Antonio Pini-Corsi

Antonio Pini-Corsi (born June [?] 1858 or 1859, Zara, later known as Zadar — died April 21, 1918, Milan) was an Italian operatic baritone of international renown. He possessed a ripe-toned voice of great flexibility and displayed tremendous skill at patter singing. Pini-Corsi participated in numerous operatic premieres, creating such roles on stage as Ford in Giuseppe Verdi's Falstaff and Schaunard in Giacomo Puccini's La bohème. Part of the first generation of recorded musicians, Pini-Corsi was one of the finest buffo singers of his era. Pini-Corsi was born into a musical family in what is now Croatia. (Many of his relatives sang professionally, most notably his brother Gaetano, who was a successful operatic tenor.) He made his...