Gino Penno & Antonio Manca-Serra - Invano Alvaro (Naples, 1954)

Tenor Gino Penno (1920-1998) and baritone Antonio Manca-Serra (1923-1956) sing the duet, "Invano Alvaro" from Verdi's La Forza del Destino. This exciting performance (the audience bursts into spontaneous applause after one particularly powerful note from the tenor!) was recorded at the San Carlo Opera in Naples on January 16, 1954. Despite the fact that this is being posted on a channel called "Dead Tenors' Society", I feel that a few words about the baritone heard in this performance are warranted. Antonio Manca-Serra was born in Cagliari, Sardinia in 1923. Most opera lovers remember him from the opera highlights albums issued by the Urania label in the 1950s and '60s. Manca-Serra was on the brink of a major international career (he had just been signed by La Scala as well as by a major American recording label) when disaster struck. During an appearance in Dublin in April of 1956, the young baritone came down with a cold that seemed to be developing into a respiratory infection. Concerned for the well being of his voice, he visited a local doctor, who prescribed penicillin to treat the illness. Not realizing that he was allergic to the drug, Manca-Serra went ahead with the injection. Within the hour, the baritone suffered a severe anaphylactic reaction and died. The death of Antonio Manca-Serra was a tremendous loss for the opera world.