Santello Grassi's life and career are only sketchily documented so far. If we suppose that he announces himself in the below recordings,
then he was from the South of Italy, perhaps from Naples. He studied voice with Romano Nannetti in Rome and made his debut
at the Teatro Quirino there in 1904, as Turiddu. A career at mostly secondary theaters followed; it seems to have lasted until 1922.
Santello Grassi sang at the Reinach in Parma, the Nuovo in Bergamo and the della Pergola in Florence, in Udine, Castelfranco Veneto,
Suzzara, Prato, Viterbo or Messina. He got more important contracts abroad: other than singing in Lugano and Luston (of all places), he
toured Spain, Portugal and South America with the well-reputed Compagnia Caracciolo, an Italian operetta company that frequently also
staged Le maschere, with Grassi as Florindo. They appeared at the Teatro Principal in Valencia, at the Coliseo dos Recreios in
Lisbon, at the Theatro Municipal in São Paulo, in Rio de Janeiro and in Buenos Aires. One of their more unlikely productions was
Baron Trenck, an operetta on a German libretto with music by Croatian composer Srećko (or Felix) Albini – the
Compagnia Caracciolo gave it in Portuguese as O cossaco, with Grassi in the male lead role! With another operetta company
(Vitale), he appeared at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome in 1920.
Grassi's operatic roles included Alfredo, Duca di Mantova, Gennaro, Don José and Canio.
Picture source and reference 1: the fantastic website
of Roberto Marcocci; reference 2; reference 3: O Furão, 21
July 1917; reference 4: Il Resto del Carlino, 8 September 1917; reference 5: Teatro Goldoni, Livorno, season 2018/19, Sì
playbill
Anton Bieber has provided the recordings and label scans: thank you!
