SEPHARDIC MUSIC:
A CENTURY OF RECORDINGS

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Alberto della Pergola

Discography

(N.B. There are more Sephardic recordings by della Pergola, to be added in the future.)

Biography

Alberto della Pergola was born in 1884. A Florentine Sephardi hazan, he was one of the founders of the Bucharest Opera and served (in the 1910's) as cantor at the Great Sefardi Synagogue in Bucharest. He taught at the Bucharest Royal Academy of Music, where his son Luciano Della Pergola was a student as was his future daughter-in-law Edith Della Pergola. (Both went on to notable operatic careers of their own.)

While a child, he met Francesco Tamagno, originator of the title role in "Otello." (See here for the details.) At the age ot 25, he assumed the role of Chief Cantor in Bucharest. A.L. Ivela, organist and chorus director penned a collection of more than 200 traditional Sephardic religious songs, adapted and original, "in great part inspired by and composed for the rare vocal qualities of the famous tenor Alberto della Pergola, Chief Cantor." Della Pergola still found time for numerous concerts in Bucharest and further afield in Romania.

In addition to the entire tenor repertoire, he recorded numerous "Neapolitan songs" and various Romanian romances. He also recorded the religious melodies of the Spanish Temple, not only those written by Ivela, but also those by his successor, Josef Rosenstock, who was at the same time Chorus Master at the Romanian Opera.

During the First World War he was asked by George Enescu to join a company of singers who comforted wounded soldiers, and on these occasions, Enescu himself provided the piano accompaniment.

Della Pergola was widowed at the age of 44. His health soon took a turn for the worse. As the Second World War approached, his Synagogue was torched. He suffered a second, fatal stroke and died on January 16, 1942

Source: Alberto della Pergola (1884-1942), written by his son, Luciano della Pergola, November 1977, courtesy of Felicity Blatt.
Translation from the Italian by Michael Aylward. Read the entire biography here.

Photos

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