20 Feb Antonio Cotogni Cultural Association: 27 years of singing and passion.
[…] The Associazione Culturale Antonio Cotogni, was founded to find the path that can lead man to trace the original nature of the world of vocal sounds, through the greatest physical and mental freedom, in the greatest order and balance. But order presupposes rigour, and the more this order is balanced in the relationship between the singer and the music, the more difficult it becomes to choose this path. Choosing and deciding means first coming up against the wall of technique. […]
This is the incipit from the page of the association’s website (link at the bottom of the text) that bears the name of Antonio Cotogni: a famous 19th-century baritone who performed in the major Italian and foreign theatres for no less than 40 years and whose voice is still considered one of the most beautiful in the history of opera theatre. He was also a friend and ‘teacher’ of our Ruffo, in fact there are many episodes and mentions of him in the book My Parabola.
But this is only the tip of the iceberg if we are to describe who the Cotogni friends are and what they do. Between the school’s didactics and the many activities they carry out, they are, among other things, the creators and organisers, in collaboration with us heirs, of the concert Titta Ruffo – The Legend of a Voice: a project born out of the desire to celebrate and honour the great Pisan baritone with arias, songs and texts to remember an extraordinary voice, a man and an artist committed to his time who, despite his high artistic value, was opposed, defamed and silenced.
In anticipation of the event on Saturday 25 February we went to visit them at their venue in Rome’s Primavalle district to talk a little, watch the rehearsals and took the opportunity for short interviews with the artists who will perform so that we could get to know them better.
We begin with Rosa Rodriguez, founder and president of the association, an Argentinean pasionaria, singer and vocal researcher who has been studying and teaching the Cotogni technique for 40 years.
What does the Association promote and foster through its Singing School?
“The recovery of the great tradition of Italian singing with a vision open to the future.”
What was the spark that brought you into the music world?
“The folklore song of the peasants of my land.”
What does Antonio Cotogni mean to you?
“He is the great Master, a real presence in my life and a constant stimulus for all my research.”
What does Titta Ruffo represent for you?
“It is the synthesis of a true artist, form and content, artistic value and moral steadfastness.”
It’s now the turn of Patrizia Pavoncello, mezzo-soprano, one of the founders of the association as well as vice-president, a mathematics graduate who in everyday life sings and counts trying to solve problems and give voice to feelings with imagination and simplicity.
What was the spark that brought you into the music world?
“I started by studying classical guitar and then later took up singing.”
How did you get to Cotogni and its school?
“I was fascinated by the mystery of the voice, I wanted to understand the power of the expressive medium, then studying with Rosa I discovered my mezzo-soprano voice and continued to study.”
What does Antonio Cotogni mean to you?
“He represents the great singer having been Verdi’s baritone but also the excellent Maestro, creator of the great Roman School of Singing.”
What does Titta Ruffo represent for you?
“He is the baritone of baritones, what Caruso is to tenors, and I also appreciate his high moral and civic value.”
Giuditta Puccinelli, soprano and member of the Cotogni board, is a ‘total’ singer and lover of research sounds: she collaborates as a solo voice in projects and ensembles of different musical genres; she has a degree in Motor Sciences and is in the front line with her students every day. She has a bucolic soul and loves life and freedom.
What was the spark that brought you into the world of music?
“It has been a burning fire since before I was born. I grew up in a family where music was perennially present. The spark? My first record player, given to me when I was four years old.”
How did you get to Cotogni and its school?
“I used to sing a lot, but with vocal problems, and my reality as a singer suffered a lot. Then I met Rosa, and we made a path that led me to be a new singer, and to be part of the Cotogni Workshop.”
What does Antonio Cotogni mean to you?
“For me, Cotogni represents an immense didactic, artistic and human heritage, an example of a very serious but at the same time simple conception of singing (in addition to being Roman, indeed, Trasteverino!)”
What does Titta Ruffo represent for you?
“It represents the pride and consistency of being a free, strong, thinking artist.”
Here is tenor Salvatore Maligno: a soloist member of the association’s opera music workshop, since 2005 he has been following Maestra Rosa Rodriguez’s masterclasses; creator of the project ‘Partono e Bastimente’: Classical Neapolitan music songs from the late 19th to early 20th century.
What was the spark that brought you into the world of music?
“The innate passion for singing.”
How did you get to Cotogni and its school?
“Through an acquaintance who brought it to my attention, and 20 years have passed since that day.”
What does Antonio Cotogni mean to you?
“Maestro Antonio Cotogni, a great artist and teacher who has marked the path of all of us and whose artistic legacy inspires us to seek ‘the sound’ every day.”
What does Titta Ruffo represent for you?
“An important exponent of opera singing who has brought prestige to Italian bel canto in the world with his artistic contribution.”
Before the curtain falls, we shine the spotlight on pianist Luigi Francalanza, whose job is to accompany the singers, but not only: he has a diploma in piano, composition, choral music, choir conducting and band instrumentation from the ‘Santa Cecilia’ Conservatory in Rome; he currently teaches composition at the ‘A. Casella’ Conservatory in L’Aquila.
What was the spark that brought you into the world of music?
“I started studying music at the age of 7 thanks to my mother who realised that I had an absolute ear. I was listened to by Vincenzo Vitale one of the greatest pianists of the Neapolitan piano school who almost ‘forced’ my parents to let me study music and from then on this great adventure began.”
How did you get to Cotogni and its school?
“I started collaborating with the Cotogni Association through a fellow singer of mine who knew a singer who was studying at the association a few years ago.”
What does Antonio Cotogni mean to you?
“Antonio Cotogni is one of the most prestigious representatives of the Italian vocal tradition of the second half of the 19th century, in which the greatest singers, including Titta Ruffo, Beniamino Gigli and Giacomo Lauri-Volpi, established themselves.
What does Titta Ruffo represent for you?
“Titta Ruffo was one of the greatest Italian baritones who lived at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries along with Mariano Stabile and Benvenuto Franci, the latter both pupils of Antonio Cotogni.
Association website: https://associazionecotogni.org/
Before we close, we leave you with a nice gift: the video of last year’s concert, which featured Titta Ruffo for the first time. Enjoy!