Teresa Berganza Vargas
OAXS (16 March 1933 – 13 May 2022) was a Spanish
mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano or mezzo (; ; meaning "half soprano") is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middle C ...
. She is most closely associated with roles such as Rossini's
Rosina and
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'' ...
, and later Bizet's
Carmen, admired for her technical virtuosity, musical intelligence, and beguiling stage presence. Berganza was a key singer in a Rossini renaissance which explored less performed operas and restored the leading roles to mezzo register. She appeared as Zerlina in
Joseph Losey
Joseph Walton Losey III (; January 14, 1909 – June 22, 1984) was an American theatre and film director, producer, and screenwriter. Born in Wisconsin, he studied in Germany with Bertolt Brecht and then returned to the United States. Blackliste ...
's
''Don Giovanni'' film in 1979. She participated in the opening ceremonies of the
Expo '92 in
Seville
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...
and of the
1992 Summer Olympics
The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...
in Barcelona.
Life and career
Teresa Berganza was born in Madrid on 16 March 1933.
She studied piano and voice at the
Madrid Royal 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 ...
, voice with ,
where she was awarded first prize for singing in 1954. She made her concert debut in Madrid in 1955.
Berganza made her operatic debut as Dorabella in Mozart's ''
Così fan tutte'' in 1957 at the
Aix-en-Provence Festival
The Festival d'Aix-en-Provence is an annual international music festival which takes place each summer in Aix-en-Provence, principally in July. Devoted mainly to opera, it also includes concerts of orchestral, chamber, vocal and solo instrumental ...
.
That same year, she made her
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 ...
debut. She first appeared at the
Glyndebourne Festival
Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an annual opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England.
History
Under the supervision of the Christie family, the festival has been held annually since 1934, e ...
in 1958,
as Cherubino in Mozart's ''
Le nozze di Figaro
''The Marriage of Figaro'' ( it, Le nozze di Figaro, links=no, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premie ...
'', and later also in the title role of Rossini's ''
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'' ...
''.
In 1959, Berganza made her first appearance at the
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 ...
as Cherubino, and the following year performed there as Rosina in Rossini's ''
Il barbiere di Siviglia
''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 ...
'', which became one of her signature roles. She repeated it at the
Opernhaus Zürich, where she returned in 1979 as Charlotte in Massenet's ''
Werther
''Werther'' is an opera (''drame lyrique'') in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann (who used the pseudonym Henri Grémont). It is loosely based on Goethe's epistolary novel ''The S ...
''.
She appeared in the U.S. first in 1958, at the Dallas Opera as Isabella in Rossini's ''
L'italiana in Algeri
''L'italiana in Algeri'' (; ''The Italian Girl in Algiers'') is an operatic ''dramma giocoso'' in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Angelo Anelli, based on his earlier text set by Luigi Mosca. It premiered at the Teatro San ...
'' and then as Neris in Cherubini's ''
Médée
''Médée'' is a dramatic tragedy in five acts written in alexandrine verse by Pierre Corneille in 1635.
Summary
The heroine of the play is the sorceress Médée. After Médée gives Jason twin boys, Jason leaves her for Creusa. Médée ...
'' alongside
Maria Callas in the title role.
In 1967, she made her
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 ...
debut, again as Cherubino,
directed by
Nikolaus Lehnhoff Nikolaus Lehnhoff (20 May 1939 in Hanover – 29 August 2015 in Berlin) was a German opera director.
Life and career
Born in Hanover to Erika (née Fiediger) and Friedrich Lehnhoff, Lehnhoff studied at the University of Munich and the University ...
in his house debut, and conducted by
Joseph Rosenstock
Joseph Rosenstock (, ; in Kraków in New York City) was an American conductor.
Career
Early years
He worked at the State Theatre in Darmstadt, where, on , he conducted '' Hagith'' by Karol Szymanowski, and at the State Opera in Wiesbaden, w ...
, alongside
Cesare Siepi as Figaro,
Mirella Freni
Mirella Freni, OMRI (, born Mirella Fregni, 27 February 1935 – 9 February 2020) was an Italian operatic soprano who had a career of 50 years and appeared at major international opera houses. She received international attention at the Gl ...
as Susanna,
Tom Krause
Tom Gunnar Krause (5 July 1934 − 6 December 2013) was a Finnish operatic bass-baritone, particularly associated with Mozart roles.
Early life
Born in Helsinki, Tom Krause studied medicine for three years with the intention of becoming a psyc ...
and
Pilar Lorengar
Lorenza Pilar García Seta (16 January 1928 – 2 June 1996), known professionally as Pilar Lorengar, was a Spanish ( Aragonese) soprano. She was best known for her interpretations of opera and the Spanish genre Zarzuela, and as a soprano she wa ...
as the Almaviva couple.
She returned for Rosina the following year, first in a telecast performance conducted by
Richard Bonynge, alongside
Mario Sereni
Mario Sereni (25 March 1928 – 24 July 2015) was an Italian baritone, who sang leading roles at the New York Metropolitan Opera for many years.
Sereni was born in Perugia, Italy. He attended the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome and the Accad ...
as Figaro,
Luigi Alva
Luis Ernesto Alva y Talledo, better known as Luigi Alva (born 10 April 1927 in Paíta, Peru) is a Peruvian operatic tenor. A Mozart and Rossini specialist, Alva achieved fame with roles such as Don Ottavio (in ''Don Giovanni''), Count Almaviva ( ...
and
Fernando Corena
Fernando Corena (22 December 1916 – 26 November 1984) was a Swiss bass who had a major international opera career from the late 1940s through the early 1980s. He enjoyed a long and successful career at the Metropolitan Opera between 1954 and 19 ...
as Bartolo.
A reviewer from the
New York ''Daily News'' noted:
Berganza was a leading singer for a renaissance of Rossini's operas, returning the roles to the original lower register according to critical editions by
Alberto Zedda
Alberto Zedda (2 January 19286 March 2017) was an Italian conductor and musicologist whose specialty was the 19th-century Italian repertoire.
Alberto Zedda was born in Milan, Italy, where he accomplished his education in music and humanities, com ...
, promoted by conductors such as
Claudio Abbado
Claudio Abbado (; 26 June 1933 – 20 January 2014) was an Italian conductor who was one of the leading conductors of his generation. He served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony ...
and
Charles Mackerras
Mackerras in 2005
Sir Alan Charles MacLaurin Mackerras (; 1925 2010) was an Australian conductor. He was an authority on the operas of Janáček and Mozart, and the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan. He was long associated with the Engli ...
.
![TeresaBerganza](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/TeresaBerganza.jpg)
Berganza appeared at the 1977
Edinburgh Festival
__NOTOC__
This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Fe ...
as Bizet's
Carmen, conducted by Abbado,
regarded as one of her greatest successes on stage, and repeated the role at the
Paris Opera
The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be ...
.
She portrayed the character with intelligence, singing the
Habanera with the flexibility of a
lieder singer, and abrupt changes in timbre and dynamic, seemingly addressing the crowd but meaning one person, in a provokingly light tone demonstrating superiority.
As a recitalist, Berganza made her
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...
debut in 1964.
Her concert repertoire includes Spanish, Italian, French, German, and Russian songs. From 1957 to 1977, Berganza was married to the composer and pianist
Félix Lavilla, who accompanied her in recitals and recordings.
The couple had three children, including soprano Cecilia Lavilla Berganza.
She showcased songs from Spain, from medieval
cantiga
A ''cantiga'' (''cantica'', ''cantar'') is a medieval monophonic song, characteristic of the Galician-Portuguese lyric. Over 400 extant ''cantigas'' come from the ''Cantigas de Santa Maria'', narrative songs about miracles or hymns in praise of th ...
s from the era of
Alfonso X of Castile
Alfonso X (also known as the Wise, es, el Sabio; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was King of Castile, León and Galicia from 30 May 1252 until his death in 1284. During the election of 1257, a dissident faction chose him to be king of Ger ...
to miniatures by
Manuel de Falla
Manuel de Falla y Matheu (, 23 November 187614 November 1946) was an Andalusian Spanish composer and pianist. Along with Isaac Albéniz, Francisco Tárrega, and Enrique Granados, he was one of Spain's most important musicians of the first hal ...
and
Enrique Granados
Pantaleón Enrique Joaquín Granados y Campiña (27 July 1867 – 24 March 1916), commonly known as Enric Granados in Catalan or Enrique Granados in Spanish, was a composer of classical music, and concert pianist from Catalonia, Spain. ...
.
For the opening of the
National Auditorium of Music
The Auditorio Nacional de Música (''National Auditorium of Music'') is a complex of concert venues located in Madrid, Spain and the main concert hall in the Madrid metropolitan area. It comprises two main concert rooms: a symphonic hall and a cham ...
in Madrid, she performed in De Falla's
Atlántida alongside
Montserrat Caballé
Montserrat Caballé i Folch or Folc (full name: María de Montserrat Bibiana Concepción Caballé i Folch (, , ; (12 April 1933 – 6 October 2018), known simply as Montserrat Caballé, was a Catalan Spanish operatic soprano. She sang a wide v ...
and
Vicente. She participated in the concert for the opening of the
Opéra Bastille
The Opéra Bastille (, "Bastille Opera House") is a modern opera house in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, France. Inaugurated in 1989 as part of President François Mitterrand's '' Grands Travaux'', it became the main facility of the Paris Nat ...
in Paris on 13 July 1989.
In 1992, Berganza participated in the opening ceremonies of
Expo '92 in
Seville
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...
and the opening ceremonies of the
1992 Summer Olympics
The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...
in Barcelona.
Berganza's stage career ended in 2008. She last taught singing at the
Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía, continued to perform music of Spanish composers, and gave master classes all over the world. Her students have included
María Bayo
María Josefina Bayo Jiménez (born 28 May 1961 in Fitero) is a Spanish soprano. Bayo studied at the Conservatorio Navarro de Música Pablo Sarasate in Pamplona and the Hochschule für Musik Detmold
The Hochschule für Musik Detmold is a univer ...
,
Jorge Chaminé
Jorge Chaminé (born 30 April 1956) is a Portuguese operatic baritone.
Biography
Of Spanish and Portuguese parentage, Chaminé was born in Porto. He began his musical studies (piano, voice, cello, guitar, choral and orchestra conducting) at a ...
and
Alicia Nafé
Alicia Nafé (born 4 August 1947) is an Argentinian operatic mezzo-soprano, who has performed leading parts at international opera houses and festivals. She is known for singing the title role in Bizet's ''Carmen''.
Career
Born in Buenos Aires, ...
.
Berganza died on 13 May 2022 in
San Lorenzo de El Escorial
San Lorenzo de El Escorial, also known as El Escorial de Arriba, is a town and municipality in the Community of Madrid, Spain, located to the northwest of the region in the southeastern side of the Sierra de Guadarrama, at the foot of Moun ...
at age 89.
Films
Berganza appeared in nine motion pictures, including ''Il barbiere di Siviglia'' in 1972, as Zerlina in
Joseph Losey
Joseph Walton Losey III (; January 14, 1909 – June 22, 1984) was an American theatre and film director, producer, and screenwriter. Born in Wisconsin, he studied in Germany with Bertolt Brecht and then returned to the United States. Blackliste ...
's ''
Don Giovanni
''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; Vienna (1788) title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanis ...
'' in 1979, and both Massenet's ''
Werther
''Werther'' is an opera (''drame lyrique'') in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann (who used the pseudonym Henri Grémont). It is loosely based on Goethe's epistolary novel ''The S ...
'' and ''Carmen'' in 1980.
Honours
Berganza received a
Gold Medal of Merit in Fine Arts from the Kingdom of Spain on 26 February 1982. She shared the 1991
Prince of Asturias Award
The Princess of Asturias Awards ( es, Premios Princesa de Asturias, links=no, ast, Premios Princesa d'Asturies, links=no), formerly the Prince of Asturias Awards from 1981 to 2014 ( es, Premios Príncipe de Asturias, links=no), are a series of a ...
for arts and letters with six other Spanish singers.
In 1994, she became the first woman elected to the
Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
The Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (RABASF; ), located on the Calle de Alcalá in the heart of Madrid, currently functions as a museum and gallery. A public law corporation, it is integrated together with other Spanish royal acad ...
. In 1996, she was awarded the
Premio Nacional de Música
The National Music Award ( es, Premio Nacional de Música, links=no) is one of Spain's annual National Awards by the Ministry of Culture Ministry of Culture may refer to:
* Ministry of Tourism, Cultural Affairs, Youth and Sports (Albania)
*Mini ...
.
[List of national music prize winners]
Ministry of Culture (Spain)
The Ministry of Culture and Sport (MCD) is the department of the Government of Spain responsible for the promotion, protection and dissemination of the Spanish historical heritage, national museums, art, books, reading and literary creation, ...
. Retrieved 9 April 2011. She also received the Grand
Prix Rossini. She was awarded the Dame Grand Cross of the
Civil Order of Alfonso X, the Wise
The Civil Order of Alfonso X the Wise ( es, Orden Civil de Alfonso X el Sabio) is a Spanish civil order established in 1939, recognising activities in the fields of education, science, culture, higher education and research.
The order was create ...
from the Kingdom of Spain on 3 May 2013. She received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2018
International Opera Awards
The International Opera Awards is an annual awards ceremony honouring excellence in opera around the world.
Origins
The International Opera Awards was founded in 2013 by Harry Hyman, a UK businessman, philanthropist and supporter of opera, and ...
.
Discography
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References
Further reading
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External links
Official web page
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Discography(Capon's Lists of Opera Recordings)
by Bruce Duffie, 1 December 1984
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berganza, Teresa
1933 births
2022 deaths
Spanish mezzo-sopranos
Operatic mezzo-sopranos
20th-century Spanish women opera singers
Singers from Madrid
Madrid Royal Conservatory alumni
Voice teachers
Honorary Members of the Royal Academy of Music
Recipients of the Civil Order of Alfonso X, the Wise