Opera singer Tino Pattiera, who was born near Dubrovnik, celebrated his greatest successes in the role of Cavaradossi. Born in 1890, he completed his vocal training in Vienna with Cavaliere Ranieri, a former professor at the Milan Conservatory and active in Vienna at the beginning of the 20th century. Pattiera's extraordinary voice, his engaging appearance and his dark-toned heldentenor (heroic tenor) earned him an invitation to audition for the Dresden Royal Court Opera after just two years of study. Here he made his sensational debut in 1916 in the role of Manrico in Giuseppe Verdi's Troubadour. He rose to stardom in the 1920s in particular, making guest appearances at the Chicago Opera in 1920/21, recording his first records and taking on film roles such as in Robert Wiene's 1934 operetta film "A Night in Venice". His repertoire mainly comprised 19th century Italian opera, but he also starred in Richard Wagner's "Tannhäuser" and Richard Strauss' "Ariadne auf Naxos". Through his marriage to a niece of his former Viennese patroness, Countess Schaffgotsch, he was financially secured, entered the Saxon aristocracy and resided in the stately Eckberg Palace overlooking the Elbe. When his contract at the Dresden Opera House expired in 1940, Pattiera left Dresden and first moved to Prague and then to Vienna in 1950, where he worked as a singing professor at the Academy of Music. He is regarded as the most important representative of the Verdi renaissance at the beginning of the 20th century and, together with Richard Tauber and Elisabeth Rethberg, is one of the greatest talents of his time. [KT]