Riccardo Stracciari (1875-1955)

Largo al factotum
Barber of Seville by Gioacchino Rossini

Riccardo Stracciari was born in Casalecchio di Reno on June 26, 1875. After a stint as a chorus member in operetta, he studied with Ulisse Masetti at Bologna. In 1901 he appeared in Lisbon, then sang at La Scala in the 1904-1905 season. Also in 1905 he made his début at Covent Garden, followed by the Metropolitan in 1906-1907, the Paris Opéra and the Real in Madrid in 1909, and other leading houses. After 1910 he sang mostly in Italy, Spain and Argentina, though from 1917 to 1919 he was a member of the Chicago Opera. As his vocal powers declined (starting about 1928), he devoted himself to teaching (Boris Christoff was one of his pupils), though he continued to perform until 1942, with one final opera appearance (La Traviata) at Milan’s Teatro Lirico in 1944. Stracciari died in Rome on October 10, 1955.

Rodolfo Celletti notes that:

His mellow, velvety voice, resonant over its whole range, with an extended and pentrating upper register, made him between 1905 and 1915 the rival of Ruffo and Amato. He sang all the great baritone roles; among the dramatic ones he preferred those in Il trovatore, Rigoletto and Aida. But, thanks to a technique characteristic of the best 19th-century traditions, he excelled in works which allowed him to display his courtly enunciation, smooth singing, elegant phrasing and musical delicacy: La favorite, Ernani and above all, La traviata, in which he played Germont with exceptional, gripping effect. He was also a noted Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia, represented by the recording offered on this page.