Geltrude Righetti-Giorgi, print – Victoria & Albert Museum (portrait only

Geltrude Righetti (December 26, 1789 – April 24, 1862) was an Italian

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 ...

closely associated with the

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

s of

Gioachino Rossini 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 ...

. (Her name is also sometimes given as Giorgi-Righetti or Righetti-Giorgi, Giorgi being the name of her husband.)

Life and career

Born in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

, she also studied and made her debut there in 1814. The following year she created the important role of Rosina in ''

The Barber of Seville ''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( it, Il barbiere di Siviglia, ossia L'inutile precauzione ) is an ''opera buffa'' in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was base ...

'' and in 1817 she was the first heroine of ''

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'' ...

'', both in Rome. Her career was short and she retired from the stage in 1822. She died in Bologna in 1862.

Response to Stendhal

In 1823, in response to an article by

Stendhal Marie-Henri Beyle (; 23 January 1783 – 23 March 1842), better known by his pen name Stendhal (, ; ), was a 19th-century French writer. Best known for the novels ''Le Rouge et le Noir'' (''The Red and the Black'', 1830) and ''La Chartreuse de P ...

, she wrote her memoir entitled ''Cenni di una donna già cantante sopra il Maestro Rossini...'', which includes an account of the première of ''The Barber of Seville''.Righetti-Giorgi 1823.

Notes

Sources

* Cagli, Bruno (1992), 'Righetti, Geltrude' in ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'', ed. Stanley Sadie (London) . Also a
Oxford Music Online
(subscription required). * Righetti-Giorgi, Geltrude (1823). ''Cenni di una donna già cantante '' ertrude (''sic'') Righetti-Giorgi' sopra il maestro Rossini in risposta a ciò che ne scrisse nella state dell'anno 1822 il giornalista inglese in Parigi'', etc. Bologna. . [A reply to an article entitled "Rossini," signed Alceste, i.e. M.H. Beyle , in ''The Paris monthly review of British and continental literature'', vol. 1
BnF Catalogue général : Notice de périodique
]. * Warrack, John and West, Ewan (1992), ''The Oxford Dictionary of Opera'', 782 pages, .

External links

OCLC WorldCat Identity
1789 births 1862 deaths Operatic contraltos 19th-century Italian women opera singers Italian contraltos Musicians from Bologna {{italy-opera-singer-stub