Regolo Romani

Romani's posthumous reputation is somewhat distorted by his discography. From the mid-1950s, he sang his way through the Italian provinces. 1959 to 1988, he was permanently at La Scala, while making guest appearances in Italy and abroad (particularly in the USA). Both in his early years in the provinces, and later on wherever appearing as a guest, he always sang main roles, and regularly in really prominent casts: at the San Carlo in Naples for instance Duca, 1964; Edgardo at the Teatro Margherita in Genova, 1964 as well; at the Vienna Staatsoper, Riccardo in 1962 (with Hilde Rössel-Majdan and Aldo Protti) and Alfredo in 1963 (with Anna Moffo and Kostas Paskalis); in Philadelphia Rodolfo in 1964 (with Renata Tebaldi), Pinkerton in 1965 (with Renata Scotto), Edgardo in 1965 (with Anna Moffo and Anselmo Colzani) and Alfredo in 1969 (with Gabriella Tucci and Frank Guarrera); in New Orleans for instance Alfredo (with Virginia Zeani) in 1965; Italienischer Sänger at the Salzburg Festival, 1963; Bista in Salvatore Allegra's Ave Maria in Dublin in 1959; at Italian theaters like Piacenza, Cremona, Lecce or Rovigo in roles like Nemorino, Alfredo and Rodolfo.

Only "at home", at La Scala, he was, from his debut as Cassio, mostly limited to the comprimario repertory. And since many complete operas were recorded with the Scala troupe, Romani appears on records almost exclusively in small parts. In the course of the 1970s, he gave up singing main roles entirely.

He was from Rovigo, where his brother Roldo ran the family's well-known café.

Reference 1: Kutsch & Riemens; reference 2: Vienna Staatsoper archives; reference 3: Frank Hamilton, Opera in Philadelphia. Performance chronology 1950–1974, online publication 2011; reference 4; reference 5: La Voce di Rovigo, 15 March 2017