Francisco d'Andrade by Schaarwächter (4)

Francisco d’Andrade, born Francisco Augusto de Andrade E Silva (1859-1921); Portuguese baritone.
He was the son of a jurist; initially he also studied law, but from 1881 on he received singing lessons by Manuel Carreira, Luiz da Costa and José Romano in Lisbon. From 1886 on further vocal training in Milan, where he was the pupil of the voice teachers Miraglia and Ronconi. In 1882 he made his stage debut at San Remo as Amonasro in Aïda. In the following years he had his first success in Italy, Spain and Portugal, including at La Scala Milan and at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome. In 1886 he made a guest appearance at Covent Garden London in Verdi’s “Ballo in maschera”, where he had great success till 1890, e.g. as Giorgio Germont in “La Traviata”, as Enrico in “Lucia di Lammermoor” and as Count Luna in “Il Trovatore”. In 1886 he performed at Moscow as Telramund in “Lohengrin” and also as Wolfram in “Tannhäuser”, one of the few non-Italian rôles that he sang.
In 1888 – at the Teatro San Carlo Lisboa- he sang at the première of “Donna Bianca” , an opera by the Portugese composer Alfredo Keil.In 1889 he came to Berlin with an opera company of impressario Gardini. He was so succesfull with his performances as Figaro in “Barber of Seville”, as Rigoletto and above all as Don Giovanni, that he decided to settle in Berlin. From 1906-1916 he was a regular singer at the “Berliner Hofoper”. From 1891-1910 he was almost every year a guest at the Frankfurt Opera; also at the Zürich Opera in the years 1894,1896, 1901 and 1909. Guest appearances led him to music centers in Germany, Holland, Austria, Russia, England and Scandinavia, most of the time in the rôle of Don Giovanni. In this rôle he was considered to be unmatched; his fascinating portrayal of Don Giovanni was recorded in several famous paintings by his friend the painter Max Slevogt. He performed on stage till 1919; ultimately only as Don Giovanni. Another star-rôle was Figaro in Rossini’s “Barber of Seville”. He dominated a stage repertory of 56 rôles in six languages. When Portugal entered the first World War, he had to leave Berlin and Germany. He lived then in Portugal, where in May 1918 he was on the stage for the last time (Figaro). In 1919 he returned to Berlin but two years later he suddenly died of a stroke. In 1906 Francisco d’Andrade made 10 gramophone records for the Lyrophon Company. He was the younger brother of the tenor Antonio d’Andrade (1854-1942).


On the photo he is seen in the title role of Mozart's "Don Giovanni".