Celeste Vornos (Mezzo-Soprano)

Probably she made her debut in 1907. In 1909 she appeared at the Teatro Mercadante of Napoli where she sang the role of Lola in Mascagni’s ‘’Cavalleria rusticana’’. At the same opera house she performed also in 1910, this time she sang in ‘’Andea Chenier’’ and ‘’Fortunio’’. Then she went to Alessandria and appeared at the Teatro Alhambra in ‘’Iris’’, ‘’Rigoletto’’, ‘’Walkiria’’ and ‘’Madama Butterfly’’. Guest appearances followed in Bucharest, where she sang in Neopera and Teatro Nazionale. After this appearances she continues to perform on the italian opera houses (Roma. Teatro Nazionale, Palermo. Teatro Biondo, Genova. Politeama Genovese etc.). Vornos retired from the stage in 1928. She made records for Fonografia Nazionale and Artiphon. Her records are very difficult to find.

Chronology of some appearances

1909 Napoli Teatro Mercadante Cavalleria rusticana (Lola)

1910 Napoli Teatro Mercadante Andea Chenier (Contessa/ Madelon)

1912 Alessandria Teatro Alhambra Iris (Guecha)

1914 Bucharest Neopera Rigoletto (Maddalena)

RECORDINGS FOR SALE

 

Artiphon, Milano

Samson et Dalila (Saint-Saens): Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix  8054

Fonografia Nazionale, Milano

Canzona a mmare 

Gemma Bellincioni (Soprano) (Monza 1864 - Napoli 1950)

                                                             

                                       with Roberto Stagno in ''Cavalleria Rusticana''

She was an Italian soprano and one of the best-known opera singers of the late 19th century. She had a particular affinity with the verismo repertoire and was renowned more for her charismatic acting than for the quality of her voice. Matilda Cesira was Bellincioni's real name. She was born in Monza, Italy, in 1864. Both her parents were singers, and after receiving training from them, she made her operatic debut in Naples in 1880. She went on to sing extensively in Europe and South America during the next two decades, although she would appear only once in London—at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden—in 1895. Despite her fame, she never performed at America's foremost operatic venue, the New York Metropolitan Opera. Italy's leading composer, Giuseppe Verdi, admired Bellincioni's acting ability. Verdi had encountered her in 1886 when she performed Violetta in his opera La traviata at La Scala, Milan. Evidently, however, he was not so impressed by her vocal technique because he did not elect to cast her to sing the part of Desdemona at the premiere of Otello the following year. On the other hand, Bellincioni's histrionic manner, accentuated diction and arresting stage presence were to prove ideally suited to a melodramatic new style of Italian opera known as verismo, which became popular during the 1890s. She sang this type of music with great passion, although her actual voice was not particularly large in size or ripe in tone, and marred by a distinct flutter. (See Scott, cited below.) On 17 May 1890, she created the role of Santuzza in Pietro Mascagni's landmark verismo work Cavalleria Rusticana when it premiered in Rome. Her common-law spouse Roberto Stagno, a prominent tenor from Sicily, sang opposite her in the role of Turiddu at that same premiere performance: they had met on a tour of Argentina in 1886. Bellincioni was also the first soprano to perform the title role in another key verismo opera, Umberto Giordano's Fedora, on 17 November 1898. (Her tenor partner on this occasion was a promising young singer named Enrico Caruso.) Eight years later, she starred in the Italian premiere of Richard Strauss' Salome. She announced her retirement from the stage in 1911 to teach singing, but re-emerged in 1916 to play the lead female part in a silent-film version of Cavalleria Rusticana that was directed by Ugo Falena. As late as the early 1920s, she gave a few performances in The Netherlands, but her voice was said to be in a threadbare condition by this date. Bellincioni had written an instructional manual for singers which was published in Berlin in 1912 and an autobiography, Io e il palcoscenico, which was published in Milan in 1920. She spent her final years living in Naples, where she died at the age of 85, survived by a daughter. (Stagno, her de facto husband, had died 53 years earlier.)

Chronology of some appearances

1885 Roma  Teatro Costanzi Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina)

1886 Montevideo  Teatro Solis Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina)

1886 La Valletta/Malta  Teatro Reale  Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina)

1890 Roma  Teatro Argentina Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina)

1890 Napoli  Teatro San Carlo Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina)

1892 Spoleto  Teatro Nuovo Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina)

1893 Berlino  Teatro Kroll Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina)

1893 Livorno  Teatro Goldoni Carmen (Carmen)

1893 Livorno  Teatro Goldoni Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina)

1894 Roma  Teatro Costanzi Carmen (Carmen)

1896 Firenze  Teatro Pagliano Boheme (Mimi)

1896 Como  Teatro Sociale  Boheme (Mimi)

1896 Lodz  Teatro Nazionale Carmen (Carmen)

1897 Genova  Politeama Genovese Carmen (Carmen)

1899 Roma  Teatro Costanzi Boheme (Mimi)

1899 Buenos Ayres  Teatro dell'Opera Boheme (Mimi)

1900 Montecarlo  Teatro del Casinò Carmen (Carmen)

1900 Milano  Teatro Lirico Carmen (Carmen)

1901 Lisbona  Teatro San Carlos Boheme (Mimi)

1904 Palermo  Teatro Massimo Adriana Lecouvreur (Adriana)

1904 Lemberg  Teatro Municipale Carmen (Carmen)

1904 Lodz  Teatro Nazionale Carmen (Carmen)

1905 Napoli  Teatro San Carlo Adriana Lecouvreur (Adriana)

1905 Napoli  Teatro San Carlo Boheme (Mimi)

1907 Roma  Teatro Costanzi Carmen (Carmen)

1907 'S-Gravenhage  Gebouw Voor Kunsten en Wetenschappen Carmen (Carmen)

 

COMPLETE RECORDINGS FOR SALE

G&T, Milano 1903-10/11

Fedora (Giordano): O grandi occhi lucenti di fede 053014 Con570R

Mefistofele (Boito): L'altra notte 053017 Con572R

Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni): Voi lo sapete 053018 Con574R

Traviata (Verdi): Ah, fors'è lui 053019 Con577R

Pathe, Paris 1904/1905

Tosca (Puccini): Vissi d'arte 4390

Mefistofele (Boito): L'altra notte 4391
Carmen (Bizet): Habanera 4392
Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni): Voi lo sapete 4393
Mignon (Thomas): Non conosci il bel suol 4394

Carmen (Bizet): Aria delle carte 4395

Traviata (Verdi):  Ah, fors'è lui 4396
Otello (Verdi): Ave Maria 4397 

Bohème (Puccini): Mi chiamano Mimì 4398
Faust (Gounod): C'era un re di Thulé 4399

Bellincioni by Stampanoni

Guglielmo Masini (Bass)

                                                             Mefistofele

Probably he made his debut in 1920. In 1923 he appeared at the Teatro Carcano in Milan as Mefistofele in ‘’Faust’’. The next year, he was in Malta where he sang in ‘’Rigoletto’’, ‘’Faust’’, ‘’Gioconda’’ and ‘’Boheme’’. In 1925 he guested in Bologna and sang at the Teatro Verdi in Verdi’s ‘’Forza del destino’’. Then he made guest appearances in Cairo and Nice. Masini finished his career probably in 1940.

Chronology of some appearances

1923 Milan Teatro Carcano Faust (Mefistofele)

1924 Malta Teatro Reale Rigoletto (Sparafucile)

1925 Bologna Teatro Verdi Forza del destino (Padre Guardiano)

1926 Cairo Kursaal Dalbagni   Barbiere di Siviglia (Don Basilio)

1927 Cairo Kursaal Dalbagni   Lucia di Lammermoor (Raimondo)

1928 Cremona Teatro Ponchielli Lucia di LAmmermoor (Raimondo)

1932 Cagliari   Teatro Civico   Adriana Lecouvreur (Principe)

1937 Ravenna  Teatro Alighieri Boheme (Colline)

RECORDINGS FOR SALE

 

HMV, Milano 1928-12-03

Ballo in maschera (Verdi): Ve' se di notte with Leonildo Basi, Giovanni Borghi and  Alida Vane  0254007 S 10050

HMV, Milano 1928-12-05

Favorita (Donizetti): Splendon più belle 0252006 S10054

HMV, Milano 1928-12-11

Trovatore (Verdi): Per me ora fatale with Apollo Granforte DB1220 2-054273

HMV, Milano 1929-06-28

Aida (Verdi): Quest’assisa with Vittorio Lois, Benvenuto Franci and Luisa Lucini DB1320 32-603

HMV, Milano 1930-03-12

Otello (Verdi): Una vela!... Esultate! With Enrico Roggio, Nelo Palai and Renato Zanelli DB1439 CM 1321-5

HMV, Milano 1930-04-08

Rigoletto (Verdi): Si, vendetta with Apollo Granforte  and Nunu Sanchioni DB 1449 32-1538

HMV, Milano 1930-04-16

Boheme (Puccini): Questa è Mimi with Piero Pauli, Nello Palai  and Leonida Basi DA1204

Mefistofele (Boito):  Forma ideal, purissima with Piero Pauli and  Maria Luisa Fanelli DB1440 32-1490

HMV, Milano 1928/1930

Trovatore (Verdi): Ora per me fatale with Benvenuto Franci  DB1262 2-054275

Guglielmo Masini by Stampanoni

Teresa Chelotti (Soprano) (Modena 1861 - ? 1927)

She made her debut in 1896 at the Teatro Sociale of Ostiglia as Elvira in ‘’Ernani’’. In 1900 Chelotti made guest appearance in Cairo where at the Teatro Esbekieh she sang with Giuseppe Anselmi. In 1902 she guested in Genoa. In 1904 as a partner of Mattia Battistini she appearaed at the Teatro Comunale of Florence in Verdi’s ‘’Ballo in maschera’’ and ‘’Ernani’’. In 1903 she married Italian conductor Gramegna. In 1905 a guest performance followed in St. Petersburg Conservatory where she sang the role of Leonora in ‘’Trovatore’’. In that year she had very successful appearance at the Teatro Municipal of  Santiago del Cile in  Verdi’s ‘’Aida’’. In 1906 she guested in Brescia and Firenze, then in Bilbao and Turin. In 1912 she sang the role of Santuzza in ‘’Cavalleria Rusticana’’ under the management of the composer at the London Hippodrome. In 1914 she performed in Venice in ‘’ Gioconda’’ and  ‘’Lucrezia Borgia’’. She retired in 1915.

Chronology of some appearances

1896 Ostiglia Teatro Sociale Ernani (Elvira)

1904 Florence Teatro Comunale Ballo in maschera (Amelia)

1905 St. Petersburg Conservatory Trovatore (Leonora)

1905 Santiago del Cile Teatro Municipal Aida (Aida)

1912 London Hippodrome Cavalleria Rusticana (Santuzza)

RECORDINGS FOR SALE

 

Zonophone, USA

Aida (Verdi): Ritorna vincitor 24019

Aida (Verdi): O cieli azurri 24021

Aida (Verdi): Rivedrai le foreste imbalsamate with Giovanni Novelli 12674

Aida (Verdi): Part 2 with Giovanni Novelli 12675

Columbia, Milano

Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni): Voi lo sapete D9277 11310

Aida (Verdi): Rivedrai le foreste with Cesare Formichi D 4383 11298

Aida (Verdi): Su dunque sorgete with Cesare Formichi D 4383 11299

Forza del destino (Verdi): Pace mio Dio D4353 11317  

Trovatore (Verdi): Mira d'acerbe lagrime, pt 1 with Cesare Formichi D4350 11300
Trovatore (Verdi): Mira d'acerbe lagrime, pt 2 with Cesare Formichi D4350 11301
Trovatore (Verdi): Vivrà contende il giubilo with Cesare Formichi D4352 11308

Fonotipia, Milano, 12-04-1907

Trovatore (Verdi): D'amor sull'ali rosee 62023 xph2534

Trovatore (Verdi): Tacea la notte placida 39913 xph2535

Chelotti Teresa by Stampanoni

Teresa Burchi (Soprano) (Sestola 1877 - Milano 1963)

                                                               Gioconda

    
At first she studied in Bologna with Campana, then with Vallini in Milan. She made her debut in 1906 at the Teatro Storchi of Modena in ‘’Gioconda’’. During the following years she had significant success on the big Italian opera theaters in the dramatic field, among other things in ‘’Gioconda’’, ‘’Aida’’’, ‘’Ugonotti’’ and ‘’Cavalleria rusticana’’. Already in 1908 she guested at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples as Selika in ‘’L’Africana’’ and as Gioconda in Ponchielli’s opera of the same name. In 1912 she was  in Bologna where at the Teatro Comunale she appeared as Isolde in ‘’Tristano e Isotta’’. The next year she went to Madrid and performed at the Teatro Reale in ‘’Mefistofele’’. In 1917 she arrived in Rio de Janeiro to perform at the Teatro Municipal. Then she turned more and more to the Wagnerian repertoire and became in this area one of the leading Italian singers of her generation. She continues to appear on the opera stages until 1928. She made three records for Gramophone.

Chronology of some appearances

1906 Modena Teatro Storchi  Gioconda (Gioconda)

1908 Naples Teatro San Carlo L'Africana (Selika)

1912 Bologna Teatro Comunale Tristano e Isotta (Isotta)

1913 Madrid Teatro Reale Mefistofele (Elena)

1917 Rio de Janeiro Teatro Municipal Tristano e Isotta (Isotta)

RECORDINGS FOR SALE

Gramophone, Milano 1917-03-13

Gioconda (Ponchielli): Suicidio  R 5363 7-253043
Norma (Bellini): Casta diva  S 5516 2-0253009

Burchi Teresa by Stampanoni

Ebe Boccolini (Soprano) (Ancona 1882 - ?)

She studied with Giordano Ruzzo in Bologna. Her debut took place in 1906 at Politeama in Pisa as Nedda in ‘’Pagliacci’’. In the 1911-12 season she belonged to the ensemble of the Italian opera in Holland and performed in Amsterdam and 'S-Gravenhage. In 1913 she appeared at the Teatro Carlo Felice of Genoa in the Italian première of Wolf-Ferrari’s ‘’I Gioielli della Madonna’’. In 1914 she sang iat the Teatro Lirico in Milan in the Italian première of ‘’I Quattro rusteghi’’of Wolf-Ferrari. In 1915 she had unusual success at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, among other things in ‘’La Bohème’’, ‘’Traviata’’ and ‘’Manon’’. In 1921 she undertook vast guest performance tours through Chile and Peru and often appeared as a partner of Bernardo De Muro. In 1921 together with Bernardo De Muro she guested at the opera house of Havana in ‘’Andrea Chénier’’. In 1925 she performed at the Teatro Liceo in Barcelona. She retired in 1930. She was married to actor Ermete Zacconi.

Chronology of some appearances

1906 Pisa Politeama Pagliacci (Nedda)

1913 Genoa Teatro Carlo Felice I Gioielli della Madonna

1914 Milan  Teatro Lirico I Quattro rusteghi

1915 Naples Teatro San Carlo Boheme (Mimi)

1921 Havana Opera House Andrea Chenier (Maddalena)

RECORDINGS FOR SALE

 

Gramophone, Milano 1910-11-26

Amico Fritz (Mascagni): Han della porpora with Guido Ciccolini 054388 226aj

Gramophone, Milano 1911-06-03

Thais (Massenet): D'acqua aspergimi with Mattia Batistini 054318 273ai

Gramophone, Milano 1912-09-17

Manon Lescaut (Puccini): Vedete io son fedele with Luca Botta 054397 S 3412

Manon Lescaut (Puccini): O tentatrice with Luca Botta 054398 S 3412

Mefistofele (Boito): La luna immobile with Luca Botta and Giulia  Martinengo 054403   S 5504

Victor, USA 1912-09-29

Traviata (Verdi): Prendi questa e l'immagine with Luca Botta and Ernesto Badini 68538

Edison

Mefistofele (Boito): L'altra notte in fondo al mare Unpubl. 44670

Lina Cavalieri (Soprano) (Viterbo, Italy 1874 - Villa Cappucina, near Firenze 1944)

Lucien Muratore, Lina Cavalieri and Titta Ruffo

She was an Italian operatic soprano and diseuse  known for her grace and beauty. Born Natalina Cavalieri, on Christmas Day at Viterbo, some eighty kilometers (50 miles) north of Rome, she lost her parents at the age of fifteen and became a ward of the state, sent to live in a Roman Catholic orphanage. The vivacious young girl was unhappy under the strict discipline of the nuns, and at the first opportunity she ran away with a touring theatrical group. Blessed with a good singing voice, a young Cavalieri made her way to Paris, France, where her appearance opened doors and she obtained work as a singer at one of the city's café-concerts. From there she performed at a variety of music halls and other such venues around Europe, while still working to develop her voice. Cavalieri took voice lessons and made her opera debut in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1900 (as Nedda in Pagliacci), the same year she married her first husband, the Russian Prince Alexandre Bariatinsky. In 1904, she sang at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo then in 1905, at the Sarah Bernhardt Theatre in Paris, Cavalieri starred opposite Enrico Caruso in the Umberto Giordano opera, Fedora. From there, she and Caruso took the opera to New York City, debuting with it at the Metropolitan Opera on 5 December 1906. Cavalieri remained with the Metropolitan Opera for the next two seasons, performing again with Caruso in 1907, in Puccini's Manon Lescaut. Renowned as much for her great beauty as for her singing voice (and acting ability), she became one of the most photographed stars of her time. Frequently referred to as the "world's most beautiful woman," she was part of the tightlacing tradition that saw women use corsetry to create an "hour-glass" figure. During the 1909–1910 season she sang with Oscar Hammerstein's Manhattan Opera Company. Her first marriage long over, she had a whirlwind romance and marriage with Robert Winthrop Chanler (1872–1930), a member of New York's prominent Astor family. However, this marriage lasted only a very short time and Cavalieri returned to Europe where she became a much-loved star in pre-Revolutionary St. Petersburg, Russia, and in the Ukraine. Other operas in her repertoire included La bohème, La traviata, Faust, Manon, Andrea Chénier, Thaïs, Les contes d'Hoffmann (as the courtesan Giulietta), Rigoletto, Mefistofele (as both Margarita and Elena), Adriana Lecouvreur, Tosca, Hérodiade (as Salomé), Carmen (the title role), Siberia, and Zazà. During her career, Cavalieri sang with other great singers, including Giuseppe Anselmi, Mary Garden (the world premiere of Massenet's Chérubin, 1905), Mattia Battistini, Titta Ruffo, Feodor Chaliapin, Nikolay Figner, Antonio Scotti, Vanni Marcoux, Giuseppe Zanatello, Tito Schipa, and the French tenor Lucien Muratore, whom she married in 1913 after his divorce from soprano Marguerite Bériza. After retiring from the stage, Cavalieri ran a cosmetic salon in Paris. In 1914, on the eve of her fortieth birthday — her beauty still spectacular — she wrote an advice column on make-up for women in Femina magazine and published a book, My Secrets of Beauty. In 1915, she returned to her native Italy to make motion pictures. When that country became involved in World War I, she went to the United States where she made four more silent films. The last three of her films were the product of her friend, the Belgian film director Edward José. Married for the fourth time to Paolo d’Arvanni, Cavalieri returned to live with her husband in Italy. Well into her sixties when World War II began, she nevertheless worked as a volunteer nurse. Cavalieri was killed on 7 February 1944 during an Allied bombing raid that destroyed her home in the countryside of Fiesole, a small town near Florence, where she was placed under polcie surveillance because of her foreign husband. Hearing an American bomber nearby, Cavalieri, her husband and servants ran to the air-raid shelter in the grounds, but Cavalieri and her husband were delayed because they were collecting her valuable jewellery from the house. Both Cavalieri and her husband were killed running to the air-raid shelter, while the servants inside the shelter all survived.

Chronology of some appearances

1899 Lisbona Teatro San Carlos Pagliacci (Nedda)
1900 Napoli  Teatro San Carlo Boheme (Mimi)
1901 Ravenna  Teatro Mariani Boheme (Mimi)
1901 Palermo  Teatro Massimo Boheme (Mimi)
1906 New York  Teatro Metropolitan Boheme (Mimi)
1907 New York  Teatro Metropolitan Adriana Lecouvreur (Adriana)
1907 New York  Teatro Metropolitan Boheme (Mimi)
1907 New York  Teatro Metropolitan Manon Lescaut (Manon)
1907 New York  Teatro Metropolitan Pagliacci (Nedda)
1907 Philadelphia  Academy of Music Boheme (Mimi)
1908 Bassano del Grappa  Teatro Sociale  Boheme (Mimi)
1908 New York  Teatro Metropolitan Manon Lescaut (Manon)
1908 New York  Teatro Metropolitan Pagliacci (Nedda)
1908 New York Manhattan Opera House Tosca (Tosca)
1908 Londra Covent Garden Tosca (Tosca)
1909 San Pietroburgo  Nuovo Conservatorio Boheme (Mimi)
1909 New York  Manhattan Opera House Carmen (Carmen)
1909 New York  Manhattan Opera House Pagliacci (Nedda)
1909 Philadelphia Opera Pagliacci (Nedda)
1910 New York  Teatro Manhattan Opera House Boheme (Mimi)
1910 Napoli  Teatro Bellini Carmen (Carmen)
 

RECORDINGS FOR SALE

 

Columbia, New York 1910-02-22

Boheme (Puccini): Mi chiamano mimi A-5172 30347

Columbia, New York 1910-02-24

Tosca (Puccini): Vissi d'arte A-5178 30376

Manon Lescaut (Puccini): In quelle trine morbide A-5178 30378

Columbia, New York 1910-03-01

Carmen (Bizet): Habanera A5179 30372

Columbia, New York 1910-03-23

Mefistofele (Boito): L'altra notte A-5172  30396

Faust (Gounod): Aria dei gioielli 30397 S5018

Maria Mari (Di Capua)  A-5179 30400

Pathe, New York 1918?

'O sole mio (di Capua) 62010

Penso (Tosti) 62010

La forêt de Noël (Margis) with Lucien Muratore 64003

Cavalieri by Stampanoni

Emma Trentini (Soprano) (Mantova 1878 - Milan 1959)

She studied singing under Fritz Feinhals in Munich. Already in 1902 she appeared at the opera house of Siena. She had her first big success in 1904 at La Scala as Jane in ‘’Germania’’ of Franchetti. In 1905 she made guest appearance at Covent Garden of London as Oscar in ‘’Ballo in maschera’’ of Verdi and as Musetta in ‘’Bohème’’. In 1906 she appeared at the Teatro San Carlo of Naples in the premiere of the opera ‘’Tess’’ of Frédéric d'Erlanger. Then from 1906-09 she sang at Manhattan Opera House in New York with great success. There she appeared among other things in the North American première of Debussy’s ‘’Pelléas et Mélisande’’. In the 1910-11 season she performed at New York Broadway in the premiere of the Victor Herbert’s operetta ‘’Naughty of Marietta’’. She started appearing only in operettas and sang in two other operettas of Victor Herbert -  ‘’The Firefly’’ (1912) and ‘’The Peasant Girl’’ (1915). In 1916 she retired from the stage her; she lived later again in Italy.

Chronology of some appearances

1900 Casalmaggiore Teatro Sociale Boheme (Musetta)

1902 Trieste Politeama Rossetti Elisir d'amore (Giannetta)

1903 Torino Teatro Carignano Boheme (Micaela)

1904 London Covent  Garden Ballo in maschera (Oscar)

1905 London Covent  Garden Ballo in maschera (Oscar)

1906 Napoli Teatro San Carlo Rigoletto (Gilda)

1907 New York Manatthan Opera House Barbiere di Siviglia (Berta)

1909 Philadelphia Opera Sonnambula (Lisa)

1910 Philadelphia Opera Boheme (Musetta)

RECORDINGS FOR SALE

G&T, Milano 1905-08?

Ballo in Maschera (Verdi): Volta la terrea 53155 6931a

Traviata (Verdi): Morrò la mia memoria with Germano Stoppa 54258 7044a
Traviata (Verdi): Prendi, quest'è l'imagine with Germano Stoppa & Martinez-Patti 54256 7045½b

Elisir d'amore (Donizetti): Esulti pure la barbara with  Emilio Perea 54253 7058b

Don Pasquale (Donizetti): Tornami a dir with Giuseppe Acerbi 54262 7068b

Fra Diavolo (Auber): Quell'uom del fiero aspetto with Alberto Caffo 54062 7022b
Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti): Sulla tomba with Gino Martinez-Patti V*94130 7047¾b

Victor, USA 1905-08?

Linda di Chamounix (Donizetti): A consolarmi with Alberto Caffo 62090

Traviata (Verdi): Un di felice with Gino Martinez-Patti 62067

Columbia, New York 1907-03-27
Don Giovanni (Mozart): Vedrai carino 30122 M135
Bohème (Puccini): Quando m'en vo soletta 30087 M136

Ada Adini (Soprano) (Boston, Massachusetts 1855 - Dieppe, France 1924)

She was an American operatic soprano who had an active international career from 1876 up into the first decade of the 20th century. She possessed a large, expressive voice which enabled her to sing a broad range of roles that extended from the coloratura soprano repertoire to dramatic soprano parts. She made six recordings with Fonotipia Records in Paris in 1905.

Born Adele Chapman in Boston, Adini studied singing with Giovanni Sbriglia and Pauline Viardot in Paris. She married the Spanish tenor Antonio Aramburo while studying in Paris. She made her professional opera debut in 1876 at the opera house in Varese, Italy in the title role of Giacomo Meyerbeer's Dinorah. She was then active with the Mapleson Company in New York City, making her debut with the company in 1879 as Gilda in Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto at the Academy of Music with Aramburo as the Duke of Mantua. She was later heard with the company as Leonora in Verdi's Il trovatore to her husband's Manrico.

In 1882 she joined Bartolomeo Merelli's traveling opera troup with whom she performed in Berlin (1882) and Prague (1883). From 1887-1890 she was committed to the Palais Garnier where she notably created the role of the Duchesse d'Étampes in the world premiere of Camille Saint-Saëns' Ascanio (1890).

In 1893 Adini sang Brünnhilde in the Italian premiere of Richard Wagner's Die Walküre at La Scala. She later repeated the role at the Teatro Regio di Torino (1898) and the Teatro Costanzi (1899). In 1894 and 1897 she was heard successfully at the Royal Opera House in London as Donna Anna in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Don Giovanni. She sang the role of Frédegonde in the world premiere of César Franck's Ghiselle at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo in 1896.

Her second husband was the opera librettist and writer Paul Milliet. He wrote the libretto for Jules Massenet's Hérodiade in which she sang the role of Salomé in Monte-Carlo in 1903 with Emma Calvé in the title role. Some of the other roles Adini performed on stage were Anita in La Navarraise, Brunehild in Sigurd, Catherine d'Aragon in Henry VIII, Charlotte in Werther, Chimène in Le Cid, Countess Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, Desdemona in Otello, Isolde in Tristan und Isolde, Rachel in La Juive, Sélika in L'Africaine, Simonetta in I Medici, Valentine in Les Huguenots, and Venus in Tannhäuser.

After retiring from the stage Adini was active as a singing teacher. One of her notable pupils was the Spanish mezzo-soprano Maria Gay. She died in Dieppe, Seine-Maritime in 1924. Opera commnettor Michael Scott summarises her career and evaluates her recordings in The Record of Singing (Duckworth, London, 1977).

Chronology of some appearances

1877 Montevideo  Teatro Solis Rigoletto (Gilda)
1878  Montevideo  Teatro Solis Ballo in Maschera (Amelia)
1879 New York  Academy of Music Rigoletto (Gilda)
1880 San Paolo  Teatro San Josæ Rigoletto (Gilda)
1899 Barcellona  Teatro Liceo Lohengrin (Elsa)