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Mafalda Favero (pseudonym of Giuseppina Favero) (6 January 19033 September 1981) was an Italian
Mafalda Favero (pseudonym of Giuseppina Favero) (6 January 19033 September 1981) was an Italian 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 ...
tic soprano
A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...
.
Mafalda Favero was born in Portomaggiore
Portomaggiore ( Ferrarese: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy.
History
In the Battle of Portomaggiore of 1395, mercenary troops of the Ferrara Regency Council, assisted by allies from Florence, Bologna, V ...
, near 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 ...
. When she was 17, she started studying with Alessandro Vezzani at the Bologna Conservatory
The Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini (previously known as the Liceo Musicale di Bologna, and sometimes referred to in English as the Bologna Conservatory) is a college of music in Bologna, Italy. The conservatory opened on 3 December 1804 ...
and attracted the attention of Franco Alfano
Franco Alfano (8 March 1875 – 27 October 1954) was an Italian composer and pianist, best known today for his opera ''Risurrezione'' (1904) and for having completed Puccini's opera ''Turandot'' in 1926. He had considerable success with several o ...
. She began her professional career in her early 20s in Cremona
Cremona (, also ; ; lmo, label= Cremunés, Cremùna; egl, Carmona) is a city and ''comune'' in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po river in the middle of the ''Pianura Padana'' ( Po Valley). It is the capital of th ...
before moving to Parma
Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...
where she sang several roles. She eventually transferred to La Scala
La Scala (, , ; abbreviation in Italian of the official name ) is a famous opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the ' (New Royal-Ducal Theatre alla Scala). The premiere performan ...
where she debuted singing Eva in ''Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
(; "The Master-Singers of Nuremberg"), WWV 96, is a music drama, or opera, in three acts, by Richard Wagner. It is the longest opera commonly performed, taking nearly four and a half hours, not counting two breaks between acts, and is traditio ...
'' under Arturo 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 ...
in 1929.
She remained one of the regular singers at La Scala until 1950, in addition to singing in London (Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Op ...
) in 1937 and 1939, and in the United States (Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...
and San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera (SFO) is an American opera company founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola (1881–1953) based in San Francisco, California.
History
Gaetano Merola (1923–1953)
Merola's road to prominence in the Bay Area began in 1906 when he ...
) in 1938. She had a large repertoire which included many contemporary works. She sang in the first performances of Alfano's '' L'ultimo Lord'', Mascagni's ''Pinotta
''Pinotta'' is an ''idillio'' or opera in 2 acts by Pietro Mascagni from an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti
Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti (17 March 186330 May 1934) was an Italian librettist.
Biography
He was best known for his fr ...
'', 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 '' Farsa amorosa'', and Wolf-Ferrari's '' Il campiello,'' including his operatic adaptation of de Vega's play ''La dama Boba
''La dama boba'' (given various titles in English including ''The Lady Simpleton'', ''The Lady Boba: a Woman of Little Sense'', 'Lady Nitwit'', ''The Lady-Fool'') is a 1613 comedy by the Spanish playwright Lope de Vega. It is one of the earliest ...
''.
Although initially attracted to the role of Puccini
Giacomo Puccini (Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long lin ...
's ''Madama Butterfly
''Madama Butterfly'' (; ''Madame Butterfly'') is an opera in three acts (originally two) by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa.
It is based on the short story "Madame Butterfly" (1898) by John Luther ...
'', she later blamed this for her early retirement in 1954; Favero said "the role of Cio-Cio-San was my ruination ... to sing it as I did, giving everything I had and then some, exacted an enormous price... am quite aware that Butterfly cut short my career by at least five years".
Giulietta Simionato
Giulietta Simionato (born Giulia Simionato; Forlì, Romagna, 12 May 1910 – Rome, 5 May 2010) was an Italian mezzo-soprano. Her career spanned the period from the 1930s until her retirement in 1966.
Life
As a girl she studied in a boardin ...
remarked on her "animal sensuality" and said " averogave away a great deal of herself – more than was good for her – but the result was extremely moving."
She died 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 ...
in 1981, at age 78.
Recordings
Preiser have published a collection of Favero's recordings on CD in their ''Lebendige Vergangenheit'' series (Mono 89162). The series contains the 1937 'Cherry Duet' (''Suzel, buon di'') withTito Schipa
Tito Schipa (; born Raffaele Attilio Amedeo Schipa; 2 January 1889 in Lecce16 December 1965) was an Italian lyric tenor
A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice ...
from Mascagni's ''L'amico Fritz
''L'amico Fritz'' () is an opera in three acts by Pietro Mascagni, premiered in 1891 from a libretto by P. Suardon ( Nicola Daspuro) (with additions by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti), based on the French novel ''L'ami Fritz'' by Émile Erckmann and ...
.''
Bibliography
* ''The Last Prima Donnas'', byLanfranco Rasponi
Lanfranco Rasponi (11 December 1914 – 9 April 1983) was an Italian author, critic, and publicist. He is primarily known for his writing on opera and opera singers, especially his 1982 book, ''The Last Prima Donnas''. Born in Florence, he was t ...
and Alfred A Knopf, 1982.
References