A MUSICAL TIMELINE

By David Cutler

March 1890 - Birth of Beniamino Gigli on March 20 in the Italian town of Recanati. Wagnerian tenor Lauritz Melchior is born on the same day.

Oct. 1914 - Gigli makes a successful operatic debut in Ponchielli's La Gioconda at the Teatro Sociale in Rovigo in Italy on Oct. 15. It heralds the start of an unprecedented career lasting over 40 years.

 March 1917 - Gigli's takes his first steps abroad with a debut at the Teatro Real in Madrid, Spain, in the role of Faust in Arrigo Boito's Mefistofele conducted by Tullio Serafin.

 Oct. 1918 - HMV produce Gigli's first recording under the acoustic process on October 14 - "Dai campi; dai prati" from Act I of Mefistofele.

Nov. 1918 - Debut at La Scala, Milan, in Mefistofele conducted by Arturo Toscanini (a performance commemorating Boito, who died five months prior).

 June 1919 - Makes debut in South America with performances of Tosca with Claudia Muzio at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

 Nov. 1920 - Makes house debut at New York's Metropolitan Opera also in Mefistofele - rapturously received with Gigli taking 34 curtain calls personally.

 Jan. 1921 - Following illness of Enrico Caruso, Gigli starts new Met year with debut in L'amore dei tre re by Italo Montemezzi.

March 1921 - Debut in Andrea Chenier by Umberto Giordano - a signature role for Gigli - performed at Philadelphia's Academy of Music.

 Aug. 1921 - Enrico Caruso dies in Naples on August 2.

 April 1925 - Gigli records the song "Sentinella" by Ernesto de Curtis - his first recording by the electrical process.

 May 1930 - Gigli makes Royal Opera House debut at Covent Garden in Andrea Chenier, with subsequent appearances in London in 1931, 1938-1939 and 1946.

 June 1932 - Gigli leaves the United States, following a dispute with management of the Metropolitan over salaries. He returns to Italy.

 July 1934 - First complete opera, Pagliacci, is recorded at the Milan Conservatory, with Iva Pacetti, Mario Basiola, and Leone Paci, with the Orchestra of La Scala conducted by Franco Ghione.

 May 1935 - Makes the first of some 20 feature films - Non ti scordar di me. There are also versions of this film in German and English.

 May-June 1938 - Gigli sings in all seven performances of Italian opera at London's Royal Opera House. "Gigli puts fire into his singing" wrote the papers after a stove really did catch fire in La bohème.

Oct. 1938 - Returns to the United States after six years for a lengthy tour. On October 2, Gigli sings on the Ford Sunday Evening Hour, with the Detroit Symphony conducted by Eugene Ormandy. He subsequently sings throughout the United States and Canada.

 Jan.-Feb. 1939 - Gigli returns to the Met for the first time since his dispute with the opera house and sings in Aida; Tosca; Lucia di Lammermoor; and Rigoletto.

 Aug. 1939 - At the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome, HMV record Verdi's Messa da Requiem sung by Maria Caniglia, Gigli, Ezio Pinza, and Ebe Stignani, with the orchestra and chorus conducted by Tullio Serafin.

 Sept. 1939 - World War II begins, which restricts Gigli's travelling and his performances. 

Oct. 1940 - Gigli makes popular film Mamma and records the eponymous song.

 June 1944  - Un ballo in maschera is performed in Rome with Gigli, conducted by Vincenzo Bellezza. Rome is captured by the Allies. Gigli is accused of collaboration and has an enforced break from singing. 

Feb. 1945 - Gigli makes initial appearances in Rome in concert. The first major performance in opera takes place at the Teatro dell'Opera in Tosca on March 15.

 Jan-Feb. 1947 - Makes what will be last appearances at La Scala, in Lucia di Lammermoor

conducted by Ettore Panizza and Andrea Chenier conducted by Tullio Serafin.

 Jan-Feb. 1953 - Makes last appearance at Rome's Teatro dell'Opera in Fedora conducted by Oliviero di Fabritiis. Also makes last appearance at Teatro San Carlo in Naples in L'elisir d'amore conducted by Gianandrea Gavazzeni. 

Aug. 1954 - Last two performances on an operatic stage, in Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci (sung on the same evening) on August 19 & 22 at the Teatro dei Dodicimila in Messina, conducted by Enrico Sivieri. This marks 2,249 operatic performances sung by the tenor in the previous 40 years.

Oct. 1954 - Visits a new country, Finland, for the first and last time for two concerts.

 March 1955 - Gigli makes last commercial recordings at Kingsway Hall in London, his only recordings made in stereo.

 April-May 1955 - Embarks on a farewell to the United States with a short tour including three concerts at Carnegie Hall in New York and a final appearance in public on May 25 at Washington's Constitution Hall.

 Dec. 1955 - Gigli is heard briefly in Britain on Music for you singing Brahms "Wiegenlied" and "Adeste Fideles." This BBC programme is broadcast on Christmas Day.

Nov. 1957 - Gigli dies in Rome on November 30.

From Gigli a biography written and compiled by Leonardo Ciampa