Dario Franco Corelli

René Seghers "FRANCO CORELLI -- Prince of Tenors "
[...]The Summer of 1939: On Lisping
Over the summer Franco and his friends would sometimes cool off around the fountain in the immediate vicinity of the fish market. Once, while playing on the edge of the fountain's basin, a friend slithered up from the water and knocked Franco off his feet. He fell flat against the concrete edge of the basin, hitting his mouth and breaking a number of teeth. An Anconetan dentist by the name of Tullio Moroni fixed the extensive damage to Franco's mouth. Still, the accident proved the basis for lifelong dental problems, gingivitis, and inflammations of his oral cavity; Moroni would see a lot of Franco throughout his career. According to Franco's family, the accident was the cause of his problems with pronouncing the letters s and z, yielding off and on a slight lisp that ultimately became an intrinsic feature of his singing.[...]

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