Tito Schipa, the celebrated tenor, was interviewed in Denmark in 1932, and was asked who had taught him:

“His name is Maestro Piccoli,” Schipa replied. “He is a nice man, he has a very good ear, he listens to my singing and often rewards me with a ‘Bravo’. He makes very few comments.”

“But who taught you those superb nuances and the great variety of colour in your vocal palette?”

“This is how it came about,” Schipa said. “When I began composing in my early days I tried to sing pianissimo, gradually developing tension and colour in mezza voce, mixed quality and falsetto. Later I found I could easily produce tensions in two octaves of my voice.”