Antonio Cotogni

Antonio "Toto" Cotogni (Italian pronunciation: [an%CB%88t%C9%94%CB%90njo ˈtɔːto koˈtoɲi]; August 1, 1831 – October 15, 1918) was an Italian baritone of the first magnitude. Regarded internationally as being one of the greatest male opera singers of the 19th century, he was particularly admired by the composer Giuseppe Verdi. Cotogni forged an important second career as a singing teacher after his retirement from the stage in 1894.

Early years and education

Antonio Cotogni was born in Rome to Agata Fazzini and Raffaele Cotogni, who managed a small majolica plant. He had four siblings: sister Giuditta (who remained unmarried and lived in the family household); brothers Francesco, Andrea (who owned a meat packing business), and Gaspare (later mayor of Melara).

After some initial studies at the Hospice of San Michele, he studied music theory at Santa Maria Maggiore under Fontemaggi. Soon after, he began working with Achille Faldi on the study of singing itself. Under his guidance, Cotogni made his first public ventures into solo singing but only in the principal churches of Rome and in small summer music festivals in the small towns of the province, such as Anagni, Valmontone, Subisco, Velletri, and Viterbo.

Early on, Cotogni worked part-time in a majolica plant and did not care much for theater. He had no pretensions for assuming a career there and was content to remain a church singer. He won his first success in 1851 singing Salvatore Capocci's oratorio Il martirio di Sant'Eustachio at the church of Santa Maria in Vallicella.

About his training prior to his Italian stage debut, Cotogni told a former student:

"For the first year I sang nothing but scales. In the second year, vocal exercises and simple songs. Third year, training in operatic music, chiefly solos. Fourth year, ensembles, duets, trios, etc. Fifth year, training in scenic action, mostly in front of a looking-glass." This may be to a certain extent too rigid a description, but the fact remains that, as Cotogni said, his master considered him fit for the stage when there was not a single opera in the current repertoire which he did not know backwards, and when, as he reproachfully added every time I tried to find an excuse for missing a top note, he could be awakened at 3 a.m. and made to give an A-flat mezza voce. Cotogni sang on the stage for over forty years.

— The Gramophone, November 1924, The Gramophone, Volume 2

Debut

In 1852, after much insistence from Faldi and castrato Domenico Mustafà, among others, he agreed to sign a contract for his debut at Rome's Teatro Metastasio, as Belcore in L'elisir d'amore. For the next year, he did not sing in public at all but rather studied assiduously with Faldi to build his repertoire. After an initial contract at Spoleto for Il trovatore and Maria di Rohan, he began to pick up consistent work in the Italian regional operatic circuit: Lanciano for Trovatore, Rigoletto, and Maria di Rohan; Orvieto for I masnadieri; Lucrezia Borgia in several cities; I puritani at Perugia.

In the spring of 1857, he was signed by the impresario Jacovacci for Lucia di Lamermoor and Gemma di Vergy at Rome's Teatro Argentina. In September and October of that year, he performed I due Foscari and Luisa Strozzi at Teatro Rossini in Turin. It was then that he met the soprano Maria Ballerini. They married the next year but never had any children together.

Following that, Cotogni was engaged for Foscari and La traviata at Asti and then Cuneo, the Teatro Rossini again, Zara, in Genova, and at Turin for the opening of the new Teatro Alfieri. There he was asked by the impresario Scalaberni to take the place of the famous baritone Felice Varesi in an operatic company being formed for the theater in Nice. During his time in Nice, Cotogni studied the role of Don Giovanni with his predecessor, Italian baritone Antonio Tamburini, who had left the stage in 1855.

Breakthrough

The turning point in Cotogni's career came in late 1858. As soon as he arrived in Nice for rehearsals in October, he began to feel an air of contempt for his presence from everyone from the theater to public restaurants and cafés. Those who knew and loved Varesi felt that Cotogni, an virtually unknown singer, had been hastily and unfairly chosen to replace him. The first role he was engaged to sing was of Antonio in Gaetano Donizetti's Linda di Chamounix in Nice,[4] where the audience greeted him with noises and whistling before he had even opened his mouth. This same audience fell silent during Antonio's opening aria "Ambo nati in queste valle" and gave him a unanimous, colossal applause after the cadenza, demanding a bis.[2]:27–28 That performance assured his place on the scene and revealed him to be an absolute master of his art—technically, stylistically, and dramatically. Consequently, this became one of Cotogni's signature roles, one by which he made great impressions on all the great theaters of Europe and even the most sullen critics. In Nice, he followed Linda with Gemma di Vergy, Rigoletto, La favorita, Traviata, Trovatore, Don Pasquale, Roberto Devereux, Don Sebastiano, and Il barbiere di Siviglia.

He sang with enormous success over the next year—I lombardi, Rossini's Otello, and Nabucco in Viterbo; again at Nice for Lucia di Lammermoor, Ernani, Trovatore, and Maria di Rohan; and at Barcelona's Teatro Principal for Saffo, Traviata, Attila, Gemma, Barbiere, and Trovatore. By October 1860, Cotogni had sung in 21 theaters, and it was at this point that he reached La Scala, Milan, debuting there in the role of Giovanni Bandino in Bottesini's L'assedio di Firenze. Cotogni had been nervous about this debuting, doubting his ability to do it justice and doubting the power of his voice to be heard in the theater. The reviews of the debut were encouraging, but one or two critics mentioned a certain tremulousness and constriction in his high notes. But Cotogni regained his composure after the premiere, and won over the Milan public with his other roles that season—William Tell, Peri's Vittor Pisani, Rodolfo in La sonnambula, and Ezio in Attila.

During the ensuing decades, he also appeared at the leading opera houses in Madrid, Lisbon, Paris, London, Moscow, and Saint Petersburg. He became enormously popular with London audiences, performing at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, from 1867 to 1889. He sang at Saint Petersburg in 26 successive seasons.

It was in 1894 at Saint Petersburg that he gave his last operatic stage performance, in Donizetti's Don Pasquale. While Cotogni had spent his career singing the opera's baritone role of Dr. Malatesta, the younger baritone Mattia Battistini was now taking over many of the Cotogni's old roles. Nevertheless, Battistini requested Cotogni to honor the company by joining them in one final performance, only this time asking that he sing the lead comic bass role of Don Pasquale, which Cotogni obliged.[2]:69–70

Voice teacher

In retirement, Cotogni became one of the most celebrated vocal teachers in history. At the invitation of Anton Rubinstein, he taught at Saint Petersburg Conservatory (where incidentally he had Sergei Diaghilev as a student)[6] from 1894–1898, but he had to abandon this post in consequence of a serious illness,[5] subsequently taking up an appointment in 1899 as a professor at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome.

The qualities that made Cotogni revered and beloved in his career on the stage also made him an exceptional teacher, one who went out of his way for his students to give them what they needed musically, artistically, and often materially.

During this time, twelve-year-old Luigi Ricci (who would later become a vocal coach) began accompanying voice lessons given by Cotogni, who had performed several of Verdi's operas under the composer's supervision. At this early age, Ricci began taking meticulous notes on traditions that Cotogni passed on to him from his own work with Verdi and other 19th century composers and conductors information about elements that had been changed in rehearsal and practice but had never been notated officially, as well as traditions of variations and cadenza begun by various singer from the past century. Ricci continued his copious note taking throughout his life and eventually compiled these into a four-part collection entitled Variazioni-cadenze tradizioni per canto (two volumes and two appendices published by Casa Ricordi, 1963).

Cotogni died of old age in Rome less than a month prior to the 1918 armistice which ended World War I.

Students

Ricci reports that when in 192 he attended performances at Moscow's Imperial theater and Zimina Opera, as well as at the Imperial Theater in St. Petersburg, half of the artists on stage had been Cotogni's students. For nearly 20 years, Cotogni dedicated himself to teaching singing. Many artists already in the fullness of their careers came to study with him at the Liceo and/or learn from him privately.

Baritones Tenors Basses

• Adolfo Pacini
• Alfredo Costa
• Amleto Pollastri
• Augusto Beuf
• Benvenuto Franci
• Carlo Galeffi
• Cesare Alessandroni
• Dante Perrone
• Dinh Gilly
• Domenico Caporello
• Domenico Viglione Borghese
• Enrico Nani
• Ettore Bernabei
• Giacomo Eliseo
• Giuseppe Bellantoni
• Giuseppe De Luca
• Jean de Reszke
• Leone Paci
• Luigi Rossi-Morelli
• Mariano Stabile
• Mario Basiola
• Mattia Battistini
• Millo Picco
• Nazzareno Bertinelli
• Nikolai Shevelev
• Riccardo Stracciari
• Salvatore Persichetti
• Titta Ruffo
• Ugo Donarelli
• Valentino Giorda
• Zygmunt Zalewski
• Aristodemo Giorgini
• Armando Gualtieri
• Beniamino Gigli
• Pasquale Funtò (liturgical cantor)
• Edgar Herbert-Caesari
• Ellison van Hoose
• Enzo Fusco
• Franco Tumminello
• Giacomo Lauri-Volpi
• Giuliano Romagnoli
• Giuseppe Antonio Paganelli
• Guido Ciccolini
• Julian Biel
• Luigi Ceccarelli
• Luigi Lucenti
• Luigi Pasinati
• Nicola Bavaro
• Berardo Berardi
• Emilio Casolari
• Gennaro Curci
• Giuseppe Quinzi Tapergi
• Irnerio Costantini
• Paolo Argentini
• Tadeusz Orda
• Tito Verger
• Umberto di Lelio
• Virgilio Lazzari
• Vladimir Kastorsky

Sopranos Contraltos Mezzo-sopranos

• Carmen Melis
• Marta Wittkowska
• Cecilia Cao Pinna

Voice

As a child, Cotogni had merely a weak soprano voice, but it did begin to increase in volume and darken, turning later into a contralto voice. As a teenager, his voice finally began to break into that of a young man, and the head music teacher Scardovelli forbade him to sing; Cotogni grudgingly obeyed and was silent for about six months. After this period of rest, he began to find a few notes, then went on to enrich and strengthen his vocal means continuously until the complete development of a nice baritone voice.[2]:19–20

Range

According to his biographer, Cotogni's professional/usable vocal range was from A1 to B4, though a handful of his roles and even his interpolations and cadenzas require a half-step lower—A♭1. According to Ricci, his other noted interpolations include a high G♯ in Posa's romanza "Carlo, ch'è sol il nostro amore" in Don Carlo; high A♭'s in "O de verd'anni miei" and "O sommo Carlo" from Ernani and the end of "Suoni la tromba" in I puritani; and a quick high A♮in a roulade on the word "piacere" in "Largo al factotum" from Il barbiere di Siviglia.[10] He did, however, chide Titta Ruffo for interpolating an unwritten high B♭ in Hamlet.[note 2] It is therefore unlikely that Cotogni ever sang a note above the high A♮ in public performance. Of physiological interest is the fact that Cotogni suffered from a lateral lisp that affected his speech but that disappeared when he sang.

The famed Italian conductor Toscanini remarked that Cotogni's voice was totally even and that "one didn't hear the transition between the registers... Hearing it, it seemed that everything was natural, while, instead, the poor Cotogni had practiced for years and years to acquire that perfection."

Critical reception

Journalistic reviews of his performances were often superlative.

A full voice that is mellow, flexible, and well-schooled; persona; expression; and mastery of the scene all combine to make Cotogni the model artist, a perfect singer. The public hangs on every word from his lips. The pathetic scene of the recognition of the daughter, Cotogni masterfully portrayed the truth, singing and reciting his part with heartbreaking accent. He painted ever so gently his romance "Ambo nati," and the first act duet with the thunderous Nannetti[...] was a real delirium, [stirring] unheard of fanaticism. Even I, an old theatergoer, have never heard the duet performed with such color, with so much strength and homogeneity.

— a critic, of a 1886 performance of Linda di Chamounix at Firenze Cotogni, who can well be called the prince of baritones today, has definitively captivated the audience. This singer, of a voice both powerful and suave, really is something extraordinary. He sings like few can sing, and although his part fraught with difficulties, he breaks down everything and overcomes them with ease, with astounding ownership; in him one find not effort nor the slightest fatigue: even if sometimes he has been singing with full vibration and power, his voice can still come out quiet and safe. His ways are often exceptional, and not content with the difficulties inherent to the score, he will add new ones—always tasteful, and it seems he delights in defying them. The voice of this singer leaves an everlasting impression on you.

— Pietro Faustini, Gazzetta Musicale di Milano The voice of the Cotogni is full, smooth, equal, of a most sympathetic timbre, and it moves the audience especially when he sings a fior di labbra. This most perfect artist makes every one of his parts into a creation. With great difficulty could there ever arise another singer who could emulate him; surpass him, never.

— Carlo Schmidl, Dizionario universale dei musicisti

Gramophone recording

Cotogni ranks with his contemporaries Francesco Graziani, Jean-Baptiste Faure and Sir Charles Santley as the foremost baritone of his star-studded generation. He "had a very brief and scarcely revealing relationship with the gramophone; at the age of 77... with the tenor Francesco Marconi, he recorded [the] duet 'I mulattieri'" (by Francesco Masini), writes Michael Scott.[14] "Not surprisingly Marconi gets the better of it. Still, however difficult it is to make out Cotogni's contribution, it is all we have left of a singer who for over 40 years dominated the stages in London, Madrid and Lisbon, St. Petersburg and Moscow and throughout Italy."

Two other recordings, at times believed to be of Cotogni, are in fact the voice of tenore robusto Francesco Tamagno's brother, Giovanni. Comparisons of these two recordings—"O casto fior" and Stanislao Gastaldon's "Ti vorrei rapire" (formerly misidentified as "Perché?")[15]—with the Tamagno brothers' recording of the Otello duet "Si pel ciel" reveals the baritone voice to be identical in timbre and production, with its thin and nasal qualities, especially in the passagio. These stand in contradistinction to the voice confirmed to be Cotogni's (the Mulattieri duet),[16] which is noticeably more even, round, and sonorous throughout—even to the two high G naturals that end the refrain. In the Roman school, and in Cotogni's own teaching, any nasality was seen as a defect to be expressly avoided.

Repertoire

According to his biographer Angelucci, Cotogni sang one hundred fifty-seven works, but the former was only able to cite one hundred and forty-five. Of the other twelve, he could track down neither the title nor the name of the composer.

• Composer Surname Composer Opera/Oratorio Role City of role debut
• Amadei Roberto Amadei Luchino Visconti Lugo
• Auber Daniel Auber Diamanti della corona Rebolledo London
• Auber Daniel Auber Le domino noir Gil Perez London
• Auber Daniel Auber Masaniello Pietro Lisbon
• Battista Vincenzo Battista Esmeralda Lanciano
• Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven Fidelio Don Pizarro London
• Bellini Vincenzo Bellini Beatrice di Tenda Filippo Venice
• Bellini Vincenzo Bellini I Capuleti ed i Montecchi Lorenzo Genova
• Bellini Vincenzo Bellini I puritani Riccardo Milan
• Bellini Vincenzo Bellini La sonnambula Rodolfo London
• Berlioz Hector Berlioz La damnation de Faust Méphistophélès Rome
• Bevenuti Tommaso Bevenuti La stella di Toledo Filippo II Genova
• Bizet Georges Bizet Carmen Escamillo Lisbon
• Bottesini Giovanni Bottesini L'assedio di Firenze Giovanni Bandino Milan
• Brahms Johannes Brahms A German Requiem baritone soloist Rome
• Cagnoni Antonio Cagnoni Claudia Milan
• Cagnoni Antonio Cagnoni Don Bucefalo Trieste
• Cagnoni Antonio Cagnoni Il vecchio della montagna Hassan Milan
• Capocci Salvatore Capocci Sant'eustachio: azione sacra in due atti Rome
• Centolani Ambrogio Centolani Isabella Orsini Lugo
• Cimarosa Domenico Cimarosa Le astuzie femminili Dottor Romualdo London
• Cimarosa Domenico Cimarosa Il matrimonio segreto Count Robinson Madrid
• Clementi Filippo Clementi Pellegrina Iacopo Bologna
• Coccia Carlo Coccia Disertore per amore Asti
• Cohen Henri Cohen Estella London
• De Ferrari Serafino Amedeo De Ferrari Pipelet, ossia Il portinajo di Parigi Nizza
• De Ferrari Serafino De-Ferrari Il birraio di Preston Orvieto
• De Giosa Nicola de Giosa Don Checco Lanciano
• Delibes Léo Delibes Jean de Nivelle Le comte de Charolais St. Petersburg
• Donizetti Gaetano Donizetti Belisario Belisario Trieste
• Donizetti Gaetano Donizetti Don Pasquale Dr. Malatesta London
• Donizetti Gaetano Donizetti Don Pasquale Don Pasquale London
• Donizetti Gaetano Donizetti L'elisir d'amore Belcore Rome
• Donizetti Gaetano Donizetti La favorita Alfonso Rome
• Donizetti Gaetano Donizetti Gemma di Vergy Earl of Vergy Rome
• Donizetti Gaetano Donizetti Linda di Chamounix Antonio Genova
• Donizetti Gaetano Donizetti Lucia di Lammermoor Enrico Rome
• Donizetti Gaetano Donizetti Lucrezia Borgia Alfonso London
• Donizetti Gaetano Donizetti Maria di Rohan Enrico, duca di Chevreuse Spoleto
• Donizetti Gaetano Donizetti I martiri Severo Barcelona
• Donizetti Gaetano Donizetti Poliuto Severo Barcelona
• Donizetti Gaetano Donizetti Alina, regina di Golconda Volmar Bilbao
• Donizetti Gaetano Donizetti Roberto Devereux The Duke of Nottingham Nice
• Donizetti Gaetano Donizetti Torquato Tasso Torquato Tasso Modena
• Faccio Franco Faccio Amleto Claudio Genova
• Faccio Franco Faccio I profughi fiamminghi Il conte di Bergh Milano
• Fioravanti Vincenzo Fioravanti Il ritorno di Columella Torino
• Flotow Friedrich von Flotow Alma l'incantatrice Don Sebastian London
• Flotow Friedrich von Flotow Marta Plunkett Madrid
• Gammieri Erennio Gammieri Niccolò de' Lapi Saint Petersburg
• Gentili Raffaele Gentili Rosamonda Edgardo Rome
• Gentili Raffaele Gentili Werther Il Conte Alberto di Volheim Milan
• Gomes Antônio Carlos Gomes Il Guarany Gonzales London
• Gounod Charles Gounod Faust Valentin Rome
• Gounod Charles Gounod Philémon et Baucis Jupiter Saint Petersburg
• Gounod Charles Gounod Roméo et Juliette Mercutio and Capulet London
• Gounod Charles Gounod Cinq-Mars Saint Petersburg
• Halévy Fromental Halévy L'ebrea Ruggiero London
• Hérold Ferdinand Hérold Le pré aux clercs Comte de Comminges London
• Hérold Ferdinand Hérold Zampa Zampa Bologna
• Kashperov Vladimir Kashperov Maria Tudor Nice
• Lenepveu Charles Lenepveu Velleda Teuter London
• Leoncavallo Ruggero Leoncavallo I pagliacci Tonio Saint Petersburg
• Liszt Franz Liszt Christus Christ Rome
• Lucilla Domenico Lucilla Il conte Rosso Bologna
• Lucilla Domenico Lucilla Eroe delle Asturie Bologna
• Manna Ruggero Manna Preziosa Don Fernando d'Azevedo Milan
• Marchetti Filippo Marchetti Romeo e Giulietta Genoa
• Marchetti Filippo Marchetti Ruy Blas Don Sallustio Venice
• Mascagni Pietro Mascagni Cavalleria Rusticana Alfio Saint Petersburg
• Massenet Jules Massenet Le Cid Don Fernando, King of Castille Saint Petersburg
• Mendelssohn Felix Mendelssohn St. Paul bass Rome
• Mercadante Francesco Mercadante Il giuramento Manfredo Cuneo
• Mercadante Francesco Mercadante I normanni a Parigi Ordamante Modena
• Mercadante Francesco Mercadante Orazi e Curiazi Orazio Perugia
• Mercadante Francesco Mercadante La vestale Publio Nice
• Meyerbeer Giacomo Meyerbeer L'africana Nélusko Bologna
• Meyerbeer Giacomo Meyerbeer Dinorah Hoël London
• Meyerbeer Giacomo Meyerbeer La stella del nord Peter the Great London
• Meyerbeer Giacomo Meyerbeer Gli ugonotti Nevers London
• Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Così fan tutte Guglielmo London
• Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Don Giovanni Don Giovanni London
• Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Il flauto magico Papageno London
• Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Le nozze di Figaro Figaro London
• Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Le nozze di Figaro Count London
• Mugnone Leopoldo Mugnone Birichino Blachot Venice
• Pacini Giovanni Pacini Bondelmonte Bilbao
• Pacini Giovanni Pacini Saffo Alcandro Barcelona
• Paladilhe Émile Paladilhe Patria Comte de Rysoor Rome
• Pedrotti Carlo Pedrotti Il favorito Obolenski Turin
• Pedrotti Carlo Pedrotti Guerra in quattro Candido Milan
• Pedrotti Carlo Pedrotti Isabella d'Aragona Milan
• Pedrotti Carlo Pedrotti Tutti in maschera Abdalà Trieste
• Peri Achille Peri Vittore Pisani Vittore Pisani Milan
• Persichini Venceslao Persichini Amante Sessagenario Rome
• Petrella Enrico Petrella L'assedio di Leida Armando Boasot Turin
• Petrella Enrico Petrella Celinda Arnaldo Turin
• Petrella Enrico Petrella Giovanna di Napoli Marino Turin
• Petrella Enrico Petrella Ione Arbace Saragozza
• Petrella Enrico Petrella Marco Visconti Marco Visconti Barcelona
• Petrella Enrico Petrella Elnava Cuneo
• Piacenza Pasquale Piacenza Marinella Cuneo
• Ponchielli Amilcare Ponchielli La gioconda Barnaba St. Petersburg
• Ponchielli Amilcare Ponchielli I lituani Arnoldo St. Petersburg
• Poniatowski Józef Michał Poniatowski Gelmina London
• Puccinelli Filippo Puccinelli Santa Cecilia Rome
• Puccini Giacomo Puccini Manon Lescaut Lescaut St. Petersburg
• Ricci Luigi Ricci Chiara di Rosemberg Nice
• Ricci Luigi Ricci Chi dura la vince Nice
• Ricci Luigi Ricci Crispino e la Comare Fabrizio Venice
• Ricci Luigi Ricci Le Prigioni di Edimburgo Nice
• Rossi Lauro Rossi Domino Nero Turin
• Rossi Lauro Rossi Falsi Monetari Turin
• Rossini Gioacchino Rossini Il barbiere di Siviglia Figaro Genova
• Rossini Gioacchino Rossini La Cenerentola Dandini Nice
• Rossini Gioacchino Rossini La gazza ladra Fernando Villabella London
• Rossini Gioacchino Rossini Guglielmo Tell Guglielmo St. Petersburg
• Rossini Gioacchino Rossini Matilde di Shabran Aliprando Turin
• Rossini Gioacchino Rossini Mosè Faraone London
• Rossini Gioacchino Rossini Otello Iago Nice
• Rossini Gioacchino Rossini Stabat mater Baritone soloist[17] Rome
• Rubinstein Antonio Rubinstein Nerone Julius Vindex St. Petersburg
• Sanelli Gualtiero Sanelli Luisa Strozzi Turin
• Sinico Giuseppe Sinico Aurora di Nevers Filippo Conzaga Milan
• Thomas Ambroise Thomas Amleto Hamlet London
• Thomas Ambroise Thomas Mignon Lothario Rome
• Ventura Lionello Ventura Alda Marino Capece Bologna
• Vera Edoardo Vera Valeria Claudio Imperatore Bologna
• Verdi Giuseppe Verdi Aïda Amonasro St. Petersburg
• Verdi Giuseppe Verdi Aroldo Egberto Turin
• Verdi Giuseppe Verdi Attila Ezio Zara
• Verdi Giuseppe Verdi Un ballo in maschera Renato Dublin
• Verdi Giuseppe Verdi Don Carlos Posa London
• Verdi Giuseppe Verdi I due Foscari Francesco Foscari London
• Verdi Giuseppe Verdi Ernani Don Carlo Rome
• Verdi Giuseppe Verdi La forza del destino Don Carlo di Vargas Spoleto
• Verdi Giuseppe Verdi I lombardi Pagano Milan
• Verdi Giuseppe Verdi Luisa Miller Miller Turin
• Verdi Giuseppe Verdi Macbeth Macbeth Nice
• Verdi Giuseppe Verdi I masnadieri Francesco Viterbo
• Verdi Giuseppe Verdi Nabucco Nabucco Turin
• Verdi Giuseppe Verdi Rigoletto Rigoletto Rome
• Verdi Giuseppe Verdi Stiffelio Count Stankar London
• Verdi Giuseppe Verdi La traviata Germont Viterbo
• Verdi Giuseppe Verdi Il trovatore Di Luna Madrid
• Verdi Giuseppe Verdi I vespri siciliani Michele de Vasconcello/Guido di Monforte Turin
• Wagner Richard Wagner Lohengrin Telramund Turin
• Wagner Richard Wagner Tannhaüser Wolfram Bologna
• Weber Carl Maria von Weber Oberon Scherasmin Bologna

Cotogni also sang the baritone solo in the "Dies irae" section of Alessandro Busi's Messa da requiem performed in honor of Gioachino Rossini's death on December 9, 1868 at the church of San Giovanni in Monte in Bologna. His delivery of the solo was sublime: "...the audience, who literally filled the church, was so shaken that, forgetting they were in church, they applauded [his solo] wildly." That response was not unfamiliar; when he made his public debut in Sant'Eustachio in 1851, the audience's surprise and enthusiasm toward the young Cotogni's solo was so overwhelming that police had to be called in to restore order.

Legacy

During his career, Cotogni was an especial favorite of Verdi's, who praised him for the beauty, warmth and strength of his voice, as well as for the emotional intensity which he brought to his musical interpretations. He sang most of the major Verdi baritone roles and took part in the first Italian staging of Don Carlo, in Bologna in 1867, under the supervision of the composer. Verdi, wanting to test out the abilities of Cotogni, privately heard him in several of the key pieces from Don Carlo. When rehearsing the phrases leading up to the duet "Dio, che nell'alma infondere", Cotogni deviated from what Verdi had written, and though Verdi remarked on it, he accepted Cotogni's change, saying that it was actually better, with the result that the markings were changed in the new editions of the score.[note 4] It became well known that Verdi was moved to tears by Cotogni's singing of Rodrigo's death scene at this test rehearsal.[note 5] Many who knew Cotogni admired him for his almost extreme modesty and humility; Verdi was no different, only teasing him about it with his own nickname for him—mio ignorantino ("my little ignoramus").[19] Even after his retirement from opera, he continued singing in benefits and concerts, the very last of which was in 1904, when Cotogni was 73.

Cotogni's repertoire comprised between 150 and 160 roles. His operatic triumphs were not confined to Verdi's compositions. He was also an exponent of the elegant but technically demanding bel canto music of Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti, Vincenzo Bellini, and Saverio Mercadante. He sang roles from the new Italian verismo literature, the French grand opera tradition, and some Wagner. He was considered a Mozart specialist and keeper of some traditions of his works, even at a time when Mozart's works were not popular. He was particularly proud of his Don Giovanni, a role that he learned from his predecessor, the Italian baritone Antonio Tamburini, and which Cotogni then passed on to the inheritor of his traditions, Mattia Battistini.

Cotogni sang in the company of many of the most famous opera singers of his time—sopranos Adelina Patti, Teresa Stolz, Thérèse Tietjens, Marcella Sembrich, Christina Nilsson, Emma Albani, and Gemma Bellincioni; castrato Alessandro Moreschi; the Marchisio sisters; contralto Sofia Scalchi; tenors Mario, Francesco Marconi, Julián Gayarre, Angelo Masini, Pietro Mongini, Lodovico Graziani, Enrico Tamberlick, and Francesco Tamagno; baritones Charles Santley, Jean-Baptiste Faure, Francesco Graziani, Leone Giraldoni, and Mattia Battistini; and basses Foli, Eraclito Bagagiolo, and Édouard de Reszke.