Giuseppina Ronzi de Begnis

Giuseppina Ronzi de Begnis in a role costume, around 1835 (painting by Karl Brullov )

Giuseppina Ronzi de Begnis ( January 11, 1800 in Milan - June 7, 1853 in Florence ) was an Italian opera singer (dramatic coloratura soprano ). She was one of the most important singers of her time and one of Gaetano Donizetti's favorite singers .

Life

Giuseppina Ronzi was the daughter of Anna Lafont and Gaspare Ronzi from Bologna . She made her debut in a small role at the Teatro dei Fiorentini in Naples .

At the end of 1816 Giuseppina married the well-known bass buffo Giuseppe de Begnis from Lugo (1793–1849) from whom she soon had to part at short notice because of an engagement in Genoa . There she was celebrated “enthusiastically” for her performance in the title role of Rossini's Elisabetta regina d'Inghilterra and also sang in Mayr's La rosa rossa e la rosa bianca .

In 1817 she met her husband again in Florence , and they performed together in Vicenza and Verona , where they were so successful as Figaro and Rosina in Rossini's Barber of Seville that Rossini himself engaged them to open the Teatro Nuovo in Pesaro . There Giuseppina sang the Ninetta in La gazza ladra . In 1818 an engagement followed in Lucca .

During the Carnival of 1819, the De Begnis couple was in Paris , where Giuseppina appeared at the Théâtre-Italy in various roles of Paisiello , Paër and Rossini, including again as Rosina in the Barber of Seville . According to Fétis , however, she was found “weak” in Paris, although she is said to have been the best Donna Anna (in Mozart's Don Giovanni ) before Henriette Sontag . In Paris she also took lessons from Pierre Garat. After three seasons Giuseppina went to England with her husband, where she worked at the King's Theater in London . a. in Rossini's Il turco in Italia . At the age of 23 she also sang Elena in La donna del lago .

Giuseppina Ronzi De Begnis 1823 in a Rossini opera, National Portrait Gallery , London

In 1825 she was back in Italy. Her voice and talent developed so positively over time that she became one of the first singers in Italy. In the 1830s she was permanently engaged at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples , where she was the prima donna assoluta . She is said to have been the mistress of King "Bomba" for a short time. At the height of her career in the 1830s, Gaetano Donizetti composed the leading roles for her in Fausta (1832), Sancia di Castiglia (1832), Maria Stuarda (1834; first performed as Buondelmonte ), Gemma di Vergy (1834) and Roberto Devereux (1837 ). During the rehearsals for Maria Stuarda in 1834, a scandal broke out because of the violent jealousies and physical arguments between Giuseppina Ronzi de Begnis and Anna del Sere - the actress who played Queen Elisabeth . Del Sere is said to have been so affected by it that she had to recover from her bruises for two weeks.

The star roles of Ronzi de Begnis also included the leading roles in Rossini's Semiramide and Elisabetta regina d'Inghilterra , as well as Donizetti's Anna Bolena and Bellini's Norma . In contrast to the other two famous interpreters of Norma, Giuditta Pasta and Maria Malibran , Ronzi de Begnis sang this demanding role for a relatively long time, between 1834 and 1843. Other important roles were Desdemona in Rossini's Otello and Romeo in Bellini's I Capuleti ei Montecchi .

Shortly after the death of her husband, who died of cholera in New York in 1849, she withdrew from the stage. After her death on June 7th, 1853, most of her fortune fell to her son-in-law Fraschini.

voice

In her heyday, Giuseppina Ronzi de Begnis was one of the greatest exponents of the soprano drammatico d'agilità , i.e. a dramatic coloratura soprano.

Although she also had a talent for comic roles, she was mainly admired as prima donna seria , that is, in serious or tragic roles, where she was considered a great and expressive artist; her voice is said to have been "extremely pleasant" and her presentation "clearly articulated". Guillaume Cottrau did not like the singing of Ronzi de Begnis, but according to his own statement he was "a lonely exception", he found it "too differentiated ... with every word and practically every note". Lord Mount Edgecombe spoke of the flexibility and a certain sweetness of her voice and of her "remarkable ... taste".

In 1843 she performed in Paris, where her singing and her performance were greatly admired: “Madame Ronzi ... has reached the highest level of lyric art. Her successes can still be heard in Naples: Madame Ronzi is still beautiful, noble, and she has become dramatic; her method is remarkable, her voice strong and she sings with a strong accent. She is also a great artist. "

Important roles (selection)

The following is a selection of roles composed for the voice of Giuseppina Ronzi de Begnis.

• Title role in Zaira by Saverio Mercadante (August 31, 1831, Naples)
• Title role in Fausta by Gaetano Donizetti (January 12, 1832, Naples)
• Title role in Sancia di Castiglia by Gaetano Donizetti (November 4, 1832, Naples)
• Idalide in Gli Elvezi ossia Corrado di Tochenburgo by Giovanni Pacini (January 12, 1833, Naples)
• Imelda in Fernando duca di Valenza by Giovanni Pacini (May 30, 1833, Naples)
• Bianca degli Amidei in Buondelmonte by Gaetano Donizetti (October 18, 1834, Naples; actually: title role in Maria Stuarda )
• Title role in Gemma di Vergy by Gaetano Donizetti (December 24, 1834, Milan)
• Title role in Marsa by Carlo Coccia (July 13, 1835, Naples)
• Elisabetta in Roberto Devereux by Gaetano Donizetti (October 29, 1837, Naples)
• Title role in Elena da Feltre by Saverio Mercadante (January 1, 1839, Naples)

literature

• F. Mancini & Rouveroux: Le guide de l'opéra. Fayard, Paris 1986, ISBN 2-213-01563-5
• Francois-Joseph Fétis: Debegnis (Madame Ronzi). In: Biographie universelle des musiciens et bibliographie générale de la musique, t. 2, 2 , 1866, p. 447 (French; online at Gallica )
• Francesco Regli: Ronzi de Begnis Giuseppina. In: Dizionario biografico: dei più celebri poeti ed artisti melodrammatici, tragici e comici, maestri, concertisti, coreografi, mimi, ballerini, scenografi, giornalisti, impresarii, ecc. ecc. che fiorirono in Italia dal 1800 al 1860. E. Dalmazzo, Turin 1860, p. 459 (Italian; online in the Google book search)
• Geoffrey S. Riggs: The Assoluta voce in Opera 1797–1847 , MacFarland, 2003, p. 137 f (English; limited preview in the Google book search)
• John Weeks Moore: De Begnis, Madame Ronzi. In: Complete encyclopaedia of music: elementary, technical, historical, biographical, vocal, and instrumental. Oliver Ditson, Boston 1854, pp. 246–247 (English; online in the Internet Archive )

Web links

Commons : Giuseppina Ronzi de Begnis  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Francesco Regli: Ronzi de Begnis Giuseppina. In: Dizionario biografico: dei più celebri poeti ed artisti melodrammatici, tragici e comici, maestri, concertisti, coreografi, mimi, ballerini, scenografi, giornalisti, impresarii, ecc. ecc. che fiorirono in Italia dal 1800 al 1860. E. Dalmazzo, Turin 1860, p. 459 (Italian; online in the Google book search).
2. ^ ^{A b c} John Weeks Moore: De Begnis, Madame Ronzi. In: Complete encyclopaedia of music: elementary, technical, historical, biographical, vocal, and instrumental. Oliver Ditson, Boston, 1854, pp. 246-247 (English; online in the Internet Archive ).
3. ^ ^{A b c d e} Francois-Joseph Fétis: Debegnis (Madame Ronzi). In: Biographie universelle des musiciens et bibliographie générale de la musique, t. 2, 2. 1866, p. 447 (French; online at Gallica ).
4. ↑ ^{a b c d} John Weeks Moore: De Begnis, Giuseppe. In: Complete encyclopaedia of music: elementary, technical, historical, biographical, vocal, and instrumental. Oliver Ditson, Boston 1854, p. 246 (English; online in the Internet Archive ).
5. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Geoffrey S. Riggs: The Assoluta voce in Opera 1797–1847 , MacFarland, 2003, p. 138 (English; limited preview in the Google book search).
6. ^ Giorgio Migliavacca: Maria Stuarda: From the difficult beginnings to the masterpiece of the renaissance of bel canto. Booklet text for the CD Maria Stuarda with Edita Gruberova u. a. Nightingale Classics, Zurich 2000, pp. 16–23, here: p. 20.
7. ↑ Giorgio Migliavacca: "Maria Stuarda: From the difficult beginnings to the masterpiece of the renaissance of Belcanto", booklet text for the CD: Maria Stuarda , with Edita Gruberova a. a., Nightingale Classics, Zurich 2000, pp. 16–23, here: p. 19.
8. ↑ "Madame Ronzi, ... est arrivée aujourd'hui au plus haut degré de l'échelle lyrique. Naples retentit encore de ses succès: Madame Ronzi est toujours belle, noble, et elle est devenue dramatique; sa méthode est large, sa voix puissante et son accentuation energy. C'est aussi une grande artiste. ”See: Madame Ronzi Debegnis. In: Les Coulisses: petit journal…: programs des théâtres, vol. 4, no. January 6, 19, 1843, p. 4 (French; online at Gallica ).
9. ↑ Cast list in the libretto for Mercadantes Zaira , Naples, summer 1831, p. 4 ( online in the Google book search).