Luis Canalda
1896–1962
In RA format
In RA format
In RA format
In RA format
In RA format
I would like to thank Juan Dzazópulos for the recording (Pagliacci, Tosca, Siegfried).
I would like to thank Richard J Venezia for the recording (Samson et Dalila).
The Spanish tenor Luis Canalda was born in Santa Bárbara (Tarragona) in 1896. (Other sources mention the town of
Tortosa, also in Tarragona, and the year 1890.) His complete name was Lluís Canalda i Salomó. He was a cousin
of the famous coloratura soprano Mercedes Capsir.
He belonged to a middle class family and his father was a pharmacist. At ten years old, his father and his grandmother
heard him singing and decided that the boy should become a singer. They sent him to Barcelona to study singing.
He made his debut as Turiddu at the Teatro de la Zarzuela, in Madrid, on 4 March 1913. In 1914, at the Teatro Aguia
d'Ouro, in Porto, he sang in Carmen, and obtained a contract to sing at the Coliseo dos Recreios in Lisbon (April
1914). There he sang Carmen (with Dolores Frau), L'Africaine (with Giulia Bari) and Samson et Dalila
(with Dolores Frau and conducted by the componer Camille Saint-Saëns). Also in 1914, he made his debut at the Teatre
del Liceu in Barcelona, singing Pagliacci. At the Teatro Principal, in Gerona, he repeated his Samson and sang for
the first time the role of Tannhäuser. He returned to the Liceu to sing Carmen with Conchita Supervía
in the title role and Mercedes Capsir as Micaela, in 1914. Later (30 January 1915) he sang Samson et Dalila also
with Supervía and conductor Antonio Guarnieri. He repeated his Samson at the Coliseo Mundial in Tarragona (1915).
He was Siegmund in Die Walküre at the Liceu in 1916, and then at the Teatro Real in Madrid, where he sang six
performances from 10 February 1917 and won a reputation as a reliable Wagnerian tenor, with Elena Rakowska as
Brünnhilde, Carmen Bau Bonaplata (Sieglinde), the Mexican mezzosoprano Fanny Anitua (Fricka), the bass Angelo
Masini-Pieralli (Wotan) and conductor Tullio Serafin. In 1917 he sang at the Coliseo Albia in Bilbao, too.
In 1918 he sang at the Teatro Victoria Eugenia, in San Sebastián, Carmen, Aida, Samson,
Pagliacci and Tannhäuser and was chosen to create the role of Adrián in the world
première of La llama (The flame), the posthumous opera by José María Usandizaga on 30 January
1918, with the soprano Fidela Campiña as Tamar. Two months later, on 30 March 1918, Canalda sang the role of
Adrián again in the first performance of La llama in Madrid, at the Gran Teatro (destroyed by a fire some
years later). The soprano was Ofelia Nieto.
In June 1919 he sang in the new Teatro Arriaga, in Bilbao (the older one had been destroyed by a fire in 1914) Die
Walküre with the soprano María Llácer. At the Arriaga, he was also heard in the roles of Canio and
Don José, and in a program with single acts from Tosca and Ernani.
He sang his first Tristan at the Teatro São João, in Porto (Portugal). He repeated his Tristan at the Liceu
in Barcelona, in the 1919 season (ten performances).
He returned to the Teatro Victoria Eugenia in San Sebastián in 1920 to sing the role of Joshe Maria in the Basque
opera Mendi-Mendiyan (At the height of the mount) by José María Usandizaga.
In February/March 1921 he sang again at the Teatro Real in Madrid, in Tristan und Isolde with Cecilia Gagliardi,
Cesare Formichi and Gaudio Mansuelo (four performances).
He traveled to South America, from May to August 1921, to sing at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires seven
performances of Götterdämmerung with the soprano Nadina Borina and conducted by Héctor Panizza,
and four perfomances of Boris Godunov (as Grigorij) with Adam Didur as Boris and conductor Giorgio Polacco.
In 1922, he sang Aida at the Paris Opéra and Tristan at La Fenice in Venice.
Canalda sang at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples in the 1923/24 season: eight performances of Tristan und Isolde with
the Argentinean soprano Sara César and conductor Gino Marinuzzi. He sang in 1924 at the Teatro Regio in Torino.
In 1925, he sang at the Liceu Walküre and Götterdämmerung, with the soprano Lily Hafgren and
the conductor Felix Weingartner. At the Teatro Principal in Palma de Mallorca he sang for the first time in his career
Siegfried and later the same work at the Teatro Regio in Torino (6 April 1925) with the soprano Emilia Mizza, the
bass Giulio Cirino and conductor Guido Bavagnoli.
In 1926 he sang for the last time in Barcelona: Tristan und Isolde, and Parsifal (first time in his career)
with the soprano Gertrude Kappel and conductor Egon Pollak. That year, he also sang Parsifal at the Teatro Regio in
Torino (from 7 March 1926, eight performances) with the sopranos María Llácer/Teresina Burchi (Kundry), the
baritone Domenico Viglione-Borghese (Amfortas), the bass Giulio Cirino (Gurnemanz) and the conductor Gino Marinuzzi. He
also sang Siegfried at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genova.
He sang the role of Licinio in La vestale at the Teatro Concordia in Cremona in 1927.
His last appearances seem to have been in 1928. He sang Tristan at the Khedivial Opera House in Cairo, at the Teatro
Comunale in Trieste and at the Teatro Vittorio Emanuele in Rimini.
He was announced for the 1931/32 season in Barcelona, but he did not sing.
Some Spanish biographies include performances in Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro, Rome (Teatro Costanzi) and in New York
(Metropolitan Opera). I have not found any evidence that these performances took ever place.
Around 1936, he settled in Barcelona, where he taught singing. Luis Canalda died in Barcelona in 1962.
Luis Canalda belonged to that strange breed of tenors that, at the beginning of the 20th century, contributed to propagate
Wagner's operas, sung in Italian, to Latin audiences, mainly in Italy and Spain. We must mention the Italian tenors
Giuseppe Borgatti, Amedeo Bassi, Guido Vaccari, Catulo Maestri and Edoardo Ferrari Fontana; the Spaniards Francisco
Viñas, Isidoro Fagoaga, Juan Raventós and Juan Voyer; the Maltese Icilio Calleja; and the Chilean Renato
Zanelli, among many others.
As with most Wagnerian tenors, Canalda's voice was baritonal and not too easy in the upper range. As we have seen, his
repertoire was rather small: only 17 roles, and he sang most of them for a very short period of time (one or two years),
except for Tristan und Isolde and Die Walküre, which he sang for ten years, then Pagliacci and
Carmen (six years) and Götterdämmerung (five years). After all, we must remember that he sang
for only 14 years.
Juan Dzazópulos
Canalda had originally studied as a baritone, and at the very beginning of his career, he was still
undecided: just one month after his debut, in April 1913, he appeared at the Teatre Novedades in Barcelona as a baritone. And he
returned to switching between tenor and baritone at the end of his career, which came later than the above biography supposes:
while it's true that he didn't sing much after 1928 (and founded a singing school in Barcelona, together with his wife Magdalena
Badals, an ex-soprano), he appeared occasionally until 1934, by turns as a tenor and a baritone. His last appearance was in
August 1934 as a baritone in Usandizaga's Las golondrinas at the Novedades.
Reference
Repertory
Cavalleria rusticana – Madrid, Zarzuela, 4 March 1913
Carmen – Porto, Aguia d'Ouro, 1914
L'Africaine – Lisboa, Coliseo dos Recreios, 1914
Tannhäuser – Gerona, Principal, 1914
Samson et Dalila – Gerona, Principal, 1914
Pagliacci – Barcelona, Liceu, 1914
Die Walküre – Barcelona, Liceu, 1916
Aida – San Sebastián, Victoria Eugenia, 1918
La llama – San Sebastián, Victoria Eugenia, 30 January 1918
Ernani (fragments only together with Tosca) – Bilbao, Arriaga, 1919
Tosca (fragments only together with Ernani) – Bilboa, Arriaga, 1919
Tristan und Isolde – Porto, São João, 1919
Mendi-Mendiyan – San Sebastián, Victoria Eugenia, 1920
Götterdämmerung – Buenos Aires, Colón, 1921
Boris Godunov – Buenos Aires, Colón, 1921
Siegfried – Palma, Principal, 1925
Parsifal – Barcelona, Liceu, 1926
La vestale – Cremona, Concordia, 1927
Discography
Spanish Odeon, 1920/1921, 10"
So1812-3 Las golondrinas (Usandizaga): Se reía 57502
Los calabreses (Luna): Dúo (w. Callao) 57053
Los calabreses (Luna): Serenata 57056
La llama (Usandizaga): Dúo Aisa y Adrián, pt. 1 (w. Callao) 57500
La llama (Usandizaga): Dúo Aisa y Adrián, pt. 2 (w. Callao) 57501
So1844-2 Tosca (Puccini): E lucevan le stelle 57510
So1845-2 Pagliacci (Leoncavallo): Vesti la giubba 57511
Die Walküre (Wagner): Cede il verno 57504
Siegfried (Wagner): Nothung! Nothung! Invidiato acciar 57505
Aida (Verdi): Già i sacerdoti adunansi, pt. 1 (w. Callao) 57506
Aida (Verdi): Già i sacerdoti adunansi, pt. 2 (w. Callao) 57507
Samson et Dalila (Saint-Saëns): Figli miei, v'arrestate 57508
Samson et Dalila (Saint-Saëns): Spezza i ceppi 57509
So1871 El tesoro (Vives): Canción de la forja 57503
Otello (Verdi): Esultate 57512
Otello (Verdi): Niun mi tema 57513
La canción del olvido (Serrano): Dúo final (w. Callao) 57514
Spanish Odeon, 1920/1921, 12"
El aduar (Luna): Canción de Hazen 99775
La canción del olvido (Serrano): Canción de Leonelo 99776
El aduar (Luna): Gran dúo (w. Callao) 99777
La llama (Usandizaga): Dúo Tamar y Adrián acto 1° (w. Nieto) 150002
La llama (Usandizaga): Noche maldita 150003
La llama (Usandizaga): Romanza de Adrián en la cárcel 150005
La llama (Usandizaga): Dúo Tamar y Adrián acto 2° (w. Nieto) 150006
La llama (Usandizaga): Terceto Tamar, Adrián y el Sultán 150008
(w. Nieto & del Valle)
La llama (Usandizaga): Terceto Tamar, Aisa y Adrián 150009
(w. Nieto & Callao)
La llama (Usandizaga): Dúo de amor Tamar y Adrián (w. Nieto) 150010
Carmen (Bizet): Sei tu? Son io!, pt. 1 (w. Callao) 150012
Carmen (Bizet): Sei tu? Son io!, pt. 2 (w. Callao) 150013
Samson et Dalila (Saint-Saëns): Dúo (w. Callao) 150015
I wish to thank Juan Dzazópulos for the biographical notes and updated discography.
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