Ferruccio Tagliavini (Cavazzoli, Reggio Emilia, 14 August 1913 - Reggio Emilia, 29 January 1995) was an Italian operatic tenor mainly active in the 1940s and 1950s. Tagliavini was hailed as the heir apparent to Tito Schipa and Beniamino Gigli in the lyric-opera repertory due to the exceptional beauty of his voice, but he did not sustain his great early promise across the full span of his career.

Tagliavini studied in Parma with Italo Brancucci and in Florence and perplexingly with Amedeo Bassi, a well-known dramatic Verismo and Wagnerian Italian tenor of the pre-World War I era whose voice (as recorded) could not be more unlike Tagliavini's. It was also in Florence that he made his professional debut in 1938 as Rodolfo in La bohème.

He swiftly gained recognition as one of the leading tenore di grazia of his time in operas such as Il barbiere di Siviglia, L'elisir d'amore, Don Pasquale, La Sonnambula, Lucia di Lammermoor, Rigoletto, La Traviata, Manon, Werther, L'amico Fritz and L'arlesiana.

Debuts at many of the world's major opera houses ensued. They included: La Scala, Milan, in 1942; the Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires, in 1946; the Metropolitan Opera, New York City, in 1947 (as Rodolfo in La bohème); the San Francisco Opera in 1948; the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, in 1950; and, finally, the Paris Opéra in 1951.

During the 1950s, Tagliavini took on heavier roles such as Riccardo in Un ballo in maschera, Cavaradossi in Tosca and Faust in Mefistofele; but the quality of his voice suffered as a consequence.

Tagliavini retired from the stage in 1965. He continued, however, to give recitals until the mid-1970s. He left behind an impressive discography. The finest of his recordings are those that he made of operatic arias during his heyday in the 1940s. In them, one can fully appreciate his remarkable skill at soft, or mezza voce, singing. He also made a few opera films, notably Il barbiere di Siviglia in 1946 with Tito Gobbi and Italo Tajo.

Tagliavini married the soprano Pia Tassinari in 1941. He made several recordings with her and they appeared together often on stage.


SELECTED RECORDINGS

1942 - Mascagni - L'amico Fritz - Ferruccio Tagliavini, Pia Tassinari, Saturno Meletti - Coro e Orchestra della Rai Torino, Pietro Mascagni

1952 - Bellini - La sonnambula - Lina Pagliughi, Ferruccio Tagliavini, Cesare Siepi - Coro Cetra, Orchestra della Rai Torino, Franco Capuana

1952 - Puccini - La bohème - Rosanna Carteri, Ferruccio Tagliavini, Elvina Ramella, Giuseppe Taddei, Cesare Siepi, Pier Luigi Latinucci - Coro e Orchestra della Rai Torino, Gabriele Santini

1954 - Puccini - Madama Butterfly - Clara Petrella, Ferruccio Tagliavini, Mafalda Masini, Giuseppe Taddei - Coro Cetra, Orchestra della Rai Torino, Angelo Questa

1954 - Verdi - Rigoletto - Giuseppe Taddei, Lina Pagliughi, Ferruccio Tagliavini, Giulio Neri - Coro e Orchestra della Rai Torino, Angelo Questa

1954 - Verdi - Un ballo in maschera - Mary Curtis Verna, Ferruccio Tagliavini, Giuseppe Valdengo, Pia Tassinari, Maria Erato - Coro e Orchestra della Rai Torino, Angelo Questa

1954 - Massenet - Werther - Ferruccio Tagliavini, Pia Tassinari, Vittoria Neviani, Marcello Cortis - Coro e Orchestra della Rai Torino, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli

1955 - Cilea - L'Arlesiana - Pia Tassinari, Ferruccio Tagliavini, Paolo Silveri, Gianna Galli - Coro e Orchestra della Rai Torino, Arturo Basile

1955 - Von Flotow - Marta - Elena Rizzieri, Ferruccio Tagliavini, Pia Tassinari, Carlo Tagliabue - Coro e Orchestra della Rai Torino, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli (sung in Italian)

1956 - Boito - Mefistofele - Giulio Neri, Ferruccio Tagliavini, Marcella Pobbé - Coro Teatro Regio Torino, Orchestra della Rai Torino, Angelo Questa

1956 - Puccini - Tosca - Gigliola Frazzoni, Ferruccio Tagliavini, Giangiacomo Guelfi - Coro e Orchestra della Rai Torino, Arturo Basile

1959 - Donizetti - Lucia di Lammermoor - Maria Callas, Ferruccio Tagliavini, Piero Cappuccilli - Philharmonia Chorus & Orchestra, Tulio Serafin

Tosca, con Stella Roman, Alexander Sved, dir. Walter Herbert - Mexico City 1946, ed. EJS

La bohème, con Bidu Sayao, John Brownlee, Ghita Taghi, Giacomo Vaghi, dir. Antonio Guarnieri - Rio 1946, ed. Lyric Distribution

L'elisir d'amore, con Bidu Sayao, Salvatore Baccaloni, Giuseppe Valdengo, dir. Giuseppe Antonicelli - Met 1949, ed. Melodram/GOP

Lucia di Lammermoor, con Lily Pons, Frank Valentino, Jerome Hines, dir. Pietro Cimara - Met 1949, ed. Melodram

La traviata, con Licia Albanese, Paolo Silveri, dir. Alberto Erede - Met 1950, ed. Bongiovanni

Werther, con Giulietta Simionato, Gino Orlandini, Dora Gatta, dir. Franco Capuana - La Scala 1951, ed. Myto/Bongiovanni

Tosca, con Dorothy Kirsten, Paul Schoffler, dir. Fausto Cleva - Met 1952, ed. Melodram

Tosca, con Renata Tebaldi, Tito Gobbi, dir. Francesco Molinari Pradelli - Londra 1955, ed. Bongiovanni

Un ballo in Maschera, con Antonietta Stella, Giuseppe Taddei, Ebe Stignani, dir. Francesco Molinari Pradelli - Napoli 1956, ed. Opera Lovers

Manon, con Victoria de los Angeles, Afro Poli, dir. Napoleone Annovazzi - Roma 1957, ed. Melodram

Werther, con Leyla Gencer, Giuliana Tavolaccini, Mario Borriello, dir. Carlo Felice Cillario - Trieste 1959, ed. Replica/Opera D'Oro

L'elisir d'amore (DVD), con Alda Noni, Paolo Montarsolo, Arturo La Porta, dir. Alberto Erede - Tokio 1959, ed.VAI