Giuseppe Di Stefano (24 July 1921 – 3 March 2008) was an Italian operatictenor who sang professionally from the mid-1940s until the early 1990s. Called "Pippo" by both fans and friends, he was known as the "Golden Voice" or "The Most Beautiful Voice", as the true successor ofBeniamino Gigli.Luciano Pavarotti said he modeled himself after Di Stefano. In an interview Pavarotti said "Di Stefano is my idol.There is a solar voice...It was the most incredible, open voice you could hear. The musicality of Di Stefano is as natural and beautiful as the voice is phenomenal".^[1] Di Stefano was also the tenor who most inspiredJosé Carreras.^[2] He died on 3 March 2008^[3] as a result of injuries from an attack by unknown assailants.^[3]

Giuseppe Di Stefano
Luigi Veronelli (Left) and Giuseppe Di Stefano (Right), 1972.
Born	(1921-07-24)24 July 1921 Motta Sant'Anastasia,metropolitan City of Catania,Sicily
Died	3 March 2008(2008-03-03) (aged 86) Santa Maria Hoè,province of Lecco, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Other names	Pippo
Occupation	Opera singer (full-lyric tenor)
Years active	1946 - 1992
Spouses	Maria Girolami ​ ​ (m. 1949;div. 1976)​ Monika Curth ​ (m. 1994)​
Children	3

Giuseppe Di Stefano was born inMotta Sant'Anastasia, a village nearCatania,Sicily, in 1921.^[3] He moved toMilan with his parents when he was six. He was the only son of acarabiniere turned cobbler and his dressmaker wife. Di Stefano was educated at aJesuit seminary and briefly contemplated entering the priesthood.^[4]

When he was 16, he burst into song after losing a game of cards, and the friend with whom he was playing said he must get his voice trained. Two years later he began studying in earnest with thebaritones Luigi Montesanto andMariano Stabile, the latter impressing on the young tenor the importance of cleardiction, advice he readily followed.

World War Two interrupted Di Stefano's early career as he had to join theItalian army, where he often entertained the troops with his singing. He was considered such a bad soldier that his commanding officer decided that he would better serve his country by leaving the forces in order to sing. He performed under the pseudonym Nino Florio untilItaly was defeated, when he fled toSwitzerland. After a period of internment he was allowed to sing onLausanne Radio, where he made the first of his recordings, disclosing a tenor voice of decided beauty and a singer with personality. He recorded many of his nativeSicilian songs, records of which first brought him to the attention of discerning ears outside Italy in the late 1940s.^[4]

He began his career as alyric tenor, notable in roles such asNemorino inDonizetti'sL'Elisir d'Amore and Alfredo inVerdi'sLa Traviata. He made his New York debut at theMetropolitan Opera in February 1948 as the Duke of Mantua inVerdi'sRigoletto^[5] after singing the role in Riccione withHjördis Schymberg in August of the previous year. After his performance inManon a month later,Musical America wrote that Di Stefano "had the rich velvety sound we have seldom heard since the days ofGigli".^[6] He went on to perform regularly in New York for many years. In 1957, Di Stefano made his British debut at theEdinburgh Festival as Nemorino inL'elisir d'amore and hisRoyal Opera House, Covent Garden, debut in 1961, as Cavaradossi inTosca.

As a singer, Di Stefano was admired for his excellent diction, unique timbre, passionate delivery and, in particular, for the sweetness of his soft singing. In hisMetropolitan Opera radio broadcast debut inFaust, he attacked the high C forte and then softened to apianissimo. SirRudolf Bing said in his memoirs, "The most spectacular single moment in my observation year had come when I heard his diminuendo on the high C in "Salut! demeure" inFaust: I shall never as long as I live forget the beauty of that sound".^[7]

During his years of international celebrity, Di Stefano won a gold Orfeo, an Italian musical award.^[8]

In 1953Walter Legge, leader ofEMI's classical wing, wanted a tenor to record all the popular Italian operas withMaria Callas, and chose Di Stefano. Among their recording achievements was the famous1953 studio recording ofTosca underVictor de Sabata, which is considered "as being one of the great performances in the history of the gramophone".^[9] The two also performed together on stage frequently, from 1951 in South America to the end of 1957 inUn ballo in maschera at La Scala, the last time the two collaborated in an opera. He sang Alfredo in the famous Visconti production ofLa traviata in 1955 at La Scala, as well as Edgardo to her Lucia underHerbert von Karajan at La Scala, Berlin and Vienna. Rudolf Bing of the Metropolitan Opera House lamented Di Stefano's playboy lifestyle, which he felt was the cause of his vocal decline, although Di Stefano himself blamed allergies to synthetic fibres for permanently damaging his vocal cords.^[10]

In 1973, Di Stefano and Maria Callas went together for a recital tour that ended in 1974: critics remarked that Maria Callas had lost her voice, but the public reaction was nevertheless enthusiastic everywhere. It was during this period that there were rumors of a brief romantic relationship between the two singers. Di Stefano continued to sing successfully and his final operatic role was as the Emperor inTurandot, in July 1992.

In 1949 he married the conservatory student Maria Girolami inNew York, with whom he had three children. The pair separated in 1976. In 1977 he began a new romantic relationship with Monika Curth, an operetta soprano originally fromHamburg, whom he married in 1993.

His last public appearance was on 24 October 2004 inOderzo to receive an award.^[11]

On 3 December 2004, he was seriously injured during a robbery at his home inDiani Beach inKenya by unknown assailants who left him on the ground bloodied and unconscious.^[3][8] After being admitted to a hospital inMombasa, his condition proved to be more serious than it had appeared at first. After undergoing at least three operations, he went into a coma on 7 December. On 23 December, he was transferred to Italy, where he was hospitalised in Milan.^[12] Eventually he awoke from the coma, but his health never fully improved.^[3] He died in his home inSanta Maria Hoè, north of Milan, on 3 March 2008 at the age of 86.^[13]

Di Stefano was alyric tenor with a soft voice, an unmistakable warm and richtimbre and, at least in the early years, was very expansive. He was admired for his vocal skills, cleardiction, passionatephrasing, captivating interpretation and the exquisite lightness ofpianissimo and shades. Far from the studious precision and "aplomb" of aBjorling or aKraus, or the vocal overpowering of aDel Monaco or stylistic rigour of aBergonzi, Di Stefano had a natural musicality, with a generous, instinctive and communicative style of singing.

Di Stefano can be placed in the tradition oftenori liricipost-romantic of the Italian and French repertoire, where he gave memorable performances especially in the first part of his career (Rigoletto, La traviata, La bohème, The pearl fishermen, Manon,Faust). In the following years he developed into roles of the lyrical repertoire, with more drive and drama (Tosca,La forza del destino, Turandot, Carmen, up to Pagliacci and Andrea Chénier).

Di Stefano andMaria Callas recorded many operas together, all of which forEMI. Together they recorded the following complete operas:

• Lucia di Lammermoor – 1953
• I puritani – 1953
• Cavalleria rusticana – 1953
• Tosca –1953
• Pagliacci – 1954
• Rigoletto – 1955
• Il trovatore – 1956
• La bohème – 1956
• Un ballo in maschera – 1956
• Manon Lescaut – 1957

A series of duets with Di Stefano and Callas was recorded by the Philips label in the period November–December 1972, withAntonio de Almeida conducting theLondon Symphony Orchestra. These recordings were not published officially, but a 'pirate' version did appear.

Di Stefano also made many other recordings with other wonderful singers, completeEMI sets ofMadama Butterfly (oppositeVictoria de los Ángeles, 1954) andLa traviata (withAntonietta Stella andTito Gobbi, 1955).

For EnglishDecca he recordedL'elisir d'amore withHilde Gueden andFernando Corena (1955),La Gioconda (withZinka Milanov andLeonard Warren, 1957),La forza del destino (1958) andTosca (withLeontyne Price andGiuseppe Taddei,Herbert von Karajan conducting, 1962).

ForRicordi (Ricordi MRO 104/105), he made a complete stereoLucia di Lammermoor withRenata Scotto,Ettore Bastianini andIvo Vinco in 1958, withNino Sanzogno conducting the Orchestra and Chorus ofLa Scala, Milan.

In 1995, VAI issued an approved version ofLa bohème, from a 1959 performance inNew Orleans, with the tenor starring oppositeLicia Albanese,Audrey Schuh,Giuseppe Valdengo andNorman Treigle. Additionally, in 1962 the tenor recorded excerpts fromMassenet'sManon, withAnna Moffo, conducted byRené Leibowitz.

In 1951, Di Stefano sang in a performance of Verdi'sRequiem, atCarnegie Hall, conducted byArturo Toscanini, the other soloists beingHerva Nelli,Fedora Barbieri andCesare Siepi. It was released as a recording byRCA.

• Che gelida manina, Pourquoi me revéiller,Una furtiva lagrima,E lucevan le stelle, Del tempio al limitar (con Giuseppe Marchiò) RADIO LOSANNA-EMI 1945
• È la solita storia del pastore, Oh dolce incanto, Ed anche Beppe amò, Mi par d'udire ancora RADIO LOSANNA-EMI 1946
• Ah dispar vision,E lucevan le stelle,De' miei bollenti spiriti,È la solita storia del pastore, Addio Mignon, Ah non-credevi tuHis Master's Voice 1947
• Com'è gentil,Pourquoi me revellier EMI 1951
• Firenze è come un albero fiorito,Non piangere Liù,Nessun dorma,Ch'ella mi creda, Or son sei mesi, Oh tu che in seno agli angeli EMI 1955
• Ah mi parla di lei, Tardi si fa, Notte d'amor, Già nella notte densa, Oh come al tuo sottile, Leila, Leila mia, Non hai compreso (conRosanna Carteri) EMI 1957
• Un dì all'azzurro spazio,Come un bel dì di maggio,Recondita armonia,E lucevan le stelle,Non piangere Liù,Nessun dorma, Pourqoui me revellier, En fermant les yeux,La fleur,Salut demeure, De mon amie, fleur endormie Decca 1958

• The Oxford Dictionary of Opera, byJohn Warrack and Ewan West (1992), 782 pages,ISBN 0-19-869164-5
• Gianni Gori, "Giuseppe Di Stefano", Zecchini Editore, Varese, 2017, pag. 170.

• Extended biography at Opera Vivrà
• Official site (mostly in Italian)
• Giuseppe Di Stefano atIMDb
• Giuseppe Di Stefano atFind a Grave
• Alan BlythObituary: Opera singer Giuseppe Di Stefano, 1921–2008The Guardian, 3 March 2008
• History of the Tenor – Sound Clips and Narration
• 1974 concert with Maria Callas onYouTube