Angiolina Bosio
Encyclopedia
Angiolina Bosio was an Italian opera
tic soprano
who had a major international career from 1846 until her premature death in 1859 at the age of 29. She sang at the most important opera house
s in Boston, Havana, London, Madrid, Moscow, New York, Paris, Philadelphia, Saint Petersburg, and Verona. She was particularly admired for her performances in operas by Giuseppe Verdi
.
, Bosio's parents were both actors and she began singing in theatrical productions with them at the age of 10. From 1840-1847 she studied singing in Milan with Venceslao Cattaneo. She made her professional opera debut in that city in 1846 at the Teatro Real del Circo as Lucrezia Contarini in Giuseppe Verdi
's opera I due Foscari
. She returned to that theatre in 1848 to portray the role of Amazily in the world premiere of Ignacio Ovejero's Fernand Cortez. In 1847 she made successful appearances at the Teatro Carcano in Milan, the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, the Royal Danish Theatre
in Copenhagen, and the Teatro Real
in Madrid.
In 1848 Bosio made her debut at the Paris Opera
as Lucrezia Contarini to only moderate success. Following this performance, she iately undertook a North American trip which lasted from 1848-1851. She made appearances in theatres in New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Havana; drawing acclaim from audiences and critics in all of those cities. She notably portrayed the role of Lady Macbeth in the United States premiere of Verdi's Macbeth
at Niblo's Garden
in New York in 1850.
In 1851 Bosio returned to Europe and was married that year to a Greek man with the surname Xindavelonis. In 1852 she made her debut at the Covent Garden
in London as Adina in Gaetano Donizetti
's L'elisir d'amore
. She had two major triumphs at that theatre later that year when she performed the roles of Elvira in Vincenzo Bellini
's I puritani
and the title role in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor
; notably replacing Giulia Grisi
in the latter production. In 1852-1853 she was heard much more successfully at the Paris Opera in a variety of parts, including the title role in the French premiere of Luisa Miller
. In the Summer of 1853 she returned to Covent Garden where she was much admired as the title heroines in Louis Spohr
's Jessonda
and Gioachino Rossini's Matilde di Shabran
. On 14 May 1853 she portrayed Gilda in the English premiere of Verdi's Rigoletto
to great success.
In 1853 Bosio accepted an invitation to join the roster of singers at the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre
in Saint Petersburg, Russia where she was given the title "Première Cantatrice" and was the highest paid singer at the theatre. She sang opposite tenor Enrico Tamberlik
frequently at this opera house and performed numerous times in operas and concerts attended by Alexander II of Russia
. In 1855 she left Russia to join the Théâtre-Italien in Paris where she was heard in operas by Verdi and Donizetti, and as Matilde di Shabran and Zarele in Giovanni Pacini
's Gli arabi nelle Gallie. In 1856 she returned to Covent Garden as Violetta in Verdi's La traviata
in a performance that was interrupted numerous times by thunderous applause from an enthusiastic audience. She was also heard there as Catherine in the English premiere of Giacomo Meyerbeer
's L'étoile du nord
.
In 1858 she performed again in Russia, first at the Bolshoi Theatre
in Moscow and then again at the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre. She returned to Moscow for another performance and then was traveling by train back to St. Petersburg when she caught a bad cold. The disease affected her badly and her health rapidly declined. She died in 1859 at the age of 29 in Saint Petersburg. Her funeral drew a large crowd in St. Petersburg and a monument was erected in her memory near the cathedral at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery
where she is buried. She is mentioned in Nikolay Chernyshevsky's novel What Is to Be Done? and in poems by Nikolay Nekrasov and Osip Mandelstam
.
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 soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
who had a major international career from 1846 until her premature death in 1859 at the age of 29. She sang at the most important 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 Boston, Havana, London, Madrid, Moscow, New York, Paris, Philadelphia, Saint Petersburg, and Verona. She was particularly admired for her performances in operas by Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
.
Life and career
Born in TurinTurin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
, Bosio's parents were both actors and she began singing in theatrical productions with them at the age of 10. From 1840-1847 she studied singing in Milan with Venceslao Cattaneo. She made her professional opera debut in that city in 1846 at the Teatro Real del Circo as Lucrezia Contarini in Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's opera I due Foscari
I due Foscari
I due Foscari is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on a historical play, The Two Foscari by Lord Byron....
. She returned to that theatre in 1848 to portray the role of Amazily in the world premiere of Ignacio Ovejero's Fernand Cortez. In 1847 she made successful appearances at the Teatro Carcano in Milan, the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, the Royal Danish Theatre
Royal Danish Theatre
The Royal Danish Theatre is both the national Danish performing arts institution and a name used to refer to its old purpose-built venue from 1874 located on Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen. The theatre was founded in 1748, first serving as the theatre of the king, and then as the theatre of the...
in Copenhagen, and the Teatro Real
Teatro Real
The Teatro Real or simply El Real , is a major opera house located in Madrid, Spain.-History:...
in Madrid.
In 1848 Bosio made her debut at the Paris Opera
Paris Opera
The Paris Opera is the primary opera company of Paris, France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the Académie d'Opéra and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and renamed the Académie Royale de Musique...
as Lucrezia Contarini to only moderate success. Following this performance, she iately undertook a North American trip which lasted from 1848-1851. She made appearances in theatres in New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Havana; drawing acclaim from audiences and critics in all of those cities. She notably portrayed the role of Lady Macbeth in the United States premiere of Verdi's Macbeth
Macbeth (opera)
Macbeth is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi, with an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave and additions by Andrea Maffei, based on Shakespeare's play of the same name...
at Niblo's Garden
Niblo's Garden
Niblo's Garden was a New York theatre on Broadway, near Prince Street. It was established in 1823 as "Columbia Garden" which in 1828 gained the name of the Sans Souci and was later the property of the coffeehouse proprietor and caterer William Niblo. The large theatre that evolved in several...
in New York in 1850.
In 1851 Bosio returned to Europe and was married that year to a Greek man with the surname Xindavelonis. In 1852 she made her debut at the Covent Garden
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House 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 of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
in London as Adina in Gaetano Donizetti
Gaetano Donizetti
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. His best-known works are the operas L'elisir d'amore , Lucia di Lammermoor , and Don Pasquale , all in Italian, and the French operas La favorite and La fille du régiment...
's L'elisir d'amore
L'elisir d'amore
L'elisir d'amore is an opera by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. It is a melodramma giocoso in two acts...
. She had two major triumphs at that theatre later that year when she performed the roles of Elvira in Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi , La sonnambula , Norma , Beatrice di Tenda , and I puritani...
's I puritani
I puritani
I puritani is an opera in three acts by Vincenzo Bellini. It was his last opera. Its libretto is by Count Carlo Pepoli, based on Têtes rondes et Cavaliers by Jacques-François Ancelot and Joseph Xavier Saintine, which is in turn based on Walter Scott's novel Old Mortality. It was first produced at...
and the title role in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor is a dramma tragico in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor....
; notably replacing Giulia Grisi
Giulia Grisi
Giulia Grisi, also known as Madame De Candia was an Italian opera singer...
in the latter production. In 1852-1853 she was heard much more successfully at the Paris Opera in a variety of parts, including the title role in the French premiere of Luisa Miller
Luisa Miller
Luisa Miller is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play Kabale und Liebe by Friedrich von Schiller. The first performance was given at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples on December 8, 1849...
. In the Summer of 1853 she returned to Covent Garden where she was much admired as the title heroines in Louis Spohr
Louis Spohr
Louis Spohr was a German composer, violinist and conductor. Born Ludewig Spohr, he is usually known by the French form of his name. Described by Dorothy Mayer as "The Forgotten Master", Spohr was once as famous as Beethoven. As a violinist, his virtuoso playing was admired by Queen Victoria...
's Jessonda
Jessonda
Jessonda is a grand opera in German by Louis Spohr, written in 1822. The German libretto was written by Eduard Gehe.Spohr, who wrote the work in 1822, had been newly appointed Hofkapellmeister in Kassel...
and Gioachino Rossini's Matilde di Shabran
Matilde di Shabran
Matilde di Shabran , ossia Bellezza, e cuor di ferro , is a melodramma giocoso in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to a libretto by Jacopo Ferretti after François-Benoît Hoffman’s libretto for Méhul’s Euphrosine and J. M. Boutet de Monvel's play Mathilde...
. On 14 May 1853 she portrayed Gilda in the English premiere of Verdi's Rigoletto
Rigoletto
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
to great success.
In 1853 Bosio accepted an invitation to join the roster of singers at the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre
Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre
The Saint Petersburg Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre was a theatre in Saint Petersburg.- History :It was built in 1783 to Antonio Rinaldi's Neoclassical design as the Kamenny Theatre. It was rebuilt in 1802 and renamed the Bolshoi, but burned down in 1811. The building was restored in 1818, and...
in Saint Petersburg, Russia where she was given the title "Première Cantatrice" and was the highest paid singer at the theatre. She sang opposite tenor Enrico Tamberlik
Enrico Tamberlik
Enrico Tamberlik was an Italian tenor who sang to great acclaim at Europe and America's leading opera venues. He excelled in the heroic roles of the Italian and French repertories and was renowned for his powerful declamation and clarion high notes.-Career:Born in Rome, some sources claim that...
frequently at this opera house and performed numerous times in operas and concerts attended by Alexander II of Russia
Alexander II of Russia
Alexander II , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881...
. In 1855 she left Russia to join the Théâtre-Italien in Paris where she was heard in operas by Verdi and Donizetti, and as Matilde di Shabran and Zarele in Giovanni Pacini
Giovanni Pacini
Giovanni Pacini was an Italian composer, best known for his operas. Pacini was born in Catania, Sicily, the son of the buffo Luigi Pacini, who was to appear in the premieres of many of Giovanni's operas...
's Gli arabi nelle Gallie. In 1856 she returned to Covent Garden as Violetta in Verdi's La traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
in a performance that was interrupted numerous times by thunderous applause from an enthusiastic audience. She was also heard there as Catherine in the English premiere of Giacomo Meyerbeer
Giacomo Meyerbeer
Giacomo Meyerbeer was a noted German opera composer, and the first great exponent of "grand opera." At his peak in the 1830s and 1840s, he was the most famous and successful composer of opera in Europe, yet he is rarely performed today.-Early years:He was born to a Jewish family in Tasdorf , near...
's L'étoile du nord
L'étoile du nord
L'étoile du nord is an opéra comique in three acts by Giacomo Meyerbeer. The French-language libretto was by Eugène Scribe....
.
In 1858 she performed again in Russia, first at the Bolshoi Theatre
Bolshoi Theatre
The Bolshoi Theatre is a historic theatre in Moscow, Russia, designed by architect Joseph Bové, which holds performances of ballet and opera. The Bolshoi Ballet and Bolshoi Opera are amongst the oldest and most renowned ballet and opera companies in the world...
in Moscow and then again at the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre. She returned to Moscow for another performance and then was traveling by train back to St. Petersburg when she caught a bad cold. The disease affected her badly and her health rapidly declined. She died in 1859 at the age of 29 in Saint Petersburg. Her funeral drew a large crowd in St. Petersburg and a monument was erected in her memory near the cathedral at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery
Alexander Nevsky Lavra
Saint Alexander Nevsky Lavra or Saint Alexander Nevsky Monastery was founded by Peter I of Russia in 1710 at the eastern end of the Nevsky Prospekt in St. Petersburg supposing that that was the site of the Neva Battle in 1240 when Alexander Nevsky, a prince, defeated the Swedes; however, the battle...
where she is buried. She is mentioned in Nikolay Chernyshevsky's novel What Is to Be Done? and in poems by Nikolay Nekrasov and Osip Mandelstam
Osip Mandelstam
Osip Emilyevich Mandelstam was a Russian poet and essayist who lived in Russia during and after its revolution and the rise of the Soviet Union. He was one of the foremost members of the Acmeist school of poets...
.