Giuseppe Taddei and Mattia Battistini were both born in the same year, 1960, and there were just 45 years between their respective recordings in this collection. It isn’t really that long, and perhaps we were hoping for more stylistic variance than such a short time could provide. The voices are excellent, both at the beginning and the end of the journey, and while Magini-Coletti, the first of the baritones heard here, sings with a lovely tone and a great awareness of his aria, the voices are excellent throughout.

Some of the famous Italian baritones are

Mario Basiola

He was born in Annico near Cremona and he was a student of the famous Antonio Cotogni. He was a very popular singer of Itlay who overshadowed the certain singers of his time. He made his career debut in the year 1918, then he also joined the San Carlo Opera company, and there in seven years he performed various roles like Amonasro, Alfio, Barnaba and the Venetian Guest in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sadko and so on. But after the war, he started teaching singing in Australia. His famous recordings include Iva Pacetti, Giacomo Lauri-Volpi Vol. 2, Recital and so on.

Apollo Granforte

He was born into a poor cobbler family and worked as a cobbler also. At the age of 18, he moved to Argentina with his brother. Though he started working in his trade there, but his vocal capabilities did not remain hidden and it was discovered then. He frequently used to appear as a guest artistry, but one day Nellie Melba took him to Australia with his group. After that, he took part in several operas and after returning from there he became a coach in singing in Prague. He will be always remembered for his powerful voice in Ruffo-Tradition and his voice was of big quality.

Carlo Tagliabue

He was born in Mariano Comense, a small village near Milan and he made his debut in 1921 in Lodi as Amonasro. After that, he made several performances in many theatres in La Scala in 1929 and he played 39 roles in La Scala. In 1936 he sang for the coronation of George VI at a gala event. The uniqueness of his performance and voice was his phenomenal breath control quality. He had to compete with other famous baritones such as Viglione-Borghese, Urbano and Galeffi and so on.

Mario Ancona

He was born into a middle-class Jewish family in Tuscany in 1860. He did not want to follow his business career, and he decided to learn singing from a local teacher named Matteini. As an amateur singer, he made his debut in 1880. First, he sang Le roi de Lahore in an opera and later he also appeared in Italy’s principal theatre in La Scala in Milan. Years later, he then joined the Manhattan Opera Company, where he got a huge break. His famous compositions include Bellini and Donizetti, Di Luna, Rigoletto, Amonasro and Iago and so on.