NON-COMMERCIAL DISCOGRAPHY: PART THREE – DOCUMENTARY

The last part of this discography consists of documentary comments and short interviews from the second half of Beniamino Gigli’s career and certainly from when recording was possible. They are given mostly at the end of concerts or even during the interval. There is an important ‘lezione di canto’ from March 1955, right at the end of his career, in which he explains his ‘method’ of singing. This is a fascinating document and addition to the non-commercial discography of Gigli, who even now, is regarded as the tenor with the best of voices. 

 38.D01

6 November, this short talk to the Italian community in California was recorded at Network Studios in San Francisco.

 LP: EMI Italiana 153-54010-17;

 48.D01

? Gigli gave various impromptu remarks to his public in Brazil. None of the dates of these items have actually been confirmed on either of the two LPs that contain them. They are not mentioned in the Ricaldone timeline either. 

LP: SCALA SC 856; Et 740 

49.D01

22 July, Gigli sang two songs (Canzone della formica & Mamma) in his home town of Recanati, but prefaced them with some remarks about the songs. Please see 49.03 in part one of this discography for details of the recording. 

51.D01

16 August, Gigli makes comments to a radio interviewer in his dressing room after act I of La forza del destino.  

LP: EMI Italiana 153-54010-17; EJS 380; 

NOTE: The EMI disc contains only Gigli’s remarks. The EJS disc includes the interviewer as well. The full details of this performance are at 51.04 in part one of this discography. 

52.D01

10 February, Gigli is interviewed by Betty Burnett of Swedish Radio. The interview lasts just over seven minutes and takes place in the dressing room at the Royal Opera in Stockholm, just before his last performance of Tosca.  

CD: FUGA 9172

 52.D02

13 September, in an interview with Mariella Guidotti at the ‘Festa di Piedigrotta,’ Gigli talks about how to sing a Neapolitan song. This interview on RAI took place the day after a concert of Neapolitan song in Naples with Gigli, Pina Malgarini and Giuseppe Taddei at the Arena Flegrea.

LP: TIMA 69/70; EJS 513; CD: CLAMA CD-5

NOTE: Some sources give the date as 14 September, however the concert did take place on 12 September and Gigli was heading back to Recanati on 14 September for a concert on 15 September. 

52.D03

31 October, Gigli makes a short thank you speech for the audience after a BBC broadcast at the BBC Concert Hall. The concert was conducted by Stanford Robinson.

 LP: EJS 336; CD: NAXOS 8.558148-51; EKLIPSE EKRCD-21;

 NOTE: Please note 52.04 in part one of this discography, has the full details of this broadcast recording. This BBC recording was recorded on the date shown but not broadcast until 25 December 1952. 

54.D01

29 August, Gigli at his hometown of Recanati to celebrate 40 years of singing. Gigli spoke, and sang four songs. To celebrate the occasion, Luigi Flamini, then mayor of Recanati, also spoke.  

CD: DC Collection

 NOTE: Gigli sang four songs as well as giving short speeches. Please note that in part one of the discography, at 54.01, there are two songs listed that have been already been published. The other two, “Se vuoi goder la vita” and “Mamma,” remain unpublished. There is however some doubt about the May date as originally listed in on the TIMA discs. Inzaghi also lists May for the recordings, but 29 August for this celebration. Ricaldone lists a broadcast by RAI on that August date, after Gigli’s visit to Trieste which he actually mentions in one of his speeches.  

55.D01

15 February, Gigli meets with and is asked questions by students of the Musical Academy in Vienna. This ‘lezione di canto’ lasted just over 25 minutes and was recorded. It gives an amazing insight into how Gigli sang, how he used the diaphragm and why his diction and expression was so clear.

 CD: BONGIOVANNI GB 1055-56;

 55.D02

17 March, Gigli is recorded counting playing cards and singing snatches of songs.

 LP: ANNA 1027;

 55.D03

19 March, Gigli recorded a few remarks, both in Italian and English, for the BBC as a farewell to the United Kingdom while he was in staying Manchester, for his last concert there. They were broadcast on 20 March, the day of that concert.

 LP: EMI Italiana 153-54010-17; EMBER GVC 1; CD: DC collection

 55.D04

17 April, Gigli gives a short radio interview with Ruby Mercer. This has not been released officially as yet.

 CD: DC collection

 NOTE: This interview takes place just before the first of his three recitals at Carnegie Hall in New York.

 57.D01

22 September, Gigli attended the prize day of the third international singing competition in the town of Fabriano. Some of his remarks were recorded.

 LP: EMI Italiana 153-54010-17;

 David Cutler: June 2024