He early evinced promise as a singer, entering a singing school at the age of eight appearing in its choir as a boy s. of astonishing range. He entered the Santa Cecilia Accademia as early as 1892, when he was only fifteen. He studied five years with Venceslao Persichini (one of the most important coaches of the time). He was soon the prize pupil of the class (Tita Ruffo was another student at the same institute). In 1897, shortly before his twenty-first birthday, he made his début singing Valentin in Piacenza Milan Poland and Russia South America , Spain , England , Russia , Germania and Austria Siberia and Sharpless in Puccini’s Madame Butterfly. Among his most frequent partners were Caruso, Rosa Ponselle, Claudia Muzio, Giovanni Martinelli, John McCormack, Adamo Didur and José Mardones. He sang Sancho Panza opposite Chaliapin at the world première of Massenet’s Don Quichotte in 1910. He had a repertoire of nearly 100 roles! He was an outstanding actor and was particularly acclaimed in character- and buffo roles. He sang the whole Verdi and Puccini repertoire. Apart from that he was successful as Wolfram and Beckmesser. He was a great Mozart singer (Don Giovanni, Figaro). His career lasted almost five decades! Comment: Clemens Höslinger writes: “De Luca’s recordings are among the most treasured belcanto documents known to to posterity. He was an artist who combined exquisite musicality and taste with a voice of rare distinction. His cultivated tone production, his legato technique and, not least, his pellucid diction make him paragon of vocal virtues...” De Luca was a master of legato singing. He used his voice with great skill. There is a wonderful nobility in his manner, and his singing commands attention by virtue of it as well as by its beauty. He had a strong sense of duty and always sang what was within the possibilities of his voice. De Luca was a prolific recording artist (he recorded from the very beginning until the end of his career). I cannot mention all his great recordings, but as a start I would recommend the Fonotipia recordings from 1905 and 1907. His voice got extremely well with the recording process. He makes the buffo- and character roles to the best ever recorded (Malatesta, Barbiere and... ). But also the more dramatic arias (in Andrea Chénier, Zazà, Rigoletto, Erodiade, Renato and... ) are superbly sung.
Chronology of some appearances
Il barone Scarpia 12/28/1915, Tonio 3/14/1916, Figaro 3/21/1916, Le grandprêtre de Dagon 11/28/1916, Plunkett 12/19/1916, Escamillo 1/9/1917, Rigoletto 3/6/1917, Sparafucile 3/6/1917, Giorgio Germont 2/5/1918, 2/5/1918, Rigoletto 3/12/1918, Il conte di Luna 4/16/1918, Mârouf 11/19/1918, Il suo visir 11/19/1918, Belcore 11/26/1918, Gianni Schicchi 12/17/1918, Ser Amantio di Nicolao 12/17/1918, Amonasro 1/7/1919, Figaro 2/4/1919, Il conte di Luna 3/4/1919, Don Carlo di Vargas 3/25/1919, Rigoletto 4/8/1919, Sparafucile 4/8/1919, Belcore 12/2/1919, Rigoletto 1/20/1920, Lord Enrico Asthon 4/13/1920, Ye vgeny Onegin 4/20/1920, Rodrigo 1/25/1921, Deputy 1/25/1921, 1/25/1921, Rigoletto 3/15/1921, Rodrigo 2/7/1922, Deputy 2/7/1922, 2/7/1922, Giorgio Germont 2/14/1922, 2/14/1922, Le grand-prêtre de Dagon 4/18/1922, Escamillo 3/13/1923, Giorgio Germont 4/3/1923, Lord Enrico Asthon 2/5/1924, Plunkett 2/19/1924, Magd 2/19/1924, Scindia 3/18/1924, Coppélius 12/2/1924, Dr. Miracle 12/2/1924, Dapertutto 12/2/1924, Sharpless 1/13/1925, Hoël 2/3/1925, Mercutio 2/17/1925, Plunkett 11/10/1925, Sancho Panza 4/6/1926, Ping 11/30/1926, Tonio 12/20/1927, Sharpless 1/3/1928, Figaro 1/31/1928, Dapertutto 2/14/1928, Rigoletto 12/4/1928, Lescaut 1/1/1929, Lord Enrico Asthon 3/26/1929, L’ondino 10/29/1929, Miller 1/14/1930, Mercutio 1/28/1930, Valentin 2/18/1930, Belcore 3/25/1930, Tonio 11/18/1930, Figaro 1/27/1931, Lescaut 3/24/1931, Giorgio Germont 12/1/1931, Rigoletto 1/19/1932, Marcello 2/2/1932, Figaro 3/22/1932, Rigoletto 2/7/1933, Lescaut 3/7/1933, Gianni Schicchi 1/23/1934, Lescaut 1/30/1934, Mercutio 2/20/1934, Marcello 2/13/1940, Giorgio Germont 2/27/1940, Rigoletto 5/21/1946 (in Filadelfia).
