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Gabriele SantiniItalian conductor
Date of Birth: 20.01.1886
Country:  Italy |
Content:
Biography of Gabriel Santini
Early Life and EducationGabriel Santini, an Italian conductor, known especially for his association with the Italian opera repertoire, was born on January 20, 1886, in Perugia. He studied at the conservatories of Perugia and Bologna, and made his professional debut as an assistant conductor in 1906. Santini had the opportunity to work with Gino Marinuzzi and Arturo Toscanini, performing with them throughout Italy. He worked closely with Toscanini from 1907 to 1909, even before completing his studies.
Artistic Career
Santini maintained close ties with La Scala in Milan, San Carlo in Naples, and the Rome Opera, where he served as the artistic director from 1945 to 1962. He also performed at the Paris Opéra and the Royal Opera House in London, receiving regular invitations. Santini was highly regarded in Argentina, where he frequently visited between 1910 and 1914 and remained the most popular conductor at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires for several years. At the Teatro Colón, Santini did much to generate interest among a wide audience for the operas of Giuseppe Verdi and other verismo composers, particularly Pietro Mascagni.
Later Career and Legacy
In February 1914, just before the outbreak of World War I, Santini went to Trieste, where he staged La traviata and Don Pasquale. During the war, Santini worked in various Italian theaters, mainly in Rome, Naples, Florence, and Parma. In the summer of 1922, he returned to Buenos Aires, where he presented Sergei Rachmaninoff's Francesca da Rimini, marking its Latin American premiere. In 1924, Toscanini invited Santini to La Scala, and for five years, Santini conducted numerous operas at the Milanese theater, from Il trovatore and Aida to Tosca and Madama Butterfly.
In 1929, Santini moved to Rome, where he received a warm welcome and achieved tremendous success. Until 1932, he served as the principal conductor and musical director of the Rome Opera and returned to this position after World War II. Santini conducted orchestras in several premieres of works by contemporary Italian composers, including Umberto Giordano and Franco Alfano, but he particularly admired the masters of the old school, whose works formed the standard Italian repertoire. He is considered one of the most outstanding interpreters of Verdi's music in his generation and left famous recordings of Simon Boccanegra and Don Carlo, both featuring Italian baritone Tito Gobbi and Bulgarian bass Boris Christoff.
In his later years, Santini continued to perform live but focused mainly on recording. He passed away on November 13, 1964, in Rome, at the age of 78, after suffering a stroke, leaving the recently started recording of Tosca unfinished.
