Achille Corsi

Achille was born in Legnago (Verona) in 1840. He started at the Carcano Theater in Milan in December 1859 in I Lombardi at the first Crusade of Verdi: "The only artist to whom honorable mention is the young Corsi , which, although provided with little say, shows trained to grace and singing correction, which is a master's brother John ... "(in the Official Gazette . musicale di Milano , XVIII [1860], 3, p. 19 ). Always at Carcano, in the same season 1859-60, he sang in the Sonnambula and Belisario , by Donizetti. He began at Scala in March 1860 in Otello (Rodrigo) by Rossini and, in the same, inCinderella (the Prince Don Ramiro). In the same month, he attended the Scala at the first performances of Corrado consul Milan (March 10) by P. Giorgia and Giuditta (March 26) by A. Peri. The low volume of voice initially gave him disagreements on the part of the critic, especially when his performances took place in major theaters such as Scala: "... weird and indistinguishable sounds ..." (in the Music Journal of Milan , XVIII [1860 ], 12, p. 92). Afterwards, however, the "pleasing and pure stamp, the good method of emission and a wider flow of light" (Celletti) gave him a decent career. In 1861 he was first at the Valle di Roma theater in Sambambula and Linda of Chamounix, Poia Milano, Carcano Theater, Barber of Seville (Almaviva) and, at the Re Theater, in Traviata and still in Sonnambula , highlighting the shortcomings and advantages of his interpretive art. In the fall of 1861 he was at the Pagliano Theater of Florence in Giuditta , The Mute of Portici di D. Auber, Barber , Capulets and Bellini Bells , Traviata . He singed in Genoa in the carnival-quaresima season 1861-62 in Roberto il Diavolo by G. Meyerbeer, Puritani , Sonnambula , The Mute of Portici and in Autumn 1862 in Nice inJone E. Petrella, I Lombardi , Linda , All masked by C. Pedrotti. In 1866 he was rewritten by Scala to sing at The Templar (Vilfredo) by COE Nicolai (February 5) and Donizetti's Favorita (Fernando) (March 3). He then went to the Brunetti Theater in Bologna, singing Rigoletto and Faust by C. Gounod. At the beginning of 1867 he was at the Pergola Theater in Florence, in the Auberian Devil , in the spring of 1868 he was written at the Principal Theater in Barcelona, ​​then at the Venice Phoenix in Otello di Rossini (26 Dec. 1868) and MarthaBy F. Flotow (20 November 1869).

In 1869 he was also in London for the season at Covent Garden with the company of A. Patti, E. Tamberlick and G. Ciampi and Burny Port in Wales, where he sang in A.lethe (June) in Amleto (Laerte) . He was still at Scala in the following season 1869-70 in Piero de 'Medici of G. Poniatowski and in the Jew by F. Halévy, but in both works he was criticized for the low volume of voice. In 1870 he performed at the Teatro Nuovo di Padova ( Roberto il Diavolo on June 13), in Brescia ( Dinorah of Meyerbeer in August) and then in October he was part of the Italian opera theater company in Petersburg (with A. Patti, B. and C. Marchisio, P. Mongini, G. Zucchini) singing in Rigoletto. Writed abroad again in the following year, he was first in Pest (April-May) at the Barber , Don Carlos , Lucia of Lammermoor , then (July-August) at the New Grand Theater in Cadiz in Lucia , Puritans and Cinderella . In 1873 he returned to Milan, to the Dal Verme theater, Barber and Faust , the subject of more favorable criticisms: "The tenor Achille Corsi has a thread of voice, but it is a silver thread, delicate, smooth, homogeneous. Singer chosen "(in Music Gazzetta di Milano , XXVIII [1873], 27, p. 216). In December of that same year he was still a good performer, still playing theBarber at Cairo Theater. Sometimes he succeeded, with good success, in the dramatic repertoire ( Masquerade ball in Nice, 1879).

He abandoned the scenes in 1882 and devoted himself to Bologna in teaching the song: among the students he had his daughter Emilia and his nephews Antonio and Gaetano Pini Corsi. He died in Bologna on 15 April. 1906.

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