Guest
“Alessandro Granda (1898-1962) was an internationally renowned tenor whose career took him to the major theaters of Europe and South America. Born Alejandro Granda Relayza in Callao, Peru, the future tenor began his working life as a shipboard machinist for the Peruvian Steam Company. His habit of singing on deck while performing his duties drew the attention of Naval Captain Manuel Torrico. Impressed by the young man’s singing, Torrico sought out the assistance of famed Peruvian composer and teacher Rosa Mercedes Ayarza de Morales. Under Morales’ guidance, Granda worked to develop the rudiments of vocal technique. He made his local debut in a concert on October 9, 1924 at the Teatro Forero (later to become the Teatro Municipal de Lima). Although he was well received, Granda knew that further vocal studies were in order. Fully aware of her pupil’s financial situation, Maestra Morales presented the young tenor to Peru’s President, Augusto Leguía, who bestowed Granda with a special scholarship to study abroad. Toward the end of 1924, Granda travelled to Milan, where he enrolled in the Conservatorio di Musica Giuseppe Verdi. Two years of study followed with tenor Alfredo Cecchi and conductor Arnaldo de Marzi before Granda felt prepared to step before the public. His debut took place on February 26, 1927 as Osaka in Iris at the Teatro Sociale di Como. The tenor’s success was tremendous and he was soon singing in many leading Italian theaters, including the Carlo Felice in Genova, the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, La Fenice in Venice, Palermo’s Teatro Massimo and Parma’s Teatro Regio. Granda’s La Scala debut occurred when Toscanini invited him to sing the Milan premiere of Zoltán Kodály’s great work for tenor and chorus, Psalmus Hungaricus, Op. 13. Within a short time, Granda began to travel outside Italy with appearances on the stages of Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, Bilbao, Lisbon, Paris, Monte Carlo, Leipzig, Hamburg, Munich, Helsinki, Bucharest, Budapest and Cairo. His repertoire steadily grew to over 40 roles, eventually encompassing such parts as Rodolfo in La Bohème, Cavaradossi in Tosca, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, des Grieux in Manon Lescaut, Calaf in Turandot, Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana, Loris in Fedora, Maurizio in Adriana Lecouvreur, Faust in Mefistofele, Manrico in Il Trovatore, Radames in Aïda, the Duke in Rigoletto, Alfredo in La Traviata, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Enzo in La Gioconda, Don José in Carmen, Javier in Luisa Fernanda and the title roles in Il Piccolo Marat and Andrea Chénier. In 1932, Granda returned to his homeland, where he was received with great acclaim. After touring much of South America…not to mention a few appearances in the United States…Granda returned to Italy in 1934, where he was to remain for the next dozen years. At the war’s end, Granda found himself in dire straits. His home in Milan had been destroyed in an air raid and his vocal resources had dwindled. Despite these drawbacks, the tenor forged ahead, establishing himself as a singing teacher. He again sailed to the Americas, where he divided his time between performing and teaching. In 1947, Granda was awarded the Orden del Sol, the highest honor for cultural achievement bestowed by the Peruvian Government. The venues in which Granda found himself appearing had become far less prestigious than in years gone by and he gradually curtailed his performances. Following a final Radames with Philadelphia’s La Scala Opera Company in May of 1949, the 50-year-old tenor retired from the stage and accepted a position on the voice faculty of the National Conservatory of Music in Lima. Granda also had plans to establish an opera school in his homeland, but time ran out for the aging singer. While relaxing at home in September of 1962, Granda collapsed and died from a massive stroke. He was 63. Alessandro Granda recorded a number of sides in the late 1920s…mostly for Columbia…and made the first complete recordings of Madama Butterfly and La Gioconda. These recordings reveal a large lyric instrument, perhaps with some characteristics of a spinto, that was well suited to verismo roles. In this recording, Granda sings ““Non piangere, Liù““ from Puccini's Turandot. This was recorded in Milan for the Columbia label in 1928.“
