SAN MARINO, 15 September 2024 – The members of the Fondazione Renata Tebaldi share the grief of Vincenzo Ramón Bisogni’s wife, Gilda, and family, and mourn the death of an enthusiastic researcher and biographer, but especially of a close friend.

The President of the Foundation, Mr. Niksa Simetovic, said:

“Telling the affection, esteem, close friendship and gratitude for Vincenzo Ramón Bisogni in a few words is not easy. He left a big gaping hole in our hearts and memory of that past, which is history; Renata’s history. Vincenzo was very close to the “Signorina” Tebaldi, devoted to her as an artist, honoured by her friendship. He immediately felt part of our family and was welcomed by the Fondazione Renata Tebaldi with great affection. He supported the Foundation in any way and he was always with us in the most important moments. Vincenzo Ramón is part of us and of our common history. We will never forget him. We are sharing the grief of his family and want to send hugs to his wife Gilda and his beloved children and grandchildren.”

On 18 December 2012, Bisogni was made an honorary member of the Fondazione Renata Tebaldi under the following reason:

“The voice of Renata Tebaldi came very early into his life. A love born at first listen and grown more and more over the years. He has written much of Her, the “Signorina“, and when he knew about the Fondazione Renata Tebaldi, he immediately poured that love upon us. A musicologist, an expert on voices and dispassionate loverof opera, Vincenzo Ramón Bisogni is our main reference point for all information regarding the history of the singers, their artistic career and any curiosity about them. A huge living encyclopedia that the Fondazione Renata Tebaldi is proud to refer to. But Vincenzo Ramón Bisogni is above all a great man who is close to us and that we would like to thank by offering him this reward to prove all our gratitude and deep friendship, which we know is widely reciprocated.”

BIOGRAPHY

A Neapolitan, Vincenzo Ramón Bisogni graduated in Law and lived in Trieste.

He worked for the monthly magazine Musica by writing essays on the voices of Renata Tebaldi, Giulietta Simionato, Cesare Siepi and other great singers. He had his articles published in the Gazzetta di Parma and Rassegna Musicale Italiana.

Bisogni gave several interviews to RAI Radiotre and to special issues of the Italian main news programme TG 1. He also wrote explanatory texts for CD recordings. Bisogni translated and adapted The Girl of the golden West by David Belasco, which was produced by the Institut Français de Florence and the Casa-Museo Puccini in Torre del Lago, and staged several times (also in Trieste at the event Musei di Sera).

Vincenzo Ramón Bisogni has been a member of the jury in voice competitions. He cooperated with the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the Fondazione Tebaldi in San Marino, the Kluj-Napoca University and the Accademia Filarmonica in Bologna.

He published the following books: Renata Tebaldi: Viaggio intorno ad una voce (2000); in 2001, Tutto Verdi (o quasi) dalla V alla I; in 2006, Caruso, Caniglia, Stignani & Compagnia Cantante all’Ombra del Vesuvio; for Zecchini Ed. VA, in 2008, a biography of the soprano Victoria de los Angeles and, in 2009, Angelo Mariani, tra Verdi e la Stolz, followed by Franco Corelli, Irresistibilmente tenore and Richard Wagner: das Rheingeld, un fiume di denaro. In January 2012, once again for Zecchini, he published The Pocket Caruso. Un tenore in fuga, dedicated to tenor Joseph Schmidt, a victim of the Nazi persecution. Later, he published Nicolai Ghiaurov. La voce di un uomo vero (2013), Giacomo Puccini. Bello e… possibile. Tradizione, modernità e futuro della musica (2014) Uno sguardo dal palco. Tante voci tra cronaca, romanzo & realtà fin sull’orlo degli abissi della storia (2018), Renata Tebaldi. «Dolce maestà». Figlia, donna, icona, followed by Reinventare dal vero. Grandi donne in musica. Adriana, Violetta, Butterfly (2022),Dalla storia alla musica. Viaggio intorno ai personaggi nelle opere di Verdi, Donizetti, Puccini, Giordano e Leoncavallo (2023).

Vincenzo Ramón Bisogni has an entry in the Dizionario enciclopedico della musica classica – Rizzoli-BUR, written by Piero Mioli.