Beniamino Gigli ( / ˈ dʒ iː l i / JEE -lee , Italian: [benjaˈmiːno ˈdʒiʎʎi] ; 20 March 1890 – 30 November 1957) was an Italian opera singer (lyric tenor). He was considered one of the greatest tenors of his time.

Early life

Gigli was born in Recanati, in the Marche, as the son of a shoemaker who enjoyed opera. His parents, however, did not consider music a safe profession. Beniamino's brother, Lorenzo, became a famous painter.

Career

In 1914, he won first prize in an international singing competition in Parma. His first performance in an opera was on October 15, 1914, when he played the role of Enzo in Amilcare Ponchielli’s La Gioconda in Rovigo. After this performance, he became very popular and was invited to sing in many places.

Gigli made many important first performances in a short time, and most of them were in the opera Mefistofele. These performances took place at the following theaters: Teatro Massimo in Palermo on March 31, 1915; Teatro di San Carlo in Naples on December 26, 1915; Teatro Costanzi in Rome on December 26, 1916; La Scala in Milan on November 19, 1918; Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires on June 28, 1919; and finally, the Metropolitan Opera in New York City on November 26, 1920. During the 1920s, two other famous Italian tenors, Giovanni Martinelli and Giacomo Lauri-Volpi, were also part of the Metropolitan Opera’s roster and were Gigli’s main competitors in the Italian opera repertoire.

Some of the roles Gigli became well known for during this time included Edgardo in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Rodolfo in Puccini’s La Bohème, and the title character in Giordano’s Andrea Chénier. He later recorded complete performances of these roles.

Gigli became internationally famous after the death of the great Italian tenor Enrico Caruso in 1921. Because of his popularity, audiences often called him “Caruso Secondo,” but he preferred to be known as “Gigli Primo.” However, this comparison was not accurate because Caruso had a larger, darker, and more powerful voice, while Gigli had a strong but softer, more melodic voice.

Gigli left the Metropolitan Opera in 1932, apparently after refusing to accept a pay cut. Giulio Gatti-Casazza, the opera house’s general manager, was upset because Gigli was the most popular male singer in the company and the only one who refused the pay cut. However, other singers, such as Lily Pons and Rosa Ponselle, also refused the pay cut. It is also known that Gatti-Casazza gave himself a large raise in 1931, so his salary remained the same after the pay cut in 1932. Additionally, Gatti-Casazza kept Gigli’s offer to perform five or six free concerts, which would have saved more money than the pay cut required.

After leaving the Metropolitan Opera, Gigli returned to Italy and performed in Italy, Europe, and South America. He was criticized for being a favorite singer of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, as he recorded the Fascist anthem “Giovinezza” in 1937. This recording was not included in his later collection, Edizione Integrale, released by EMI. Toward the end of World War II, Gigli gave few performances. However, after the war ended in 1945, he returned to the stage and received even greater audience approval than before.

In addition to his stage performances, Gigli appeared in over twenty films between 1935 and 1953. Some notable films include Ave Maria (1936), directed by Johannes Riemann and starring Käthe von Nagy and Giuseppe Fatigati, and I Pagliacci (1943), directed by Giuseppe Fatigati and starring Alida Valli.

In his final years, Gigli performed more concerts than stage roles. Before retiring in 1955, he gave a worldwide series of farewell concerts, including performances at the Metropolitan Opera. These performances affected his health during the last two years of his life. During this time, he helped prepare his memoirs, which were based on an earlier book and expanded through interviews. Gigli was also a member of Freemasonry.

Personal life

Gigli was a man with many differences in his life. He performed many charity concerts and raised more money than any other singer in history, with nearly 1,000 events. He was deeply religious and gave a large amount of money to Padre Pio, his spiritual advisor. He also sang a lot of religious music, especially in the 1950s, which was unusual for a top opera singer. Throughout his life, he was very devoted to the religious music of Don Lorenzo Perosi.

However, Gigli’s personal life had many problems. In his memoirs, he said he married six months earlier than he actually did. This was to hide the fact that his wife, Costanza, was pregnant before they married. Gigli and Costanza had two children: Enzo and Rina. Rina became a famous soprano.

Later, Gigli had a second family with Lucia Vigarani, and they had three children. It is said he had at least three more children with other women. The exact number of his children is not known.

One known son is Phillip (Phil) J. Hildebrandt of Detroit, born in February 1934 in New York. He is still alive and is the son of Gloria Doyle, an opera singer at The Metropolitan Opera. Phil Hildebrandt’s children, who are Gigli’s grandchildren, include comedian William (Bill) Hildebrandt (1953–2021) and Lori Jean Hildebrandt, both from Detroit, Michigan.

Vocal style

Early in his career, Gigli was known for having a soft, sweet singing voice that was often compared to honey. He had a special ability to sing very softly, which allowed him to perform light, lyrical roles. As he got older, his voice changed to include more powerful and emotional singing, letting him take on heavier roles such as Ràdames in Aida and Cavaradossi in Tosca. Some critics believed he became too emotional during his performances, sometimes crying or acting in ways that seemed exaggerated.

Legacy

Many of Gigli's recordings, such as complete operas with Maria Caniglia, Rina Gigli, Licia Albanese, and Toti dal Monte, have been released again on CD. His recordings started in the 1920s.

Selected filmography

List of Songs with Their Release Years
• Forget Me Not (1935)
• Forget Me Not (1936)
• Ave Maria (1936)
• The Voice of the Heart (1937)
• Mother Song (1937)
• Laugh Bajazzo (1943)
• Laugh, Pagliacci (1943)
• Night Taxi (1950)

Biographies

• Marchand, Miguel Patrón (1996). Como un Rayo de Sol: The Golden Legacy of Beniamino Gigli.
• Brander, Torsten (2001). Beniamino Gigli: The Tenor from Recanati.
• Inzaghi, Luigi (2005). Beniamino Gigli. Published by Zecchini Editore in Varese. 608 pages.
• Ciampa, Leonardo (2019). Gigli. Published by AMW Press in Worcester. 408 pages.