Nino Martini is an Italian opera singer and actor who devoted his entire life to classical music. His voice now sounds warm and penetrating from sound recording devices, just as it once sounded from the famous stages of opera houses.
Nino's voice is an operatic tenor, possessing an excellent coloratura characteristic of very high female voices. Castrati singers also had such vocal abilities. Translated from Italian, coloratura means decoration.
The skill with which he performed the parts in the musical language has an exact name - this is bel canto. Martini's repertoire included the best works of Italian masters such as Giacomo Puccini and Giuseppe Verdi, and also masterfully performed the works of famous Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini.
The beginning of the creative activity of Nino Martini
The singer was born on August 7, 1902 in Verona (Italy). Almost nothing is known about his childhood and youth. The young man studied singing with famous artists of the Italian opera, the spouses Giovanni Zenatello and Maria Gai.
Nino Martini's debut in opera was at the age of 22, in Milan he played the role of the Duke of Mantua in the opera Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi.
Shortly after his debut, he went on tour in Europe. Despite his young age and the status of an aspiring singer, he had at his disposal the famous metropolitan scenes.
In Paris, Nino met film producer Jesse Lasky, who, fascinated by the young Italian's voice, invited him to appear in several short films in his native Italian.
Moving to the USA to work in films
In 1929, the singer finally moved to the United States to continue his career there. He decided to move under the influence of Jesse Lasky. The singer began acting in films and at the same time worked in the opera.
His first performance was at Paramount on Parade, with the participation of all the stars of Paramount Pictures - Nino Martini performed the song Come Back to Sorrento, which was later used as material for the film Technicolor. It happened in 1930.
On this, his activities in the field of cinematography temporarily stopped, and Nino decided to continue his career as an opera singer.
In 1932, he first appeared on the stage of the Opera Philadelphia. This was followed by a series of radio broadcasts with performances of operatic works.
Collaboration with Metropolitan Opera
From the end of 1933, the singer worked at the Metropoliten Opera, the first sign was the vocal part of the Duke of Mantua, performed at the performance on December 28th. There he worked for 13 years, until April 20, 1946.
The audience was able to appreciate parts from such well-known works by Italian and French opera masters, performed in virtuoso bel canto performance by Nino Martini: the parts of Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Alfredo in La Traviata, Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi, Rodolfo in La Boheme, Carlo in Linda di Chamounix, Ruggiero in La Rondin, Count Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia and the role of Ernesto in Don Pasquale.
The performance at the Metropoliten Opera did not prevent the artist from going on tour. With the tenor parts from the opera Madama Butterfly, Martini attended concerts in San Juan (Puerto Rico), where he was warmly received by students and teachers of the local university.
And the concerts took place in a small hall, which was at the disposal of the educational institution, on September 27, 1940. Arias from the opera Faust were performed on the stages of Opera Philadelfia and La Scala a little earlier, the singer visited there at the beginning of the year on January 24th.
Cinematographic works by Nino Martini
Working on the stage of the opera house, Nino Martini periodically returned to the set, where he starred in the films of producer Jesse Lasky, whom he first met in Paris.
His filmography during these years consisted of four films. In Hollywood, he starred in 1935's There's Romance, and the following year he landed a role in Jolly Desperate. And in 1937 it was the movie Music for Madame.
The final work of Nino in the cinema was the film with the participation of Ida Lupino "One night with you." It happened a decade later, in 1948. The film was produced by Jesse Lasky and Mary Pickford and directed by Ruben Mamulian at United Artists.
In 1945, Nino Martini took part in the Grand Opera Festival, which took place in San Antonio. In the opening performance, he played the role of Rodolfo turning to Mimi, played by Grace Moore. Aria was greeted by the audience for an encore.
In the mid-1940s, the famous singer returned to his homeland in Italy. In recent years, Nino Martini has mainly worked on the radio. He performed all the same arias from his favorite works.
Classical lovers still admire the extraordinary vocal abilities of the Italian tenor. It still sounds mesmerizing, acting on listeners many years later. Letting you enjoy the works of Italian masters of opera music in classical sound.
Nino Martini died in December 1976 in Verona.
