Franco Corelli

Associated in particular with the spinto and dramatic tenor roles of the Italian repertory, he was celebrated universally for his powerhouse voice, electrifying top notes, clear timbre, passionate singing and remarkable performances.

[3] His older brother Aldo subsequently quit school to become an operatic baritone, and two of his uncles sang in the Teatro delle Muse chorus in Ancona.

[1] Corelli loved the sea and initially decided to follow in the footsteps of his father by pursuing a degree in naval engineering at the University of Bologna.

While he did not win the competition, he was encouraged by the judges to pursue a singing career and Corelli entered the Pesaro Conservatory of Music to study opera.

He carefully studied the career of Del Monaco, who preceded Corelli into the first rank of Italian tenors using the lowered-larynx technique, and who was sometimes criticized for lacking subtlety in his singing.

"[5] Corelli also learned by imitating the style and vocal effects of the recordings of great tenors like Enrico Caruso, Giacomo Lauri-Volpi, Aureliano Pertile, and Beniamino Gigli.

[2] Opera News stated that Corelli's lowered-larynx technique "resulted in [a] cavernous sound even in high-flying passages, where it gained brilliance.

Regulating the breath pressure, the tenor was able to reduce this sound while retaining the core of the voice in a diminuendo, or even a morendo on a high B-flat, the effect requested by Verdi at the end of 'Celeste Aida'.

He was originally scheduled to sing Radames in Verdi's Aïda and spent three months preparing the role with conductor Giuseppe Bertelli.

However, Corelli eventually switched to Don José in Bizet's Carmen, feeling that at this point he lacked the technical finesse and legato for the role of Radamès.

Among the many triumphs of the decade for Corelli were two highly celebrated performances at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, a 1958 appearance as Don Alvaro in La forza del destino opposite another one of his frequent collaborators, Renata Tebaldi as Leonora and a 1959 performance of Maurizio in Adriana Lecouvreur opposite Magda Olivero in the title role.

After their marriage, Loretta gave up her fledgling opera career to serve as her husband's business manager, secretary, public relations agent, cook, and English translator.

[1] He would sing to great acclaim at the Met until 1974 in roles such as Calaf (with Birgit Nilsson as Turandot), Cavaradossi, Maurizio, Ernani, Rodolfo and Edgardo.

With a rich and ringing spinto tenor voice and movie-star good looks, Corelli won a wide public following from early on his career.

During the 1960s the anti-Corelli sentiment was epitomized by Alan Rich of The New York Herald Tribune in a 1966 article which, while acknowledged the vibrancy and white heat of his singing, considered Corelli a throwback.