Parisina - Fonotipia 1914

Introduction

These fabulous numbers were recorded in Milano in April 1914, and published by Fonotipia in 1914 on 13 double-sided discs. They feature the following artists:

• Francisca Solari (Soprano) - Parisina
  born 1881 in Genova - died 1969 in Civitanova Marche
• Alessandro Dolci (Tenor) - Ugo d'Este
  born 1888 - died 17 September 1954 in Bergamo
• Laura del Lungo (Mezzo-Soprano) - Stella dell'Assassino
  born 1883 - died after 1922 in Milano?

All three performed in Livorno in a series of performances that started in late February 1914 (see the list of performances), with Francisca Solari replacing Mercedes Aicardi for the last 7 of a total of 18 performances. The conductor is unknown. No documentation seems to support the theory that Mascagni conducted the vocal excerpts. Conflicting opinions have been reported regarding the possibility that he conducted five orchestral excerpts, including the Canto dell'usignolo presented here, on April 30. Current research on the Fonotipia archives, hopefully due for publication soon, should shed some light on this issue.

With about an entire hour of music recorded, these excerpts constitute an important selection of the opera, which lasts close to 3 hours and 30 minutes when performed entirely.

Alessandro Dolci is a revelation: "La sua voce [...] stupisce per l'argentea purezza che conserva il timbro dei suoi acuti." ("[...] his voice astonishes with the argentine purity still present in his high notes").

Rodolpho Celletti, in Pietro Mascagni - Contributi alla conoscenza della sua opera nel 1º centenario della nascita, Il Telegrafo, Livorno 1963

Many thanks to Roger Flury and Christian Zwarg for making this page possible!