Rossi-Lemeni, Nicola (1920–1991)

Italian bass. After study in Verona made his debut at La Fenice, Venice, in 1946, as Varlaam. He sang at La Scala, Milan 1947–60, notably as Mephistopheles (in Faust and Mefistofele), Philip II, and Boris, a role he repeated for his debuts at San Francisco (1951) and at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden , London (1952). He sang Gounod's Mephistophélès at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York in 1953; Britten's Claggart at Florence in 1965; and Tommaso in the first performance, in 1958, at La Scala, Milan of Pizzetti's L'Assassinio nella cattedrale.