Gilda dalla Rizza

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gilda dalla Rizza (born on October 12, 1892; died on July 5, 1975) was one of the great sopranos of her day. Born in Verona, she made her operatic debut in Bologna (the Teatro Verdi) in 1912, as Charlotte in Werther. Especially acclaimed in the verismo repertory, she was regarded as being Giacomo Puccini's favorite soprano, creating Magda in his La rondine (1917). She also gave the first European performances of his Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi, at Rome in 1919. She also created roles in Mascagni's Il piccolo Marat and Zandonai's Giulietta e Romeo. She was also a important interpreter of that composer's Francesca da Rimini.

Dalla Rizza also appeared at the Teatro Colón (including Manon Lescaut opposite Aureliano Pertile) and Covent Garden, and was a favorite at Monte Carlo and the Teatro alla Scala. One of her unexpected successes at the latter theatre was in La traviata, under the bâton of Arturo Toscanini. The beautiful singing-actress bid Farewell to the stage in 1939, though she returned for a final Suor Angelica, at Vicenza in 1942. She was married to the tenor Tino Capuzzo, and, from 1939 to 1955, she taught at Venice's Conservatorio Benedetto Marcello. The great prima donna died at Milan's Casa Verdi, in 1975.

From 1913 to 1928, dalla Rizza made several recordings for Columbia and Fonotipia of excerpts from various operas, including La traviata, Andrea Chénier, Madama Butterfly, Manon Lescaut, Gianni Schicchi and Tosca. In 1931, for Columbia, she recorded a complete version of Fedora.

[edit] Bibliography

• Le grandi voci, edited by Rodolfo Celletti (with discography by Raffaele Vegeto), Istituto per la collaborazione culturale - Roma, 1964.
• The Last Prima Donnas, by Lanfranco Rasponi, Alfred A Knopf, 1982. ISBN 0-394-52153-6