Giovanni Zenatello

22 February 1876 Verona – 11 February 1949 New York City

Tannhäuser Only Tannhäuser at the Manhattan Opera House (New York) of Oscar Hammerstein during the 1909/1910 season, in Italian, with Mariette Mazarin (Elisabeth), Maurice Renaud (Wolfram) and Augusta Doria (Venus), on 10, 13, 22 December (only three performances... and never again in his career)

Giovanni Zenatello in Malta

Many thanks to Davide Denti for the Malta picture.

Giovanni Zenatello sings Il trovatore:

Di quella pira

Giovanni Zenatello sings La traviata:

Dei miei bollenti spiriti

In RA format

Giovanni Zenatello sings Otello:

Dio, mi potevi scagliar

I wish to thank Thomas Silverbörg for the above picture and recordings.

as Radamès

Zenatello studied voice privately in Verona and Milano, and made his debut in 1898 in Bassano del Grappa as a baritone (Silvio, followed by Alfio). The next year, at the Teatro Mercadante in Naples, he replaced a sick tenor as Canio – with such success that he never again sang baritone.
In 1902, he made his Scala debut, and quickly developed into one of the world's leading tenors. His repertory ranged from Alfredo to Otello, his most important role by far (he sang it more than 500 times!). At La Scala, he created Init in Oceana by Antonio Smareglia (22 January 1903), Vassili in Siberia (19 December 1903), Pinkerton (17 February 1904, a failure), Aligi in La figlia di Iorio by Franchetti (29 March 1906) and Lionetto Ricci in Cilea's Gloria (15 April 1907).
From 1905, he was a regular guest at Covent Garden, and from 1907, he sang primarily in the US (Boston, Philadelphia), though never at the Met proper, and just a few performances for the Met company on a 1909 tour, where he replaced Enrico Caruso, who had had recent surgery.
In 1913, Zenatello was the driving force behind the institution of the opera festival at the Arena di Verona (as whose impresario he served much later, after WWII, where he boosted the careers of both Maria Callas and Richard Tucker by giving them prominent roles).
After 1928, his performances became rare, and he retired in 1934, to become a teacher, numbering Lily Pons and Nino Martini among his students.
From 1916 to her 1943 death, his partner in life (and often also on stage) was the Spanish mezzosoprano Maria Gay. For those who have a penchant for meaningless formalities, Zenatello and Gay were never married, which was certainly remarkably modern for people of their generation.
Reference 1, reference 2, reference 3: Kutsch & Riemens

Repertory
Pagliacci (Silvio) – Belluno, April 1898
Cavalleria rusticana (Alfio) – Belluno, April 1898
Mignon (Laerte) – Napoli, January 1899
Pagliacci (Tonio) – Napoli, 1899
Pagliacci (Canio) – Napoli, March 1899
Il trovatore – Napoli, June 1899
Faust – Napoli, 29 July 1899
Lucia di Lammermoor – Napoli, 11 August 1899
Il falconiere – Catania, 3 September 1899
Cavalleria rusticana – Catania, 1899
Carmen – Catania, 1899
La bohème – Corato, 1900
La forza del destino – Corato, 1900
Un ballo in maschera – Cosenza, spring 1900
Rigoletto – Cosenza, spring 1900
Il violino di Cremona – Napoli, 2 June 1900
I pescatori di perle – Napoli, 27 October 1900
La traviata – Napoli, 7 November 1900
Aida – Siracusa, November 1900
Ruy Blas – Malta, 10 January 1901
Agnese Visconti – Malta, February 1901
Andrea Chénier – Suzarra, 12? August 1901
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg – Lisboa, 5? February 1902
Iris – Palermo, 22 February 1902
Manon Lescaut – Rio de Janeiro, 11 August 1902
Mefistofele – Rio de Janeiro, 13 August 1902
Tosca – Rio de Janeiro, 17 September 1902
Il Guarany – Rio de Janeiro, 25 September 1902
La damnation de Faust – Milano, 22 December 1902
Oceana – Milano, 22 January 1903
Siberia – Milano, 19 December 1903
Germania – Milano, 9 February 1903
Madama Butterfly – Milano, 17 February 1903
Les huguenots – Rio de Janeiro, 27 September 1904
Adriana Lecouvreur – Roma, 18 February 1905
La cabrera – Roma, 12 March 1905
Manuel Menendez – Roma, 12 March 1905
Edgar – Buenos Aires, 8 July 1905
Loreley – Buenos Aires, 23 July 1905
Vita bretone – Buenos Aires, 15 August 1905
Pikovaja dama – Milano, 18 Janury 1906
La figlia di Jorio – Milano, 22 April 1906
Fedora – London, 5 November 1906
La Gioconda – Milano, 15 January 1907
Gloria – Milano, 15 April 1907
Samson et Dalila – Buenos Aires, 14 July 1907
Otello – London, 1 July 1908
Tess – London, 14 July 1909
La fanciulla del West – Boston, 17 Janury 1912
I gioielli della madonna – Philadelphia, 23 November 1912
Louise – Boston, 4 January 1913
Masaniello – Chicago, 4 October 1915
L'amore dei tre re – Boston, 15 November 1915

I wish to thank Tom Kaufman for giving me access to his unpublished Zenatello chronology.

Nina Zenatello-Consolaro: "Giovanni Zenatello, tenore", Nova Stampa, Verona, 1976.

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