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“Carlo Dani (1873-1944) was an Italian tenor whose career took him to theaters on both sides of the Atlantic. Born in Florence, Dani enrolled in Modena’s military school as a youth. During his studies there, he became interested in cycling, eventually making a name for himself as a competitive cyclist in the early 1890s. A series of respectable showings in European road races suggested that Dani would pursue a career as a cyclist. Music had always interested him, however, and he soon found himself dividing his time between the track and the stage. Dani made his operatic debut at Florence’s Teatro Pagliano as the Duke in Rigoletto in December of 1894. Dani’s first performance caused quite an uproar when his legion of fans packed the theater, curious to hear their idol in an operatic role. When Dani first appeared, pandemonium broke loose, with cries of “Viva Dani!”. The evening continued in a similar fashion (including a shower of claim tags from a bicycle factory!) and Dani was compelled to take 20 curtain calls. The following night, a local critic praised Dani for his beautiful voice and nuanced singing. He tempered this by saying, “…there is the fabric of a very good future singer: but this fabric needs to be worked more…this voice, which will undoubtedly be beautiful and powerful, is still in a state of gestation…” After another production of Rigoletto the following spring at Milan’s Teatro Manzoni, a local critic remarked, “This strong bicycle champion certainly does not lack voice, but he lacks singing method and musical instruction. In two years, he will be an excellent tenor: today he is a sports record holder who sings”. Realizing that further study was in order, Dani began working privately in Florence to perfect his technique. The singing cyclist spent less and less time racing and, despite developing an impressive reputation, gave up the sport altogether in 1897. With his attentions focused exclusively on a stage career, Dani worked toward building his repertoire. By the turn of the century, the young tenor had sung on most of Italy’s provincial stages, including Milan’s Teatro Lirico, the Arena Alfieri in Leghorn, Pisa’s Politeama, Lonigo’s Teatro Communale, the Politeama Fiorentino and Faenza’s Arena Borghesi. In the summer of 1900, Dani made his first appearances abroad, travelling to Lucerne’s Kursaal for productions of Rigoletto, La Sonnambula and Don Pasquale. The following year, he spent the season in Australia, where he was particularly popular, singing Faust, Fedora, Lucia di Lammermoor, La Traviata and La Bohème. His North American debut occurred in the fall of 1902 as Alfredo in Philadelphia. In December of that same year, Dani made his Metropolitan Opera debut as the Duke in Rigoletto. Although Met general manager Maurice Grau had heralded Dani’s upcoming season with the company, the tenor failed to click with New York audiences. After 14 performances of five roles (as well as five concerts), Dani was finished at the Met. Back in Europe, Dani continued to appear throughout Italy, Spain and Portugal. He made his Covent Garden debut in May of 1904 as the Duke, also singing Turiddu that season. He returned the following season for Rigoletto, Faust and La Bohème. In 1906, he was in the Americas again, with performances in Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Montevideo and Rosario and in 1908, he signed a contract with Henry Russell’s San Carlo Grand Opera Company. During his years with San Carlo, Dani crisscrossed the U.S. and was met with tremendous adulation. Of his performance of Rigoletto at the Belasco Theater, The Washington Post remarked, “…few tenors are possessed of such liquid, melting tones as poured from M. Dani’s throat last night. In ‘La donna e mobile’ he brought down the house and had to twice repeat.” Dani toured Mexico in 1910 and continued his European career, with performances in Prague, Odessa and Nice. During the war, he worked as an agent of sorts and reportedly returned to New York for one final concert in 1922. Details of his later years are quite sketchy, but most reports agree that he returned to Florence, where he taught voice until his death on April 12, 1944. Carlo Dani possessed a pleasing leggero voice with an easy top, but a very pronounced vibrato that reminds one of Bonci or de Lucia. Although he was best suited to bel canto works, his repertoire included a wide variety of over 30 roles in Maria di Rohan, L’Elisir d’Amore, La Favorita, Barbiere di Siviglia, L’Arlesiana, Adriana Lecouvreur, Pagliacci, L’Amico Fritz, Tosca, L'Attaque du Moulin, La Navarraise, Lakmé, Manon, Les Pêcheurs de Perles, Thaïs, Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor and even Lohengrin. Dani’s recordings, about 40 in all, were made largely for Fonotipia and offer a fascinating glimpse into the art of 19th century Italian singing. In this recording, Dani sings “Prendi, l’anel ti dono” from Bellini’s La Sonnambula. This was recorded in Milan for Fonotipia in 1912.“
