaume Tell, which he sang in Florence and Geneva. At the Vienna State Opera during the 1970s, Bonisolli sang Rodolfo in La bohème and Rodolfo in Verdi's Luisa Miller. He sang Don Alvaro in La forza del destino and Dick Johnson in La fanciulla del West, both heavy roles.

Manrico began to replace Alfredo as the tenor's favourite role. He sang it in Vienna, at the Salzburg Easter Festival, in Venice, at the Verona Arena (where "Di quella pira" was encored), at Hamburg and in 1981 at Covent Garden with Joan Sutherland as Leonora.

He had made his Royal Opera début earlier that year as Vasco da Gama in Meyerbeer's L'Africaine. Later the Royal Opera Company went on tour to Manchester, where Bonisolli sang Cavaradossi in Tosca. He also sang one performance of Verdi's Otello when the tenor announced, Carlo Cossuta, was taken ill. He returned to Covent Garden in 1982 as Gabriele Adorno in Simon Boccanegra, and also sang Calaf in a concert performance of Turandot at the Barbican Hall.

Calaf was perhaps Bonisolli's best role in the later part of his career. He could manage the very high-lying vocal line without difficulty, while for once his "anything you can sing I can sing louder/higher" duels with the soprano were not stylistically amiss. During the 1980s he sang Calaf at Verona, in Madrid, in San Francisco and at Covent Garden. In 1986 he went with the Royal Opera Company to South Korea and Japan, singing Calaf, and also one performance in Seoul of Don José in Carmen. He then sang Manrico in San Francisco - it was this performance that occasioned Bloomfield's "that endearing peacock . . ."

Bonisolli ended his career at Verona in 1988 and 1989, singing Enzo in La gioconda as well as Calaf and Radames in Aida.

Elizabeth Forbes

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