Tosti, Sir (Francesco) Paolo
Tosti, Sir (Francesco) Paolo
Tosti, Sir (Francesco) Paolo, Italian-born English singing teacher and composer; b. Ortano sul Mare, April 9, 1846; d. Rome, Dec. 2, 1916. He was a pupil, from 1858, of the Collegio di S. Pietro a Majella, Naples, and was appointed sub-teacher (maestrino) by Mer-cadante (until 1869). He visited London in 1875, where he had great success in concerts and settled as a teacher, becoming singing master to the royal family in 1880, and prof, of singing at the Royal Academy of Music in 1894. He became a British subject in 1906 and was knighted in 1908; retired to Rome in 1912. Besides many original songs, in both English and Italian, he publ. a collection of Canti popolari abruzzesi. His songs were highly popular; some of the best known are Goodbye Forever and Forever, Mattinata, and Vorrei morire.
Bibliography
E. Mario, EP. T.(Siena, 1947); A. Piovano, Ommagio a F.P. T.(Ortona, 1972); J. Little, Romantic Italian Song in the Works of F.P. T. and some of his Contemporaries (diss., Univ. of 111., 1977); E Sanvitale and A. Manzo, II canto di una vita: F.P. T.(Turin, 1996).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire