Battistini Mattia, *8 February 1857 Contigliano near Rieti (27 February 1856 Rome?), †8 (7?) November 1928 Colle Baccaro near Rieti, Italian singer (baritone). He made his debut in 1878 at the Teatro Argentina in Rome as King Alfonso in Donizetti’s La favorita. After this successful performance, he was engaged for the entire season in Buenos Aires. He then sang in Italian theaters and in Madrid. From 1883, he performed for five years at London’s Covent Garden, and in 1888 he appeared on stage at La Scala in Milan. After 1890, he traveled throughout Europe, gaining fame as the most brilliant Italian baritone of his era. He also made numerous guest appearances in Warsaw, where he recorded his first records in 1902 (for G & T); he was the first performer on the Warsaw stage to play the title role in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. He made his last appearance in Graz in 1927.
His versatile repertoire included 82 roles, both lyrical and dramatic. Battistini was famous as a magnificent performer of the title role in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Petronius in Quo vadis by J. Nougués, as well as baritone roles in Rossini’s William Tell, Bellini’s I Puritani, Donizetti’s La Favorita, Gounod’s Faust, Verdi’s Ernani, La Traviata and Rigoletto. Massenet rewrote the bass part of Athanaël in Thaïs and the tenor part in the opera Werther for him. He was considered one of the last representatives of the old school of Italian bel canto. He was called “the king of baritones and baritone of kings” and was admired for his technical mastery in using his voice with its extraordinary sonority, carrying power, and range.
Literature: F. Palmegiani Mattia Battistini, il re dei baritoni, Milan 1948.
