{{Short description|American baritone (1922-2011)}} {{Infobox person | name = Cornell MacNeil | birth_date = September 24, 1922 | birth_place = Minneapolis, Minnesota | death_date = July 15, 2011 (aged 88) |death_place = Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S. | occupation = Operatic baritone | years_active = 1950 - 1985}} '''Cornell MacNeil''' (September 24, 1922 – July 15, 2011<ref name=":0">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/18/arts/music/cornell-macneil-operatic-baritone-dies-at-88.html?_r=1&ref=deathsobituaries|title=Cornell MacNeil, Verdi Baritone at the Met, Dies at 88|date=July 17, 2011|first=Jonathan|last=Kandell|work=The New York Times}}</ref>) was an American operatic baritone known for his exceptional voice and long career with the Metropolitan Opera, which spanned 642 performances in twenty-six roles. ''Opera News'' opined he "was a great baritone in era of great baritones — Warren, Gobbi, Merrill, Milnes — and in the contemporary press, comparisons to his colleagues were frequent. But MacNeil's performances had singular musical richness, and moral and intellectual complexity that were his alone. MacNeil may have had rivals, but he had no equals."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.operanews.com/Opera_News_Magazine/2011/8/Departments/Obituary__Cornell_MacNeil.html|title=Obituaries: Cornell MacNeil|date=August 2011|volume=76|number=2|first=F. |last=Paul Driscoll|work=Opera News|access-date=2011-08-06|archive-date=2023-02-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230201111229/https://www.operanews.com/Opera_News_Magazine/2011/8/Departments/Obituary__Cornell_MacNeil.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Life and career== Cornell MacNeil was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota to a dentist and a singer.<ref name=":0" /> He was interested in opera from a young age, but suffered from severe asthma, which also contributed to his rejection from World War II.<ref name=":0" /> He then took on a wartime job as a lathe operator, after which, on his mother's advice, began his vocal studies.<ref name=":0" /> Among his teachers were Friedrich Schorr and Dick Marzollo.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2013-07-01|title=Cornell MacNeil American baritone 1922 - 2011|url=https://www.operalogg.com/cornell-macneil-american-baritone-1922-2011/|access-date=2020-08-22|website=Operalogg|language=sv-SE|archive-date=2020-08-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803092348/https://www.operalogg.com/cornell-macneil-american-baritone-1922-2011/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=":0" />
Before the end of the war, he sang and made announcements for the Radio City Music Hall Glee Club, for whose audience he announced the surrenders of the German and the Japanese at the end of the war. After a brief audition, he was cast by the composer and director Gian Carlo Menotti as the male lead in his opera, ''The Consul'', which opened on March 1, 1950, at the Shubert Theater in Philadelphia. He debuted with the New York City Opera in 1953 as Germont in ''La traviata'' and the Metropolitan Opera House in 1959 as the lead in ''Rigoletto''. In 1959, he debuted in La Scala in ''Ernani''.<ref name=":0" /> In 1969, he became president of the American Guild of Musical Artists.<ref>{{cite web | author= Erik Eriksson | publisher= Answers.com | title= Cornell MacNeil | year= 2006 | url= http://www.answers.com/topic/cornell-macneil | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080724205041/http://www.answers.com/topic/cornell-macneil | url-status= dead | archive-date= 2008-07-24 | accessdate= 2007-01-19}}</ref>
MacNeil's voice was notable for its size and top notes. Despite some vocal decline in the late 1970s, he maintained a high standard throughout his long career. Two of his most notable roles were the title role in ''Rigoletto'', and Iago in ''Otello''. MacNeil was a regular at the Metropolitan Opera.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.operanews.com/operanews/templates/content.aspx?id=6210|title=Reunion: Cornell MacNeil|first=Rudolph S.|last=Rauch|journal=Opera News|date=November 2007|volume=72|number=8|access-date=2011-07-20|archive-date=2023-02-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230201111246/https://www.operanews.com/operanews/templates/content.aspx?id=6210|url-status=dead}}</ref>
His debut was on March 21, 1959, as Rigoletto. Rigoletto was also the role he sang the most at the Met, 104 times, including the Met's first telecast of that opera in 1977, in the production by John Dexter.<ref>{{Cite Grove |last=Bernas |first=Richard |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.17373 |title=MacNeil, Cornell |date=2001-01-20 }}</ref>
MacNeil was also well known for the role of Baron Scarpia in ''Tosca'', a role he sang 92 times at the Met between November 2, 1959, and December 5, 1987, which was his last performance with the company. He appeared at La Scala in 1959 (''Ernani'', with Franco Corelli) and in 1960 (''Aida'').<ref>{{cite book |last=Verdi |first=Giuseppe |chapter=Aida: Opera i 4 Akter Med Tekst Af Antonio Ghislanzoni|date=2023-10-27 |title=Opera: 90 værker akt for akt|pages=368–374 |doi=10.2307/jj.10518952.74 |publisher=Aarhus University Press |isbn=978-87-7219-881-1}}</ref>
==Abridged discography== * Menotti: ''The Consul'' (Neway, Powers; Engel, 1950) Decca Records * Verdi: ''La traviata'': excerpts (Kirsten, Hayward; Cellini, 1958) [live] VAI * Puccini: ''La fanciulla del West'' (Tebaldi, del Monaco, Tozzi; Capuana, 1958) Decca Records * Verdi: ''Aïda'' (Tebaldi, Simionato, Bergonzi; Karajan, 1959) Decca Records * Leoncavallo: ''Pagliacci'' (Tucci, del Monaco; Molinari-Pradelli, 1959) Decca Records * Mascagni: ''Cavalleria rusticana'' (Simionato, del Monaco; Serafin, 1960) Decca Records * Verdi: ''Un ballo in maschera'' (Nilsson, Simionato, Bergonzi; Solti, 1960–1) Decca Records * Verdi: ''Rigoletto'' (Sutherland, Cioni, Siepi; Sanzogno, 1961) Decca Records * Verdi: ''Luisa Miller'' (Moffo, Verrett, Bergonzi, Tozzi, Flagello; Cleva, 1965) RCA * Verdi: ''Rigoletto'' (Grist, Gedda; Molinari-Pradelli, 1967) EMI * Leoncavallo: ''Pagliacci'' (Carlyle, Vickers; Bartoletti, 1968) [live] VAI * Verdi: ''La traviata'' (Stratas, Domingo; Levine, 1982) Elektra
== Abridged videography == * Puccini: ''Tosca'' (Pobbe, Raimondi; Argento, 1965) [live] * Verdi: ''Rigoletto'' (Cotrubaș, Domingo, Díaz; Levine, Dexter, 1977) [live] * Verdi: ''Otello'' (Scotto, Vickers; Levine, Zeffirelli/Melano, 1978) [live] * Puccini: ''Tosca'' (Verrett, Pavarotti, Tajo; Conlon, Gobbi, 1978) [live] * Weill: ''Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny'' (Stratas, Varnay, Cassilly, Plishka; Levine, Dexter, 1979) [live] * Puccini: ''Il tabarro'' (Scotto; Levine, Melano, 1981) [live] * Verdi: ''La traviata'' (Stratas, Domingo; Levine, Zeffirelli, 1982) * Zandonai: ''Francesca da Rimini'' (Scotto, Rom, Domingo; Levine, Faggioni, 1984) [live] * Puccini: ''Tosca'' (Behrens, Domingo; Sinopoli, Zeffirelli, 1985) [live]
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[https://www.bruceduffie.com/macneil.html Interview with Cornell MacNeil] by Bruce Duffie, November 11, 1982
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{{DEFAULTSORT:MacNeil, Cornell}} Category:1922 births Category:2011 deaths Category:American operatic baritones Category:Musicians from Minneapolis Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Singers from Minnesota Category:20th-century American male opera singers Category:Classical musicians from Minnesota