Graziani was born in
Fermo, Italy, into a musical family. Three of his brothers also became professional singers, in particular his younger brother
Francesco Graziani, who became a well-known
baritone and spent much of his career singing for the
Royal Italian Opera (Covent Garden) in London. Lodovico studied with Cellini and made his debut in 1845 in Bologna in
Carlo Cambiaggio's
Don Procopio. In 1846, he was heard at the Regio Teatro degli Avvalorati in Livorno as Elvino in
Vincenzo Bellini's
La sonnambula. He made his debut at
La Scala on 14 August 1847 in the title role of
Gaetano Donizetti's
Dom Sébastien. In 1851, at the
Théâtre-Italien's
Salle Ventadour in Paris, Graziani sang Gennaro in Donizetti's
Lucrezia Borgia with
Marianna Barbieri-Nini in the title role and Fortini as the Duke of Ferrara. The following season he went to
La Fenice in Venice where he was heard as Idreno in Rossini's
Semiramide, the Duke of Mantua in
Rigoletto, the title role of Verdi's
Stiffelio, and in the premieres of several operas by minor Italian composers. although most of the blame for the opera's lack of success was reserved for the baritone
Felice Varesi, who sang Giorgio Germont. Graziani had not been well — one performance was cancelled because of his indisposition. Later in his career, in other Verdi roles, Graziani was more successful. Verdi, who was in Paris at the time working on the
Opéra's production of
Les vêpres siciliennes, was somehow persuaded by the Italien's director Calzado to not only sanction the production, but to help supervise, without a fee. The performances, which introduced the opera to Paris beginning on 23 December 1854, were successful. (The next year, Verdi sued the company for mounting productions of
La traviata and
Rigoletto with unauthorized material, but lost the case.) He sang the title role in Donizetti's
Dom Sébastien at the
Teatro San Carlo in Naples in 1856, and the role of Vasco da Gama in the first Italian performance of Meyerbeer's ''
L'Africaine'' in Bologna in 1865. Graziani died in Fermo. ==Brothers==