Editing Franco Corelli (section)

===Early career: 1951–1960===
In the summer of 1951, Corelli won the [[Maggio Musicale Fiorentino]] in [[Florence]], earning a debut at [[Spoleto]] the following fall. He was originally scheduled to sing Radames in [[Giuseppe Verdi|Verdi]]'s ''[[Aida|Aïda]]'' and spent three months preparing the role with conductor [[Giuseppe Bertelli]]. However, Corelli eventually switched to Don José in Bizet's ''[[Carmen]]'', feeling that at this point he lacked the technical finesse and legato for the role of Radamès.<ref name="NYT"/> In May 1952, he made his debut at the [[Teatro dell'Opera di Roma|Rome Opera]] as Maurizio in ''[[Adriana Lecouvreur]]'' opposite [[Maria Caniglia]] as Adriana.<ref name="oper">{{cite web| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180108175339/http://hamilton.francocorelli.nl/fc/fc0.pdf| archive-date=8 January 2018| title=Franco Corelli Performance Annals 1951–1981| url=http://hamilton.francocorelli.nl/fc/fc0.pdf| editor-first=Frank| editor-last=Hamilton| website=FrankHamilton}}</ref> The same year he appeared in operas with smaller opera houses throughout Italy and on the Italian radio. In 1953 he joined the Rome Opera's roster of principal tenors where he spent much of his time performing through 1958.<ref name="oper"/> His first role with the company in 1953 was that of Romeo in [[Riccardo Zandonai|Zandonai]]'s rarely heard opera ''[[Giulietta e Romeo (Zandonai)|Giulietta e Romeo]]''.<ref name="NYT"/> Later that season he sang Pollione in Bellini's ''[[Norma (opera)|Norma]]'' opposite [[Maria Callas]] in the title role. It was the first time the two sang opposite one another and Callas immediately became an admirer of Corelli. The two performed frequently with each other over the next several years in a partnership that lasted to the end of Callas's career.<ref name="Opera News"/>

While singing at the Rome Opera, Corelli also made numerous appearances with other opera houses both in Italy and internationally. He made his first appearance at [[La Scala]] in Milan in 1954, as Licinio in [[Gaspare Spontini|Spontini]]'s ''[[La vestale (Spontini)|La vestale]]'' opposite Callas's Giulia for the opening of the 1954–1955 season. He returned several more times to that house over the next five years, singing opposite Callas in productions of ''[[Fedora (opera)|Fedora]]'' (1956), ''[[Il pirata]]'' (1958) and ''[[Poliuto]]'' (1960).<ref name="Opera News"/> He also notably portrayed the role of Dick Johnson in a highly celebrated performance of ''[[La fanciulla del West]]'' at La Scala in 1956, opposite [[Gigliola Frazzoni]] and [[Tito Gobbi]], which was broadcast live on Italian radio.<ref name="Opera News"/> Other important debuts for Corelli soon followed, including his first appearances at: the [[Maggio Musicale Fiorentino]] in Florence and the [[Arena di Verona Festival]] in 1955; the [[Vienna State Opera]], as [[Aida|Radamès]], and the [[Royal Opera House]], [[Covent Garden]], in London, as [[Tosca|Cavaradossi]], in 1957;<ref name="Opera News"/> the [[Teatro Nacional de São Carlos]] in Lisbon, the [[Lyric Opera of Chicago]] and the [[San Francisco Opera]] in 1958; and the [[Berlin State Opera]] in 1961. Among the many triumphs of the decade for Corelli were two highly celebrated performances at the [[Teatro di San Carlo]] in [[Naples]], a 1958 appearance as Don Alvaro in ''[[La forza del destino]]'' opposite another one of his frequent collaborators, [[Renata Tebaldi]] as Leonora and a 1959 performance of Maurizio in ''[[Adriana Lecouvreur]]'' opposite [[Magda Olivero]] in the title role.<ref name="Opera News"/>

During his early career, Corelli sang in a number of rare operas in which he triumphed including performances of [[Gaspare Spontini|Spontini]]'s ''[[Agnes von Hohenstaufen]]'' in its Italian version, Agnese di Hohenstaufen, [[George Frideric Handel|Handel]]'s ''[[Giulio Cesare]]'' and ''[[Hercules (Handel)|Hercules]]'', Prokofiev's ''[[War and Peace (Prokofiev)|War and Peace]]'', and the world premiere of Guido Guerrini's ''Enea''.<ref name="Opera News"/> By 1960 his active repertory included some 30 roles including the title role in [[Umberto Giordano|Giordano]]'s ''[[Andrea Chénier]]'', Turiddu in [[Pietro Mascagni|Mascagni]]'s ''[[Cavalleria rusticana]]'', Rodolfo in Puccini's ''[[La bohème]]'', and the title roles in Verdi's ''[[Don Carlo]]'' and ''[[Ernani]]''.<ref name="NYT"/>

In 1957, Corelli met soprano Loretta di Lelio when she came backstage after one of his performances at the [[Teatro dell'Opera di Roma|Rome Opera House]] to get his autograph. They began seeing each other romantically and married in 1958. After their marriage, Loretta gave up her fledgling opera career to serve as her husband's business manager, secretary, public relations agent, cook, and English translator. Their marriage endured until Corelli's death forty-five years later.<ref name="NYT"/>