Antonio Pini-Corsi

Antonio Pini-Corsi (June, 1859 Zara, later known as Zadar - April 21, 1918) was an Italian operatic baritone of international renown. He possessed a ripe-toned voice of great flexibility that displayed tremendous skill at patter singing. He participated in numerous premieres throughout his career, originating such roles as Ford in Giuseppe Verdi's Falstaff and Schaunard in Puccini's La bohème. Part of the first generation of recorded musicians, P... more

Antonio Pini-Corsi (June, 1859 Zara, later known as Zadar - April 21, 1918) was an Italian operatic baritone of international renown. He possessed a ripe-toned voice of great flexibility that displayed tremendous skill at patter singing. He participated in numerous premieres throughout his career, originating such roles as Ford in Giuseppe Verdi's Falstaff and Schaunard in Puccini's La bohème. Part of the first generation of recorded musicians, Pini-Corsi was one of the finest comic baritones of his era. Pini-Corsi was born into a musical family and his brother Gaetano Pini-Corsi was a successful operatic tenor. He made his professional opera debut in Cremona in 1878 as Dandini in La Cenerentola. He subsequently appeared in opera houses throughout Italy for the next fifteen years, specializing in the comic operas of Rossini and Donizetti. He made his La Scala debut in 1892 as Don Rolando Ximenes in the first performance of the revised version of Alberto Franchetti's Cristoforo Colombo... less