# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Tamburini, Antonio

​TAMBURINI, Antonio, baritone singer, eminent among the great lyric artists of the 19th century, was born at Faenza on March 28, 1800. His father was director of military music at Fossombrone, Ancona. A player himself on horn, trumpet, and clarinet, he instructed his son, at a very early age, in horn-playing, accustoming him in this way to great and sustained efforts, even to overtaxing his undeveloped strength. At nine the boy played in the orchestra, but seems soon to have been passed on to Aldobrando Rossi for vocal instruction. At twelve he returned to Faenza, singing in the opera chorus, which was employed not only at the theatre but for mass, a fact which led him to devote much time in early youth to the study of church music. He attracted the notice of Madame Pisaroni and the elder Mombelli; and the opportunities which he enjoyed of hearing these great singers, as well as Davide and Donzelli, were turned by him to the best account. At eighteen, and in possession of a fine voice, he was engaged for the opera of Bologna. The piece in which, at the little town of Cento, he first appeared, was 'La Contessa di colle erboso,' of Generali. His favourable reception there and at Mirandola, Correggio, and Bologna, attracted the notice of several managers, one of whom secured him for the Carnival at Piacenza, where his success in Rossini's 'Italiana in Algeri' procured for him an engagement that same year at the Teatro Nuovo at Naples. Although his beautiful baritone voice had now reached its full maturity, his execution was still imperfect, and the Neapolitan public received him somewhat coldly, though speedily won over by his great gifts and promise. The political troubles of 1820, however, closed the theatres, and Tamburini sang next at Florence, where, owing to indisposition, he did himself no justice. The memory of this was speedily wiped out by a series of triumphs at Leghorn, Turin, and Milan. About this time he lost his mother, an affliction which so plunged him in melancholy that he thought of retiring to a cloister. It is fortunate for the public that his calling interposed a delay between this design and its execution, so that it was never carried into effect. At Milan he met and married the lovely singer, Marietta Gioja, for whom, as well as for him, Mercadante wrote the opera of 'Il Posto abbandonato.'
Proceeding to Trieste, he passed through Venice, where an unexpected toll was demanded of him. Special performances were being given in honour of the Emperors of Austria and Russia, then at Venice, and Tamburini was not allowed to escape scot-free. He was arrested 'by authority,' and only after a few days, during which he achieved an immense success, was he allowed to proceed. From Trieste he went to Rome, where he remained for two years; thence, after singing in 'Mosè' at Venice, with Davide and Mme. Meric Lalande, he removed to Palermo, where he spent another two years. He now received an engagement from Barbaja for four years, during which he sang in Naples, Milan, and Vienna, alternately. At Vienna he and Rubini were decorated with the order of 'the Saviour,' an honour previously accorded to no foreigner but Wellington. Tamburini first sang in London in 1832, and soon became an established favourite. His success was equally great at Paris, where he appeared in October of the same year as Dandini in the 'Cenerentola.' For ten years he belonged to London and Paris, a conspicuous star in the brilliant constellation formed by Grisi, Persiani, Viardot, Rubini, Lablache, and himself, and was long remembered as the baritone in the famous 'Puritani quartet.' Without any single commanding trait of genius, he seems, with the exception of Lablache, to have combined more attractive qualities than any man-singer who ever appeared. He was handsome and graceful, and a master in the art of stage-costume. His voice, a baritone of over two octaves extent, was full, round, sonorous, and perfectly equal throughout. His execution was unsurpassed and unsurpassable; of a kind which at the present day is well-nigh obsolete, and is associated in the public mind with soprano and tenor voices only. The Parisians, referring to this florid facility, called him 'Le Rubini des basse-tailles.' Although chiefly celebrated as a singer of Rossini's music, one of his principal parts was Don Giovanni. His readiness, versatility and true Italian cleverness are well illustrated by the anecdote of his exploit at Palermo, during his engagement there, when he not only sang his own part in Mercadante's 'Elisa e Claudio' but adopted the costume and the voice—a soprano sfogato—of Mme. Lipparini, the prima donna, who was frightened off the stage, went through the whole opera, duets and all, and finished by dancing a pas de quatre with the Taglionis and Mlle. Rinaldini. For the details of this most amusing scene the reader must be referred to the lively narrative of Mr. Sutherland Edwards' 'History of the Opera,' ii. 272.
[ F. A. M. ]