Giovanni Zenatello

Zenatello's operatic career gathered momentum during the early years of the 20th century, and on 17 February 1904 he created the role of Pinkerton in the world première of Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly at La Scala, Milan.

He took Pons under his wing and arranged for her an audition before the Met's general manager, which resulted in the young French-born singer making a successful New York debut in 1931.

In 1913, Zenatello had been instrumental in having the Verona Arena, built originally by the ancient Romans, restored and turned into a world-famous open-air venue for operatic performances.

In 1947, Zenatello arranged for a promising young soprano named Maria Callas and an American tenor and cantor Richard Tucker to appear at the arena's Summer Festival in Amilcare Ponchielli's opera La Gioconda.

Zenatello left an important musical legacy in the form of a considerable number of commercial recordings of his voice, made both acoustically and, after 1925, with the aid of microphone technology.

Zenatello left recorded memoirs from the roles he created (including arias and duets from Siberia, Madame Butterfly, and La Figlia di Jorio).

A radio interview with an elderly Zenatello, recorded in 1947, includes a creditable (if transposed downwards, due to the singer's age)[citation needed] piano accompanied performance of the closing scene "Niun mi tema" from Otello.