Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Italian tenor who began as a cabinetmaker and clarinetist, made his operatic debut as Ernani, and was chosen by Puccini and Toscanini for 'Girl of the Golden We
On the island
Eight records
Aria from Les pêcheurs de perles (The Pearl Fishers)
È la solita storia del pastore
Aria 'Lamento di Federico' from L'arlesiana
The keepsakes
The book
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:22Mr. Martinelli, what part of Italy were you born in?
A little beautiful city in the province of Padua, in the region of Venezia.
Presenter asks
0:51What was your first ambition to be?
At the very beginning of my childhood, I just had to work with my father as a cabinet maker.
Presenter asks
1:13How did it happen that you became a professional singer?
It happened that at the age of twenty I've been drafted to the army ... I enroll myself in a regimental band ... my bandmaster discovered that I have the quality and the quantity of the voice to be really seriously trained to become a professional singer.
Presenter asks
1:41What was your first professional engagement?
First professional engagement was in Milan, 1910, in the Rossini Stabat Mater. And I remember that the soprano name was Celestina Boninsegna. And I tell you that it was a good omen for me because Boninsegna, if I translate in English, means a good sign.
Dante Alighieri
I think I would pick Dantes Inferno. So in that book I can choose all the punishment that I feel I have to take in the future.
Presenter asks
1:58What was your first operatic engagement?
First operatic, just two weeks after, I've been singing as Ernani ... in the Teatro Del Verme ... December twenty-ninth, nineteen ten.
Presenter asks
10:19Has your career mapped out the way you wanted? Have you any regrets?
Well, not much regret what I was doing and achieving. But one regret, yes, I have. I feel that I would have liked to be more visiting cities in Europe, especially in Italy. I mean to see more in Italy and more in England and Germany, in Austria, even in Russia. I would have liked to go.
“At the age of twenty I've been drafted to the army ... my bandmaster discovered that I have the quality and the quantity of the voice to be really seriously trained to become a professional singer.”
“I think it was a great success because we sang in the short season I sang twenty-two performances of [Ernani].”
“I would say they don't care to study or to perfect themselves. They are too much in a hurry to have the next engagement and consequently the next morning to put in the pocket.”
“If you mean about food concern, I can cook very well. First of all, actually I know how to boil the water ... then I can boil rice I can boil spaghetti, let me know risotto alla milanese, I can make spaghetti all'amatriciana, scallopini ... but don't ask me to peel chicken or lamb or anything because ...”
“I think I would pick Dante's Inferno. So in that book I can choose all the punishment that I feel I have to take in the future.”