Born 1920, Felizzano, Italy
Died 1998, Milan, Italy
Gino Penno sang his first leading operatic role (Floreski in Cherubini’s Lodoiska) in 1950. His first international appearance took place at the Paris Opera in 1951. He sang with all of the operatic stars of the 1950s but vanished from the world’s opera stages before the end of the decade! What happened to him is unknown, although speculations have surfaced: he lost his voice, or encountered health problems, or just chose to change careers and become a lawyer.
Penno’s voice was said to have been the most enormous dramatic tenor on the world’s operatic stages, and that during the prime of Mario Del Monaco and Franco Corelli, and while a legend such as Giacomo Lauri-Volpi was still performing.
Like all very large voices, his did not record particularly well, with his huge, brilliant high notes sometimes overloading the sound equipment of the day. However, what is evident from his few recordings are admirable musicianship, stentorian production, expressive use of piano, and subtle vocal modulation, always in service to the text.
Listen to Penno in one of his few commercial studio recordings (1953), that of Verdi’s “Sento avvampar nell’anima” from Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra.
Penno was featured in a few radio broadcasts from RAI, including an excellent Lohengrin, sung in Italian in 1954 with Tebaldi, which is sometimes available on the Hardy Classic CD label. Other than that, his extant performances are available as pirated recordings, that is, live performances recorded in the house, with variable sound quality.
Here, in good sound quality, he sings “Meco all’altar di Venere” from Bellini’s Norma, in a production at the Metropolitan Opera in 1954. Even the Met’s microphones seemed pushed to their limit by the volumes of sound Penno was producing!
Let’s close out this post with Gino Penno singing “Come rugiada al cespite” from Verdi’s Ernani in 1950, when he was at the beginning of his career and his voice was at its freshest.