Margherita Carosio
Encyclopedia
Margherita Carosio was an Italian opera
tic soprano
. She was one of the most remarkable light lyric soprano
s of her generation. Her warm, expressive and expertly produced voice is preserved in many Parlophone and Ultraphon recordings made before World War II, as well as a memorable series made for HMV in London, beginning in 1946. She was still singing leading roles in her early sixties and was considered one of the leading bel canto
sopranos of her day.
, the daughter of a singing teacher and composer, Natale Carosio, who not only supervised her studies but launched her on a career in public concerts at 14. She once said of her father: "Everything I became I owe to him. I used to say to him: 'I am good wool, but you are an extraordinary weaver.'"
She appeared in public at the extraordinarily young age of 14. In 1924, still only 16, she made her operatic debut in the taxing role of Lucia di Lammermoor
at the Teatro Cavour in Novi Ligure
. Soon after, she was recommended by the Irish soprano Margherita Sheridan to the Royal Opera House
, Covent Garden
, to sing the role of Feodor in Mussorgsky
's Boris Godunov
, with Feodor Chaliapin
. She, like the rest of the company, sang in Italian, Chaliapin sung in Russian, and the chorus used French. The death scene was recorded live and Carosio's clear tones can easily be discerned. Later she said that working with the great Russian basso
made her realise what it meant not just to take on a role but to become it.
In 1928, at Covent Garden, the 19-year-old Carosio sang Musetta in La bohème
, and Feodor, again with Chaliapin, but did not return to London until after the Second World War. On this 1946 London engagement, as a leading star of the visiting San Carlo company of Naples
, she sang a peculiarly affecting Violetta in La traviata
. She had previously been much admired by the troops who had seen her in this role in Naples. Elegant, pretty, petite and with a gift of charm mixed with pathos, the madonna
-faced Carosio portrayed the demi-mondaine as to the manner born. Later still, she appeared with a scratch Italian company in one of her most piquant roles, that of the flighty Adina in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore
, which she had also sung at La Scala
and recorded for EMI
.
Carosio was soon singing all over Italy, in demand for roles requiring her light, coloratura
voice - notably Amina in Bellini
's La sonnambula
, Norina in Donizetti
's Don Pasquale
, and Konstanze in Mozart
's Il Seraglio
. Oscar in Verdi
's Un ballo in maschera
was her debut role at La Scala
in 1929, followed by an enchanting Philine in Thomas
's Mignon
. She sang many parts at La Scala, all to great acclaim. Perhaps her particular starring role at this time was Rosina in The Barber of Seville
. She also essayed more adventurous repertory, including Zerlina in Auber
's Fra Diavolo
, the Queen of Shemakhan in Rimsky-Korsakov
's The Golden Cockerel
, Volkhova in his Sadko
and the title role of Stravinsky
's The Nightingale
. She sang Aminta in the first Italian performances of Richard Strauss
's Die schweigsame Frau
, and Egloge in the 1935 world-premiere of Mascagni
's Nerone (in which she stole all the reviews), both at La Scala, where she continued to appear until 1955.
Carosio is most often remembered today as the singer whose indisposition in January 1949 led to Maria Callas
learning and singing the role of Elvira in Bellini's I puritani
in five days, while she was performing Brünnhilde in Wagner
's Die Walküre
at Teatro La Fenice in Venice
. This feat created a sensation and made operatic history. It also awakened the public's ears to the dramatic possibilities of the bel canto
repertoire being sung by fuller, darker voices which could still manage the florid intricacies of this music, and ultimately resulted in the "Bel Canto Revival" that lasted for several decades. This development tended to submerge voices such as Margherita Carosio's, though the gentle expressivity, tender elegance and feminine charm of her singing, as heard in her many recordings, would be appreciated in any age.
Latterly, she was noted in the more lyrical roles of Mimi and Violetta; her purity of tone and ability to convey vulnerability were very appropriate to these parts. As late as 1954, she returned to La Scala to appear in the house premiere of Menotti
's Amelia Goes to the Ball
, which she also recorded.
She had a brief career in Italian films, and even received an offer from MGM in Hollywood, which she turned down because of her many commitments. But she evinced her popular appeal in recordings of songs of the day.
Carosio retired from the operatic stage in 1959 and for the next 40 years pursued a second career as journalist and music critic in her hometown, where she died in 2005, aged 96.
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...
. She was one of the most remarkable light lyric soprano
Lyric soprano
A lyric soprano is a type of operatic soprano that has a warm quality with a bright, full timbre which can be heard over an orchestra. The lyric soprano voice generally has a higher tessitura than a soubrette and usually plays ingenues and other sympathetic characters in opera. Lyric sopranos have...
s of her generation. Her warm, expressive and expertly produced voice is preserved in many Parlophone and Ultraphon recordings made before World War II, as well as a memorable series made for HMV in London, beginning in 1946. She was still singing leading roles in her early sixties and was considered one of the leading bel canto
Bel canto
Bel canto , along with a number of similar constructions , is an Italian opera term...
sopranos of her day.
Biography
Carosio was born in GenoaGenoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
, the daughter of a singing teacher and composer, Natale Carosio, who not only supervised her studies but launched her on a career in public concerts at 14. She once said of her father: "Everything I became I owe to him. I used to say to him: 'I am good wool, but you are an extraordinary weaver.'"
She appeared in public at the extraordinarily young age of 14. In 1924, still only 16, she made her operatic debut in the taxing role of 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....
at the Teatro Cavour in Novi Ligure
Novi Ligure
Novi Ligure is a town and comune north of Genoa, in the Piedmont region of the province of Alessandria of northwest Italy.The town produces food, iron, steel, and textiles. It is an important junction for both road and railroad....
. Soon after, she was recommended by the Irish soprano Margherita Sheridan to 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...
, to sing the role of Feodor in Mussorgsky
Modest Mussorgsky
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky was a Russian composer, one of the group known as 'The Five'. He was an innovator of Russian music in the romantic period...
's Boris Godunov
Boris Godunov (opera)
Boris Godunov is an opera by Modest Mussorgsky . The work was composed between 1868 and 1873 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is Mussorgsky's only completed opera and is considered his masterpiece. Its subjects are the Russian ruler Boris Godunov, who reigned as Tsar during the Time of Troubles,...
, with Feodor Chaliapin
Feodor Chaliapin
Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin was a Russian opera singer. The possessor of a large and expressive bass voice, he enjoyed an important international career at major opera houses and is often credited with establishing the tradition of naturalistic acting in his chosen art form.During the first phase...
. She, like the rest of the company, sang in Italian, Chaliapin sung in Russian, and the chorus used French. The death scene was recorded live and Carosio's clear tones can easily be discerned. Later she said that working with the great Russian basso
Bass (voice type)
A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C...
made her realise what it meant not just to take on a role but to become it.
In 1928, at Covent Garden, the 19-year-old Carosio sang Musetta in La bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
, and Feodor, again with Chaliapin, but did not return to London until after the Second World War. On this 1946 London engagement, as a leading star of the visiting San Carlo company of 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...
, she sang a peculiarly affecting Violetta in 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...
. She had previously been much admired by the troops who had seen her in this role in Naples. Elegant, pretty, petite and with a gift of charm mixed with pathos, the madonna
Madonna (art)
Images of the Madonna and the Madonna and Child or Virgin and Child are pictorial or sculptured representations of Mary, Mother of Jesus, either alone, or more frequently, with the infant Jesus. These images are central icons of Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox Christianity where Mary remains...
-faced Carosio portrayed the demi-mondaine as to the manner born. Later still, she appeared with a scratch Italian company in one of her most piquant roles, that of the flighty Adina in Donizetti'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...
, which she had also sung at La Scala
La Scala
La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...
and recorded for EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
.
Carosio was soon singing all over Italy, in demand for roles requiring her light, coloratura
Coloratura
Coloratura has several meanings. The word is originally from Italian, literally meaning "coloring", and derives from the Latin word colorare . When used in English, the term specifically refers to elaborate melody, particularly in vocal music and especially in operatic singing of the 18th and...
voice - notably Amina in 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 La sonnambula
La sonnambula
La sonnambula is an opera semiseria in two acts, with music in the bel canto tradition by Vincenzo Bellini to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani, based on a scenario for a ballet-pantomime by Eugène Scribe and Jean-Pierre Aumer called La somnambule, ou L'arrivée d'un nouveau seigneur.The first...
, Norina in 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 Don Pasquale
Don Pasquale
Don Pasquale is an opera buffa, or comic opera, in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. The librettist Giovanni Ruffini wrote the Italian language libretto after Angelo Anelli's libretto for Stefano Pavesi's Ser Marcantonio ....
, and Konstanze in Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
's Il Seraglio
Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Die Entführung aus dem Serail is an opera Singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Christoph Friedrich Bretzner with adaptations by Gottlieb Stephanie...
. Oscar in 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 Un ballo in maschera
Un ballo in maschera
Un ballo in maschera , is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi with text by Antonio Somma. The libretto is loosely based on an 1833 play, Gustave III, by French playwright Eugène Scribe who wrote about the historical assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden...
was her debut role at La Scala
La Scala
La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...
in 1929, followed by an enchanting Philine in Thomas
Ambroise Thomas
Charles Louis Ambroise Thomas was a French composer, best known for his operas Mignon and Hamlet and as Director of the Conservatoire de Paris from 1871 till his death.-Biography:"There is good music, there is bad music, and then there is Ambroise Thomas."- Emmanuel Chabrier-Early life...
's Mignon
Mignon
Mignon is an opéra comique in three acts by Ambroise Thomas. The original French libretto was by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on Goethe's novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre. The Italian version was translated by Giuseppe Zaffira. The opera is mentioned in James Joyce's The Dead,...
. She sang many parts at La Scala, all to great acclaim. Perhaps her particular starring role at this time was Rosina in The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville, or The Futile Precaution is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's comedy Le Barbier de Séville , which was originally an opéra comique, or a mixture of spoken play with music...
. She also essayed more adventurous repertory, including Zerlina in Auber
Daniel Auber
Daniel François Esprit Auber was a French composer.-Biography:The son of a Paris print-seller, Auber was born in Caen in Normandy. Though his father expected him to continue in the print-selling business, he also allowed his son to learn how to play several musical instruments...
's Fra Diavolo
Fra Diavolo (opera)
Fra Diavolo, ou L'hôtellerie de Terracine is an opéra comique in three acts by the French composer Daniel Auber, from a libretto by Auber's regular collaborator Eugène Scribe...
, the Queen of Shemakhan in Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five.The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie, refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César...
's The Golden Cockerel
The Golden Cockerel
The Golden Cockerel is an opera in three acts, with short prologue and even shorter epilogue, by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Its libretto, by Vladimir Belsky, derives from Alexander Pushkin's 1834 poem The Tale of the Golden Cockerel, which in turn is based on two chapters of Tales of the Alhambra by...
, Volkhova in his Sadko
Sadko (opera)
Sadko is an opera in seven scenes by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The libretto was written by the composer, with assistance from Vladimir Belsky, Vladimir Stasov, and others. Rimsky-Korsakov was first inspired by the bylina of Sadko in 1867, when he completed a tone poem on the subject, his Op. 5...
and the title role of Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
's The Nightingale
The Nightingale (opera)
The Nightingale is a Russian conte lyrique in three acts by Igor Stravinsky. It is generally known by its French name...
. She sang Aminta in the first Italian performances of Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
's Die schweigsame Frau
Die schweigsame Frau
Die schweigsame Frau is an opera in three acts by Richard Strauss with libretto by Stefan Zweig after Ben Jonson's Epicoene, or the Silent Woman.-Performance history:...
, and Egloge in the 1935 world-premiere of Mascagni
Pietro Mascagni
Pietro Antonio Stefano Mascagni was an Italian composer most noted for his operas. His 1890 masterpiece Cavalleria rusticana caused one of the greatest sensations in opera history and single-handedly ushered in the Verismo movement in Italian dramatic music...
's Nerone (in which she stole all the reviews), both at La Scala, where she continued to appear until 1955.
Carosio is most often remembered today as the singer whose indisposition in January 1949 led to Maria Callas
Maria Callas
Maria Callas was an American-born Greek soprano and one of the most renowned opera singers of the 20th century. She combined an impressive bel canto technique, a wide-ranging voice and great dramatic gifts...
learning and singing the role of Elvira in Bellini'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...
in five days, while she was performing Brünnhilde in Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
's Die Walküre
Die Walküre
Die Walküre , WWV 86B, is the second of the four operas that form the cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen , by Richard Wagner...
at Teatro La Fenice in Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
. This feat created a sensation and made operatic history. It also awakened the public's ears to the dramatic possibilities of the bel canto
Bel canto
Bel canto , along with a number of similar constructions , is an Italian opera term...
repertoire being sung by fuller, darker voices which could still manage the florid intricacies of this music, and ultimately resulted in the "Bel Canto Revival" that lasted for several decades. This development tended to submerge voices such as Margherita Carosio's, though the gentle expressivity, tender elegance and feminine charm of her singing, as heard in her many recordings, would be appreciated in any age.
Latterly, she was noted in the more lyrical roles of Mimi and Violetta; her purity of tone and ability to convey vulnerability were very appropriate to these parts. As late as 1954, she returned to La Scala to appear in the house premiere of Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti was an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular...
's Amelia Goes to the Ball
Amelia Goes to the Ball
Amelia Goes to the Ball is an opera buffa in one act composed by Gian Carlo Menotti. Menotti also wrote the original Italian libretto. Composed when he was twenty-three, it was Menotti's first mature opera and his first critical success...
, which she also recorded.
She had a brief career in Italian films, and even received an offer from MGM in Hollywood, which she turned down because of her many commitments. But she evinced her popular appeal in recordings of songs of the day.
Carosio retired from the operatic stage in 1959 and for the next 40 years pursued a second career as journalist and music critic in her hometown, where she died in 2005, aged 96.