Anna Maria Sessi, later known as Anna Maria Neumann-Sessi, (1790 – 3 June 1864) was an Italian-born soprano primarily active in the opera houses of

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

Life and career

Sessi was born in Rome, the daughter of Giovanni Sessi, himself an opera singer, who moved to Vienna with his family in 1793. She was the second youngest of his five daughters, all of whom became opera singers. Anna Maria was trained in singing by her elder sisters

Marianne Marianne () has been the national personification of the French Republic since the French Revolution, as a personification of liberty, equality, fraternity and reason, as well as a portrayal of the Goddess of Liberty. Marianne is displayed in ...

(177?–1847) and Imperatrice (1784–1808) and made her stage debut at the Imperial Court Theater in Vienna in 1805. During the early years of her career, Sessi sang in Italy, mainly in Bologna, Florence, and Naples, often appearing with her sister Imperatrice. She continued to appear in Italy after Imperatrice's death in 1808, but in 1811 returned to Vienna. In 1813 she married the Austrian businessman Ignaz Neumann, after which she performed as Anna Maria Neumann-Sessi. Sessi sang frequently at the Imperial Court Theater from 1811 until 1815. After a concert tour to various cities in Germany and Hungary, she established herself in Leipzig, where she sang from 1817 in concerts and in operas at the Altes Theater. In 1821 she sang the role of Agathe in the theatre's first performance of Weber's ''

Der Freischütz ' ( J. 277, Op. 77 ''The Marksman'' or ''The Freeshooter'') is a German opera with spoken dialogue in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber with a libretto by Friedrich Kind, based on a story by Johann August Apel and Friedrich Laun from their 18 ...

''. Other roles for which she was particularly known during her career included Julia in Spontini's ''

La vestale ''La vestale'' (''The Vestal Virgin'') is an opera composed by Gaspare Spontini to a French libretto by Étienne de Jouy. It takes the form of a ''tragédie lyrique'' in three acts. It was first performed on 15 December 1807 by the Académie Impé ...

'', Amenaide in Rossini's ''

Tancredi ''Tancredi'' is a ''melodramma eroico'' ('' opera seria'' or heroic opera) in two acts by composer Gioachino Rossini and librettist Gaetano Rossi (who was also to write '' Semiramide'' ten years later), based on Voltaire's play ''Tancrède'' (17 ...

'', Donna Anna in Mozart's '' Don Giovanni'' and the Countess in his ''

Marriage of Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' ( it, Le nozze di Figaro, links=no, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premie ...

''. Sessi retired from the stage in 1823 after a serious illness caused her to lose her voice. For a time after her retirement she taught singing in Hamburg and then returned to Vienna, where she spent her later years. She died there at the age of 74.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sessi, Anna Maria 1790 births 1864 deaths Italian operatic sopranos Singers from Vienna