Giuseppe Danise

Giuseppe Danise (11 January 1882 – 9 January 1963) was an Italian operatic baritone. He sang to great acclaim throughout Italy and the Americas, appearing in lyric and dramatic roles from the Italian, French, Wagnerian, and Russian repertoire.

Education and early career Danise was born in Salerno, near Naples, to Pasqualina Capaldo, an amateur musician, and Enrico Danise, an official in the Italian government. Though he began studies in law, he was urged to take up a career in singing, as he had a natural singing voice. He attended the Conservatorio di San Pietro a Majella in Naples, where he was trained first by Luigi Colonnese, a baritone of the previous generation whose own pedagogical lineage included Alessandro Busti and the castrato Girolamo Crescentini. According to Danise, for the first year he was only allowed to sing tones—no scales and no songs. Studies with Abramo Petillo followed. In 1905 Danise married Zelinda Raffaelo, and their first daughter, Floria, was born that year. A son, Enrico, was to follow in 1907.

Advertisement in the May 9, 1910 edition of the Tbilisi-based Kavkaz: The Artistic Society Theater to a Gonsalez (Italian) Opera Company performance of La favorita, four-act opera with music by Donizetti. Singers listed include baritone Giuseppe Danise.

In 1906, he made his debut at the Teatro Bellini in Naples as Alfio in Cavalleria rusticana. Shortly thereafter he was hired as a leading baritone of the Gonsalez Opera Company, a touring company that traveled through the Balkans and throughout Russia and Siberia, as was described by the soprano Germana Di Giulio in Lanfranco Rasponi's The Last Prima Donnas. For at least part of the tour, the company included, among others, tenor Alessandro Procacci, soprano Giulietta Battaglioli, lyric soprano Ernestina Gonsalez, and bass Ignazio Cesari. In the course of his two and a half years with this company, Danise sang 630 performances.

He returned to Italy in May 1912. Two weeks later he sang a concert in Trieste and was engaged there for the fall season. After that, he was engaged to sing at the Teatro Regio di Torino. During that engagement he was asked to go to La Scala for the centennial of Verdi's birth. Danise refused this request over differences about the repertoire.

He continued building his Italian career to great success, singing in Bologna, Genoa, Rome, and Naples, among other places. He sang the role of Amonasro in Verdi's Aida at the opening of the Arena di Verona. In 1915 he performed at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome in the world premiere of the opera Una tragedia fiorentina by Mario Mariotti.

From May 1914 through September 1915, Danise sang primarily in South America, in theatres in Uruguay, Brasil, and Argentina, such as the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.

Back in Italy, the Italian arm of the His Master's Voice record company, La voce del padrone, made its first complete recording of Verdi's Rigoletto in May 1916, with Danise in the title role. Due to an unfortunate incident, however, some of the matrices were damaged before they made it to the fabrication process. The sections that were lost were re-recorded the following year with a different set of singers, Rigoletto being sung by Ernesto Badini. The complete but cobbled-together recording was issued in 1918 with the mixed cast.

Danise made his La Scala debut as the title role in the Scala premiere of Borodin's Prince Igor. He enjoyed great success in that house, opening a season with Spontini's Fernando Cortez and taking part in the Scala premiere of Zandonai's Francesca da Rimini and in the world premiere of Macigno by Vittorio De Sabata. In 1918, at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome, he sang in the world premiere of Vincenzo Michetti's Maria di Magdala.

Danise had to retire from the stage temporarily when he was conscripted to service in World War I. He was transferred from Milan to Rome, where he worked as a censor. During his stay in Rome, he sang at Teatro Costanzi (now known as the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma). It was at this time (1917–1918) that Danise first had occasion to sing with Beniamino Gigli, both performing in Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur. They later had two daughters, Aurora and Ebe. Also in 1925 the Supreme Court in Brooklyn issued an interlocutory decree of divorce to a Raffaela Danise. In lieu of alimony, Danise was made to pay her a complete financial settlement of $20,000.

From 1921 to 1927, Danise recorded dozens of arias, art songs, popular songs, and religious works for Brunswick Records. Most of them were done in the acoustic method, but a small handful of electrics show a voice of great sonority with an intense ring.

As a result of an economic crisis in 1932, the Metropolitan Opera began to reduce fees for its soloists, causing Danise not to renew his contract with the Metropolitan Opera.

He returned to Italy, performing again with great success at La Scala, now as Scarpia in Tosca and as Alfonso in Donizetti's La favorita; in 1933 at the Teatro Regio of Torino as Telramund in Lohengrin under Max von Schillings; as well as in 1933 at the Teatro Massimo Palermo as Scarpia; and in 1935 at the Teatro Carlo Felice Genova as Alfonso in La favorita. In the years 1935–37 he performed at the Opera of Rio de Janeiro as Scarpia, as Rigoletto, as Gianciotto in Francesca da Rimini, and as Germont père in La traviata alongside Brazilian soprano Bidu Sayão. His final performances were in 1939, as Germont in Traviata and Gérard in Andrea Chenier at São Paulo.

After retirement Danise and Sayão became companions, and he retired to look after her voice, career, and interests. In 1946, the two divorced their respective first spouses, were married in 1947, and then settled in the United States. While they maintained a summer home ("Casa Bidu") in Camden, Maine, their usual home was at the Ansonia Hotel in New York City, where Danise opened a voice studio. He taught, among others, Regina Resnik (guiding her from soprano to mezzo-soprano), baritone Giuseppe Valdengo, Barry Morell (guiding him from baritone to tenor), and bass Bonaldo Giaiotti.

Danise is buried next to Sayão's mother at the Woodlawn Cemetery in New York City.

Repertoire Roles Danise is known to have performed:

+ Sortable tableComposer SurnameComposerOpera/OratorioRole Bellini Vincenzo Bellini I puritani Riccardo Bizet Georges Bizet Carmen Escamillo Borodin Alexander Borodin Prince Igor Prince Igor Catalani Alfredo Catalani Loreley Hermann Cilea Francesco Cilea Adriana Lecouvreur Michonnet De Sabata Victor de Sabata Il macigno Martano Donizetti Gaetano Donizetti Don Pasquale Dr. Malatesta Donizetti Gaetano Donizetti La favorita Alfonso Donizetti Gaetano Donizetti Lucia di Lammermoor Enrico Franck César Franck Les Béatitudes baritone Gialdini Gialdino Gialdini La bufera Mulaso Giordano Umberto Giordano Andrea Chénier Carlo Gérard Giordano Umberto Giordano Fedora De Siriex Giordano Umberto Giordano Madame Sans-Gêne Napoleon Giordano Umberto Giordano Siberia Gleby Gomes Antônio Carlos Gomes Fosca Cambro Gomes Antônio Carlos Gomes Il Guarany Gonzales Gounod Charles Gounod Faust Valentin Lalo Édouard Lalo Le roi d'Ys Karnac Laparra Raoul Laparra La Habanera Ramon Leoncavallo Ruggero Leoncavallo Mimi Pinson Marcello Leoncavallo Ruggero Leoncavallo I pagliacci Tonio Leoncavallo Ruggero Leoncavallo Zazà Cascart Leroux Xavier Leroux Le chemineau (Il vagabondo) Vagabondo Leroux Xavier Leroux Les cadeaux de Noël (I doni di Natale) Lean Mariotti Mario Mariotti Una tragedia fiorentina Simone Mascagni Pietro Mascagni Cavalleria Rusticana Alfio Mascagni Pietro Mascagni Isabeau Re Raimondo Mascagni Pietro Mascagni L'amico Fritz Rabbi David Massenet Jules Massenet Le jongleur de Notre-Dame Boniface Massenet Jules Massenet Thaïs Anthanaël Meyerbeer Giacomo Meyerbeer Gli ugonotti Conte di Nevers Meyerbeer Giacomo Meyerbeer L'africana Nelusko Michetti Vincenzo Michetti Maria di Magdala Giuda Montemezzi Italo Montemezzi Giovanni Gallurese Rivegas Montemezzi Italo Montemezzi L'amore dei tre re Manfredo Mussorgsky Modest Mussorgsky The Fair at Sorochyntsi Kum Offenbach Jacques Offenbach Les contes d'Hoffmann Coppelius/Miracle/Dapertutto Pacchierotti Ubaldo Pacchierotti Il santo Fedor Ponchielli Amilcare Ponchielli La gioconda Barnaba Puccini Giacomo Puccini La bohème Marcello Puccini Giacomo Puccini La fanciulla del West Jack Rance Puccini Giacomo Puccini Tosca Scarpia Rossini Gioacchino Rossini Guglielmo Tell Guglielmo Tell Rossini Gioacchino Rossini Il barbiere di Siviglia Figaro Saint-Saëns Camille Saint-Saëns Samson et Dalila High Priest of Dagon Spontini Gaspare Spontini Fernando Cortez Telasco Thomas Abroise Thomas Hamlet (Amleto) Hamlet Verdi Giuseppe Verdi Aïda Amonasro Verdi Giuseppe Verdi Don Carlo Rodrigo Verdi Giuseppe Verdi Ernani Don Carlo Verdi Giuseppe Verdi Il trovatore Conte Di Luna Verdi Giuseppe Verdi La battaglia di Legnano Rolando Verdi Giuseppe Verdi La forza del destino Don Carlo di Vargas Verdi Giuseppe Verdi La traviata Germont Verdi Giuseppe Verdi Otello Iago Verdi Giuseppe Verdi Rigoletto Rigoletto Verdi Giuseppe Verdi Un ballo in maschera Renato Wagner Richard Wagner Götterdämmerung Gunther Wagner Richard Wagner Lohengrin Telramund Wolf-Ferrari Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari I gioielli della Madonna Rafaele Zandonai Riccardo Zandonai Francesca da Rimini Gianciotto