Carlo Pietro Tagliabue (13 January 1898 – 5 April 1978) was an Italian baritone.
Carlo Tagliabue as Tonio in Pagliacci, Teatro alla Scala, Milan, 1942
Tagliabue was born on 13 January 1898 in Mariano Comense. According to Tagliabue, his love for singing began at a young age, when his father would take him to performances at La Scala. Carlo would return singing arias in a baritone voice disproportionate to his age. He also failed his childhood choir class because he wanted to sing in a big voice and grand manner, while they required the typical boy treble voice. Around age 17 he began two years' study of music and singing under Corrado Mattioli, a teacher and director of the choral division of the Civiche Scuole popolari di Musica in Milan.
After a brief conscription during World War I, he returned to Milan and studied for one year with Leopoldo Gennai—a repertoire coach from La Scala—and Annibale Ghidotti, a blind singing teacher who, it was said, could identify a student's voice type simply by feeling their throat.[1]
In his book Voci ParalleleGiacomo Lauri-Volpi wrote, "[Tagliabue] is the only survivor of a school that knows that in Rigoletto, in Ballo in Maschera, Trovatore, Traviata a melodramatic piece should be sung, measured and breathed musically in line with the mastery of great art."
