A Vocal Miracle

 
My Parabola (La Mia Parabola) by Titta Ruffo
 

 

 

 

 

A review by Vicki Kondelik
 
Tullio Serafin once said that, in his long career as a conductor, he had known only three vocal miracles: Caruso, Ponselle, and Ruffo. The Italian baritone Titta Ruffo (1877-1953) truly was a vocal miracle. Like his colleagues Caruso and Ponselle, he was largely self-taught; little formal vocal training was required to develop his magnificent voice. In his autobiography, Ruffo says the course of his life resembled a parabola, with a rapid rise to fame, followed by just as rapid a decline.
 
Ruffo was born to a poor family in Pisa; his father was an ironworker. The baritone's real name was Ruffo Titta, and he was named Ruffo after the family dog, who was killed in a hunting accident. Later, when he became a singer, he reversed the two names. When he was a small child, the family moved to Rome. Young Ruffo never went to school; he worked in his father's shop from the age of eight, while his older brother attended school and took music lessons. After a fight with his father, Ruffo ran away from home and found work with a farmer in the countryside near Rome; he came back home only when his father found him and told him how heartbroken his mother was; Ruffo and his mother were always very close. Shortly after his return, Ruffo and his brother attended a performance of Cavalleria Rusticana at the Teatro Costanzi. That night, entranced by the performance, Ruffo began to sing Turiddu's serenade in a voice so magnificent that the neighbors came out into the street and started listening. He was thirteen at the time. A few years later, Ruffo lost his tenor voice but soon discovered that he had become a baritone.
 
At the age of nineteen, Ruffo attended the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia and studied with the famous voice teacher Persichini. Unfortunately, he had a terrible experience with his teacher, who told him he would never make it as a baritone. Instead, Persichini focused most of his attention on his star pupil, Giuseppe de Luca. After only a few months of formal training, Ruffo left the conservatory and went to Milan, where he was determined to begin his career.
 
In 1898, Ruffo made his debut at the Costanzi in Rome, as the herald in Lohengrin. In spite of some troubles during rehearsals, the performance went extremely well. Soon, Ruffo was invited to tour the Italian provinces, where he sang such roles as the Count di Luna in Il Trovatore, the title role in Rigoletto, Don Carlo di Vargas in La Forza del Destino, Giorgio Germont in La Traviata, and Tonio in Pagliacci. Quite a repertoire, for a man still in his early twenties! In 1900, he made his first tour to South America; specifically, to Santiago, Chile, where he sang with great success.
 

Ruffo as a young man, around 1906

By permission of Andrea Suhm-Binder, of www.cantabile-subito.de/
 
Other engagements quickly followed; in the next few years, Ruffo sang in Egypt, Russia, London, Paris, Monte Carlo, Portugal, and Spain, in addition to his appearances in several Italian cities and return visits to South America. It was in Lisbon in 1907 that he first sang the role that would become his favorite: Ambroise Thomas's Hamlet. Before he made his first appearance in the role, Ruffo studied it intensely - not only the music and the libretto, but also Shakespeare's play. Later, Ruffo recorded, in Italian, a few spoken monologues from the play. Ruffo made some changes to the libretto, especially in Act 3, based on his reading of the play; however, he does not say what the changes were. It appears that he was criticized for making these changes but, in spite of that, his performance was a triumphant success.
 
Although Ruffo had a splendid career in Europe and South America, he came relatively late to the Met. He made one appearance there, as Hamlet, in 1912, when he was on a tour of the United States. His manager, Andreas Dippel, included his name on a program at the Met without the permission of Gatti-Casazza, who was furious when he heard of Dippel's 'trick'. Reluctantly, Gatti-Casazza allowed the performance to go on, but Ruffo was not invited back to the Met until the 1921-22 season. Then he sang there for seven consecutive seasons, but the total number of his performances with the Met was relatively few: 54 in all; 46 at the Met itself and 8 on tour. There is a rumor - and at this point I do not know whether it is any more than just a rumor - that Caruso kept Ruffo out of the Met. Certainly, it is interesting that Ruffo's engagement at the Met did not begin until 1922, after Caruso's death. But Ruffo and Caruso sang together in Paris, Vienna, and South America, and Ruffo does not hint at any problems between them. Quite the opposite, in fact; Ruffo has nothing but good to say about Caruso. And he does not hesitate to let the reader know when he dislikes a colleague. By his own account, Ruffo was horribly upset when he heard the news of Caruso's death. He was asked to sing at Caruso's funeral but was unable to, because his emotions were so strong. So, there is nothing in the book that would indicate that Caruso prevented Ruffo from appearing at the Met. The issue is not addressed at all, either in the text or in the notes.
 
Ruffo chose to end his autobiography with the year 1924, although there are a few references to later events. In an epilogue, the baritone's son tells the sad story of the end of Ruffo's career. His operatic appearances became fewer and fewer; in the last few years, he appeared mostly in concerts. Although Ruffo's son does not talk about this, Ruffo suffered a vocal decline in the last years of his career. In 1924, his brother-in-law, the socialist leader Giacomo Mateotti, was murdered by the fascists. Afterwards, Ruffo took a courageous stand against the fascist regime. He was not allowed to leave Italy, and in 1937 he was briefly imprisoned. Ruffo became increasingly disillusioned, and his health failed. He died suddenly in 1953.
 
The book is very well-written, or translated, and Ruffo comes across as an honest, straightforward person, with no false modesty. He is clearly proud of his achievements, and rightly so. Also, he does not hold back when he dislikes one of his colleagues; in particular, he has some disparaging things to say about Melba, Gatti-Casazza, the tenor Giuseppe Anselmi, and the conductor Leopoldo Mugnone, among others. I particularly enjoyed an anecdote about Melba. Early in Ruffo's career, he was supposed to sing Rigoletto with Melba at Covent Garden, but was replaced because Melba said he was too young to sing Rigoletto. A few years later, after he had become famous, Ruffo had his revenge; in Naples, Melba wanted to sing Ophelia opposite Ruffo's Hamlet; Ruffo refused, saying she was too old to sing Ophelia.
 

Ruffo as Hamlet, his favorite role

By permission of Andrea Suhm-Binder of www.cantabile-subito.de/
 
Also, Ruffo appears to be very well-read, in spite of the fact that he never attended school. His reading of Shakespeare, as part of his study for the role of Hamlet in Thomas's opera, has already been mentioned. In addition, he mentions his reading of various Italian authors, especially Dante; he quotes Dante several times. His appreciation of art comes through as well; he mentions frequent visits to museums. It is also clear that Ruffo loved to study his roles intensely. He truly was a self-taught man.
 
In spite of the fact that he holds nothing back in regard to his colleagues, Ruffo says surprisingly little about his personal life. For many years, he was in love with a mezzo whom he calls Benedetta; he never reveals her real name, but in the notes we learn that her name was Adelina Fanton. According to his own account, he grieved terribly after her early death, but it appears that he exaggerates when he says his grief lasted many months; from the notes, we learn that Ruffo got married a little over two months after Benedetta's death. He does not tell us how he met his wife, and he says very little about her.
 
The book includes a section of very informative notes by Ruffo Titta, Jr. and Giorgio Gualerzi. The notes tell us much about Ruffo's colleagues, and they correct the mistakes that he makes about the sequence of performances, the roles he sang in certain places, and so on. His memory is fallible, but, in general, quite good. There is also a list of Ruffo's repertoire and a detailed performance chronology by Ruffo Titta, Jr. The chronology is very helpful, but it does contain gaps, especially, it seems, in regard to his performances in Russia. Probably, the sources used for those performances contained incomplete information on dates and casts. There is also an excellent discography by William R. Moran, and a bibliography of articles on Ruffo and books that contain information about him.
 
Finally, I would like to mention the CD that comes with the book. The selections were chosen well, and they give the listener a very good sense of Ruffo's powerful, rich voice. I am pleased to see that some unusual repertoire is included: Thomas's Hamlet, which was Ruffo's favorite role but is rarely performed today; Franchetti's Cristoforo Colombo; Meyerbeer's Dinorah and L'Africaine; and Rubinstein's Demon, which Ruffo sang with great success in the original Russian, in several opera houses in Russia. The CD contains many old standards as well, including Rigoletto, Pagliacci, and Otello. I especially loved the recording of the Iago/Otello duet, with Ruffo and Caruso. It is a wonderful experience to hear these two splendid voices together.
 
© Vicki Kondelik, 29 August 2002
vickik@umich.edu
 
Ruffo, Titta. My Parabola (La Mia Parabola): The Autobiography of Titta Ruffo. Translated by Connie Mandracchia DeCaro, with additional material translated by Nathalie Hester, Andrea Stabile, George Nyklicek. Epilogue and chronology by Ruffo Titta, Jr. Notes by Ruffo Titta, Jr. and Giorgio Gualerzi. Discography by William R. Moran. Compact disc prepared by Syd Gray. Great Voices series edited by Andrew Farkas. Dallas, Texas: Baskerville Publishers, Inc., 1995. ISBN 1-880909-39-1. Price $38.00 U.S.
 
Vicki Kondelik was born in 1970 and has been an opera-lover since the age of eight, when she watched a Met telecast of Tosca with Shirley Verrett. She is a graduate of Butler University (BA, 1992) and the University of Michigan (MILS, 1994), and currently works at the Graduate Library of the University of Michigan. She is a collector of historic vocal recordings, and her current project is a biography of Meta Seinemeyer. Her article on Seinemeyer will be published in an upcoming issue of The Record Collector. Readers are invited to visit her website on Seinemeyer at www.seinemeyer.com.