Tamberlik, Enrico
Tamberlik, Enrico
Tamberlik, Enrico, celebrated Italian tenor; b. Rome, March 16, 1820; d. Paris, March 13, 1889. He studied singing with Zirilli in Rome and with Guglielmi in Naples, where he made his stage debut in 1841 as Tybalt in I Capuleti e i Montecchi. On April 4, 1850, he made his first London appearance, as Masaniello in Auber’s La Muette de Portici, at the Royal Italian Opera, Covent Garden, and sang annually in London until 1864, with the exception of 1857, when he undertook an extensive European tour, including Spain and Russia. In 1860 he settled in Paris, and lived there most of his life. Verdi admired him, and wrote the part of Don Alvaro in La forza del destino for him; Tamberlik sang in its premiere in St. Petersburg on Nov. 10, 1862, and this role became one of his most famous interpretations. He appeared at the Academy of Music in N.Y. on Sept. 18, 1873, but his American season was a brief one; later toured the U.S. with Maretzek’s company. He excelled in many Italian, French, and German roles, being especially renowned as Florestan, John of Leyden, Manrico, Arnold, and Rossini’s Otello.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire