Miriam Pirazzini (21 August 1918 – 26 December 2016) was an Italian mezzo-soprano and occasionally soprano. She made her formal debut in Rome, in 1944, as Laura Adorno in ''La Gioconda''. For the next twenty years, she was one of Italy's foremost mezzo-sopranos. Pirazzini was born in

Castelfranco Veneto Castelfranco Veneto ( vec, Casteło) is a town and ''comune'' of Veneto, northern Italy, in the province of Treviso, by rail from the town of Treviso. It is approximately inland from Venice. History The town originates from a castle built here ...

Treviso Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and ''comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Veneti ...

Veneto Veneto (, ; vec, Vèneto ) or Venetia is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about five million, ranking fourth in Italy. The region's capital is Venice while the biggest city is Verona. Veneto was part of the Roman Empire unt ...

in 1918. Opposite

Maria Callas Maria Callas . (born Sophie Cecilia Kalos; December 2, 1923 – September 16, 1977) was an American-born Greek soprano who was one of the most renowned and influential opera singers of the 20th century. Many critics praised her ''bel cant ...

, Pirazzini appeared as Amneris in ''Aïda'', at Rovigo (1948), Reggio Calabria (1951) and the Verona Arena (directed by

G.W. Pabst Georg Wilhelm Pabst (25 August 1885 – 29 May 1967) was an Austrian film director and screenwriter. He started as an actor and theater director, before becoming one of the most influential German-language filmmakers during the Weimar Republic. ...

, 1953); in the oratorio ''San Giovanni Battista'' at Perugia (1949); as Azucena in ''Il trovatore'' at the Teatro dell'Opera, Rome (1953); and Neris in ''Medea'' (the Italian version of Luigi Cherubini's ''Médée'') in Venice (1953), as well as on the first studio recording of Cherubini's masterpiece. She was also the Adalgisa (replacing the indisposed

Fedora Barbieri Fedora Barbieri (4 June 1920 – 4 March 2003) was an Italian mezzo-soprano and actor. Barbieri was born in Trieste. She performed regularly in Florence for fifty years, and performed internationally through the years. She died, aged 82, in Flor ...

) in the infamous ''Norma'' at Rome in 1958, when the performance was cancelled after Callas sang Act I and felt unable to continue; she kept the role partnering

Anita Cerquetti Anita Cerquetti (13 April 193111 October 2014) was an Italian dramatic soprano who had a short but meteoric career in the 1950s. Her voice was very powerful and pleasing to audiences. Career Cerquetti was born in Montecosaro, near Macerata, Ital ...

, who replaced Callas for the remaining performances. She appeared at the

Teatro alla 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 ...

in 1951, as Maffio Orsini in ''Lucrezia Borgia'', opposite

Caterina Mancini Caterina Mancini (10 November 1924 – 21 January 2011) was an Italian dramatic coloratura soprano, primarily active in Italy in the 1950s. Mancini was born at Genzano di Roma. She made her debut in 1948, as Giselda in ''I Lombardi'', in Flo ...

Mirto Picchi Mirto Picchi (15 March 1915, San Mauro, near Florence - 25 September 1980, Florence) was an Italian dramatic tenor, particularly associated with the Italian repertory, and with contemporary works. Picchi studied in Milan with Giulia Tess and Giu ...

, and Nicola Rossi Lemeni. Another of Pirazzini's roles was of the Princesse de Bouillon in ''Adriana Lecouvreur'', which she often sang with

Magda Olivero Magda Olivero (née Maria Maddalena Olivero) (25 March 1910 – 8 September 2014), was an Italian operatic soprano. Her career started in 1932 when she was 22, and spanned five decades, establishing her "as an important link between the era of th ...

in the title role, in Brescia (1956), Lisbon (1956), Palermo (1959) and Caracas (1961). In 1962, her recording of Suzuki in ''Madama Butterfly'' won a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

. She died in Rome on 26 December, 2016, at the age of 98.

Studio Discography

* Cherubini: ''Medea'' (Callas, Scotto, Picchi, Modesti; Serafin, 1957)

Ricordi Ricordi may refer to: People *Giovanni Ricordi (1785–1853), Italian violinist and publishing company founder *Giulio Ricordi (1840–1912), Italian publisher and musician Music *Casa Ricordi, an Italian music publishing company established in ...

/EMI * Ponchielli: ''La Gioconda'' (Corridori, Campora, Colzani; Parodi, 1952)

Urania Urania ( ; grc, , Ouranía; modern Greek shortened name ''Ránia''; meaning "heavenly" or "of heaven") was, in Greek mythology, the muse of astronomy, and in later times, of Christian poetry. Urania is the goddess of astronomy and stars, he ...

* Puccini: ''Madama Butterfly'' (de los Ángeles, Björling, Sereni; Santini, 1959)

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

* Verdi: ''Aïda'' (Curtis-Verna, Corelli, Guelfi, Neri; Questa, 1956)

Cetra Cetra, a Latin word borrowed from Greek language, Greek, is an Italian descendant of ''κιθάρα'' (cithara). It is a synonym for the cittern but has been used for the citole and cithara (the lyre-form) and cythara (the lyre-form developing i ...

* Verdi: ''La forza del destino'' (Guerrini, Campora, Colzani, Corena; Parodi, p. 1952) Urania * Verdi: ''I lombardi'' (Vitale, Bertocci; Wolf-Ferrari, 1951) Cetra * Verdi: ''Otello'' (Rysanek, Vickers, Gobbi; Serafin, 1960)

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

* Verdi: ''Rigoletto'' (d'Angelo, Tucker, Capecchi; Molinari-Pradelli, 1959)

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...

* Verdi: ''Il trovatore'' (Mancini, Lauri-Volpi, Tagliabue; Previtali, 1951) Cetra

References

* Liner notes, Act I of ''Norma'', Voce, undated.

External links

Miriam Pirazzini in an excerpt from ''Aïda'' (1956).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pirazzini, Miriam 1918 births 2016 deaths Italian mezzo-sopranos Italian opera singers Operatic mezzo-sopranos People from Vicenza Grammy Award winners