About Antonio Cotogni
Antonio "Toto" Cotogni was an Italian baritone of the first magnitude. Regarded internationally as being one of the greatest male opera singers of the 19th century, he was particularly admired by the composer Giuseppe Verdi. Cotogni forged an important second career as a singing teacher after his retirement from the stage in 1894. Antonio "Toto" Cotogni (Italian pronunciation:; 1 August 1831 – 15 October 1918) was an Italian baritone of the first magnitude. About his training prior to his Italian stage debut, Cotogni told a former student: "For the first year I sang nothing but scales. He won his first success in 1851 singing Salvatore Capocci's oratorio Il martirio di Sant'Eustachio at the church of Santa Maria in Vallicella. Consequently, this became one of Cotogni's signature roles, one by which he made great impressions on all the great theaters of Europe and even the most sullen critics.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.