Pietro Mongini
(1828-1874)

The Italian tenor Pietro Mongini was born in Rome on 29 October 1828. 

According to an Internet source (OperaScotland.org), ‘Pietro Mongini had an important career, if only as the creator of Radamès [the Captain of the Guard] at the premiere of Aïda in Cairo. In Britain, he spent several seasons with Her Majesty's Italian Opera, as well as one season (1869-70) at Covent Garden. He appeared as Arrigo in the British premiere of Sicilian Vespers (Drury Lane 1859). His other heroic tenor roles included Manrico, Arnold, Raoul de Nangis and John of Leyden, as well as Radamès.’

He made his London debut in 1859 at the Royal Italian Opera in Drury Lane. Numerous advertisements claimed he was ‘universally acknowledged the First Tenor in Europe’ and several reviews reported that he was ‘renowned in the theatres of Italy and at St Petersburg.’ 

Pietro Mongini died of heart disease in Milan on 27 April 1874. His career had brought him wealth and he had used his lavish earnings to build a sumptuous villa on Lake Maggiore, where he had intended to spend his retirement with his wife and children, whom he adored (Il mondo artistico, 4 May 1874).