Eugenia Mantelli
Encyclopedia
Eugenia Mantelli was an Italian
opera
singer
who had a prolific career in Europe
, the United States
, and South America
from the 1880s through the early part of the twentieth century. She possessed a flexible warm voice with a wide vocal range
that, while focusing mostly within the mezzo-soprano
repertoire, enabled her to sing roles normally associated with contralto
s and soprano
s. Indeed, during her lifetime she was often identified as either a mezzo-soprano or a contralto by music critics without much consistency. While she had an excellent vocal technique and an exceptionally beautiful tone quality, her gifts as an actress and interpreter were only mediocre.
, Italy. Her parents were both singing
teachers and her earliest musical training was received from them. She entered the Milan Conservatory
, graduating from there in 1877 with diplomas in both voice and piano. She made her professional opera debut at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos
in Lisbon
as Urbain in Giacomo Meyerbeer
's Les Huguenots
in 1883. That same year she sang the role of Kaled in Jules Massenet
's Le roi de Lahore
at the opera house
in Treviso
. This was followed by a highly successful concert tour throughout Germany
, Italy, Argentina
, and Brazil
with tenor
Julian Gayarre
.
In November 1887 she sang the role of Adalgisa in Vincenzo Bellini
's Norma
at the Teatro Costanzi
in Rome
. This was followed by several appearances at the Teatro di San Carlo
in Naples
, including the role of Eboli in Giuseppe Verdi
's Don Carlo with Adalgisa Gabbi, José Oxilia, Giuseppe Kaschmann, and Auguste Boudouresque. In 1889 she joined the opera company that inaugurated the Teatro Argentino de La Plata
in Buenos Aires
. She sang with the company both in that city and at the Teatro Solis
in Montevideo
, notably sharing the stage with Mattia Battistini
in performances of La favorita, Amleto
, La forza del destino
, and Gli Ugonotti (the Italian version of Les Huguenots).
In 1894 Mantelli joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera
in New York City
, making her first appearance there as Amneris in Verdi's Aida
on 23 November. She remained a member of the company until the end of the 1899-1900 season. One of her most successful roles at the Met was Léonor in La favorite
, which she also sang for her first performance at the Royal Opera House
, Covent Garden
in 1896. She left the Met in 1900 just before she married her husband. Although she returned to the Met briefly in 1903 and appeared in a few vaudeville
productions during the early 1900s, she spent most of her remaining career performing at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos. After retiring from the stage, she remained in Lisbon where she taught singing for many years.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
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...
singer
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
who had a prolific career in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
from the 1880s through the early part of the twentieth century. She possessed a flexible warm voice with a wide vocal range
Vocal range
Vocal range is the measure of the breadth of pitches that a human voice can phonate. Although the study of vocal range has little practical application in terms of speech, it is a topic of study within linguistics, phonetics, and speech and language pathology, particularly in relation to the study...
that, while focusing mostly within the mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
repertoire, enabled her to sing roles normally associated with 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...
s and 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...
s. Indeed, during her lifetime she was often identified as either a mezzo-soprano or a contralto by music critics without much consistency. While she had an excellent vocal technique and an exceptionally beautiful tone quality, her gifts as an actress and interpreter were only mediocre.
Biography
Mantelli was born in FlorenceFlorence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, Italy. Her parents were both singing
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
teachers and her earliest musical training was received from them. She entered the Milan Conservatory
Milan Conservatory
The Milan Conservatory is a college of music which was established by a royal decree of 1807 in Milan, capital of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy. It opened the following year with premises in the cloisters of the Baroque church of Santa Maria della Passione. There were initially 18 boarders,...
, graduating from there in 1877 with diplomas in both voice and piano. She made her professional opera debut at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos
Teatro Nacional de São Carlos
The Teatro Nacional de São Carlos is an opera house in Lisbon, Portugal. It was opened on July 30, 1793 by Queen Maria I as a replacement for the Tejo Opera House, which was destroyed in the 1755 Lisbon earthquake...
in Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
as Urbain in 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 Les Huguenots
Les Huguenots
Les Huguenots is a French opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer, one of the most popular and spectacular examples of the style of grand opera. The opera is in five acts and premiered in Paris in 1836. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and Émile Deschamps....
in 1883. That same year she sang the role of Kaled in Jules Massenet
Jules Massenet
Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet was a French composer best known for his operas. His compositions were very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and he ranks as one of the greatest melodists of his era. Soon after his death, Massenet's style went out of fashion, and many of his operas...
's Le roi de Lahore
Le roi de Lahore
Le roi de Lahore is an opera in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Louis Gallet. It was first performed at the Palais Garnier in Paris on 27 April 1877....
at the 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...
in Treviso
Treviso
Treviso is a city and comune in Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 82,854 inhabitants : some 3,000 live within the Venetian walls or in the historical and monumental center, some 80,000 live in the urban center proper, while the city...
. This was followed by a highly successful concert tour throughout Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Italy, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, and Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
with 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...
Julian Gayarre
Julián Gayarre
Sebastián Julián Gayarre Garjón , better known as Julián Gayarre, was a Spanish opera singer who created the role of Marcello in Donizetti's Il Duca d'Alba and Enzo in Ponchielli's La Gioconda.Although he faced strong competition for this title from the likes of Roberto Stagno, Italo Campanini,...
.
In November 1887 she sang the role of Adalgisa 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 Norma
Norma (opera)
Norma is a tragedia lirica or opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini with libretto by Felice Romani after Norma, ossia L'infanticidio by Alexandre Soumet. First produced at La Scala on December 26, 1831, it is generally regarded as an example of the supreme height of the bel canto tradition...
at the Teatro Costanzi
Teatro dell'Opera di Roma
The Teatro dell'Opera di Roma is an opera house in Rome, Italy. Originally opened in November 1880 as the 2,212 seat Costanzi Theatre, it has undergone several changes of name as well modifications and improvements...
in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. This was followed by several appearances at the Teatro di San Carlo
Teatro di San Carlo
The Real Teatro di San Carlo is an opera house in Naples, Italy. It is the oldest continuously active such venue in Europe.Founded by the Bourbon Charles VII of Naples of the Spanish branch of the dynasty, the theatre was inaugurated on 4 November 1737 — the king's name day — with a performance...
in Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
, including the role of Eboli 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 Don Carlo with Adalgisa Gabbi, José Oxilia, Giuseppe Kaschmann, and Auguste Boudouresque. In 1889 she joined the opera company that inaugurated the Teatro Argentino de La Plata
Teatro Argentino de La Plata
The Teatro Argentino de La Plata is the second most important lyric opera house in Argentina, after the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. The Teatro Argentino is located in a central block of the city of La Plata, the capital of Buenos Aires Province...
in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
. She sang with the company both in that city and at the Teatro Solis
Solís Theatre
Solis Theatre is Uruguay's oldest theatre. It was built in 1856 and is currently owned by the government of Montevideo. It is located in Plaza Independencia ....
in Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
, notably sharing the stage with Mattia Battistini
Mattia Battistini
Mattia Battistini was an Italian operatic baritone. He became internationally famous due to the beauty of his voice and the virtuosity of his singing technique, and he earned the sobriquet "King of Baritones".-Early life:...
in performances of La favorita, Amleto
Amleto
Amleto is an opera in four acts by Franco Faccio, with libretto by Arrigo Boito. It premiered on May 30, 1865 at the Teatro Carlo Felice of Genova. It was revised for a La Scala production given on February 12, 1871.- Composition and premiere :...
, La forza del destino
La forza del destino
La forza del destino is an Italian opera by Giuseppe Verdi. The libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on a Spanish drama, Don Álvaro o la fuerza del sino , by Ángel de Saavedra, Duke of Rivas, with a scene adapted from Friedrich Schiller's Wallensteins Lager. It was first performed...
, and Gli Ugonotti (the Italian version of Les Huguenots).
In 1894 Mantelli joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, making her first appearance there as Amneris in Verdi's Aida
Aida
Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
on 23 November. She remained a member of the company until the end of the 1899-1900 season. One of her most successful roles at the Met was Léonor in La favorite
La favorite
La favorite is an opera in four acts by Gaetano Donizetti to a French-language libretto by Alphonse Royer and Gustave Vaëz, based on the play Le comte de Comminges by Baculard d'Arnaud...
, which she also sang for her first performance at the Royal Opera House
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...
, Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
in 1896. She left the Met in 1900 just before she married her husband. Although she returned to the Met briefly in 1903 and appeared in a few vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
productions during the early 1900s, she spent most of her remaining career performing at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos. After retiring from the stage, she remained in Lisbon where she taught singing for many years.