Baritones

Enrico Molinari

EEnrico Molinarinrico Molinari was born on December 21st 1882 in Venice where he studied at the Liceo Marcello and where he also made his operatic debut as a bass in 1907. He enjoyed a successful career as a bass singer on Italian stages. We find his name in 1908 at the Teatro Regio di Parma and in 1909 in Bergamo where he also sang the part of Count Robinson in “Il matrimonio segreto” in 1911. Gradually, Molinari`s lyric bass voice developed into a baritone. After a period of repeated studying he introduced himself – for the first time as a baritone – at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo in the role of Alfonso in “La favorita” on January 25th 1916, in 1919 the singer performed the same role at the Opera House of Rome. In 1920 Molinari was heard for the first time outside of Italy in Barcelona where he appeared as Rigoletto, Amonasro, Escamillo and Alfonso. 1923-24 he was, again, in Rome. One year later he arrived at Milan`s Scala singing Escamillo, Gerard in “Andrea Chenier”, Amonasro and Telramund as well as Germont in “La traviata” under Toscanini.  It was back to Rome as Iago (opposite Giovanni Zenatello in the title role) where appearances as Rigoletto, Amonasro, Gerard and Barnaba in “La gioconda” were to follow. Molinari was a frequent guest in Bologna, Genoa and Parma. Outside of Italy he was heard in Budapest, Monte Carlo, Lisboa, Bucarest, Madrid, etc. From 1935 on the singer`s vocal resources began to decline and he decided to make the comic bass repertory his own. For more than ten years he continued to be successful in roles like  the sacristan in “Tosca”, Alcindoro in “La bohème” and especially as Simone in Wolf-Ferrari`s “I quattro rusteghi”, a part which he performed on almost every Italian stage. Enrico Molinari retired in 1950 and spent the last years of his life in Verdi`s “Casa di riposo” where he died on June 15th 1956.