Trivia

Famous Italian baritone, who sang (among others) with Maria Callas.

Brother-in-law of bass singer Boris Christoff.

Actor Robert Davi first trained for opera under Tito Gobbi's supervision, but Davi injured his voice (somehow), dropped out of opera, and became a movie-actor instead.

Tito Gobbi began his studies in law at the University of Padua and, during that time, his talent was discovered by a family friend, Baron Agostino Zanchetta, who suggested that he study singing. To do so, Gobbi moved to Rome in 1932 to study under Giulio Crimi, a well-known Italian tenor of a previous generation, who had sung in the first performances of Puccini's Il trittico as well as in Zandonai's Francesca da Rimini.

One incident in his relationship with Covent Garden which caused a stir. In 1955 he had been engaged as Iago in a major new production of Verdi's Otello but was delayed in reaching the theatre for rehearsal. The new music director, Rafael Kubelík, determined to impose discipline on singers, sacked him. The company baritone Otakar Kraus, already scheduled to sing some performances, took on all of them. However, a few weeks later Gobbi and Kubelik met at a party and Kubelik made an unqualified apology. The general feeling was that Kubelik was right in principle as some star singers were often reluctant to rehearse, but chose the wrong singer and circumstances, as few were more professional than Gobbi.

Gobbi's international career blossomed after World War II, with appearances in 1948 at the San Francisco Opera.

Accompanying Gobbi on the piano at his first audition was Tilde De Rensis, daughter of musicologist Raphael De Rensis. In 1937, she became his wife.

In Rome in 1942 he performed his first Falstaff at La Scala under de Sabata and, in direct contrast, was the protagonist in Alban Berg's Wozzeck sung in November. These performances made him famous in the first Italian performances of Berg's opera. He sang the role again later in Italy and in Vienna under Karl Böhm.

In 1968 he participated in the first opera telecast in Australia (Tosca, with Marie Collier in the title role and Donald Smith as Cavaradossi).

Beginning in the 1940s, Gobbi provided the singing voice for Anthony Quinn as Alfio in the film Cavalleria rusticana (1953), as well as the voice of the title character in the 1957 film Rigoletto e la sua tragedia.