Clara Novello
Clara Anastasia Novello (born June 10, 1818 in London ; died March 12, 1908 in Rome ) was an English opera singer ( soprano ) with Italian roots.
Life
She was the daughter of the church composer, organist and music publisher Vincent Novello and his wife Mary Sibilla, née Hehl. Of her ten siblings, only the brother Joseph Alfred Novello and four of her sisters reached adulthood. Musically influenced by the family environment, Clara, like three of her sisters, embarked on a career as a singer. Her eldest sister Mary married the author Charles Cowden Clarke , a business associate of brother Alfred.
The eleven-year-old attended the Chorons music school in Paris from 1829 to 1830 , where she concentrated on church music ( oratorio singing ), but returned to England after the July Revolution of 1830 . On October 22, 1832, she made her debut in front of a large audience in Windsor and in the following years became a well-known figure at music events across England. At the end of 1837 she was invited to Leipzig by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy . There she made the acquaintance of Robert Schumann and sang in concerts in numerous other cities in Germany and Austria-Hungary (Berlin, Dresden, Prague, Vienna, Munich). From there she traveled on to Italy (Bologna, Milan). Another tour in 1839 took them along the Rhine to Berlin, from there on the recommendation of King Friedrich Wilhelm III. on to Saint Petersburg . In 1841 she appeared for the first time in an opera in Padua at the invitation of Rossini .
In 1843, a mistake by her agents led her to appear at the carnival festivities in Rome and Genoa at the same time. Count Giovanni Baptista Gigliuzzi (September 19, 1815-29 March 1893), police chief in Fermo , was therefore given the task of detaining Clara. On this occasion a love developed; Gigliuzzi married Clara Novello that same year on November 22nd. With him she retired; the couple had several children. Her daughter Valeria Gigliuzzi, who published her memoirs, became known.
In 1848 the Gigliuzzis left Rome due to the political unrest after their fortune was confiscated. Clara Gigliuzzi began performing again in 1850, in London, Rome and Lisbon. The following appearances in 1854 on the occasion of the reopening of the Crystal Palace in Lewisham and at the Handel Festival held there in 1857 and 1859 are regarded as highlights of her career . Her last concert took place on November 21, 1860, after she had previously announced her imminent retirement. She spent this at the side of her husband in Rome and Fermo.
Honors
- Honorary membership of the Berlin Philharmonic Society, 1837
- Schumann named his novellettes after her from 1838 and in honor of his fiancée Clara Wieck .
literature
- A. Ehrlich: Famous Singers Past and Present: A Collection of 91 Biographies and 90 Portraits. Payne, Leipzig 1896.
- Antonius Lux (ed.): Great women of world history. A thousand biographies in words and pictures . Sebastian Lux Verlag , Munich 1963, p. 364.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ according to Lux and other sources, probably incorrectly different: born on January 10 , 1818
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Novello, Clara |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Novello, Clara Anastasia (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | English opera singer (soprano) with Italian roots |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 10, 1818 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | London |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 12, 1908 |
| Place of death | Rome |