Gino Bechi [SEP] date of death
Gino Bechi
Gino Bechi (16 October 1913 – 2 February 1993) was an Italian operatic baritone, particularly associated with the Italian repertory, especially in Verdi roles.
Life and career.
Bechi studied in his native Florence with Raul Frazzi and di Giorgio, and made his debut at Empoli, in 1936, as Germont in "La traviata".
He sang widely in Italy, appearing frequently at the Rome Opera from 1938 to 1952, and at La Scala from 1939 to 1953, where he sang the
signs of the mental illness which was to cause her premature retirement from the stage. This worsened with the death of her mother in 1935. She suffered a severe breakdown which led to her spending increasingly longer periods away from the stage, often in sanatoriums. Gino Bechi who sang with her on the 1940 "Cavalleria rusticana" recording recalled that during the recording sessions she would insistently ask him if he had noticed the white horses in the wings that she believed were waiting to take her away, but would become completely lucid when