Francilla Pixis (15 May 1816 – ?1888) was a German mezzo-soprano. She was born Franziska Helma Göhringer in Lichtenthal near

Baden-Baden Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the Rhine, the border with Fra ...

. She was initially trained by the pianist and composer Johann Peter Pixis who adopted her when she was 15 but also studied with

Henriette Sontag Henriette Sontag, born Gertrude Walpurgis Sontag, and, after her marriage, entitled Henriette, Countess Rossi (3 January 1806 – 17 June 1854), was a German operatic soprano of great international renown. She possessed a sweet-toned, lyrical voi ...

and

Ferdinando Paer Ferdinando Paer (1 July 1771 – 3 May 1839) was an Italian composer known for his operas. He was of Austrian descent and used the German spelling Pär in application for printing in Venice, and later in France the spelling Paër. Life and career ...

. She made her concert debut in London in 1833 and her operatic debut in 1834 in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

. She subsequently sang in Vienna, Paris, London, and Italy both on the opera stage and in successful concert tours with her adoptive father. In Italy she made her La Scala debut in 1838 in the title role of Rossini's ''

La Cenerentola ' ('' Cinderella, or Goodness Triumphant'') is an operatic ''dramma giocoso'' in two acts by Gioachino Rossini. The libretto was written by Jacopo Ferretti, based on the libretti written by Charles-Guillaume Étienne for the opera ''Cendrillon'' ...

'' and also sang at the

Teatro San Carlo The Real Teatro di San Carlo ("Royal Theatre of Saint Charles"), as originally named by the Bourbon monarchy but today known simply as the Teatro (di) San Carlo, is an opera house in Naples, Italy, connected to the Royal Palace and adjacent ...

in Naples and the

Teatro Massimo The Teatro Massimo Vittorio Emanuele is an opera house and opera company located on the Piazza Verdi in Palermo, Sicily. It was dedicated to King Victor Emanuel II. It is the biggest in Italy, and one of the largest of Europe (at the time of its i ...

in Palermo. In 1840 she created the title role in Giovanni Pacini's '' Saffo'', which he wrote expressly for her voice. Pixis married a Sicilian nobleman, Giovanni di Sant'Onofrio del Castillo, in 1843 and retired from the stage three years later. Their son, Ugo di Sant'Onofrio del Castillo, served in the Italian Parliament, first in the Chamber of Deputies from 1888 until 1913 and later in the Senate.Liszt, Franz (translated and annotated by Charles Sutton) (1989)
''An Artist's Journey''
p. 81. University of Chicago Press.

References

German opera singers Operatic mezzo-sopranos 1816 births 1888 deaths 19th-century German women opera singers Court artists {{opera-singer-stub