Adelaide Malanotte was an Italian opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

tic contralto

Contralto

Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...

 who performed in major opera house

Opera house

An opera house is a theatre building used for opera performances that consists of a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and set building...

s in Italy from 1806–1821. She is best known for creating the title role in the world premiere of Gioachino Rossini's Tancredi

Tancredi

Tancredi is a melodramma eroico in two acts by composer Gioachino Rossini and librettist Gaetano Rossi, based on Voltaire's play Tancrède...

in 1813. After her marriage, she performed under the name Adelaide Montresor. Her son, Giovanni Battista Montresor, had a career as a tenor

Tenor

The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...

 and impresario

Impresario

An impresario is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays or operas; analogous to a film producer in filmmaking, television production and an angel investor in business...

 in the United States. From 1812 until her death 20 years later she carried on an extra-marital affair with the poet Luigi Lechi.

Life and career

Born in Verona

Verona

Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...

, Malanotte made her professional opera debut in her native city in 1806. In 1808 she was heard at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna

Teatro Comunale di Bologna

The Teatro Comunale di Bologna is an opera house in Bologna, Italy, and is one of the most important opera venues in Italy. Typically, it presents eight operas with six performances during its November to April season....

 as Ariodante in Simon Mayr

Simon Mayr

Johann Simon Mayr , also known in Italian as Giovanni Simone Mayr or Simone Mayr was a German composer.- Life :...

's Ginevra di Scozia

Ginevra di Scozia

Ginevra di Scozia is an opera in two acts by Simon Mayr set to an Italian libretto by Gaetano Rossi based on Antonio Salvi's, Ginevra, principessa di Scozia, which in turn was adapted from Cantos 5 and 6 of Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso. Ginevra di Scozia premiered on 21 April 1801 at the...

. In 1809 she performed the role of Enrico in the world premiere of Stefano Pavesi

Stefano Pavesi

Stefano Pavesi was an Italian composer.Born in Casaletto Vaprio, he is best known for his many operas.. He died at Crema, Lombardy in 1850.-References:...

's Elisabetta regina d'Inghilterra at the Teatro Regio di Torino. She returned to that theatre the following year to perform the role of Itaferne in the premiere of Giuseppe Nicolini

Giuseppe Nicolini

Giuseppe Nicolini was an Italian composer who wrote at least 45 operas. From 1819 onwards, he devoted himself primarily to religious music...

's Dario Istaspe. She also appeared at the Teatro Valle

Teatro Valle

The Teatro Valle is a theatre and former opera house in Rome, Italy.Commissioned by the Capranica family, the architect Tommaso Morelli designed the theatre which was built in 1726. It was inaugurated with the staging of the tragedy Matilde by Simon Falconio Pratoli...

 in Rome in 1810 in the premiere of Nicola Antonio Manfroce

Nicola Antonio Manfroce

Nicola Antonio Manfroce was an Italian composer.-References:...

's Alzira.

In 1811 Malanotte made appearances at the opera house in Ravenna and sang in Alzira again at the opera house in Monza. In 1812 she sang at La Fenice

La Fenice

Teatro La Fenice is an opera house in Venice, Italy. It is one of the most famous theatres in Europe, the site of many famous operatic premieres. Its name reflects its role in permitting an opera company to "rise from the ashes" despite losing the use of two theatres...

 in the title role of Gaetano Rossi

Gaetano Rossi

Gaetano Rossi was an Italian writer who wrote opera libretti for several composers including Mayr, Rossini, Donizetti, Mercadante, Pacini, and Meyerbeer.-Biography:...

's Teodoro for the work's world premiere. She was also heard that year in Florence. She had a major triumph at La Fenice in 1813 when she performed the title role in the world premiere of Gioachino Rossini's Tancredi. She later performed that role in Ferrara (1814), Bologna (1814), Livorno (1816), and Naples (1818). The latter performance was attended by composer Ferdinand Hérold who "did not like the timbre of her voice but thought her style, taste and intonation perfect".

Malanotte sang in two more world premieres at La Fenice during her career: Pavesi's Le Danaidi romane (1816, Cajo Valerio) and Francesco Basili

Francesco Basili

Francesco Basili was an Italian composer and conductor. He was born in Loreto and died in Rome.-References:...

's L'ira d'Achille (1817, Achille). She retired from the stage in 1821. She died in Salò

Salò

Salò is a town and commune in the Province of Brescia in the region of Lombardy on the banks of Lake Garda. The city was the capital of Italian Social Republic from 1943 to 1945, with the ISR often being called the "Republic of Salò" .-History:Salò was founded in the Roman period as Pagus...

in 1832 at the age of 47.