Julia Espín y Pérez de Collbrand (18 November 1838,
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...
– 20 December 1906, Soprano) was a Spanish opera singer, daughter of a composer
Joaquín Espín y Guillén and sister of a composer Joaquín Espín y Pérez Colbran. She is especially known for being the muse of the Spanish poet
Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer
Gustavo Adolfo Claudio Domínguez Bastida (17 February 1836 – 22 December 1870), better known as Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (), was a Spanish Romantic poet and writer (mostly short stories), also a playwright, literary columnist, and talented ...
.
Early life
Julia Espín was born on 18 November 1838 in Madrid.
She belonged to a family with a great musical tradition. Her father, Joaquín Espín y Guillén, was a director of the choirs of the
Teatro Real
The Teatro Real (Royal Theatre) is an opera house in Madrid, Spain. Located at the Plaza de Oriente, opposite the Royal Palace, and known colloquially as ''El Real'', it is considered the top institution of the performing and musical arts in the ...
and her mother, Josefina Pérez, was the niece of the singer
Isabella Colbran
Isabella Angela Colbran (2 February 1785 – 7 October 1845) was a Spanish opera soprano and composer. She was known as the muse and first wife of composer Gioachino Rossini.
Early years
Colbran was born in Madrid, Spain, to Giovanni Colbran, ...
, first wife of the famous composer
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 ...
.
Espín was the first of three daughters and received her first musical lessons from her father.
Her father considered that musical training offered by
Madrid Conservatory
The Madrid Royal Conservatory ( es, Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid) is a music college in Madrid, Spain.
History
The Royal Conservatory of Music was founded on July 15, 1830, by royal decree, and was originally located in Moste ...
was excessively oriented towards the Italian operatic canon and lacked comprehensive education for future Spanish lyrical singers and composers.
Espín's first performances as a singer took place in Círculo Filarmónico, an association founded by her father.
Career
In 1856, at the age of eighteen, Espín was invited to sing for
Queen Isabella II
Isabella II ( es, Isabel II; 10 October 1830 – 9 April 1904), was Queen of Spain from 29 September 1833 until 30 September 1868.
Shortly before her birth, the King Ferdinand VII of Spain issued a Pragmatic Sanction to ensure the successio ...
.
In 1858 Espín wrote to Queen Isabella II requesting royal protection to carry out her career as a singer.
However, she unlike her brother Joaquín, who was granted a training at the
Imperial Conservantory of Music and Declamation in Paris, didn't obtain the protection of the monarch.
Most likely, through a mutual friend Ramón Rodríguez Correa Espín met a poet Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer. She became his muse while keeping in touch through the artistic-literary gathering in Espín's family house.
Espín became protagonist of some of the Bécquer's verses of “Rimas” (“Rhymes”).
Additionally Bécquer presented Espín two albums with poems and drawings of her that is now kept in the
National library of Spain in Madrid.
In 1866 Espín, recommended by her uncle composer Gioachino Rossini, deputed as
soprano at the
Teatro de La Scala in Milan with the premiere of the opera Turanda, composed specially for her by
Antonio Bazzini.
Espín adopted a stage name Giuletta Collbrand.
She was awarded the third prize of the contest organized by La Gazetta Musicale di Milano.
In the first half of 1868 Espín sang
Il Barbiere again at the Teatro Bellini in Palermo, played roles of
Desdemona
Desdemona () is a character in William Shakespeare's play ''Othello'' (c. 1601–1604). Shakespeare's Desdemona is a Venetian beauty who enrages and disappoints her father, a Venetian senator, when she elopes with Othello, a Moorish Venetian ...
, Margarita, Leonora and Leila in
Otello,
La Favorite
''La favorite'' (''The Favourite'', sometimes referred to by its Italian title: ''La favorita'') is a grand opera in four acts by Gaetano Donizetti to a French-language libretto by Alphonse Royer and Gustave Vaëz, based on the play ''Le com ...
,
Faust
Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540).
The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroa ...
and
L 'Ebreo, respectively.
In summer 1868 she went to Russia where she was hired to sing in the imperial theaters for 8 month. Espín deputed at the Novgorod Opera House and
Odessa Opera and Ballet Theater
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, caption = Odesa Theatre of Opera and Ballet
, address = Tchaikovsky Lane 1
, city = Odesa
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.
In September 1869 Espín was hired to sing in Moscow and Saint Petersburg.
It is also known that she performed in Paris for some time.
In December 1869 Espín had to return to Madrid due to her throat condition and after that she never sang again abroad or within the country.
In 1873 Espín married Benigno Quiroga, who was elected a deputy for the province of Lugo and served as Minister of the Interior during the reign of
Alfonso XII
Alfonso XII (Alfonso Francisco de Asís Fernando Pío Juan María de la Concepción Gregorio Pelayo; 28 November 185725 November 1885), also known as El Pacificador or the Peacemaker, was King of Spain from 29 December 1874 to his death in 1885 ...
.
They had three children: Jose, Luis and Joaquín.
Julia Espín died of
bronchopneumonia
Bronchopneumonia is a subtype of pneumonia. It is the acute inflammation of the bronchi, accompanied by inflamed patches in the nearby lobules of the lungs. citing: Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition, Copyright 2014
It is ofte ...
on 20 December 1906 at the age of 68.
She was buried in the Quiroga family pantheon next to the Romanesque church of San Pedro Fiz de Hospital.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Espin y Perez de Collbrand, Julia
1838 births
1906 deaths
Singers from Madrid
Spanish operatic sopranos
19th-century Spanish women opera singers