Cesare Valletti

(b Rome, 18 Dec 1922; d Genoa, 14 May 2000). Italian tenor. After studying privately under Tito Schipa he made his début at Bari in 1947 as Alfredo. In 1950 he took part in Il turco in Italia at the Teatro Eliseo, Rome, with Callas and Stabile; that autumn he sang Fenton (Falstaff) with the Scala company at Covent Garden. He sang regularly at La Scala, as Nemorino, Almaviva, Filipeto (I quatro rusteghi), Lindoro and other tenore di grazia roles. In 1953 he made his American début at San Francisco as Werther, and from 1953 to 1962 sang regularly at the Metropolitan, where he was especially admired as Don Ottavio (a role he also sang at the Salzburg Festival), Des Grieux, Ferrando and Ernesto. He returned to Covent Garden in 1958 to sing Alfredo opposite Callas, a performance which was recorded live. In 1968 he sang Nero (L'incoronazione di Poppea) at the Caramoor Festival in Katonah, New York. He also recorded Lindoro, Almaviva, Ernesto and Fenton, all of which display his exemplary, assured tenor technique and refined sense of style.

From The Grove Book of Opera Singers in Oxford Reference.