Author: Philip Gardner

Above: my favorite photo of Gabriella Tucci, costumed as Leonora in TROVATORE and posing at the New York World’s Fair in 1964. I cut it out of Opera News and pasted it on shirt-board; she signed it for me in 1968 after a performance of TURANDOT at The Met. It has been ‘borrowed’ by other websites, but this is the original.

Soprano Gabriella Tucci passed away on July 11th, 2020, in Rome, the city of her birth. She was 90 years old. In recent days, I had been listening to Ms. Tucci a lot, unaware of her death. 

Gabriella Tucci was the first soprano I called “my favorite”. She sang in some of the earliest Met broadcasts I heard from our house in the little town  – AIDA, OTELLO, FAUST, FALSTAFF, MADAMA BUTTERFLY, TRAVIATA, FORZA DEL DESTINO, and TROVATORE – and her voice, a blooming lyrical and wonderfully feminine sound, always seemed to get to the heart of the character she was portraying. 

Ms. Tucci studied at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia and made her operatic debut at Lucca as Violetta in 1951. After winning a voice competition at Spoleto, she appeared in LA FORZA DEL DESTINO opposite Beniamino Gigli. In 1953, she sang Glauce in Cherubini’s MEDEA at the Maggio Musicale with Maria Callas in the title-role.

Thereafter, the Tucci career then took off: she made her La Scala debut in 1959 as Mimi, and appeared at Rome, the Arena di Verona, Vienna, Berlin, Moscow, Tokyo, San Francisco, and Buenos Aires.

Among Ms. Tucci’s notable evenings at La Scala was a 1964 production of TROVATORE where her co-stars were Piero Cappuccilli and Carlo Bergonzi (photo, above).

Gabriella Tucci sang 260 performances with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and on tour. In 1964, she was Desdemona (photo, above) in a new production of OTELLO that featured the return of James McCracken to The Met.

Also in 1964, Ms. Tucci sang Alice Ford in a new production of FALSTAFF conducted by Leonard Bernstein. In the above photo, she and colleagues Regina Resnik (Dame Quickly) and Rosaline Elias (Meg Page) attempt to hide Falstaff (Anselmo Colzani) in a laundry basket.

She opened the Met’s 1965-1966 season in a new production of FAUST, and sang ravishingly in the love duet on a broadcast of that opera the following year. Her singing of “O silence! ô bonheur! ineffable mystère!” is pure magic:

FAUST ~ scene – Gabriella Tucci – John Alexander – Justino Diaz – Met 1966

On October 23rd, 1965, Ms. Tucci was heading to her dressing room after a matinee of FAUST when she was asked by Sir Rudolf Bing if she would be willing to step in for an ailing colleague in that evening’s performance of BOHEME. She did, with great success. And on April 16th, 1966, she was (officially) the last soprano to be heard at the Old Met when she sang the final trio from FAUST with Nicolai Gedda and Jerome Hines as the closing number at the gala that bade farewell to the venerable house.

My first experience of hearing Gabriella Tucci live was at the Old Met in November of 1965; she sang – gloriously – the music of Leonora in TROVATORE, one of her most felicitous roles.

Gabriella Tucci – D’amor sull’all rosee ~ TROVATORE

In the late Summer of 1966, I traveled to New York City alone for the first time and joined the ticket line for the first performances at the New Met. I had been on the line for about five minutes when a woman next to me casually asked, “What singers do you like?” and I replied, “Gabriella Tucci!” She called some other friends over, and we discussed the soprano and her various roles in detail. Finally, I had found some kindred spirits after years of being a lonely opera-lover in my hometown. 

Ms. Tucci was my first Aida and my first Elisabetta in DON CARLO. I saw her again in TROVATORE, and as  Liu and Mimi. But as the 1970s arrived, Tucci’s star had begun to fade; after years of singing roles like Aida and Amelia in BALLO that – in truth – extended her beyond her natural lyric realm, time seemed to catch up with her voice. She gave her last performance at The Met on Christmas Day, 1972, in FAUST. 

Many years later, while I was working at Tower Records, a lively woman of a certain age came in; her hair was done in curls with a reddish tinge, and she wore a mini-skirt. I could not immediately place her, but her speaking voice gave me a clue: “Do you have the live performance of AIDA from Tokyo,1961?”   I handed her a copy. “Have you heard it?” she asked. “Yes, it’s very exciting…but…I am not sure it’s Mario del Monaco.” She smiled: “I am Gabriella Tucci, and I assure you it’s him!” I kissed her hand and after telling her she had always been a great favourite of mine, she smiled, and then returned to the topic of the Tokyo AIDA. “Why do you think it is not del Monaco?” I gave my reasons. She thought for a moment. “Well, who do you think it is, then?” and I replied “Gastone Limarilli.” “Hmmmm…you know your stuff. I did sing Aida with Gastone and I can understand your impressions of del Monaco’s performance…he was ill during that tour, and dropped out of the CAVALLERIA. I agree, he was not his best in the AIDA. But…he definitely sang that day!” She gave me a big hug, and swept from the room.

Oddly, just the day before I learned of her passing, I was listening to that AIDA which includes her impressive “O patria mia“:

Gabriella Tucci – O patria mia – AIDA – Tokyo 1961

And then there’s the scene of the sighting of Pinkerton’s ship from Act II of MADAMA BUTTERFLY. Helen Vanni is Suzuki. Tucci elicits a burst of applause after her “…ei torna e m’ama!“. Listen to it here.

It’s had to choose favorite Tucci items from among so many, but she and baritone Ettore Bastianini are superb in a scene from Act III of ANDREA CHENIER. Listen to them here.

…and she sings a beautiful “Pace, pace mio dio” from FORZA DEL DESTINO:

Gabriella Tucci – FORZA aria – Met 1965

~ Oberon