Ezio Pinza

At 64 years old, Ezio Pinza has this physical status:

Ezio Pinza (born Fortunio Pinza; May 18, 1892 – May 9, 1957) was an Italian opera performer.

Pinza had a deep, smooth, and sonorous voice, with a natural pliability for a bass.

He appeared in more than 750 performances of 50 operas at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

Pinza appeared in 20 seasons from 1927 to 1948 at the San Francisco Opera.

Pinza has also performed to acclaim at La Scala, Milan, and at the Royal Opera House in London's Covent Garden. Pinza began his career on Broadway in musical theatre, most prominently in South Pacific, where he created Emile de Becque.

He has appeared in several Hollywood films.

Early years

Ezio Fortunato Pinza was born in Rome in 1892 and grew up on Italy's east coast in Ravenna's historic capital. He studied at Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini in Bologna, making his operatic debut at age 22 in 1914 as Oroveso at Cremona.

Pinza, a young man, was devoted to bicycle racing. Before resuming his operatic career in Rome in 1919, he undertook four years of military service during World War I. He was then invited to perform at La Scala, Milan's highest opera house, in February 1922, marking his debut there in February 1922. Pinza's career flourished at La Scala, under the leadership of the brilliant and precise principal conductor Arturo Toscanini. He became a popular choice for critics and audiences due to his singing's high quality and the attractiveness of his stage presence.

Pinza never learned to read music, but he learned all his music by ear, even though he attended the Bologna Conservatory. He'll listen to his part on the piano and then sing it properly. Pinza succeeded two great Italian basses Francesco Navarini and Vittorio Arimondi, both of whom enjoyed international opera careers in the late 19th and early twentieth centuries, as well as Nazzareno De Angelis, who appeared on the stage in the early 1900s. José Mardones, an Italian operatic repertoire scholar who performed regularly with the Boston and Metropolitan opera companies from 1909 to 1926, was another of his eminent predecessors. Tancredi Pasero, whose vivacious voice sounded remarkably like Pinza's, was his chief contemporary rival among Italian-born basses. However, Pasero lacked Pinza's attractive looks and magnetic personality, which seemed to be lacking.

In November 1926 in Spontini's La vestale, Pinza's debut occurred, with legendary American soprano Rosa Ponselle in the title role. He sang Don Giovanni in 1929, a role in which he would later be closely identified. He added Mozart's Figaro (in 1940) and Sarastro (in 1942) to his repertoire, as well as Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov (sung in Italian). Pinza performed at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden from 1930-1939, and was invited by German conductor Bruno Walter to perform at the Salzburg Festival in 1934-1937.

Pinza appeared in Beethoven's Missa Solemnis once more under Toscanini's baton in 1935, this time with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. One of these performances was broadcast by CBS and stored on transcription discs; this recording has since been released on LP and CD. He appeared in Toscanini's February 6, 1938, NBC Symphony Orchestra's broadcast performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Both of these performances were held in Carnegie Hall. In October 1947, he appeared as Méphistophélès in Gounod's Faust opposite his daughter, soprano Claudia Pinza Bozzolla, as Marguerite at the San Francisco Opera.

In 1948, Pinza resigned from the Metropolitan Opera. During his heyday at the Met, he sang opposite many well-known singers, including, among other things, Amelita Galli-Curci, Rosa Ponselle, Elisabeth Rethberg, Maria Jeritza, Giovanni Martinelli, Beniamino Gigli, Lawrence Tibbett, and Giuseppe De Luca. Pinza was honoured by the Metropolitan Opera House by naming all the water fountains at the new Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center) to him. His repertoire was limited to about 95 roles prior to his retirement from opera.

The FBI arrested Pinza at his New York home and detain him for almost three months on Ellis Island, with hundreds of other Italian-Americans who had been suspected of supporting the Axis. Norman Cordon, a fellow basso at the Metropolitan Opera who was considered one of Pinza's opponents, told the FBI that Pinza was a Nazi sympathizer. Pinza was just four months away from obtaining US citizenship at the time of his arrest and detention. Pinza's experience was extremely painful, and he suffered with bouts of severe depression for years afterward. Despite this, the two bassos appeared together in a thriving Met production of Don Giovanni, with Pinza in the title role and Cordon as the Commendator.

Pinza began a second career in Broadway musicals after his Met farewell. Emile de Becque, a French planter, appeared in Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific in April 1949, beginning his role as Emile de Becque. Pinza was made a matinée idol and a national celebrity thanks to his brilliant interpretation of the hit song "Some Enchanted Evening." In 1950, he received the Tony Award for best lead actor in a musical.

Pinza was a member of Westchester Country Club in Rye, New York, and spent in a house adjacent to the South Course's fifth golf hole. Bonino, a short-lived NBC situation comedy in which he appeared as a recently widowed Italian-American opera singer struggling to raise eight children, appeared on television in 1953. Van Dyke Parks and Chet Allen, both from Van Dyke Parks and Chet Allen, were portrayed by the children. On Bonino, Mary Wickes was the bossy housekeeper. He appeared in the Broadway performance of Fanny opposite Florence Henderson in 1954. Pinza and Henderson were included in the TV special titled A Salute to Rodgers and Hammerstein on March 28, 1954, which was broadcast on all four American television networks at the time.

Pinza's health began to decline in the mid-1950s; a string of heart attacks resulted in a stroke on May 1, 1957. Pinza died in his sleep of a heart attack in Stamford, Connecticut, at the age of 64. In New York City, his funeral was held at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. He is laid to rest at Putnam Cemetery in Greenwich, Connecticut. Pinza wrote his memoirs, which were published in 1958 by Rinehart & Company just short of his death. The book contained photos from his time as well as photographs of his family.

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