Giulietta Simionato
Giulietta Simionato ( born May 12 1910 in Forli, Emilia -Romagna; † 5, 2010 in Rome) was an Italian opera singer with the vocal ranges mezzo- soprano and alto.
Life
Simionato spent much of her childhood in Sardinia. Her father was a Venetian, Sardinian her mother. Her musical talent was discovered early on. First musical lessons when she was in Rovigo, with Ettore Locatello, the local head of the city chapel. Later, she also took singing lessons with Guido Palumbo in Milan.
1927 included Simionato first time on stage at the Teatro Sociale in Rovigo, in the now completely forgotten comic opera Nina non fare la stupida by Giorgio Giacchetti. My semi-professional opera debut took place in 1928 in Montagnana at a local opera company as Lola in Cavalleria rusticana. In 1935 she won a Bel Canto Competition in Florence. 1935 was Simionato her official operatic debut, also in Florence, under the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, in the world premiere of the opera L' Oro by Ildebrando Pizzetti. 1936 Simionato was committed as a beginner at La Scala in Milan. She made her debut there in 1936 as a flower girl in Richard Wagner's Parsifal. In 1937 she sang in the world premiere of the opera La morte di Lodovico Rocca of Frine. In the aftermath Simionato sang at La Scala, however, only small roles. The major roles she could miteinstudieren partially; However, it was usually provided only as an understudy ( doppia ). In the short term, however Einspringerin they sang also at this time larger roles: La Cieca in La Gioconda, Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, Maddalena in Rigoletto, Meg Page in Falstaff, Hansel in Hansel and Gretel (1942 ) and Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro ( 1944). After the Second World War, their real career began at La Scala. In 1947 she sang the title role in Mignon by Ambroise Thomas and Dorabella in Così fan tutte. 1948 was followed by the Rubria in the opera Nerone by Arrigo Boito under the baton of Arturo Toscanini. In 1950 she took over the Charlotte in Jules Massenet's Werther with Tito Schipa as a partner. Other important roles at La Scala were 1954 Angelina in La Cenerentola, 1955, Isabella in L' Italiana in Algeri, in May 1955, the Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana, in April 1957, Giovanna Seymour in Anna Bolena at the side of Maria Callas, in April 1958 also the Giovanna Seymour this time. alongside Leyla Gencer, 1960 Didon in Les Troyens and the 1962 Valentine in Les Huguenots
She performed several times at the Arena di Verona. In 1948 she sang Rosina in The Barber of Seville. 1954/1955, and again in 1963, she sang Amneris in Aida. 1957/1958 was followed by Adalgisa in the opera Norma by Vincenzo Bellini, with Franco Corelli as Pollione and Anita Cerquetti in the title role. In 1960, she was there Santuzza. 1961 and 1965 she sang in Verona the title role in Carmen.
Regularly Giulietta Simionato also appeared at the Salzburg Festival. She sang there in 1957, Mrs. Quickly in Falstaff, 1958, Eboli in Don Carlo, 1959 Orfeo in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, and 1962/1963 Azucena in Il trovatore the. They also took over 1962, the alto solo in Verdi's Requiem in a performance with the Berlin Philharmonic under the baton of Herbert von Karajan and Leontyne Price, Giuseppe Zampieri and Nikolaj Gjaurow in the other solo parts.
Simionato has performed since 1957 at the Vienna State Opera. She went there to 1965 in 11 different games in over 130 performances on. She sang Amneris, Azucena, Carmen, Santuzza, Cherubino, Mrs. Quickly, Eboli, Maddalena, in turn, Gluck's Orfeo and also the Preziosilla in The Force of Destiny and Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera. 1959 Simionato was engaged at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, arriving on October 26, 1959 made his debut as Azucena under Fausto Cleva. In a further four seasons, she sang to 1965 in a total of 20 performances. She was also there to listen as Amneris, Santuzza and Rosina. Simionato has also appeared at the Covent Garden Opera in London (1953, 1964 as Adalgisa, Amneris and Azucena ), at the Grand Opéra in Paris, at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich.
1966 Simionato adopted at the Piccola Scala in the relatively small, but for them completely atypical lyric soprano role of Servilia in Mozart's opera La Clemenza di Tito from the opera stage.
After her farewell to the operatic stage Giulietta Simionato worked as a singing teacher and as a jury member of several singing competitions. Among her students were among other Shirley Verrett, who trained her coloratura technique with Simionato, Helga Müller- Molinari, Lubomir Videnov and Paata Burchuladze.
In 1984 she starred in the documentary Il Bacio di Tosca and told front of the camera once again about her career. She looked back without nostalgia and without false sentimentality on their singer life. 1999 was followed by another documentary, Opera Fanatic by Jan Schmidt- Garre, in which Simionato can also be seen in conjunction with other important Italian opera singers of the 20th century in an interview. In a documentation of RAI from 2007 Simionato reported again about the Anna Bolena performances in 1957 and their encounters with Maria Callas.
Giulietta Simionato was married three times. Her first husband was a violinist at La Scala. In 1965 she married the famous Italian physician Cesare Frugoni. After his death in 1996, she married again, this time a long-time friend and good friend. In the 1950s, she had a long affair with the Italian baritone Mario Petri.
For many years lived Simionato in Milan, where she also active in retirement took part in the musical life of the city. Simionato last lived in largely good health and mental activity, in Rome. Simionato died a week before her hundredth birthday in Rome.
Voice
Simionatos voice was characterized by her dark timbre, a phenomenal vocal technique and her wide vocal range. This allowed her to take on both the dramatic mezzo- soprano roles in the operas of Giuseppe Verdi and the difficult -to-interpret roles for coloratura alto in the operas of Gioachino Rossini. In it she was generally regarded as the legitimate successor of Conchita Supervia. Some musicologists was noted, however, that their central position " relatively weak" is not. Critics described Simionato therefore often referred to as " singer with two voices": a partially adhere almost soprano high position on the one hand and a strong lower register on the other. Your proficiency in Italian vocal technique enabled Simionato a strong expression intensity in their roles, without, however, came at the expense of the vocal line.