Evan Gorga

Evangelista Gennaro Gorga (6 de febrero de 1865 - 5 de diciembre de 1957) fue un tenor lírico italiano . Es mejor conocido por haber interpretado el papel de Rodolfo en la producción original de La bohème de Giacomo Puccini en el Teatro Regio Torino en 1896.

Evan Gorga nació en Brocco (actualmente Broccostella ), Italia, en la provincia de Caserta (actualmente Frosinone ). Su padre, Pietro Gorga, era un pequeño terrateniente, mientras que su madre, Matilde De Santis, era hija de un noble local. La familia vivía en una casa ubicada en lo que hoy es el centro histórico de Broccostella.

Durante su adolescencia y juventud, Gorga estudió canto con un profesor de apellido Franceschetti. En 1894, debutó profesionalmente en la ópera interpretando el papel principal de Ernani de Verdi , al ser llamado para reemplazar al intérprete programado, Francesco Tamagno , que se encontraba enfermo. En 1895, interpretó los papeles de Wilhelm Meister en Mignon de Ambroise Thomas , Le Chevalier des Grieux en Manon de Jules Massenet y Fritz Kobus en L'amico Fritz de Pietro Mascagni , todas ellas en el Teatro Comunale di Cagliari . También participó en una producción de I Lombardi alla prima crociata de Verdi en el Teatro Costanzi de Roma en septiembre de 1895.

En 1896, Gorga pasó a formar parte de la historia de la música al interpretar el papel de Rodolfo en la producción original de La bohème de Giacomo Puccini en el Teatro Regio de Turín . Ese mismo año también interpretó el papel de Fausto en Mefistofele de Boito .

En 1897, Gorga cantó varios papeles en el Teatro La Fenice de Venecia , incluido el papel de Marcello en La bohème de Leoncavallo que, como la versión de Puccini, está basada en Scènes de la vie de Bohème de Henry Murger .

Over the next couple of years, Gorga reprised the role of Rodolfo in Puccini's La bohème with several companies, including the Teatro Piccinni in Bari, Teatro San Carlo in Naples and performances in Genoa. He gave performances of the title role in Gounod's Faust with several companies and was the tenor soloist is a production of Lorenzo Perosi's oratorioLa risurrezione di Lazzaro at the Teatro dell'Aquila in Fermo.

In January 1899, Gorga once again reprised the role of Rodolfo in Puccini's La bohème at the Teatro Drammatico in Verona. And although he received excellent critical reviews, this was his last performance. It is unclear why he gave up such a successful opera career at the young age of 34.

Apparently, Gorga recorded his voice privately. TimaClub, an amateur record label, intended to release said recording on a commercial CD. For unknown reasons, the project never came into fruition, and at present no other recordings of his voice are known.^[1]

Gorga was a collector of antiques and artistic works. Among the large quantity of pieces he collected was a vast array of musical instruments and medical instruments. Unfortunately, due to financial difficulties suffered during the Great Depression and World War II, Gorga had to sell about a half of this collection. In 1949 he left a collection of about 3.000 pieces, made up of mostly musical instruments but also a few paintings and other forms of art, to the State of Italy that is now on display at the Galleria Borghese in Rome. It is the largest collection of any kind ever given to the museum and makes up the bulk of the museum's entire musical instrument collection. Although technically a gift under a 1949 law, the Italian government agreed to pay Gorga's debts and to give him a life allowance in return for the collection.^[2][3] His medical collection become the core of the Medical History Museum of the Rome University exposition.^[4]

• Operissimo.com
• The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, edited by Stanley Sadie (1992), 5,448 pages, ISBN 0-333-73432-7 and ISBN 1-56159-228-5
• The Oxford Dictionary of Opera, by John Warrack and Ewan West (1992), 782 pages, ISBN 0-19-869164-5
• Opera: A Concise History, by Leslie Orrey and Rodney Milnes, World of Art, Thames & Hudson