Giuseppe Valdengo (1914-2007) studied violin, oboe and singing at the Turin Conservatory, and after singing subsidiary rôles, made his début as a principal in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville at Parma in 1936. He first appeared at La Scala, Milan, in 1938. He sang Sharpless in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly at the New York City Center Opera in 1946, the same year in which he made his début at the Metropolitan Opera, with which he was to enjoy a long and distinguished relationship. In addition to Otello, he also took the principal baritone rôles in Toscanini’s broadcasts and recordings of Aida and Falstaff. He returned to Italy in 1956, and retired from the stage in 1966, after which he taught and wrote a book entitled ‘I sang with Toscanini’.