Mario del Monaco - Ah, la paterna mano (Viennese TV concert, 1969)

Mario del Monaco (1915-1982) was a legendary Italian dramatic tenor, whose career took him to major theaters on both sides of the Atlantic. He was born in Florence to a musical family and began studying violin as a child. Singing, however, was his passion, and he gave his first public performance at the age of 13. Del Monaco’s operatic debut (of sorts) was as Arturo in an amateur production of Lucia di Lammermoor when he was just 17. Realizing that he was not the lyric tenor his teachers insisted he was, he entered Pesaro’s Rossini Conservatory, where he studied with Arturo Melocchi. The celebrated pedagogue helped to cement his student’s technique, allowing him to grow into a true dramatic tenor. In 1939 del Monaco debuted at the Teatro Comunale in Cagli as Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana. A more “official” debut occurred on New Year’s Eve 1940 as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly at Milan’s Teatro Puccini. WWII found the tenor serving in the Italian army, but after the war’s end, del Monaco’s career began in earnest. During the mid to late ‘40s, he made important debuts at the Arena di Verona, Milan’s La Scala, London’s Covent Garden, and the major theaters of Rome, Naples, Barcelona, Lisbon and Stockholm. He first travelled overseas for engagements in Buenos Aires, Rio and Mexico City and made his U.S. debut in San Francisco as Andrea Chénier on October 31, 1950. Del Monaco was invited by Rudolf Bing to sing a performance of Manon Lescaut with the Met the following month.