Luigi Alva

Luigi Alva

Luis Ernesto Alva y Talledo, better known as Luigi Alva (born 10 April 1927) is a Peruvian operatic tenor, active in the third quarter of the 20th century. He was admired for his purity of tone, the elegance of his phrasing and the clarity of his diction. A Mozart and Rossini specialist, Alva excelled in roles such as Don Ottavio (in Don Giovanni), Count Almaviva (in The Barber of Seville) and Fenton (in Verdi's Falstaff).

Biography

Born in Lima, Peru, where he studied under Rosa Mercedes Ayarza de Morales, he made his debut in Federico Moreno Torroba's zarzuela Luisa Fernanda. He went to Milan in 1953 and studied under Emilio Ghirardini. Later he would be called by Giulio Comfallonieri to became a "cadet" at the Scuola di Canto (Voice Academy) at La Scala. He made his European debut at the Teatro Nuovo in Milan as Alfredo in Verdi's La traviata, following that as Paolino in Cimarosa's Il matrimonio segreto. His debut at the Teatro alla Scala was in 1956 as Count Almaviva in Rossini's The Barber of Seville. He was soon invited to sing at the most important European festivals and opera houses. At Glyndebourne he made his debut as Nemorino in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore. In 1962 Alva made his debut with the Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company as Count Almaviva and in 1964 he made his first appearance at the Metropolitan Opera as Fenton in Verdi's Falstaff. Subsequently he sang with most of the leading companies in the US and Europe.

In the 1960s and 1970s there were few singers, let alone tenors, who could compare in sheer vocal elegance with Luigi Alva. Unlike so many, he never tried to venture out of his natural repertoire. Instead, he delivered Mozart, Rossini, and Donizetti with great elegance and style for four decades. He worked with conductors like Otto Klemperer, Claudio Abbado, Nino Sanzogno, Herbert von Karajan and Carlo Maria Giulini. His duets with Teresa Berganza in Rossini's The Barber of Seville and La Cenerentola are the hallmarks of the epoch.

In 1982, he returned to Lima to teach and left the stage in 1989. He sponsors the Luigi Alva Competition for young singers and gives master classes. Alva now teaches singing at La Scuola di Canto (Voice Academy) at La Scala in Milan. Amongst his students there was the Belgian tenor Marc Laho.

Interpretations

Rossini:

• Il Conte d'Almaviva in The Barber of Seville (1956, 1957, 1962, 1964, 1968, 1971)
• Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola (1968, 1971, 1976, 1978)
• Lindoro in L'italiana in Algeri (1963, 1975)

Mozart:

• Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni (1959, 1960, 1973)
• Ferrando in Così fan tutte (1956, 1957, 1971)
• Alessandro in Il re pastore (1967)

Haydn:

• Lindoro in La fedeltà premiata (1975)
• Ecclittico in Il mondo della luna (1977)
• Gernando in L'isola disabitata (1977)
• Sempronio in Lo speziale (1982)

Cimarosa:

• Paolino in Il matrimonio segreto (1956)
• Filandro in Le astuzie femminili (1959)

Leoncavallo:

• Beppe in Pagliacci (1954)

Puccini:

• Venditore di canzonette in Il tabarro (1954)

Verdi:

• Fenton in Falstaff (1956, 1957, 1963)

Schubert:

• Alfonso in Alfonso und Estrella (1956)

Donizetti:

• Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore 1958

Handel:

• Oronte in Alcina (1962)

Gounod:

• Siébel in Faust (1967)

Scarlatti:

• Roberto in Griselda (1970)

Filmography

• Falstaff (1956) Fenton
• Così fan tutte (1970), Ferrando
• The Barber of Seville (1972), Count Almaviva
• Don Pasquale (1972), Ernesto
• Lo speziale (1982), Sempronio

References

• Hamilton, David. (1987). The Metropolitan Opera Encyclopedia: A Comprehensive Guide to the World of Opera. New York, London, Toronto, Sydney, Tokyo: Simon and Schuster. p. 20. ISBN 0-671-61732-X.
• Hamilton, Mary. (1990). A–Z of Opera. New York, Oxford, Sydney: Facts On File. p. 16. ISBN 0-8160-2340-9.
• Rosenthal, Harold and John Warrack. (1979, 2nd ed.). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera. London, New York and Melbourne: Oxford University Press. p. 9. ISBN 0-19-311318-X.
• Sadie, Stanley and Christina Bashford. (1992). The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd. Vol. 1, p. 99. ISBN 0-935859-92-6.
• Sadie, Stanley and John Tyrrell. (2001). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd. Vol. 1, p. 430. ISBN 0-333-60800-3.
• Warrack, John and Ewan West. (1996 3rd ed.). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 11. ISBN 0-19-280028-0.

External links

• Biography from Decca
• Discography (Capon's Lists of Opera Recordings)
• MetOpera database
• Luigi Alva at the Internet Movie Database