Opera Singer. A tenor controversial in his own time and later, he is chiefly remembered for the vast recorded legacy which gives insight into a now-obsolete style of performance. Trained in his native city, he made his March 9, 1885, professional bow at Naples' Teatro San Carlo as the title character of Charles Gounod's "Faust"; originally a 'tenore di grazia' ("tenor of grace") typified by Count Almaviva in Rossini's "The Barber of Seville", he sang such fare as Nemorino in Donizetti's "L'Elisir d'Amore", the lead of Auber's "Fra Diavolo", and Elvino from Vincenzo Bellini's "La Sonnambula", then gradually took on heavier 'verismo' fare. When he made his first London appearances at Drury Lane in 1887 his Alfredo in Verdi's "La Traviata" was praised but his Almaviva was called "excrable". On October 31, 1891, De Lucia was the title lead for the Rome world premiere of Pietro Mascagni's "L'amico Fritz"; steadily becoming associated with Leoncavallo and Mascagni, he was tasked with singing Giorgio for the November 10, 1892, Florence world premiere of the latter's flop "I Rantzau". When De Lucia performed at Covent Garden, London, between 1892 and 1900 the reviews were pretty much as they had been earlier at Drury Lane and were to be during his one season (1893) at the Metropolitan, namely praise for such roles as Don Jose of Bizet's "Carmen", Canio in Leoncavallo's "I Pagliacci", and, later, Mario Cavaradossi from Puccini's "Tosca", and increasing scorn for such efforts as the Duke in Verdi's "Rigoletto" and Don Ottavio of Mozart's "Don Giovanni". Indeed, George Bernard Shaw called his bel canto work "artificial", though the future great playwright made it clear that his comments were stylistic, not personal. De Lucia was to be called upon for two more Mascagni world premieres, singing the tenor leads of "Silvano" on March 25, 1895, in Milan and of "Iris" on November 22, 1898, at Rome. Over the years he was to become a respected teacher, his best known student being tenor Georges Thill; he last sang at La Scala in 1916 as Rodolfo in Puccini's "La Boheme" and give his 1917 final operatic performance at the Teatro San Carlo in "L'amico Fritz". He last appeared in public when he sang the "Pieta, Signore" at the 1921 Naples funeral of tenor Enrico Caruso. Between 1902 and 1922 he cut about 400 records, primarily for Grammophone and Fonotipia; many of these have remained continually in print and are still studied, primarily those from the bel canto repertoire for which he was criticized in his lifetime. As the tenore di grazia is today an essentially extinct species De Lucia's recordings are valued by scholars for the clues they provide to long outmoded styles of performance and methods of vocal production.