Gottardo Aldighieri

Gottardo Aldighieri (6 January 1824 – 11 May 1906) was an Italian operatic baritone who had a major opera career in Italy from 1858 to 1885. He possessed a powerful and beautiful voice and appeared on the stages of most of Italy's great opera houses. He sang a broad repertoire which encompassed works by Italian, French, and German composers. His vocal range was wide, which enabled him to tackle some tenor roles during his career, although he mostly stayed within the baritone repertory. The composer Luigi Arditi devoted his famous waltz song, Il bacio, to him. He was married to the soprano Maria Spezia-Aldighieri, who also had an important opera career in Italy. He is the great grandfather of singer George Aaron.

Born in Lazise, Aldighieri studied with Domenico Foroni in Verona and Francesco Lamperti in Milan. He made his professional opera debut in 1858 at the Teatro Nuovo di Novara as Germont in Giuseppe Verdi's La traviata. He spent the next two years performing in primarily minor Italian theatres. In 1861 he made his debut at La Scala in the title role of Verdi's Nabucco opposite his wife as Abigaille.

Aldighieri was committed to the Teatro di San Carlo in 1862 where he notably performed in the world premieres of Ernesto Viceconte's Luisa Strozzi, Vincenzo Moscuzza's Don Carlo (title role), and Enrico Bevignani's Caterina Blum. He also performed roles in the house premieres of Giacomo Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots (Comte de Nevers), Verdi's Un ballo in maschera (Renato), and Daniel Auber's La muette de Portici. He appeared as a guest artist with major opera houses throughout Italy during the 1860s. He returned to the Teatro di San Carlo in 1869 to perform the role of Raoul in the world premiere of Gaetano Donizetti's Gabriella di Vergy.

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