page_title: Julián Gayarre
section_title: Biography
hierarchical_section_title: Julián Gayarre / Biography
caption_attribution_description: English: Handwritten letter in Basque by opera tenor Julian Gayarre Euskara: Julian Gaiarrek bere izebari Erronkariko euskaraz idatzitako gutuna, 1884koa
context_page_description: Sebastián Julián Gayarre Garjón, better known as Julián Gayarre, was a Spanish opera singer who created the role of Marcello in Donizetti's Il Duca d'Alba and Enzo in Ponchielli's La Gioconda.
  Although he faced strong competition for this title from the likes of Roberto Stagno, Italo Campanini, Angelo Masini and Francesco Tamagno, Gayarre was regarded by many late 19th-century music commentators as being the supreme Italianate tenor of his generation.
context_section_description: The man who was to become one of Europe's most celebrated singers was born and raised in a Navarre family in the small Pyrenean town of Roncal. The third child of Mariano Gayarre and Maria Ramona Garjón, a couple of modest means, he left school at 13 to work as a shepherd. When he was 15, his father sent him to Pamplona to work in a shop. It was there that he had his first contact with music. It was a passion that would cost him his job when he was fired for leaving the shop to follow a band that was parading in the street outside.
  He then worked as a blacksmith in the village of Lumbier and later in Pamplona at the Pinaqui foundry. One of his fellow workers, who heard him singing as he worked, encouraged him to join the Orfeón Pamplonés, the city's newly formed choir directed by Joaquin Maya. Maya took him on as first tenor and introduced him to the celebrated music teacher and composer, Hilarión Eslava. Eslava, struck by the beautiful timbre of the yet untrained voice, arranged a scholarship for Gayarre to study at the Madrid Royal Conservatory. His first public performance was in 1867 with a zarzuela company in Tudela under the stage name of "Sandoval".
  After leaving the conservatory in 1868, he sang in the chorus of zarzuela productions in Madrid, but after being dismissed by the theatre manager, Joaquín Gaztambide, he returned penniless to Roncal. Encouraged by Hilarión Eslava, his admirers, led by Conrado García, one of the founders of the Orfeón Pamplonés organized a successful recital in Pamplona which persuaded the Provincial Council of Navarre to grant him funds to pursue further studies with Giuseppe Gerli at the Milan Conservatory.
  In 1869, shortly after commencing his studies in Milan, Gayarre made his operatic debut as Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore in Varese. Particularly renowned for his interpretation of Fernando in La Favorita, he was also considered by critics of the time, especially in Italy, to be an excellent actor with a commanding stage presence. Gayarre's earliest successes and fame came from his performances in the major opera houses of Italy, where he created the role of Marcello in Il Duca d'Alba in 1871 and Enzo in the 1876 premiere of La Gioconda. However, he was soon highly in demand in Paris and London as well as his native Spain. Gayarre also sang in Lisbon, Vienna and Saint Petersburg and toured Brazil and Argentina with the Spanish contralto Elena Sanz, a frequent stage partner, especially at La Scala. Towards the end of his career, in 1887, he sang Sobinin in the first London performance of Glinka's A Life for the Tsar.
  Gayarre sang a broad repertoire, ranging from bel canto works to the earlier music-dramas composed by Wagner. In the 1870/71 season, at the Teatro Regio di Parma, he sang with great success in a trio of Verdi operas, I Lombardi alla prima crociata, Un ballo in maschera and Rigoletto. In October 1872 at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, he sang Amenophis in Rossini's Moïse et Pharaon. Only a month later, he sang the title role in Wagner's Tannhäuser there, its first performance in Italy. Gayarre's other great Wagnerian role was Lohengrin which he sang in its first ever performance at the Teatro Real in Madrid in 1881. However, the following year he was back in the bel canto repertoire with performances of I puritani and La favorita at Valladolid's Teatro Calderón. Gayarre was also a noted interpreter of the French repertoire including Gounod's Faust and Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots, Le prophète and L'Africaine.
  The peak of Gayarre's career lasted from 1873 to 1886, after which he was plagued by recurrent respiratory illness, causing his voice to deteriorate. On 8 December 1889 at the Teatro Real in Madrid, he appeared on stage for the last time in Bizet's Les pêcheurs de perles, where his voice cracked noticeably in Nadir's aria, 'Je crois entendre encore'. It was reported that he knelt down murmuring "No puedo cantar más" ("I cannot sing anymore") and disappeared into the wings. He was eventually called back to the stage by the sympathetic audience, but he was heard to say, "E
caption: Letter addressed by Gayarre to his aunt, handwritten in Basque
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