Tito Gobbi, the third of five children born to the engineer Giovanni Gobbi and his wife, began to sing while still at school, but initially put aside this interest to join the family business. In Rome however he met through his father the tenor Giulio Crimi, who agreed to take him on as a pupil. He made his operatic debut at Gubbio in 1935, with limited success, in the bass role of Count Rodolfo / La sonnambula and shortly afterwards was awarded a scholarship to study with the music staff of La Scala, Milan.

At La Scala Gobbi’s first appearance was as an understudy for the Herald in Ildebrando Pizzetti’s Orsèolo during the 1936–1937 season. His formal debut as an opera singer took place in 1937 in Rome, singing Germont père /...