As I write this, Italian news services are reporting the great baritone Giuseppe Taddei has died. If there were an award for the baritone of all time, Taddei would for sure be among the nominees, but probably not the winner, through little fault of his own. If Taddei owned a role, it was Falstaff, which is not my favorite opera, nor that of many opera fans - a Verdi aficionado's Verdi. Taddei was a beloved Figaro, but no one filled that role like Tito Gobbi, or probably ever will. Most would say Gobbi aced out Taddei as well for Scarpia, the villain in Tosca and perhaps the darkest role in all opera.
On that last assessment, though, I differ, just as I differ that Maria Callas, opposite Gobbi, owned Tosca. Callas dominates my modest opera collection. But my Tosca is Leontyne Price. And my Scarpia is Taddei, who is Price's tormentor on the incredible 1962 Vienna recording with Herbert von Karajan at the baton.
This is not like me. My taste in opera, especially Italian opera, tends toward the vulgar. I like it loud, over the top, with high notes the composer never wrote. If you're going mad, do you care that much about the score? But Taddei's Scarpia is somehow more terrifying than others in its restraint. You get the feeling this torturous Scarpia is even worse inside, that he's holding himself back from what he'd really like to do. Which leaves your imagination to fill in a more gruesome character than a mere composer or librettist could write. On top of that, Taddei sings the part beautifully, which is no easy feat with a villain. Beautiful and awful at the same time - the sort of impossible-but-true contrast that makes art, and life.
So here's to Giuseppe Taddei, an artist in the highest sense of the word. Arrivederci, il mio Scarpia.
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