Luisa Tetrazzini

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Luisa Tetrazzini

Luisa Tetrazzini (June 29, 1871 - April 28, 1941) was an Italian coloratura soprano.

1 Biography
2 Trivia
3 Sources
4 CDs
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Biography

She was born in Florence. Reportedly, she began singing at age 3. Her first voice teacher was her sister, Eva, who also became a successful singer. Tetrazzini later studied at the Instituto Musicale in Florence. She made her operatic debut in 1890 as Inez in Meyerbeer's L'Africaine when the scheduled soprano canceled on short notice. The first part of her career was spent mainly in the Italian provincial theaters and touring in Russia, Spain and South America. Her repertory consisted primarily of lyric-coloratura parts like Violetta, Philine, Oscar, Gilda and Lucia. Tetrazzini made her American debut in San Francisco in 1905. The Metropolitan Opera's general manager, Heinrich Conried, took an option on her services at that time but unaccountably failed to engage her. A famous story about Tetrazzini takes place in San Francisco, where she first sang in 1905. After great success, she went on to New York where she was a sensation, eventually working under contract to Oscar Hammerstein. After some legal difficulties that blocked her from performing, she held a press conference and declared, "I will sing in San Francisco if I have to sing there in the streets, for I know the streets of San Francisco are free." This line has became famous. She won her legal case, and her agent announced she would sing in the streets of San Francisco. On a crystal clear Christmas Eve in 1910 at the corner of Market and Kearney, near Lotta's Fountain, Tetrazzini climbed a stage platform in a sparkling white gown, surrounded by a throng of an estimated two to three-hundred thousand San Franciscans, and serenaded the city she loved.

In 1907 Tetrazzini made a sensational debut as Violetta in La Traviata at Covent Garden in London, where she was completely unknown, and from that point on she was an international operatic superstar, commanding the highest fees and selling out opera houses and concert halls wherever she performed. In 1908 Tetrazzini finally appeared in New York, not at the Metropolitan, but at Oscar Hammerstein's Manhattan Opera House, again as Violetta and again with great success. She remained loyal to Hammerstein and appeared at the Met for only one season, in 1911-12.

Tetrazzini possessed a phenomenal vocal technique that enabled her to surmount any vocal challenge with almost insolent ease. She had complete mastery of runs, trills, staccati and vocal ornaments of all kinds. She also had a brilliant upper register, extending to E above high C. Unlike many other coloratura sopranos at that time, such as Amelita Galli-Curci, Tetrazzini's high notes were not thin and delicate, but full and ringing. On the debit side of the vocal ledger, Tetrazzini's vocal registers were not well-integrated and there could be audible changes in gear as she moved up and down the scale. Her lower register was strong, but the middle voice was weak and undeveloped, with a quality that some critics described as "infantile" and tenor John McCormack likened to "the wailing of a cross infant."

Tetrazzini was short and stout and she was not much of an actress. But she was a good musician and had considerable personality, qualities which are evident in the many records she made. She recorded extensively for Victor and HMV. Her best recordings include a spectacular rendition of "Io son Titania" from Ambroise Thomas' Mignon and "Saper vorreste" from Verdi's Un ballo in maschera, in which Tetrazzini's personality virtually jumps out of the grooves at the listener. On a different note, her recording of "Addio del passato" from La Traviata is very moving and also demonstrates her fine legato. Her "Una voce poco fa," made for the Victor label, remains, after all these years, unsurpassed for its sheer joy and spectacular ornamentation.

Tetrazzini had a very bitter feud with Nellie Melba, but was generally well-liked by her colleagues, including Enrico Caruso and Frieda Hempel. Adelina Patti, the premiere soprano of the earlier generation, and not known for generosity towards other singers, was a fan of Tetrazzini's singing.

After World War I, Tetrazzini largely abandoned the opera stage for the concert platform. She was less fortunate in her marriages (three of them) than in her career, and her third husband dissipated the considerable fortune she had amassed, forcing her to continue to give concerts long after her voice had gone. Her last years were spent in financial difficulty and physical decline. However, the soprano remained cheerful and lovable, despite her reduced circumstances. She would often say, "I am old, I am fat, but I am still Tetrazzini." In 1932, when she was retiring, she was filmed listening to a recording of Caruso's rendition of "M'appari, Tutt'Amor," and began to sing along with the record showing that her voice still had plenty of power (this video can been seen from the link below under the External Links section). Tetrazzini died in Milan on April 28, 1941^[1]. The state paid for her funeral.

[edit] Trivia

Luisa Tetrazzini

Luisa is thought to be eponymous of the moderately popular American dish Tetrazzini, which is widely believed to have originated in San Francisco, where she resided for years.

[edit] Sources

Gattey, Charles Neilson, Luisa Tetrazzini: The Florentine Nightengale (Amadeus Press, Portland 1995)
Pleasants, Henry, The Great Singers (Simon & Schuster, New York 1966).
Scott, Michael, The Record of Singing (Duckworth, London 1977).

[edit] CDs

Luisa Tetrazzini: The Complete London Recordings (boxed set); EMI
Luisa Tetrazzini: The Complete Zonophone (1904) and Victor Recordings(1911-20); Romophone.
Luisa Tetrazzini: The Complete Known Recordings (5 volumes); Pearl.
Luisa Tetrazzini, 2 volumes; Nimbus.