Francesco Tamagno by Nadar

Francesco Tamagno (1850-1905); Italian tenor who created the role of Otello in Verdi’s eponymous opera at Milan (La Scala) on 5 February 1887. He also sang the role of Don Carlo at the première of the Italian (revised) version of Verdi’s “Don Carlos” on 10 January 1884 at Milan (La Scala). Other roles created by Tamagno were:Fabiano in Carlos Gomes' "Maria Tudor" (1879), Azael in "Il figliuol prodigo" (1880) and Didier in "Marion Delorme" (1885) both opera's by Ponchielli and Giuliano de'Medici in Leoncavallo's "I Medici" (1893). He had made his debut in 1869 at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo as Nearco in Donizetti's "Poliuto". Untill 1874 he sang minor roles both in Palermo and Turin, but in that same year he had his great breakthrough in Palermo as Riccardo in Verdi's "Un ballo in maschera|". In 1875 he debuted at Venice (Teatro Fenice) and in 1877 at Milan (La Scala). During his career he made many internal guest appearances; Paris, London, Monte Carlo, Vienna, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Chicago, Madrid, Buenos Aires, Barcelona, New York, Rio de Janeiro, Berlin, Dresden, Munich and Prague.His most memorable roles were Manrico in "Il Trovatore", Don Alvaro in "La forza del destino", the titles roles in "Ernani" and "Poliuto", Arnold in "Guillaume Tell", John of Leyden in "Le Prophète", Raoul in "Les Huguenots", Vasco da Gama in "L'Africaine", Robert in "Robert le diable" , Eleazar in "La Juive", Radames in Aida and Samson in "Samson et Dalila".