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Giorgio Ronconi

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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GIORGIO RONCONI (1810-1890), Italian baritone vocalist, was born in 1810. He learnt singing from his father Domenico, who had been a celebrated tenor in his time, and made his debut in 1831 at Pavia. After singing in Italy for some years with ever-growing success, he appeared for the first time in England, in 1842, as Henry Ashton in Lucia di Lammermoor. His success was immediate, and he continued to be one of the most popular artists on the lyric stage until his retirement in 1866. His voice was neither extensive in compass nor fine in quality, but the genius of his acting and the strength of his personality fully atoned for his vocal defects. He was equally at home in comedy and tragedy, and the two parts by which he is best remembered, Rigoletto and Figaro, show conclusively the range of his talent. In his later years Ronconi founded a school of singing at Granada, and he also accepted the post of professor of singing at the Madrid Conservatoire. He died in 1890.