Tecla Vigna (died April 1927) was an Italian opera singer and educator based in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

Early life

Tecla Vigna was born at

Savigliano Savigliano (Savijan in Piedmontese) is a ''comune'' of Piedmont, northern Italy, in the Province of Cuneo, about south of Turin by rail. It is home to ironworks, foundries, locomotive works (once owned by Fiat Ferroviaria, now by Alstom) and s ...

in northern Italy, and studied music at the Conservatory of Milan, where she earned her diploma in 1879.J. S. V.
"Tecla Vigna, Singer and Teacher"
''Musical Courier'' (May 27, 1908): 16. She trained with voice teacher

Francesco Lamperti Francesco Lamperti (11 March 1811 or 1813 – 1 May 1892) was an Italian singing teacher. Biography A native of Savona, Lamperti attended the Milan Conservatory where, beginning in 1850, he taught for a quarter of a century. He was director ...

Career

Vigna, a contralto, performed roles in opera in several Italy citiesTecla Vigna listing
La Voce Antica. before being recruited by pianist Albino Gorno to the faculty of the

Cincinnati Conservatory of Music The Cincinnati Conservatory of Music was a conservatory, part of a girls' finishing school, founded in 1867 in Cincinnati, Ohio. It merged with the College of Music of Cincinnati in 1955, forming the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, wh ...

in 1882."Signorina Tecla Vigna"
''Music'' (May 1892): 88. Vigna wrote a text, ''90 Daily Vocal Exercises'' (1894), published while she was teaching at the conservatory. After years of contentious disagreements with the school's administration, she resigned from the college in 1906, and soon she was teaching at her own school. Her vocal method was described as "distinctly Italian, and distinctly modern, and dramatic in the ''very'' best sense of the term." Her students gave well-reviewed recitals and were active in the Euterpe Society of Cincinnati.

Personal life

Vigna became an American citizen in 1920. In ill health, she closed her school and retired in 1925, and moved back to Milan, where she died in 1927. In 1932, one of her American students visited her grave in Milan, and left a bouquet of gardenias in tribute."The Girl About Town"
''Indianapolis Star'' (January 20, 1935): 21. via

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vigna, Tecla 1927 deaths Singers from Cincinnati Italian contraltos Operatic contraltos Milan Conservatory alumni People from Savigliano Italian emigrants to the United States Singers from Ohio 19th-century Italian women opera singers University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music faculty Voice teachers Italian music educators Italian women music educators