Italo Gardoni by Bassano

Italo Gardoni (1821-1882); Italian tenor.
In 1840 he made his debut at Viadana in the title role of Donizetti’s “Roberto Devereux”. In the same year he performed in Turin and Berlin; in Berlin he sang the role of Rodrigo in Rossini’s “Otello” with the famous tenor Giovanni Battista Rubini as Otello. From 1841/43 he performed at Brescia and Milan, the season 1844/45 at the Grand Opéra Paris and in 1847 also in Paris at the Théâtre-Italien. Also in 1847 he made his London debut where he sang at Her Majesty's Theatre the role of Carlo in the world première of Verdi’s “I Masnadieri” (with Luigi Lablache as Massimiliano and Jenny Lind as Amalia). Until 1874 –the year of his retirement from the stage- he kept appearing at both London and Paris. He also made very successful guest appearances at St, Petersburg, Madrid, Amsterdam and Rome. In 1864 Gardoni was one of the 4 soloists in the first performance of Rossini's “Petite messe solennelle” with Carlotta and Barbara Marchisio and Luigi Agnesi. He was married to the daughter of the famous baritone Antonio Tamburini (1800-1876).