Great Singers at the Gran Teatro del Liceo

Note by Boris Semeonoff











Asked to name the top half-dozen, or even the top ten, opera-houses in the world, few of those questioned would be likely to include the Liceo, Barcelona in their selection. Yet a glance at the list of singers featured in the present collection will show that in addition to a number of Spanish, or - more significantly - Catalan-born singers, many of the stellar personalities of the early recording period were among those who made frequent and highly acclaimed appearances at the Liceo. Moreover, figures quoted in a brochure published in Barcelona in 1979 show that as regards dimensions the Liceo could bear comparison with its principal rivals - La Scala, the Paris Opéra, the Real, Madrid and the San Carlos, Lisbon. And the coloured illustrations contained in the same brochure suggest that the decor and general amenities could only be described as magnificent.

Sadly, a present-day account of the Liceo can only be couched in the past tense. The theatre was destroyed by fire, for the second time in its history, on 31 January 1994. The Catalan authorities promised that reconstruction would be undertaken immediately, but how far the project has progressed is not at the moment clear.

The Gran Teatre de Liceu, to give it its Catalan name, was opened in 1847, continuing and extending the functions of the Liceu de Montesión, a small theatre attached to a Barcelona conservatoire. Up till the 1830s, opera in Barcelona had been a monopoly enjoyed by the Teatro de la Santa Cruz (or Santa Creu), a theatre which from small beginnings in 1579 gradually extended its scope until in the late eighteenth century it became notable for its presentation of Italian opera as well as nurturing a tradition both for indigenous opera and for instrumental music. Although the Liceo gradually took over as the main opera house in Barcelona, partisanship in support of the rival houses, which in 1865 had inspired a comedy Liceistes i cruzados by Frederic Soler, continued until the 1920s, when the Santa Creu ceased to function.

The first opera to be given at the Liceo was Donizetti's Anna Bolena, and for a number of years the works of the bel canto composers provided the staple fare, along with early Verdi and such novelties as Weber's Der Freischütz and Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots.

The first Liceo was burned down in April 1861, but this was only a temporary setback, the theatre being reopened just over a year later. The following decades were notable for an increase in the presentation of French opera - more Meyerbeer, together with works by Gounod, Auber, Boieldieu and many others. A little later came a remarkable efflorescence of interest in Wagner. The same period marks the arrival at the Liceo of the most senior of the native-born singers featured on this disc - Francisco Viñas, who made his debut there in 1888 as Lohengrin. Viñas was seen as a worthy successor to the legendary tenor Julian Gayarre, whose 'epoch', as it was called, may be said to have ended at this time. Between 1890 and 1907 Viñas sang mostly abroad, but in the period between the latter year and his retirement in 1916 he was a dominant figure at the Liceo, so that that period may be properly seen as a 'Viñas epoch'; a later 'epoch', that of Fleta, extending from about 1925 to 1933, has been said to coincide with the 'golden age of the Liceo'. A still later epoch, however, recognised with pride by Liceo afficionados, was that of Monserrat Caballé; indeed, the aforementioned brochure has a section headed 'El Liceo de Montserrat Caballé'. And another Barcelona-born singer, still very much in the public eye, is José Carreras.

Of the internationally celebrated singers included here, Battistini, Ruffo, Schipa and Melchior have each been the subject of an entire Prima Voce disc, and so require little comment, unless it be to add that Ruffo appears to have been held in especially high regard, although it was admitted that he had a potential rival in Stracciari, a less frequent visitor.

A fourth Italian-born baritone on this disc is Apollo Granforte. An element of mystery surrounds his connection with the Liceo: two independent sources refer to his participation, along with Hipólito Lázaro and Having been born in Argentina, Hina Spani, the last (and youngest) of our non-Spanish singers, may perhaps be accorded honorary Hispanic status. Musically active from a very early age, she made her formal debut, as Anna in Catalani's Reverting to Barcelona-based singers and staying initially with female voices, we come to a group of four outstanding sopranos, all assignable to a broadly-based lirico-coloratura category, and all with names more familiar to the present generation of record collectors than they were to English-speaking record buyers at the time when these singers were active.

Pride of place, and not only by virtue of seniority, must be given to Maria Barrientos. Her name is revered to this day in her native country and it may be argued that had she recorded for HMV/Victor rather than for Fonotipia and, later, Columbia, her fame worldwide might have rivalled that of her near-contemporary, Galli-Curci. Her most significant gramophonic contribution is the Columbia set of Falla's Seven Popular Spanish Songs, in which she is accompanied by the composer.

Less readily discernible, from their recorded legacy, are the merits of Graziella Pareto's records are more highly regarded by collectors than those of the two singers discussed above. Their comparative rarity is somewhat surprising in view of the refinement and sensitivity of her singing. Pareto was an exclusive HMV (or Gramophone Co.) artist and it is also surprising that relatively little use (36 titles in all) was made of her services. Like other singers in this collection she made an early debut (in La Sonnambula Of the two mezzos represented here, Conchita Supervia, like the four male singers mentioned earlier, has had her own Prima Voce issue, to which the reader is referred. A brief comment on Maria Gay (maiden name Pitxot) is included in the notes to Prima Voce 'Great Singers at La Scala, Milan'. A celebrated appearance in Carmen at the Liceo in 1919 in which she was partnered by her second husband, Giovanni Zenatello, is echoed on the present disc. Contrasted assessments of this recording by two leading critics have characterised it as, respectively, 'irresistible' and 'sheer Mascagni... nothing to do with Bizet'. On whichever side the listener comes down, he or she cannot but admit that for unalloyed dramatic intensity it is unequalled on records.

Finally, two tenors, José Palet and Hipólito Lázaro, both born in Barcelona and closely identified with the Liceo. Palet's international career, mainly in Latin countries, won him acclaim principally in dramatic roles, but he is best remembered now for his assumption of the tenor lead in Breton's opera La Dolores. Lázaro was nine years Palet's junior and developments in opera during his career may be said to place him in a different era. He was widely recognised as a Mascagni specialist, having appeared in the premieres of that composer's Parisina (La Scala, 1913) and Il Piccolo Marat (Costanzi, Rome, 1921) as well as in that of Giordano's La Cena delle Beffe (La Scala, 1924). In common with a number of his contemporaries, Lázaro was hailed as a potential successor to Caruso, but his claim was tenuous and his name never became a household word. His best records afford evidence of the ringing quality of his voice, appropriate both to the standard dramatic tenor repertoire and to the idiom of verismo opera.


© 1995 Boris Semeonoff

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