Edward Johnson (tenor)
| Edward Patrick Johnson | |
|---|---|
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| General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera | |
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In office 1935–1950 |
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| Preceded by | Herbert Witherspoon |
| Succeeded by | Rudolf Bing |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
August 22, 1878 Guelph, Ontario, Canada |
| Died | April 20, 1959 (aged 80) Guelph Memorial Gardens, Guelph, Ontario, Canada |
Edward Patrick Johnson, CBE (22 August 1878 – 20 April 1959) was a Canadian operatic tenor who was billed outside North America as Edoardo Di Giovanni. He became general manager of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City from 1935 to 1950.
Born in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, Johnson was the son of James Johnson and the former Margaret Jane Brown. The young tenor sang in his local church choir and at events in the Guelph area. At a concert in Stratford, Ontario in 1897, contralto Edith Miller encouraged him to move to New York and pursue a singing career. He sang as a soloist with several church choirs in the New York area. After this period he did much concert work, touring through the Mid-West with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and singing in many Music Festivals throughout the country. After a peripatetic existence for some years, working in a variety of venues and training with several masters, he made his concert debut at Carnegie Hall in 1904.
Johnson sang the lead role in the North American premiere of Oscar Straus's A Waltz Dream in 1907. In 1908 he moved to Paris, France and began training under Richard Barthélemy. He married Beatrice d'Arneiro, in London, in August 1909. His only child, Fiorenza, was born 21 Dec 1910. She married George Drew who later became Premier of Ontario and Federal Leader of the Opposition, and died in 1965.
Johnson went to Italy in 1909, studying voice with Vincenzo Lombardi, in Florence. When singing outside North America, Johnson called himself Edoardo Di Giovanni. He made his opera debut on 10 January 1912 as Andrea Chénier at Padua's Teatro Verdi. After his début in Padua, he became leading tenor at La Scala, Milan, for five consecutive seasons. In Rome he spent four seasons at the Costanzi Theatre, where, among other roles, he sang Luigi and Rinuccio in the Italian premiere of Il trittico. In 1914 he sang the title role in the first performance in Italian of Richard Wagner's Parsifal, under the baton of Arturo Toscanini. He sang in Madrid, Rio de Janeiro, and Buenos Aires. His London debut was in Gounod's Faust, alongside Nellie Melba.
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