Lorenzo Molajoli

Lorenzo Molajoli (1868 - 4 April 1939) was an Italian opera conductor who was active in recording during the 1920s and 1930s. His wife Emma was a noted opera singing teacher. The facts surrounding Molajoli's career are obscure. He was born in Rome in 1868 and studied there at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia. His career began in 1891, and it would appear that much of his career prior to the First World War was spent in both North and South America, South Africa and various provincial Italian opera houses. Claims have been made that Molajoli conducted at La Scala in the inter-war years, but there is no published documentation to substantiate this assumption. What can be established is that he served with considerable distinction as the house conductor in Milan for Columbia Records, recording complete operas and accompanying a large number of singers, in addition to making recordings of a number of operatic overtures. Molajoli conducted twenty complete or abridged operas for Columbia between 1928 and 1932, including the first complete recordings of Rossini's The Barber of Seville, Ponchielli's La Gioconda and Boito's Mefistofele. His concise, trenchant and swiftly paced conducting style is in the tradition of his compatriots Arturo Toscanini and Ettore Panizza. A number of his complete opera recordings have been released on CD on Naxos and other labels. He died in Milan on 4 April 1939.