Mark Ricaldone obituary

“Ascoltatrici ed ascoltatori gentili” or “Dear listeners”: these are the opening words of the Italian composer Pietro Mascagni in the spoken introduction to his own recorded version of Cavalleria Rusticana from 1940. Every Easter, my friend Mark Ricaldone said he must not be long on the phone as he was off to play that version of the opera, due to his devotion to the great Italian tenor Beniamino Gigli, who sang the role of Turiddu.

For Mark, who has died aged 95, there was simply no one else; and he became the acknowledged expert on Gigli’s life and recordings in Britain. Even as early as October 1950, when he was in his 20s, he was to be found at East Holborn library in London, presenting recordings of Gigli to the public.

Mark was born in central London into an Italian immigrant family. As a teenager he was fortunate, as his two Italian-born brothers were interned on the Isle of Man as the second world war approached – Mark joined the Queen’s Royal Regiment. Being of Italian descent, he was useful to the British effort in Italy as the regiment, following home defence duties, fought its way up northern Italy.

After the war, Mark eventually joined the engineering and construction company Sir Robert McAlpine, and became a site manager.

Mark had been involved with the life of Gigli for years and he compiled a discography for Gigli’s memoirs which was originally published in 1957, the year of the singer’s death. From those earlier years, in his self-effacing way, he always tried to assist in getting Gigli a more positive press and correcting any errors made about him.

The journal Record Collector, for aficionados of historical classical singers, published their centenary celebration of Gigli in 1990. Mark contributed to this, as well as to the Naxos Gigli edition of some 15 CDs. He was also instrumental in getting a bust of the great tenor commissioned by the sculptor Domenico Mazzone in New York, as well as having 8 October 1997 designated Beniamino Gigli day in the city. He had more recently written a chapter for a book about Gigli by Leonardo Ciampa.

After his retirement in 1989, Mark moved from Palmers Green, London, to Eastbourne, East Sussex. I met Mark in 1973 when I approached him for help on research into Gigli – he was the nicest man you could meet, and over the years, we exchanged hundreds of bits of information about Gigli and other singers. He was a dapper man, always fastidious, careful and diplomatic.

He is survived by five nieces and nephews.