Miguel Fleta

A Spanish tenor of great natural gifts, and the first Calaf. He studied in Barcelona and in Italy, and made his debut at Trieste in 1919 in Zandonai's Francesca da Rimini. Vienna, Rome, Monte Carlo, Madrid and Buenos Aires followed, in Verdi, Puccini and above all Carmen. He sang at the Metropolitan Opera from 1923 to 1925 and at La Scala, where in 1926 he created Calaf in Turandot under Toscanini. His voice was admired for its colour, range and warmth, but he did not look after it, and by the late 1920s it was already in decline.