Vincenzo Bellezza was a major conductor of Italian opera. Born in 1888, he studied at the Naples Conservatory, and made his début with Aida at the San Carlo in 1908. He quickly developed his career in Italy and from 1920 was chief conductor at the Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires. Between 1926 and 1935 he conducted at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and in 1926 at Covent Garden, where he led Dame Nellie Melba’s farewell performance of La bohème. From 1935 he was active predominantly in Rome, although he returned to London to conduct at the Stoll Theatre in 1957. His only other complete opera recording was also for EMI, of La traviata, made just after the Second World War.