Giacomo Lauri-Volpi

[1] His nascent singing career was put on hold, however, by the outbreak of World War I in 1914, during which he served with the Italian armed forces[1] reaching the rank of captain and emerged as one of Italy's most decorated soldiers.

Four months later, on 3 January 1920, he scored another success, at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome, this time performing under his own name opposite Rosina Storchio and Ezio Pinza in Massenet's Manon.

They wanted him to take a pay cut to help tide the theatre through the economic privations being caused by the Great Depression, but he refused to cooperate and left New York for Italy.

He had astonishingly easy and penetrating high notes and possessed a shimmering vibrato which made his voice instantly recognisable both on disc and in the theatre.

In the process, he cemented his position as one of the supreme opera singers of the 20th century, even though he faced stiff competition from a remarkable crop of rival Mediterranean tenors during his prime in the 1925-1940 period.

During the 1920s and 1930s, Lauri-Volpi made a number of 78-rpm recordings of operatic arias and duets for the following companies: Fonotipia, Brunswick, Victor and, finally, HMV.

They included: In addition, there is a live recording of Il trovatore from Naples in 1951, in which he is partnered by Maria Callas, under the baton of Tullio Serafin.