Italo Gardoni

[5] The limpidity and clarity of his voice, and his ravishing upper notes (no less than his youth, charm and elegance) were greatly admired in Paris:[6] and if he was not ready for all the roles from the repertoires of Adolphe Nourrit and Gilbert Duprez, still (they thought) some Meyerbeer would have suited him well, not least Raoul in Les Huguenots.

Having been introduced through the Puzzi salon in Jermyn Street,[9] his first London stage appearance was in February 1847 in La favorita with Mme Sanchioli: both his principal arias were encored with much enthusiasm for his vocal purity of taste and feeling.

[12] On 22 July 1847 he created the tenor role in Verdi's I masnadieri opposite Lind, Lablache and Filippo Coletti,[13] the first two nights being under the composer's baton, and thereafter under Balfe's.

[16] Sims Reeves, then attempting to establish his own place on the Italian dramatic stage in London, agreed with Lumley to appear in the lesser role of Carlo in Linda di Chamounix (supporting Eugenia Tadolini) in the hope of playing Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Percy in Anna Bolena and Arturo in I puritani, which were billed for the (sensational) return of Jenny Lind.

[19] But at her final performance at Her Majesty's, in Robert le diable on 10 May 1849 (before a royal and distinguished audience), Gardoni led Jenny Lind onto the stage to receive her rapturous applause.

[20] After a winter season in St Petersburg, in 1850 he reappeared with Parodi and Frezzolini in a revival of I Capuleti e i Montecchi (as Tebaldo), and pleased his audience by disproving a false report of his death.

[21] June 1850 saw a première of Halévy's La tempesta in which as Fernando he partnered Sontag's Miranda, Carlotta Grisi's Ariel, Colini's Prospero and the celebrated impersonation of Caliban by Lablache, directed by Balfe.

[22] Gardoni and the star contralto Marietta Alboni were the lead soloists, in the presence of Queen Isabella II, in the 1850 inaugural performance of La favorita at the Teatro Real in Madrid.

[26] In 1852 he was with Reeves, Pauline Viardot-Garcia, Louisa Pyne, Charlotte Sainton-Dolby and Karl Formes in first oratorio performances of Dr Bexfield's Israel Restored and Hugh Pearson's Jerusalem at the Norwich Festival.

H. F. Chorley praised his performance of Auber's Fra Diavolo, with Angiolina Bosio, Mlle Marai, Giorgio Ronconi and Pietro Neri-Baraldi, with Joseph Tagliafico and Charles Zelger as the Brigands.

After Meyerbeer had re-drafted his Ein Feldlager in Schlesien for Paris as L'étoile du nord (1854), an Italian version was presented for the British premiere, at Covent Garden.

For this, Meyerbeer added the Act 1 polonaise and the romanza Disperso il crin sul mesto sen for Gardoni in the role of Danilowitz.

[31] Gardoni also took the role of Corentin in the British premiere of Meyerbeer's Dinorah (Le pardon), at Covent Garden, in 1859,[32] in which Chorley praised his 'peasant poltroonery'.