Ella mi fu rapita – Koloman von Pataky, 1927

Rigoletto from Giuseppe Verdi



DUCA
Ella mi fu rapita!
E quando, o ciel? ... ne' brevi
Istanti, prima che il mio presagio interno
Sull'orma corsa ancora mi spingesse!
Schiuso era l'uscio! e la magìon deserta!
E dove ora sarà quell'angiol caro?
Colei che prima poté in questo core
Destar la fiamma di costanti affetti?
Colei sì pura, al cui modesto sguardo
Quasi spinto a virtù talor mi credo!
Ella mi fu rapita!
E chi l'ardiva? ... ma ne avrò vendetta.
Lo chiede il pianto della mia diletta.

Parmi veder le lagrime
Scorrenti da quel ciglio,
Quando fra il dubbio e l'ansia
Dei subito periglio,
Dell'amor nostro mernore
Il suo Gualtier chiamò.
Ned ei potea soccorrerti,
Cara fanciulla amata;
Ei che vorria coll'anima
Farti quaggiù beata;
Li che le sfere agli angeli
Per te non invidiò.

Koloman von Pataky

1896-1964
Tenor

The Hungarian tenor Koloman von Pataky was born in Alsó Lendva, Hungary, on 14 November 1896. The name Koloman von Pataky was a derivative of his birth name, Kálmán Pataky de Désfalva.

Before committing himself to a life in song, he enrolled at the military academy of Budapest, from which he eventually graduated, but after the First World War, he decided taking singing seriously. Von Pataky commenced vocal studies in his natal city and eventually made his operatic debut here in 1922 at the Városi Szinház opera, as the Duke in Rigoletto. The Budapest National Opera engaged him for a five year period and from 1926, upon recommendation from the conductor Franz Schalk, he was appointed a member of the Wiener Staatsoper. He enjoyed a brilliant career in the Austrian capital and remained a member of the Viennese opera until 1938.

From 1927 he made several guest performances in Dresden, Berlin and München, and a celebrated appearance in Paris at the Grand Opera followed in 1928. Then a definite highlight in his career took place with his intervention at the Salzburg Festival during the years 1929-31, where he proved himself as one of the finest Don Ottavios (Mozart, Don Giovanni) this century has produced. It was a role he also brought to the Glyndebourne Festival in 1936, a magical moment under conductor Fritz Busch, that has been recorded for posteriority. The same year he returned to Salzburg, where he added to his repertory the role of Florestan in Beethoven's Fidelio.

From the second half of the 1930s, von Pataky elaborated a significant career in Latin America, principally at the Teatro Colon of Buenos Aires - where he first appeared in 1937 as Fenton in Verdi's Falstaff - and at the opera of Santiago de Chile.

After the German Anschluß of Austria in 1938, von Pataky left Wien, where he had been since 1926, and returned to his native Budapest. He nonetheless kept performing in Argentina and Chile until 1941 and also had a successful season at La Scala 1939-40 as Hüon in Weber's Oberon, and sang at the Rome Opera 1940-41.

He eventually withdrew from the stage in 1946 and left Hungary for Chile, where he established himself as a vocal pedagogue in Santiago. Shortly before his death, he moved to Hollywood, Los Angeles, where he continued to teach. He passed away in Hollywood on 3 March 1964.

Weitere Aufnahmen von Koloman von Pataky