Giuseppe Di Stefano.

The world is emptier and diminished with the death last week of the great tenor, Giuseppe Di Stefano. A patch of beauty has been taken from us. The circumstances of his passing are too tragic to contemplate — a beating by some thugs in Kenya years ago that put this wonderful man and tenor into a coma that eventually resulted in death.

That the final years of a man who brought so much pleasure was so unnecessarily painful is disturbing. We expect everyone to die sooner or later, but to die like this adds an urgency to our grief, as if we can’t grieve enough.

DiStefano is the last of the great tenors of the past few generations. He was what is called a lyrico/spinto, in the same category as Pavarotti basically, although all voices bring you different things.

Between the great Benjamino Gigli of the thirties/forties and fifties and Pavarotti, there was DiStefano, the bridge between those two leading lyrico/spinto voices of the past three or four generations. To me, DiStefano had the most beautiful voice I have ever heard — period. It’s tough company, by the way. There have been many beaufifully voiced tenors during those illustrious years — Gigli, Bjoerling, Tagliavini, Cararras and, of course, Pavarotti. Beauty is in the ear of the beholder and we all have to decide for ourselves.

If you can take five of uninterrupted quiet time, here’s a selection to give you a sense of his voice. “Salut! Demeure” from Faust. It’s from a live performance I think in San Francisco around the 1950’s. Listen how he diminuendo’s the high B-flat at the end to a whisper.

The liquid, velvety, effortless gold that was his voice trumped them all. His voice was full, his diction precise and strong and he sang with great passion. Just go to YouTube, type in his name, and listen to the many samples of his voice put up there by adoring fans. Among them is a short tribute by Pavarotti, who tells a story about his preference for Di Stefano over his father’s favorite, Benjamino Gigli. Pav’s father’s reaction was a bit over the top, and sad, but it speaks to the passion we have for our operatic heroes.

“Pippo,” as he was called, was not careful with his voice or his body and Mario del Monaco would chide him for not taking care of himself as well as he should. But Di Stefano loved his women, gambling, dancing, staying out late partying and drinking his wine, as the NY Times obit makes clear. As if his lifestyle choices weren’t enough, vocally he began to sing the heavier tenor roles that were not suitable for his voice and he subsequently diminished his glorious instrument through the years, but the years he gave at full voice were phenomenal.

It was as if the great Giants’ linebacker could only give us four years instead of thirteen, but what a helluva four years it would have been.

Callas & DiStefano

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That was Pippo. As he came to the end of his official career he toured with Callas in a number of farewell concerts, of which I saw two. Neither was in the full bloom of their voices, but often enough, you’d hear the greatness coming through age and vocal deterioration. Here are the younger Maria and Pippo singing O Soave Fanciulla, the first act love duet from La Boheme.

Through my college friend, Joe Curti, who headed the Connecticut Grand Opera Company some years back, I met Di Stefano after his appearance there in L’Elisir d’amore. His voice had aged, but it was still clear, focused and as bright as always. We flew back to Los Angeles together and I tried to get him to be to be a regular on a show I had created, but the studios blocked it. Who? they said. Their loss.

At that time, however, my mother was visiting me in L.A. from Philly, and the three of us went to dinner together. Do you want to talk about the glow of an Italian woman breaking bread with someone she thought would always be miles and years away from her?

DiStefano OWNED the Neopolitan song. Owned them. No one could sing them as could the young DiStefano. Here’s a YouTube video of Core ‘Ngrato
in his later years. Still passionate, still beautiful.

The circumstances of his death were beyond tragic. He remained in coma even when brought to Italy, where he remained unconscious for a number of years before finally dying. Callas said he sang like a God. Now he’s with Him.

R.I.P. Pippo and grazie.

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