Casa Paoli's

April 14, 1871 marks the date of Antonio Paoli's birth in the city of Ponce.

When his mother died, his sister Amalia decided to settle in Madrid with the younger brothers, since she wanted to offer them a better future. Antonio obtained a scholarship from Queen María Cristina of Habsburg to study at the Royal College of San Lorenzo del Escorial, and then entered the Toledo Military Academy.

      His military career failed to divert his interest in music. He sang as a soloist in various concerts throughout Spain and Portugal and in 1896, he received another scholarship and traveled to Italy to study singing. The Spanish court delighted in the his interpretations that day by day became among of the best in the world.

     It was M. Gallard, the director of the Grand Opera, who gave Antonio Paoli the opportunity to debut in Paris, where Rossini's opera William Tell had not been performed for a long time. Paoli's performance as William was so successful that he performed it four times afterwards. From that moment, the greatest stages in Europe claimed his presence and he became as famous as Francesco Tamagno, whom he admired so much. His dreams began to come true in 1899, when he debuted playing the role of Arnold, also in William Tell, at the Paris Opera.

     With this successful debut, Paoli began a career of triumphs on the best stages in Europe, Asia, Africa and America. From 1900 to 1914 he moved incessantly from one stage to another; from one city to another, from one country to another, and from continent to continent. Paoli receives many honors and distinctions during his long artistic career.

     Critics hailed him as "the best tenor in the world" after his performance in 1908 at the Politeama theatre in Bologna. There he also performed the opera Lohengrin with his sister Amalia.

     In 1910, at the Gran Theater of La Scala in Milan, he received an award that confirmed his magnificent talents as a tenor: he was declared "primo tenore". Here he performed the operas Samson and Delilah and La Africana.

     His powerful and dramatic tenor voice was wed with an exquisite personality, an incredible stage presence and a noble and generous heart.

     Paoli was tall, with blue eyes and dark curly hair. He dressed elegantly. Verdi's Otello was also known as “Paoli's Otello,” for his extraordinary interpretation of the character. Many scholars of Shakespeare's play only attended the last act, to witness his impeccable characterization of Otello's death.

     Antonio Paoli sang with the greatest singers of his time. In 1910, he was already the dramatic tenor in highest demand in Europe, and the highest paid. He was the first tenor in the world to record on disc a complete opera: I Pagliacci (1907) by R. Leoncavallo.

     In 1900, he married a young Austrian woman named Josefina Vetiska in Vienna. Upon returning to Puerto Rico in 1901, on a honeymoon trip, he sang a concert in the Cathedral of San Juan and another in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Ponce. He also presented in Venezuela, Cuba, Mexico, Central America and New York. When he returned to Italy, he bought a villa in Porto Ceresio, Lugano, where his son, Antonio Arnaldo (Tonino), was born. But hen, his wife fell ill and remained in bed for twenty years, which caused the tenor great sadness.

     The First World War brought an unexpected change to his life, forcing him to move from the artistic to the sports scene. In 1916, he moved with his family to London and began training in boxing. In this new profession he won five fights, but lost the most precious thing for him: his voice. Due to a fracture in the right arm, he withdrew from the ring. He decided to get medical help to get his voice back. For this purpose he traveled to Milan to be treated by a laryngologist.

     To everyone's amazement, he returned to the stage with a voice stronger and more powerful than ever before. Thus began the second stage of his career, which would take him again throughout Europe and America.

In 1920 his wife died. A year later, he took up with the Italian Adelaida Bonini, whom he called Adina.

     He returned to his homeland in 1922. Together with his sister Amalia Paoli, he established a singing school. In 1946 he became ill with cancer and died at the age of 75.