Beniamino Gigli

Biography

Beniamino Gigli was born in Recanati, Italy, on March 20, 1890, into a poor family. He possessed a fine singing voice and, after struggling to make a living for many years, he eventually made his operatic debut as a tenor on October 15, 1914, appearing in "La Giaconda" in Rovigo, Italy. Over the following years his reputation and stature grew. His first recordings were issued in 1918, and he was invited to sing at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York in 1920, where the greatest singers of the time performed. He appeared there every year for the next 12 seasons until 1932; he got into a wage dispute with the management and, even though it was in the middle of the Great Depression, he quit and left to return to Europe. During the 1920s and 1930s he was often called the World's Greatest Tenor and Enrico Caruso's successor. He began touring and performing all around the world, on the way becoming an especial favorite of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and their cliques. His autobiography, like many, can touch around subjects that are very sensitive to its author, and his was somewhat reticent regarding his ties to Hitler and Mussolini, but overall it showed him to be human and as capable of making mistakes as anyone else. He had a short film career, much to his surprise, but he did reach new audiences. For a while after the war he was labeled a traitor by many Italians because of the Hitler-Mussolini connection, but eventually he cleared his name and resumed his career to critical success. However, when he felt his powers were starting to wane he decided to retire; his last performance was in Washington, DC, on May 25, 1955, after a professional career of nearly 41 years. He returned to Recanati and died at 67 years old in Rome on November 30, 1957.