Achille De Bassini
Birthplace: Milan, Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia
Achille De Bassini was an Italian baritone with a gift for noble, suffering characters, whose comic talent Verdi recognised by writing Fra Melitone for him. Born in Milan, he made his debut in 1837 at Voghera as Donizetti's Belisario, and at La Scala sang Tell, Figaro and Carlo in Ernani. He created four Verdi roles: the Doge in I due Foscari, Seid in Il corsaro, Miller in Luisa Miller and Melitone in La forza del destino. He sang in St Petersburg from 1852 to 1863 and at Covent Garden in 1859. He married the soprano Rita Gabussi.
Creations
- Francesco Foscari — I due Foscari
- Seid — Il corsaro
- Fra Melitone — La forza del destino (St Petersburg, 1862)
- Miller — Luisa Miller
Written from
- Forbes, E. (1992) 'De Bassini, Achille', in Sadie, S. (ed.) The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. London: Macmillan Reference, vol. 1, p. 1097.
- Wikipedia (2026) Achille De Bassini. (Accessed: 29 September 2026).
- Kutsch, K.J. and Riemens, L. (1987) 'De Bassini, Achille', in Großes Sängerlexikon. Bern and Stuttgart: Francke, vol. 1, col. 662.