Giuseppe Taddei


Giuseppe Taddei was an Italian baritone, who, during his career, performed multiple operas composed by numerous composers.
Taddei was born in Genoa, Italy, and studied in Rome, where he made his professional debut in 1936 as the Herald in Wagner's Lohengrin. He sang at the Rome Opera until he was conscripted into the army in 1942. After the war, he resumed his opera career and appeared for two seasons at the Vienna State Opera. He made his debut in London in 1947, at the Cambridge Theatre. The following year, 1948, saw his debut at the Salzburg Festival, La Scala in Milan, and the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples.
His American debut took place at the San Francisco Opera in 1957, followed by his appearance with Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1959. He sang regularly at the Royal Opera House in London from 1960 to 1967.
Taddei was equally effective in comedy and drama. His acting repertoire included the two Figaros, from The Marriage of Figaro and The Barber of Seville, both Leporello and Don Giovanni in Don Giovanni, both Belcore and Dulcamara in L'elisir d'amore, as well as Don Carlo in Ernani, Macbeth in Macbeth, Rigoletto in Rigoletto, Amonasro in Aida, Iago in Otello, Falstaff in Falstaff, Barnaba in La Gioconda, Gérard in Andrea Chénier, and Scarpia in Tosca, among others.
His vocal longevity allowed him to continue singing into old age, including a debut at the Metropolitan Opera, on 25 September 1985, in the title role of Falstaff, at the age of 69.
Taddei left many recordings, notably as Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro and Leporello in Don Giovanni in the Carlo Maria Giulini renditions, as Macbeth, opposite Birgit Nilsson, in Macbeth, conducted by Thomas Schippers, and as Scarpia in Tosca and as Falstaff in Falstaff, both conducted by Herbert von Karajan.

Discography

Year – Opera – Composer – Director – Singer – Character

1940–1949
  • 1941 – Andrea Chénier – Oliviero de Fabritiis: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1941 – Andrea Chénier – Oliviero de Fabritiis: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1949 – Gianni Schicchi – Alfredo Simonetto: Giuseppe Taddei
1950–1959
  • 1950 – Il barbiere di Siviglia – Fernando Previtali: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1950 – Falstaff – Mario Rossi: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1951 – Ernani – Fernando Previtali: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1951 – La traviata – Oliviero de Fabritiis: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1951 – Aida – Oliviero de Fabritiis: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1951 – La Bohème – Gabriele Santini: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1952 – Guillaume Tell – Mario Rossi: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1952 – Adriana Lecouvreur – Gabriele Santini: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1952 – La traviata – Gabriele Santini: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1953 – Madama Butterfly – Angelo Questa: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1953 – Linda di Chamounix – Alfredo Simonetto: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1953 – L'elisir d'amore – Gianandrea Gavazzeni: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1953 – Die Zauberflöte – Herbert von Karajan: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1953 – Eugen Onegin – Nino Sanzogno: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1954 – Tosca – Oliviero de Fabritiis: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1954 – Rigoletto – Angelo Questa: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1955 – Otello – Franco Capuana: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1954 – L'elisir d'amore – Gianandrea Gavazzeni: Giuseppe Taddei DVD
  • 1955 – Don Giovanni – Max Rudolf: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1955 – Les Huguenots – Tullio Serafin: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1955 – Andrea Chénier – Angelo Questa: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1955 – Tosca – Vincenzo Belleza: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1956 – Moïse et Pharaon – Tullio Serafin: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1956 – Linda di Chamounix – Tullio Serafin: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1956 – Falstaff – Tullio Serafin: Giuseppe Taddei DVD
  • 1957 – I vespri siciliani – Tullio Serafin: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1957 – Moïse et Pharaon – Tullio Serafin: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1957 – Tosca – Tullio Serafin: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1958 – Otello – Thomas Beecham: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1958 – L'elisir d'amore – Tullio Serafin: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1959 – Le nozze di Figaro – Carlo Maria Giulini: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1959 – Don Giovanni – Carlo Maria Giulini: Giuseppe Taddei
1960–1969
  • 1960 – Macbeth II – Vittorio Gui: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1960 – Les Pêcheurs de perles – Armando La Rosa Parodi: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1961 – La forza del destino – Fernando Previtali: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1961 – Le nozze di Figaro – Carlo Maria Giulini: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1962 – Tosca – Herbert von Karajan: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1962 – Tosca – Carlo Felice Cillario: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1962 – Così fan tutte – Karl Böhm: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1962 – Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg – Lovro Von Matacic: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1963 – La Bohème – Herbert von Karajan: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1964 – Macbeth II – Thomas Schippers: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1964 – Knias Igor – Armando La Rosa Parodi: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1965 – I Pagliacci – Herbert von Karajan: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1966 – Simon Boccanegra – Giuseppe Patanè: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1967 – L'elisir d'amore – Gianandrea Gavazzeni: Giuseppe Taddei DVD
  • 1967 – L'elisir d'amore – Gianandrea Gavazzeni: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1968 – Ernani – Manno Wolf-Ferrari: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1969 – Belisario – Gianandrea Gavazzeni: Giuseppe Taddei
1970–1979
  • 1973 – Caterina Cornaro – Alfredo Silipigni: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1974 – Luisa Miller – Alberto Erede: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1974 – Guillaume Tell – Jacques Delacôte: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1974 – Un giorno di regno ossial Il finto Stanislao – Piero Bellugi: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1975 – Don Pasquale – Carlo Franci: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1976 – Le Convenienze ed Inconvenienze Teatrali – Carlo Franci: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1977 – Adriana Lecouvreur – Gianandrea Gavazzeni: Giuseppe Taddei
1980–1989
  • 1980 – Falstaff – Herbert von Karajan: Giuseppe Taddei
  • 1982 – Falstaff – Herbert von Karajan: Giuseppe Taddei DVD
1990–1999
  • 1992 – Manon Lescaut – James Levine: Giuseppe Taddei