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Antonio Giuglini (16 or 17 January 1825 – 12 October 1865) was an Italian tenor. During the last eight years of his life, before he developed signs of mental instability, he earned renown as one of the leading stars of the operatic scene in London. He created several major roles for British audiences, appearing in the first London performances of Gounod's Faust and Verdi's Un ballo in maschera. In London, he was the usual stage partner of the great dramatic soprano Thérèse Tietjens.
According to the impresario Benjamin Lumley, Giuglini had been destined for the priesthood. He began in the choir of the metropolitan church of Fermo, where his excellence as a treble, and then as a tenor, attracted attention. He firmly resisted many inducements to appear on the stage until one day he took the place of a member of the Theatre orchestra who fell ill. Soon afterwards, the principal tenor also fell ill, and Giuglini took his place as Jacopo in I due Foscari. He was immediately successful and then had brilliant successes at other theatres. This led him to Milan, where he came to the attention of the Emperor of Austria, who conferred on him the title of chamber-singer (Kammersänger) to his court, and wanted to engage him for Vienna. However, Lumley had already booked him for three years in London, but the Viennese court then secured him in advance for the year 1860.Benjamin Lumley, Reminiscences of the Opera (London, Hurst and Blackett 1864), 404-407.
His first season at La Scala, Milan, in early 1855, was witnessed by Charles SantleyC. Santley, Student and Singer (London: Edward Arnold, 1892), 69-70. who observed that he created 'a perfect furore' and was the hero of the day.
Santley saw him there as Raoul ( Les Huguenots), in which he sang charmingly but lacked the fire and manliness for the role, as Arturo in I Puritani, which rivetted the attention completely, and in selection evenings, when he sang the trio 'Pappataci' from L'italiana in Algeri with Scheggi (buffo) and Ignazio Marini (bass), so popular it had to be repeated throughout the season. On 26 December 1855 he appeared at Teatro Regio di Parma in the first performance of Giovanna de Guzman, the first Italian version of Verdi's Les vêpres siciliennes.
As Il trovatore, opposite Maria Spezia-Aldighieri and with Marietta Alboni as Azucena, he still held the centre of attention.Lumley Reminiscences, 415-16. In the revival of Don Giovanni, with Piccolomini (Zerlina), Mlles Spezia (Donna Anna) and Ortolani (Elvira), Belletti (Leporello), 'the music of Don Ottavio was warbled by the beautiful voice of Giuglini as few had heard it warbled before. The noble air "Dalla sua Pace" was restored by Giuglini on this occasion, and he made a marked sensation by his tender, expressive delivery of it.'Lumley Reminiscences, 418-19. He took part in an Italian version of Balfe's The Bohemian Girl (as, La Zingara), with Piccolomini, Alboni, Vialetti and Belletti: 'Giuglini's singing of "Then you'll remember me", in Italian brought with it a pleasure never to be forgotten by those who heard it.'William Alexander Barret, Balfe: His Life and Work, London, Remington, 1882, p. 229 (accessible for free online in Open Library.org) He also gave a 'Festival Performance' of La sonnambula with Mlle Piccolomini and Sig. Belletti.Lumley Reminiscences, 427.
Tietjens and Giuglini next sang Il trovatore, and both productions, attended by the Queen and court, had wildly enthusiastic receptions.Lumley Reminiscences, 438. On 3 June 1858, for Lumley, he appeared as Rodolfo in the first UK performance of Verdi's Luisa Miller, opposite Piccolomini.H. Rosenthal and J. Warrack, Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera (London: OUP, 1974).Lumley Reminiscences, 441-43.
However, as Lumley's management soon afterwards collapsed, Colonel J.H. Mapleson, hoping to revive Her Majesty's company, set up a company at Drury Lane, acquiring some of Lumley's artistes, and in its second season (1858) Giuglini appeared again as Fernando for the debut of Carolina Guarducci, who made a sensational debut despite never having studied the part which she sang (i.e. Leonora), and was afterwards coached by Mme Tietjens.J.H. Mapleson, The Mapleson Memoirs (Belford, Clarke and Co, Chicago 1888), I, 9, 17. At Drury Lane in July 1859, Giuglini created the role of Arrigo in the first London production of Verdi's Les vêpres siciliennes, opposite Tietjens.Rosenthal and Warrack 1974.
With Edward Tyrrel Smith, the Her Majesty's project was resumed, and in 1860 Tietjens and Giuglini were available to Smith and Mapleson as part of a £16,000 deal with Lumley.Mapleson 1888, I, 23-27. English and Italian opera companies were run on alternate nights, and Giuglini, Tietjens, Mme Lemaire and Sig. Vialetti in Il trovatore were alternated with George Alexander Macfarren's Robin Hood, starring Helen Lemmens-Sherrington (her début), John Sims Reeves and Charles Santley.J. Sims Reeves, The Life of Sims Reeves written by himself (London: Simpkin Marshall, 1888), 220-221. But the management partnership split, and Mapleson again dealt with Lumley to obtain Giuglini and Tietjens for a new project at the Lyceum Theatre.
Following an incident in which Mme Tietjens accidentally struck Giuglini on the nose with a drumstick when sounding a gong during a performance of Norma, causing the tenor's nose to bleed on stage, Giuglini conceived a hatred for that opera and swore a solemn oath never to appear in it again. However, during a breakdown in a series of Il trovatore, owing to the indisposition of the contralto, Mapleson was obliged to stage Norma and engaged another tenor, knowing Giuglini's objection, and that this performance was supernumerary to his contract. Having attempted to extort additional fees, Giuglini, at the last minute, had the rival forcibly divested of his costume backstage, and sang the role himself, but to little financial advantage, and without the drumstick.Mapleson 1888, I, 47-57.
The 1863 season opened with Il trovatore, and in May was the premiere of Schira's opera Niccolo de' Lapi with Giuglini as Lamberto, Tietjens, Zélia Trebelli and Santley.Santley 1892, 197-199. However, the highlight of that season was the first London Faust, launched 11 June at Her Majesty's, in which he took the title role: the opera was thereafter produced at Covent Garden in every year until 1911. The premiere was with Tietjens (Margherita), Trebelli (Siebel), Edouard Gassier (Mephistopheles) and Charles Santley (Valentin), Arditi conducting. (On one occasion, Giuglini was hissed for a late appearance in the church scene.Santley 1892, 199.) It was given for ten nights in succession, after which Gye opened it at Covent Garden on July 2 with Enrico Tamberlik, and with Mario in the following year. In later productions, Mapleson replaced Giuglini in the role with the tenor Alessandro Bettini, and with Sims Reeves.Mapleson 1888, I, 66-76. Giuglini again sang The Bohemian Girl, this time with Santley, Vialetti and Louisa Pyne.C. Santley, Reminiscences of my Life (London: Isaac Pitman, 1909), 15-16.
In 1864, Tietjens and Giuglini performed Lucrezia Borgia at Her Majesty's, in the gala performance in the presence of Garibaldi, and surpassed themselves.Mapleson 1888, I, 81. They led the cast in a new production of The Merry Wives of Windsor of Nicolai (as Mistress Ford and Fenton), with Bettini, Gassier, Santley and Caroline Bettelheim, which ran for many nights. Both appeared in Buckingham Palace concerts in that year. Giuglini was also Vincenzo in Gounod's Mireille, in a fight scene of which, owing to insufficient rehearsal, he received a resounding blow on the head from Santley, playing Ourrias.Santley 1892, 208-209.
Lumley noted one of Giuglini's obsessions in 1857: "At this period the principal passion of the great tenor was for making and letting off fireworks! It was one of those passions which almost amounted to a mania, and engrossed all his thoughts when not occupied with his art. He had come to be a considerable adept in firework-making..."Lumley, Reminiscences, 423, note. Mme Tietjens told of a hazardous journey with him back from a performance in the theatre at Dublin, in a cab stuffed full of fireworks, with excited but unaware fellow travellers smoking pipes and cigars around them. Giuglini himself was a cigar-smoker and enjoyed gossip and conspiracy among his companions.Mapleson 1888, I, 49-53.
According to a story published in 1951 purporting to be based on historical reality,Donald MacAndrew, 'Mr and Mrs Windham: a mid-Victorian Melodrama from Real Life', The Saturday Book - 11th Year (Hutchinson, 1951). Read here from around 1858 to 1863 Giuglini openly maintained a relationship with a married woman, Mrs Agnes Windham (formerly Agnes Willoughby), wife of 'Mad' Windham of Felbrigg Hall in Norfolk, which caused a frisson of public scandal. Mrs Windham was very attached to Giuglini and set up house with him in London, despite the fact that her husband appeared from time to time to create embarrassing scenes and threatened her with divorce.
Santley also wrote:In 1893, George Bernard Shaw could still write of his own time as the 'post-Giuglinian days'; and Giuglini's name was often coupled with that of the great tenor Mario.G.B. Shaw, Music in London 1890-1894 (London: Constable, 1932), III, 41.
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