Giuditta pasta

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Giuditta Pasta, lithograph by Josef Kriehuber , 1829

Giuditta Pasta , née Negri (born October 26, 1797 in Saronno near Milan, † April 1, 1865 in Como ) was an Italian opera singer ( mezzo-soprano / soprano or soprano sfogato ).

Because of the peculiarities of her voice and its use, the pasta was able to permanently inspire the audience and is still remembered today as primadonna assoluta and as one of the most important singers of the 19th century.

Life

Angiola Maria Costanza Giuditta Negri was the daughter of Rachele Ferranti and the pharmacist Carlo Antonio Negri, who perhaps came from a noble Venetian family; There was also speculation about a Jewish origin. Giuditta grew up with her maternal grandmother, Rosalinda Luraghi, who lived in Como with her son Filippo. He discovered his niece's musical talent and had her tutored by the cathedral music director Bartolomeo Scotti. At the age of 12 she sang for the first time in public in the church of Santa Cecilia in Como. In 1811 she moved to Milan with her uncle Filippo , where she received sound musical training at the Conservatory with Bonifazio Asioli and Giuseppe Scappa . Among the singing students of Scappa she met the law student and tenor Giuseppe Pasta, whom she married in January 1816; subsequently she called herself Giuditta Pasta.

She made her debut as Baroness Isabella in Scappa's opera Lopez de Vega in Carnival 1816 at Milan's Teatro degli Accademici Filodrammatici. In the summer of the same year she was on the recommendation of Ferdinando Paër at the Théâtre Italy in Paris , where she sang Rosina in his opera Il principe di Taranto ; she also appeared as Elvira in Mozart's Don Giovanni and in Zingarelli's Giulietta e Romeo . From January to July 1817 she was in London , where she sang Penelope in Domenico Cimarosa's Telemaco at the Theater at the Haymarket ; She also had small roles in operas by Paër (Lisetta in Agnese , Vespina in Griselda ) and Mozart (Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro , Despina in Così fan tutte , Servilia in La clemenza di Tito ), and again in Paris in Rossini's Italiana in Algeri (Zulma).

Back in Italy, she gave birth to her daughter Clelia on March 27, 1818 in Milan.

In the following two years she sang at various theaters in Venice , Padua , Rome , Brescia , Trieste and Turin , where she has since received leading roles, a. a. as Angelina in Rossini's La Cenerentola , and in various operas by Mayr ( Danao and I virtuosi ), Paër ( Sargino and Agnese ) and Pacini ( Adelaide e Comingio , Il Barone di Dolsheim , La sposa fedele ). The latter composed the role of Zora in La schiava in Baghdad for her , which was premiered in Turin on October 28, 1820.

Giuditta Pasta as Rossini's Tancredi

The pasta very often appeared in trouser roles , some of which had originally been composed for castrati - like Arsace in Rossini's Aureliano in Palmyra or Curiazio in Cimarosa's Gli Orazi ei Curiazi - others were also written specifically for her, such as Clodomiro in Nicolini's Giulio Cesare nelle Gallie (1819, Rome) or Ippolito in Ferdinando Orlandi's Fedra (1820, Padua).

Also on her debut at the important Teatro La Fenice in Venice in the Carnival of 1820-21, she sang with great success several trouser roles in the world premieres of Nicolini's La conquista di Granata (Gonzalvo) and especially in Stefano Pavesi's Arminio (title role ).

In 1821/22 she achieved a triumphant success in Paris , where she worked until 1824 (with a brief stopover in Italy). During this time she appeared in roles for which she is still known centuries later, particularly as Desdemona in Rossini's Otello , in the title role of his Tancredi , as Romeo in Zingarelli's Giulietta e Romeo and as Medea in Mayr's Medea in Corinto . In the latter role, the Journal des Débats critic , Castil-Blaze, praised her “sublime transition” from maternal tenderness to the fury of the child murderer , “prepared with great art and executed with the power of feeling, a terrifying truth in the accents and in the gesture ”.

The depiction of the mentally deranged Nina von Paisiello was one of her admired gloss interpretations . In addition, she sang other leading roles in Paris by Rossini ( Elisabetta regina d'Inghilterra , Elcìa in Mosè in Egitto ), Paër ( Camilla ), Mozart (Donna Anna in Don Giovanni , Sesto in La Clemenza di Tito ), Mayr (Enrico in La rosa bianca e la rosa rossa ) and Mercadante ( Elisa e Claudio ).

In the spring of 1824 she played Rossini's Semiramide for the first time in London , which also became one of her most famous roles.

In the summer of 1825 in Paris she was part of the star cast of the coronation opera for Charles X , Il viaggio a Reims by Rossini, who wrote the part of Corinna for them, together with Laure Cinti-Damoreau , Ester Mombelli , Domenico Donzelli and Nicholas-Prosper Levasseur . At the Théâtre Italy she also sang Armando in Meyerbeer's Il crociato in Egitto and Rossini's Zelmira . In the spring of 1826 she returned to London, where she performed her favorite roles of Rossini, Paisiello, Zingarelli and Mayr.

It is said that she fell out with Rossini and therefore went back to Italy, where she performed at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples from November 1826 to March 1827 . Besides Mayr's Medea in Corinto , she sang in the revised Gabriella di Vergy by Michele Carafa and in the world premieres of Pacinis Niobe and Pietro Raimondis Giuditta ; However, it should not have had the usual success, because in Naples more emphasis was placed on pure, beautiful singing than on dramatic acting. Henry F. Chorley later said that no one had "ever sung the great aria from Pacini's Niobe " Il soave e bel contento "like Madame Pasta, although everyone tried to sing it."

1827-28 she was back in London, where she a. a. In four concerts, Desdemona left her star role in Rossini's Otello to her popular colleague Henriette Sontag and instead interpreted the role of the protagonist, which was actually intended for tenor . The Times reviewer compared this pasta's performance to famous actor Edmund Kean . She then gave concerts in Ireland , Scotland and England. In February – March 1829 she appeared at the Kärntnertortheater in Vienna and was appointed first female chamber singer by Emperor Franz I. After a brief interlude in Verona, she sang again in Vienna alongside the great tenor Giovanni Battista Rubini, Imogene in Il pirata by Vincenzo Bellini , for whom she became his most important muse in the years to come .

Giuditta Pasta as Anna Bolena , painting by Karl Brullov

In the carnival season 1830–31 at Milan's Teatro Carcano, she performed two of the most important and successful operas that were composed for her: Anna Bolena by Gaetano Donizetti and Bellini's La sonnambula . In the same year she sang both operas in London and Paris. One especially admired the touching simplicity with which she portrayed the sleepwalking, poor orphan girl Amina in the sun room , and which stood in stark contrast to the nobility and energy of her Anna Bolena and other dramatic seria roles.
This was followed in the carnival season 1831-32, the main role in Bellini's Norma , which remained in a special way associated with the name and art of pasta. Bellini wrote to the singer in a letter that he had designed this role "for your encyclopedic character" - by which he meant her ability to express all imaginable human emotions. During the same season she also sang Bianca in the world premiere of Donizetti's Ugo, conte di Parigi .

The last role that Bellini wrote for her was the title role in Beatrice di Tenda , which premiered in the Carnival of 1832–33 at La Fenice in Venice.

In the spring of 1833 she was back in London, where she appeared in her favorite role as Semiramide alongside Maria Malibran as Arsace - it was the only time that these two star singers appeared on stage together. Comparisons between the two singers turned out to be in favor of Malibran in the purely musical-vocal area, while Pasta was superior in the overall conception of its roles and in the truth of the expression. Romeo in Bellini's I Capuleti ei Montecchi now also belonged to the more recent roles of pasta .

1833–34 she was back in Venice, where she appeared in Fausta and Anna Bolena by Donizetti, and sang the last title role composed especially for her: Emma d'Antiochia by Mercadante . In the same opera and in Bellini's Norma , she appeared for the last time at La Scala in Milan in early 1835.

After a progressive decline in her vocal resources had become noticeable in her last appearances (at least since 1833) and her favorite composer Vincenzo Bellini died unexpectedly and prematurely in Paris in 1835, she withdrew from the opera stage.

Another tour to London followed in 1837 , where she sang excerpts of her well-known roles in Giulietta e Romeo , Medea in Corinto , Tancredi and I Capuleti ei Montecchi in concerts at the Haymarket Theater and Covent Garden . The attending Henry F. Chorley, who knew her from previous performances and was a great admirer of her art, wrote about it:

“During this last visit her voice was constantly out of mood, except for a few moments. As painful as this was for the ear, it was nonetheless “queen and wonder of the magical world of sound” and possessed of all those attributes that age does not dry up, and constant use cannot wear out. The grandeur of her style had seen no decline; her wonderful musical perception was unbroken; and also their incomparable taste, their courage, and even their moderation in the decorations. "

Giuditta Pasta on Lake Como

In January 1838 she was heard by Rossini and Olympe Pélissier in the Milan Salon . Her very last appearances on the opera stage were on another tour in Saint Petersburg , Moscow , Warsaw , Tilsit and Riga between December 1840 and May 1841; on the return trip she could also be heard in July 1841 at the court theater in Berlin , and in September in Leipzig (as Tancredi ). Letters from Fanny Hensel (July 13) and Felix Mendelssohn (August 23) and a diary entry from Robert Schumann (September 17, 1841) report on the serious intonation problems with which she was struggling at this time .

From 1840 she lived in her Villa Roccabruna in Blevio on Lake Como . After that, especially after the death of her husband Giuseppe Pasta in 1846, she increasingly withdrew from public life. During the events of the revolution of 1848 , she helped political refugees who protested against the Austrian regime by giving them, among other things. a. made her palazzo in Milan available, and on March 23 of the same year she spontaneously began to sing, waving the tricolor, during a thank-you ceremony for the expulsion of the Austrians . After the restoration of the Austrians in Milan, she had to atone for such anti-Austrian demonstrations with an exile in Lugano , where she took part in a concert with other exiled musicians on September 5th.

She dared one last public appearance in London in July 1850, in concerts in Covent Garden and at the Haymarket Theater, but her voice was meanwhile in a “state of utter ruin”, so that Pauline Viardot-Garcia, who was present, “ filled her with tears eyes "(" her eyes full of tears ") said," ... It's like the Last Supper by Da Vinci in Milan - a wreck of a picture, but this is the largest painting in the world. "

After that she lived in her villa in Blevio until almost the end and in 1861 she had to witness the suicide of her son-in-law Eugenio Ferranti. In 1864 she moved with her daughter and her children into the house (inherited from her mother's side) in Como, where she died of bronchitis on April 1, 1865 .

Voice and art

Giuditta Pasta as Desdemona in Rossini's Otello

Much has been written about the special art of pasta and its voice. For voices like those of Pasta or Colbran , the term soprano sfogato was coined, which Kesting defines as an “extended soprano with coloratura agility and dramatic verve”, in other words a kind of dramatic coloratura soprano (Italian: soprano drammatico d'agilità ).

The pasta had a range of about 2½ octaves , roughly from the low a to the high d '' ', and she sang both mezzo - soprano and soprano roles - although, according to the customs of her time, it would be possible that she had passages that were too low or were too high for them, adjusted to their own possibilities.
In an age that was still strongly characterized by the great vocal perfection, virtuosity and expressiveness of the castrati , she was not completely perfect, at least vocally: She did not have a perfectly balanced "beautiful" voice, as was so important in the Belcanto tradition . instead, her voice was "not made of identical metal". Descriptions show that she made up for her imperfections with an extraordinary ability to express herself, which was particularly convincing because of her undisguised honesty and genuineness; she was completely absorbed in her roles:

“Nothing could be more free from tricks or affectation than Pasta's performance. There is no discernible effort to resemble a character she is playing; on the contrary, it takes the stage as the character itself; fully in the situation, aroused by hopes and fears, she breathes the life and spirit of the being she represents. "

- John Ebers (1785? –1830?) : Seven Years of King's Theater , London 1828

Since they like Rossini roles reichornamentierte Semiramide sang with great success, her voice must be very coloratura capable have been. Nevertheless, it is noticeable that already Rossini in his Viaggio a Reims (1825) for the pasta (= Corinna) intended a rather simple, lyrical singing with wide vocal arcs, in contrast to the coloratura fireworks that he had for Laure Cinti-Damoreau (= Contessa di Folleville) wrote. The voice of the pasta was used in a similar way by Bellini, who wrote melodies for it with elegant little decorations and also coloratura, but above all called for a very expressive declamation in the recitatives.

One of the most important testimonies about pasta comes from Henry F. Chorley, who had heard it over the years and in 1862 dedicated an entire chapter in the first volume of his Thirty Years' Musical Recollections to it:

“Her voice was originally limited, airy and weak - without charm, without flexibility - a mediocre mezzo-soprano . ... Compensating for them completely was impossible. There was part of the scale that was of a different quality than the rest, and which at least remained “as if under a veil”, to use the Italian term. There were notes that were always more or less out of tune, especially at the beginning of their performances. ... Your studies to achieve your vocal technique must have been colossal; but the fluency and brilliance, once achieved, gained a very unique character from the unruly peculiarities of their vocal organ. There was a width, an expressiveness in her roulades, a symmetry and a solidity in her trill , which gave every passage a meaning that is completely beyond the reach of lighter and more spontaneous singers. ... But the greatest of all virtues - depth and authenticity of expression - was possessed by this remarkable artist like few before her (I suspect) and like no one I've admired since. ... Your recitative , from the moment it appeared, was captivating in its truth (sincerity). "

Stendhal , too , gave an eulogy for her in his Vie de Rossini (Chapter 19) and devoted an entire chapter to it (Chapter 35: Madame Pasta ); She is also mentioned briefly, almost anonymously, in his novel Die Kartause von Parma (second book, 26th chapter): “The famous Frau P *** sang ... the aria of Cimarosa : Source pupille tenere! “, And Fabrizzio is crying his heart out, also because of Clelia perduta - who was present at the party … . Then Stendhal has the diva sing an aria by Pergolesi .

Balzac also mentions pasta, briefly but explicitly, in his novel The Woman of Thirty Years (1842), when he compares Julie d'Aiglemont with the famous soprano while she is performing the aria of the willow: Assisa al piè d'un salice from the third act of Rossini's opera Otello sings - a scene for which the pasta was very famous.

The 20th century remembered Giuditta Pasta particularly in connection with Maria Callas , who is also not considered vocal perfect, but was of similar expressiveness and, through her interpretations, breathed new life into some roles that were composed for pasta: Donizetti's Anna Bolena and Bellinis La sonnambula and especially Norma .

Operas for the pasta

The following roles were written specifically for Giuditta Pasta:

literature

Web links

Commons : Giuditta Pasta  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao Francesco Lora: "Negri (pasta) , Giuditta (Angiola Maria Costanza Giuditta) ", in: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani , Volume 78, 2013. Online on " Treccani " (Italian; viewed August 20, 2019)
  2. ↑ Constantin von Wurzbach : Pasta, Judith . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 21st part. Kaiserlich-Königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1870, pp. 334–336 ( digitized version ).
  3. ↑ George T. Ferris: Giuditta Pasta , in: Great singers , Vol. I ("Faustina Bordoni to Henrietta Sontag, First Series"), D. Appleton & Co, New York 1889, pp. 171–196, here: p. 172. Online at: archive.org (as of August 28, 2019)
  4. ↑ «prepared with beaucoup d'art et exécutée avec une force de sentiment, une vérité effrayante dans les accents et le geste» (Castil-Blaze, p. 225 f.). Here after: Francesco Lora: "Negri (Pasta), Giuditta (Angiola Maria Costanza Giuditta)", in: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani , Volume 78, 2013. Online at "Treccani"
  5. ↑ d. H. the aforementioned operas Otello , Tancredi and Zelmira by Rossini; Giulietta e Romeo by Zingarelli; Nina of Paisiello; Medea in Corinto by Mayr. Francesco Lora: "Negri (Pasta), Giuditta (Angiola Maria Costanza Giuditta)", in: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani , Volume 78, 2013. Online at "Treccani"
  6. ↑ a b c d e François-Joseph Fétis: “PASTA (Judith)”, in: Biographie universelle des musiciens , Vol. 6, 2nd edition, Paris 1860–1868, pp. 463–464, here 464. Online : gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France (French; accessed August 29, 2019)
  7. ↑ "Nobody (the admirers of Rubini must forgive me) ever sang the great air from Pacini's" Niobe "," Il soave e bel contento ", as Madame Pasta did, though everyone has tried to sing it." IN: Henry Fothergill Chorley : Chapter Madame Pasta , in: Thirty Years' Musical Recollections , Vol. I, Hurst and Blackett, London 1862, pp. 125-139; here: p. 131 (footnote). Online at: Google Books (viewed August 19, 2019)
  8. ↑ "pel vostro carattere enciclopedico," in Francesco Lora "Negri (pasta), Giuditta (Angiola Maria Costanza Giuditta)", in: Dictionnaire Biografico degli Italiani , Volume 78, 2013. Online on "Treccani"
  9. ↑ " During this last visit referred to her voice was steadily out of tune, with some exceptional moments. Painful as this was to the ear, she was none the less the "Queen and wonder of the enchanted world of sound" in right of all those attributes which age cannot wither, neither custom stale. The grandeur of her style had undergone no decay, her wonderful musical perception was unimpaired; so were her incomparable taste, courage, and yet moderation, in ornament. “IN: Henry Fothergill Chorley: Kapitel Madame Pasta , in: Thirty Years' Musical Recollections , Vol. I, Hurst and Blackett, London 1862, pp. 125-139, here: 132-135. (Reprint: Horizon Press, New York 1983) Online at: Google Books (English; viewed August 19, 2019)
  10. ↑ " Her voice ... had been given up by her long ago. Its state of utter ruin on the night in question passes description. “IN: Henry Fothergill Chorley: Kapitel Madame Pasta , in: Thirty Years' Musical Recollections , Vol. I, ... London 1862, ..., p. 136. Online at: Google Books
  11. ^ " ... It is like the cenacolo of Da Vinci in Milan - a wreck of a picture, but the picture is the greatest picture in the world! “IN: Henry Fothergill Chorley: Kapitel Madame Pasta , in: Thirty Years' Musical Recollections , Vol. I, ... London 1862, ..., p. 139. Online at: Google Books
  12. ↑ Jürgen Kesting: Maria Callas , Econ Taschenbuch, Düsseldorf & München, 1990/1998, p. 95 (on soprano sfogato also: pp. 54–55)
  13. ↑ George T. Ferris: Giuditta Pasta , in: Great singers , Vol. I ..., New York 1889, pp. 171–196, here: p. 175. Online at: archive.org
  14. ^ Stendhal in Vie de Rossini . Here after: Jürgen Kesting: Maria Callas , Econ Taschenbuch, Düsseldorf & München, 1990/1998, p. 53
  15. ↑ See also below the quote from Chorley
  16. ^ "Nothing could have been more free from trick or affectation than Pasta's performance. There is no perceptible effort to resemble a character she plays; on the contrary, she enters the stage the character itself; transposed into the situation, excited by the hopes and fears, breathing the life and spirit of the being she represents. " In: George T. Ferris: Giuditta Pasta , in: Great singers , Vol. I (" Faustina Bordoni to Henrietta Sontag, First Series “), D. Appleton & Co, New York 1889, pp. 171-196, here: pp. 176-177. Online at: archive.org (as of August 28, 2019)
  17. ↑ "Her voice was, originally, limited, husky, and weak - without charme, without flexibility - a mediocre mezzo-soprano." In: Henry Fothergill Chorley: Kapitel Madame Pasta , in: Thirty Years' Musical Recollections , Vol. I, ... London 1862, ..., p. 128. Online at: Google Books
  18. ↑ ie virtuoso runs
  19. ↑ "To equalize it (= the voice) what impossible. There was a portion of the scale which differed from the rest in quality, and remained to the last 'under a veil,' to use the Italian term. There were notes always more or less out of tune, especially at the commencement of her performances. ... Her studies to acquire execution must have been tremendous; but the volubility and brilliancy, when acquired, gained a character of their own, from the resisting peculiarities of the organ. There were a breadth, an expressiveness in her roulades, an evenness and solidity in her shake, which imparted to every passage a significance totally beyond the reach of lighter and more spontaneous singers. " In: Henry Fothergill Chorley: Kapitel Madame Pasta , in: Thirty Years' Musical Recollections , Vol. I, ... London 1862, ..., p. 129. Online at: Google Books
  20. ↑ "But the greatest grace of all - depth and reality of expression - was possessed by this remarkable artist as few (I suspect) before her - as none whom I have since admired - have possessed it. ... Her recitative, from the moment when she entered, was riveting by its truth. " In: Henry Fothergill Chorley: Kapitel Madame Pasta , in: Thirty Years' Musical Recollections , Vol. I, ... London 1862, ..., P. 129. Online at: Google Books
  21. ^ Stendhal: Vie de Rossini . 1824 (German: Athenäum, Frankfurt 1988, ISBN 3-610-08472-3 )
  22. ↑ From the opera Gli Orazi e Curiazi . In 1823, Pasta was acclaimed in Paris for her performance in the role of Curiazo - a trouser role.
  23. ↑ Stendhal: The Charterhouse of Parma . Translated by Elisabeth Edl, Carl Hanser, 2007, p. 608 sq.
  24. ↑ The opera was actually only performed in Paris in 1821, while the private concert with the Countess von Sérizy in the novel took place as early as 1820.
  25. ↑ H. de Balzac: The woman of thirty years . 1st chap.
  26. ↑ See e.g. B. Jürgen Kesting: Maria Callas , Econ Taschenbuch, Düsseldorf & Munich, 1990/1998, pp. 52–54 and 58–59
  27. ↑ The roles are mentioned in the running text in: Francesco Lora: "Negri (Pasta), Giuditta (Angiola Maria Costanza Giuditta)", in: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani , Volume 78, 2013. Online at "Treccani"
  28. ↑ See also the list of operas in which the pasta appeared on "Corago" (as of August 20, 2019)
personal data
SURNAME Pasta, Giuditta
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Negri, Giuditta (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian opera singer (mezzo-soprano or soprano)
DATE OF BIRTH October 26, 1797
PLACE OF BIRTH Saronno near Milan
DATE OF DEATH April 1, 1865
Place of death Como