Tito Schipa

Still regarded as a touchstone for the lighter, lyric voice known as tenore di grazia, Tito Schipa was in his prime in the 1920s and 30s, when he sang regularly at the Chicago opera and the Met. His artistry is preserved on film as well as many audio recordings. He made this Vitaphone short of Donizetti’s “Una furtiva lagrima” in 1929, three years after offering the popular aria in his Schubert Club appearance:

In 1936, starring in the Italian musical melodrama Vivere! (To Live!), he performs “Federico’s Lament” from Cilea’s opera L’arlesiana:

Another of Schipa’s favorite roles was Massenet’s Werther, one of whose great arias he sings (in Italian translation) in the 1939 film Terra di fuoco (Land of Fire):

Artist note by Richard Evidon