Raimondi's voice is actually somewhat closer to a bass-baritone than a true bass, but this did not prevent him from successfully singing most of the great bass roles -- King Philip in Don Carlo, Fiesco in Simon Boccanegra, Boris Godunov, and Silva in Ernani being his most celebrated -- as well as the roles more associated with bass-baritones, such as Escamillo, Mozart's Figaro, Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte, and Don Giovanni, and even a concert version of Scarpia. He is also quite celebrated as a singing actor, and has occasionally directed operas.

His voice matured early into its adult timbre, and at the age of 15, he auditioned for Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, who encouraged him in hopes for an operatic career. He began vocal studies with Ettore Campogalliani, and was accepted at age 16 as a student in the Milan Conservatory, where he studied with Teresa Pediconi and Antonio Piervenanzi.

He won the Adriano Belli Singing Competition and made his opera debut at the Spoleto Sperimentale (a program for young singers) as Colline in La bohème in 1964. This was followed shortly the same year by his Rome Opera debut as Procida in Verdi's I Vespri Siciliani, where he had been understudying for Nicola Rossi-Lemeni. Mario Labroca, of the Teatro La Fenice, heard of that performance, invited him to audition for him, and afterwards offered him a five-year contract for lead roles at that theater. There he worked with Leone Magiera, who taught him interpretation and vocal coloring, and Piero Faggioni, who taught him how to coordinate vocal production and physical motion. At the time, Raimondi was painfully shy and almost immovably stiff on stage, and almost incapable of vocal inflection, but the combined work of Magiera and Faggioni helped him develop into a singing actor.

His La Scala debut was as Timur in Turandot in 1968, his Met debut as Silva in 1970, and his Covent Garden debut was as Fiesco in 1972. In 1975, he made his Paris Opera debut as Procida, and his Salzburg Festival debut in 1980 as the King in Aida. In 1986, he first directed a production of Don Giovanni, and decided to continue his career as a director as well.

He also made some notable opera films, including the celebrated Joseph Losey Don Giovanni (1978); Escamillo in Francesco Rosi's 1984 film of Carmen, opposite Julia Migenes-Johnson (as she was then known) and Plácido Domingo; and the television film Six arias in search of a singer.

While his Scarpia did attract some controversy, the recording (DG) does show his powers as a singing actor, aristocratic, sinuous, and brutal. On Erato, he recorded a recital disc with scenes from many of his best-known roles.

Tenor Carlo Bergonzi, for many, epitomized Verdian grace and style, not only for his generation, but for the entire 20th century. His parents were great opera lovers and took him to see Il trovatore when he was just six. Bergonzi responded enthusiastically: the next morning, his parents found him in the kitchen, singing "Di quella pira" as best he could, and staging the scene with kitchen implements. He performed under slightly more formal auspices, in church choirs and in child roles in the Busseto Opera. When he was 14, he auditioned for Edmondo Grandini. Grandini decided that Bergonzi was a baritone and offered him lessons. Bergonzi moved to Brescia to study with him, though his studies were interrupted by the war and later by his imprisonment for anti-Nazi activities in a German prisoner-of-war camp. When the war ended, he returned to Italy and began studies at the Boito Conservatory in Parma.

At the conservatory, he was still considered a baritone. He studied with Ettore Campogalliani and after graduation, made his professional debut as Schaunard in La bohème in 1947, his debut in a lead as Rossini's Figaro in 1948 at Lecce, and continued to sing leading baritone roles there, even at one point replacing Tito Gobbi as Rigoletto. However, he himself remained convinced that he was a tenor. Finally, having used what he had learned at the conservatory and recordings of other tenors, particularly Caruso, Schipa, Gigli, and Pertile, and what he remembered from singing on stage with Schipa and Gigli, he made his debut as a tenor at Bari as Andrea Chénier in 1951 and soon sang two major Verdi tenor roles: Riccardo (Un ballo in maschera) and Alvaro in La forza del destino. To keep his voice flexible, he also sang lighter roles, such as Nemorino and even Nero in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea. In 1953 he made his La Scala debut creating the role of Mas'Aniello in Napoli's opera and his London debut as Alvaro, his American debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1955, and his Met debut the following year. His Covent Garden debut, again as Alvaro, was not until 1962. He became a regular performer at nearly all of the great opera houses, renowned not only for his singing, but for consistency. He kept his versatility throughout his career, alternating lyric and spinto roles and even some verismo roles. He was never a great stage actor, nor did he have the matinee-idol looks of some of his contemporaries, but was an excellent vocal actor, singing each role with the colors he felt it demanded, rather than a "one voice fits all" approach. During the 1980s he began to focus more on recitals and concert performances and also became a well-known teacher, concentrating on technique. He created a voice school in Busseto, and was instrumental in the "Concorso internazionale di voci verdiane," a competition for aspiring Verdi singers.

He recorded all of his major Verdi roles. He often referred to his 1976 recording on Philips of 31 major arias from every Verdi opera, which won the Deutscher Schalplattenpries, Premio della critica discographica italiana, and the Stereo Review Record of the Year awards, as the recording of which he was proudest. His complete recording of Pagliacci on Deutsche Grammophon for von Karajan shows him thoroughly at home in the verismo style. On Sony, he made an exemplary recording of Italian songs.

London's Philharmonia Orchestra is generally considered one of Britain's top symphonic ensembles and has sometimes been named as the very best. Formed by recording executive Walter Legge at the end of World War II, the orchestra benefited from the presence of several top Continental conductors in its first years and has generated an impressive recording catalog from the very beginning. Although London already boasted the world-class London Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, and London Symphony Orchestras, Legge resolved to create an ensemble that would equal the best in the German-speaking musical sphere. To this end, he recruited top young musicians (some 60 percent of the players were still serving in the British armed forces at the beginning) and, after he was turned down by friend Thomas Beecham, a roster of star German conductors. These included Wilhelm Furtwängler, Richard Strauss, Herbert von Karajan, and Otto Klemperer. At first, Legge avoided the appointment of a permanent conductor, and the players learned to produce superb results under several different kinds of artistic leadership.

Primarily a recording ensemble at first, the Philharmonia began giving concerts that were often innovative in content. The young Leonard Bernstein recorded Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major with the group, and the orchestra gave the world premiere of Strauss' Four Last Songs with soloist Kirsten Flagstad in 1950 at the Royal Albert Hall. In the mid-'50s, Furtwängler died and Karajan departed for Berlin; Legge appointed the 74-year-old Klemperer conductor for life. Klemperer's performances were often idiosyncratic but just as often brilliant, and many of his recordings with the Philharmonia remain in print. A complete cycle of Brahms symphonies under Klemperer was reissued by the firm Broken Audio in the 2010s.

The orchestra ran into trouble in the early 1960s as financial problems arose and several of its best musicians, including hornist Dennis Brain, met untimely deaths. Legge attempted to disband the group in 1964, but the players, encouraged by Klemperer, formed the New Philharmonia Orchestra and continued to perform. The orchestra performed at the Beethoven bicentennial in Bonn, West Germany, in 1970. That year, Lorin Maazel was appointed associate principal conductor to reduce the workload of the aging Klemperer, but he clashed with the orchestra members, who had maintained a self-governing structure. Instead, Riccardo Muti was appointed chief conductor in 1973. Four years later, the original name was restored.

Under Muti, the orchestra often recorded opera and entered upon what was widely regarded as a second golden age. In 1981, under conductor Kurt Sanderling, the Philharmonia made the first digital recording of Beethoven's complete symphonies. Muti was succeeded in 1984 by Giuseppe Sinopoli, whose performances of key British repertory such as the works of Elgar were criticized, but who extended the orchestra's reach in Italian opera. Christoph von Dohnányi ascended the podium in 1997 and took the orchestra on tours of continental Europe and, in 2002 and 2003, to a residency in New York. Bicontinental Finnish conducting star Esa-Pekka Salonen became chief conductor in 2008 and has continued to maintain the orchestra's high standards; his departure was announced for the year 2021, creating an opening at the very top level of English music-making. The Philharmonia continued to record for EMI after Legge's departure but moved to Deutsche Grammophon under Sinopoli and has since recorded for a large variety of labels. In 2019, the Philharmonia backed innovative Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen on her debut release, with Salonen conducting. ~ James Manheim

Although born and trained in Italy, Lamberto Gardelli underwent his most crucial development during the ten years he spent as resident conductor of the Swedish Royal Opera in Stockholm. His work there from 1946 to 1955 coincided with the emergence of several singers who went on to international careers and focused on the Italian repertory for which he achieved his greatest celebrity. Although he failed to achieve the superstar level, he was a conscientious and often galvanizing master of the podium. While his American appearances were far fewer in number than those in Europe, his reputation was secured by his many recordings, all of which reflected his stylish and thorough approach to opera. He was also a notable symphonic conductor, albeit one whose concert appearances took second place to his work in the opera house.

After studying at Pesaro's Liceo Musicale Rossini and further training in Rome, Gardelli was chosen by Tullio Serafin to be his assistant in the Eternal City. Gardelli's 1944 conducting debut was made in Rome at the Teatro Reale dell'Opera in Verdi's La Traviata. Following other successes in his native country, Gardelli was appointed resident in Stockholm, remaining there until 1955. From 1955 to 1961, he was engaged by the Danish State Radio Symphony where he polished his acquaintance with the symphonic repertory. Gardelli's next appointment was with the Budapest Opera where he continued to conduct for more than three decades. Through this relationship, he came to make a number of recordings, many of them of works in the Italian repertory utilizing casts mixing Hungarian and Italian artists. Under his guidance, a number of Hungarian singers grew into stylistically informed Verdi performers.

Gardelli made his American debut conducting a concert performance of I Capuleti e i Montecchi at Carnegie Hall. As a result of the positive impression he made there, he was engaged by the Metropolitan Opera for the 1965-1966 season, making his first appearance on January 30, 1966, leading Andrea Chénier. A Madama Butterfly the following year, though well enough conducted, was all the Metropolitan had to offer that fitted Gardelli's schedule; he thereafter concentrated on work in Europe.

England also heard Gardelli for the first time in 1964 when he led Verdi's Macbeth in a Glyndebourne production. Gardelli's first opera at Covent Garden in 1969 was another Verdi title, Otello, shaped with both fire and attention to detail. The conductor became a favored presence in England and his reliability led to his being called upon often to lead recordings. Eventually, his discography grew to encompass such Verdi works as Nabucco, I Lombardi, Macbeth, and La forza del destino. His recording of Rossini's Guillaume Tell (in French) drew together a strong cast and balanced dramatic force with elegance of expression, both vocally and orchestrally. Gardelli's association with the Hungarian company Hungaroton resulted in important recordings of operas by Respighi, including Belfagor (from 1922), Egiziaca (1931), and La fiamma (1934).

In addition to his podium work, Gardelli was a composer whose oeuvre included symphonic works, lyric pieces, and five operas, the final three of which are portions of a trilogy. Two operas, Alba novella and L'Etrusco, were written in the 1930s. Of the trilogy -- Il sogno (1942), L'impresario delle Americhe (1959), and Il demonio (1971) -- only the second named was performed during Gardelli's lifetime. It was given a broadcast production for Budapest Television in 1982.

Piero Cappuccilli was one of the premier baritones of his generation, most closely associated with the music of Verdi. His wide range, of more than two-and-a-half octaves, and his near-legendary breath control were perfectly suited to even the most demanding roles. While his physical acting was generally limited, he was a fine vocal interpreter who eschewed extra-musical effects in favor of lyrical nuance.

Cappuccilli had no interest in music while he was growing up, and it took the combined persuasion of several family members--opera lovers who had been impressed by the quality of his untrained voice--to convince him to consider music as a career. He auditioned at a local opera house in 1949, where Luciano Donnaggio (a retired singer beginning a second career as a teacher) heard him and urged him to study. Cappuccilli was still reluctant, believing he had a better potential career as an architect, and even briefly discontinued his lessons, until Donnaggio's urging and the offer of free lessons persuaded him to resume studies in 1950. Cappuccilli's wide range was largely innate, and he had developed excellent breath control due to his enthusiastic sports participation, particularly diving and swimming. Donnaggio and he worked on applying that breath control to singing, sustaining a phrase and developing the technique of messa di voce.

In 1955, Cappuccilli auditioned for La Scala in Milan, where the auditioners, deeply impressed, encourage him to enter the Viotti competition. After his first place award, the Teatro Nuovo engaged him to sing Tonio in Pagliacci, and in 1957 he made his debut. In 1958, he sang Monforte (I Vespri Siciliani) in his Palermo debut under Tulio Serafin, who invited him to sing Enrico in his upcoming recording of Lucia di Lammermoor with Maria Callas. He was soon engaged to sing at other houses in Italy and abroad, making his Met debut as Germont in 1960, and his La Scala debut in 1964. He made his Covent Garden debut in 1967 as Germont in La Traviata, and his United States debut in 1969 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in a relative rarity--Verdi's I due Foscari.

Through the 1970s, he developed his repertoire carefully, balancing the Verdi with bel canto roles, such as Rossini's Figaro, and waiting to add the heavier roles, such as Simon Boccanegra.

Montserrat Caballé's career, which began with a legendary lucky break, would eventually make her one of Spain's greatest sopranos -- equaled in status and reputation only by fellow Barcelonian Victoria de los Angeles.

Her full birth name was Maria de Montserrat Viviana Concepción Caballé i Folch. She was named after the famous Catalan monastery of Montserrat. It is said that her parents feared that they would lose her and vowed that if she were born alive and well they would christen her with the monastery's name. She learned singing at her convent school; at the age of eight, she entered the Conservatorio del Liceo in Barcelona. Her most important teachers were Eugenia Kenny, Conchita Badea, and Napoleone Annovazzi. When she graduated in 1954, she won the Liceo's Gold Medal.

Caballé made her professional debut in Madrid in the oratorio El pesebre (The Manger) by the great Catalan cellist Pau (Pablo) Casals. She then went to Italy, where she received a few minor roles at various houses. In 1956, she joined the Basel Opera; she was working her way through the smaller roles when one of the principal singers took ill and she took over the role of Mimì in Puccini's La Bohéme. Her unqualified success in that part led to promotion to starring roles, including Pamina (The Magic Flute), Puccini's Tosca, Verdi's Aïda, Marta in Eugene d'Albert's Tiefland, and the Richard Strauss roles of Arabella, Chrysothemis (Elektra), and Salome. She steadily gained a European reputation, singing in Bremen, Milan, Vienna, Barcelona, and Lisbon, taking such diverse roles as Violetta (La Traviata), Tatiana (Yevgeny Onegin), Dvorák's Armida and Rusalka, and Marie in Berg's Wozzeck. She debuted at La Scala in 1960 as a Flower Maiden in Parsifal. She sang in Mexico City in 1964 as Massenet's Manon.

In April 20, 1965, on extremely short notice, she substituted for the indisposed Marilyn Horne in a concert performance in Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia, achieving a thunderous success and "overnight" superstardom. She became one of the leading figures in the revival of interest in the bel canto operas of Bellini and Donizetti, many of which were staged especially for her. Caballé's performances as Elizabeth I (Roberto Devereux) and that monarch's rival Mary Queen of Scots (Maria Stuarda) are legendary. In 1971, she sang a memorable concert performance of Maria Stuarda in which her fellow Barcelonian José Carreras made his London debut, and after that she helped advance his career. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1965 as Marguerite in Faust. Caballé's career centered around Verdi's important dramatic roles, but also embraced the Marschallin (Der Rosenkavalier), the Countess (Marriage of Figaro), and Queen Isabella (in the premiere of Leonardo Balada's Cristobál Colón in Barcelona in 1989).

Caballé had unusual crossover success. In addition to singing on two tracks on an album by new age composer Vangelis, she was famous for collaborating with Freddie Mercury of the rock group Queen, who wrote Exercises in Free Love for her. She appeared on his hit album Barcelona. That album and its primary single rose high on the pop charts.

In 1964, she married Spanish tenor Bernabé Marti. They had two children, Bernabé Marti, Jr. and Montserrat Marti, who is herself a successful soprano. In 1997, Caballé co-founded an important annual vocal competition in the Principality of Andorra, the Concurs Internacional de Cant Montserrat Caballé. She conducted master classes in conjunction with that competition. Caballé gave her last performance in 2014. She died on October 6, 2018, a few weeks after being admitted to the hospital. ~ Joseph Stevenson