Aristide Baracchi

An Italian baritone who began in heroic roles and made his career in the smaller parts of the repertoire at La Scala, where he sang from 1918 until 1955. There he took part in the first performances of Pizzetti's Debora e Jaele, Zandonai's I cavalieri di Ekebù and two operas called Nerone, Boito's in 1924 and Mascagni's in 1935, and created the Mandarin in Turandot. He sang regularly at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, from 1928, and appears on several complete recordings, four of them of La bohème. He taught in Milan and died at Verdi's Casa di Riposo per Musicisti.