Elvira Casazza (15 November 1887 – 24 January 1965) was an Italian
mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano or mezzo (; ; meaning "half soprano") is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middle C ...
opera singer (also known as Elvira Mari-Casazza). One of
Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orch ...
's favourite singers, she was considered an outstanding interpreter of Mistress Quickly in Verdi's ''
Falstaff
Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare and is eulogised in a fourth. His significance as a fully developed character is primarily formed in the plays '' Henry IV, Part 1'' and '' Part 2'', w ...
'' during the 1920s and created several roles in Italian operas of the early 20th century.
Biography
Casazza was born Elivra Mari in
Ferrara
Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...
and studied in
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
with Adele Borghi before making her operatic debut as Azucena in ''
Il trovatore
''Il trovatore'' ('The Troubadour') is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto largely written by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play ''El trovador'' (1836) by Antonio García Gutiérrez. It was García Gutiérrez's mos ...
'' in Sanremo in 1910. During the course of her stage career, she sang throughout Italy as well as in Latin America and Spain. Amongst the roles she created were Dèbora in
Pizzetti's ''
Dèbora e Jaéle'' (1922) and the Commandant in
Zandonai
Riccardo Zandonai (28 May 1883 – 5 June 1944) was an Italian composer.
Biography
Zandonai was born in Borgo Sacco, Rovereto, then part of Austria-Hungary. As a young man, he showed such an aptitude for music that he entered the Pesaro Conserv ...
's ''
I cavalieri di Ekebù
is an opera composed by Riccardo Zandonai to an Italian libretto by . The opera is based on '' Gösta Berlings Saga'' by Nobel laureate Selma Lagerlöf. It was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, ...
'' (1925). Known for the extension of her lower
register
Register or registration may refer to:
Arts entertainment, and media Music
* Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc.
* ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller
* Registration (organ), the ...
with an almost
baritonal quality to her low notes, she has been described as a
contralto
A contralto () is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type.
The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare; similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typically b ...
in some sources.
She was married to Umberto Casazza, a violinist from
Busseto
Busseto ( Bussetano: ; Parmigiano: ) is a ''comune'' in the province of Parma, in Emilia-Romagna in Northern Italy with a population of about 7,100. Its history has very ancient roots which date back to the 10th century, and for almost five hundred ...
and a distant relative of the conductor,
Giulio Gatti-Casazza
Giulio Gatti-Casazza (3 February 1869 – 2 September 1940) was an Italian opera manager. He was general manager of La Scala in Milan, Italy, from 1898 to 1908 and later the Metropolitan Opera in New York City from 1908 to 1935.
Biography
...
. The couple had one son, Girolamo, who was killed in a plane crash at the outset of World War II.
[*Lasagni (1999)] Following the death of her husband a few years later, Casazza retired from the stage with a final performance at the
Teatro Verdi Teatro Verdi may refer to:
* Teatro Verdi (Brindisi), Brindisi
* Teatro Giuseppe Verdi, Busseto
* Teatro Verdi (Florence), Florence
* Teatro Verdi (Padova), Padova, by architect Achille Sfondrini
* Teatro Verdi (Pisa), Pisa
* Teatro Verdi (S ...
in
Trieste
Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...
in 1947 as Mother in
Charpentier
Charpentier () is the French language, French word for "carpenter", and it is also a French surname; a variant spelling is Carpentier. In English, the equivalent word and name is "Carpenter (surname), Carpenter"; in German, "Zimmermann (disambigua ...
's ''
Louise
Louise or Luise may refer to:
* Louise (given name)
Arts Songs
* "Louise" (Bonnie Tyler song), 2005
* "Louise" (The Human League song), 1984
* "Louise" (Jett Rebel song), 2013
* "Louise" (Maurice Chevalier song), 1929
*"Louise", by Clan of ...
''. She devoted her later years to teaching singing at the
Rossini Conservatory
Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards f ...
in
Pesaro
Pesaro () is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Marche, capital of the Province of Pesaro e Urbino, on the Adriatic Sea. According to the 2011 census, its population was 95,011, making it the second most populous city in the Marche, ...
and then at the
Accademia di Santa Cecilia
The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia ( en, National Academy of St Cecilia) is one of the oldest musical institutions in the world, founded by the papal bull ''Ratione congruit'', issued by Sixtus V in 1585, which invoked two saints prom ...
in Rome. Elvira Mari-Casazza died in Milan at the age of 80.
Notes and references
Sources
*Gatti, Guido M.
"Casazza-Mari, Elivra" ''La Musica'', Unione tipografico-editrice torinese, 1971, p. 362.
*Lasagni, Roberto (ed.), "Mari, Elvira"
''Dizionario dei parmigiani''(online version), Istituzione Biblioteche del Comune di Parma, 1999.
*Stinchelli, Enrico
''Le stelle della lirica: i grandi cantanti della storia dell'opera'' Gremese Editore, 2002.
*Rosenthal, H. and Warrack, J., "Casazza, Elvira", ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera'', 2nd Edition, Oxford University Press, 1979, p. 85.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Casazza, Elvira
1887 births
1965 deaths
Italian operatic mezzo-sopranos
Musicians from Ferrara
20th-century Italian women opera singers