Antonio Pini-Corsi

Pini-Corsi was born into a family of singers. His birthplace, Zara, later known as Zadar. Zara was located in the Austro-Hungarian Empire at that time. It would successively become part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes; Yugoslavia; and, finally, Croatia.

He made his debut in Cremona in 1878, subsequently appearing in opera houses throughout Italy. So successful was he that Giuseppe Verdi invited him to appear as Ford in the premiere of his final opera, Falstaff, at La Scala, Milan, in 1893. He made his debut in the United States on November 20, 1909, appearing at the New York Metropolitan Opera as Schaunard in La boheme, a role that he had sung at the opera's première in 1896. He remained with the Met through to the 1913-14 season, appearing in numerous world premieres, including those of Walter Damrosch's Cyrano de Bergerac, La fanciulla del West, Engelbert Humperdinck's Königskinder, and Victor Herbert's Madeline. He also appeared in the American premieres of two operas by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, L'amore medico and Le donne curiose, and that of Alberto Franchetti's Germania.

Pini-Corsi died in Milan, aged only 58. Records confirm that he was the finest comic baritone of his era. He possessed a ripe-toned voice of great flexibility and displayed tremendous skill at patter singing.

Some roles created by Pini-Corsi

• 1893: Ford in Falstaff (Verdi)
• 1903: Miskinski in Siberia (Giordano)
• 1910: Happy in La fanciulla del West (Puccini)
• 1910: Innkeeper in Königskinder (Humperdinck)

References

• David Ewen, Encyclopedia of the Opera: New Enlarged Edition. New York; Hill and Wang, 1963.
• Michael Scott, The Record of Singing, London; Duckworth, 1977.
• Warrack, John, and Ewan West (1992). The Oxford Dictionary of Opera. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-869164-5.