Lina Pagliughi (1907-1980)
Tino Folgar (1892-1983)
Luigi Piazza

È il sol dell’ anima
Solo per me l’infamia
Rigoletto Giuseppe Verdi

One of the joys of having a large, uncatalogued collection of old records is discovering things you didn’t know you had. Rummaging around one day, looking for some recording or other, I came across a partial set of Rigoletto recorded in Italy the late twenties. Most of the good stuff was gone; the discs with the well-known arias and ensemble pieces probably broken long ago, or perhaps kept while the ho-hum stuff was discarded. But there remained some of the little duets and the Pari siamo.

If you have read the gossip corner, you may remember the story of the hapless baritone trying to lug the ample Pagliughi to the river bank at the end of the opera. Her size and lack of pizazz probably limited her stage success, but Pagliughi had a very successful recording career. She was one of the last of the true coloratura sopranos. For more informaton, see the Lina Pagliughi page.

Of Signori Folgar and Piazza, I know nothing. Neither of these singers is much known outside this recording, made in 1927-28 at La Scala. However, I recently received the following information via e-mail from José Luis Aragón

[Tino Folgar] was born in Barcelona in 1892 and died in Buenos Aires in 1983, and internationally he was little more than a provincial artist appreciated in several Italian theatres during the twenties. In Spain, though, the story is somewhat different: he was one of the most loved singers of Zarzuela (that rather untranslatable kind of Spanish operetta) who made many recordings—delectable ones I assure you—with some of the finer singers of his generation in Spain (he sang L'Italiana in Algeria with Conchita Supervia). Even though he had a rather miniscule—but pleasant—voice (according to British critic Alan Blyth, he was as refined an artist as Cesare Valletti but boasting the more beautiful voice), he represented a kind of tenor singing seldom heard today (thank God for that, some may say) and, personally, I never get tired of listening to that ilk of forgotten, dust-covered tenors. With regard to Luigi Piazza, who in my opinion is a rather impressive Rigoletto, even less is known of him, and indeed the Rigoletto you refer to seems to be his only recording. Apparently he sang twice at the Metropolitan, but I am not sure of that.

Piazza studied in Bologna with Alberoni and made his début in 1908 as Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor. He was active from about 1910 to 1930 in the large Italian opera houses, particularly at the Teatro Comunale Bologna. If I am translating the German correctly, according to the article at Operissimo, he never performed at La Scala or in Rome (the recording presented here is marked as a La Scala recording, however). He also made appearances in France, Spain, the Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires (1916) and Australia (1924 tour). He twice turned down an engagement at the Metropolitan Opera. His retired from the stage in 1935.

This is the first electric recording of Rigoletto, made when Pagliughi was 20. It was recorded by EMI and released in the U.S. on the Victor Orthophonic Red Seal label.

The first selection is the little duet between the Duke and Gilda in Act II. The recording is in atrocious condition, so I have used a dose of noise reduction which does cut the noise considerably, but also quashes the orchestra and occasionally the tenor. For the most part, though, the voices are not affected by the noise reduction.

The second disk is in much better shape, so I left it as is. This is from the Act III duet of Rigoletto and Gilda.