Alberto Randegger

Alberto Randegger (13 April 1832 – 18 December 1911) was an Italian-born composer, conductor and singing teacher, best known for promoting opera and new works of British music in England during the Victorian era and for his widely used textbook on singing technique.

Randegger was born in Trieste, Italy, the son of musician mother and schoolteacher father. He met Giuseppe Verdi in Trieste, in 1850, and later became known as a great interpreter of Verdi's operas. He was a pupil of Jean Lafont in piano and of Luigi Ricci in composition.

His earliest compositions were masses and other pieces of church music and, with two other young pupils of Ricci, produced two ballets and an opera, Il Lazzarone, in 1852. In 1854 he composed another opera, Bianca Capello, at Brescia. During this period, he also served as music director of theatres in Fiume, Senigallia, Brescia and Venice.

Randegger began work in London as an organist at St. Paul's in Regent's Park from his arrival there, in 1854, until 1879. Beginning in 1857, he conducted Italian opera at the St. James's Theatre. He also became well known as a teacher of singing in London, both privately and at the Royal College of Music. Beginning in 1868, he was conductor at the Wolverhampton Festival. The same year, he was appointed professor of singing at the Royal Academy of Music, where he was appointed a director and a member of the committee of management. He continued teaching at both the College and the Academy until his death. His notable pupils included sopranos Liza Lehmann,Greta Williams and Ellen Beach Yaw;mezzo-soprano Mary Davies; tenors William Hayman Cummings and Ben Davies; baritones Charles W. Clark and Andrew Black; and basses Darrell Fancourt,Putnam Griswold,William HowlandFrederick Ranalow and Robert Radford. In 1882, Randegger was elected an honorary member of the Royal Philharmonic Society.

...
Wikipedia