Amelita Galli-Curci

Note by Norman White











Amelita Galli-Curci was born on 18th November 1882 into an aristocratic Italian family of Spanish ancestry. She entered the Milan Conservatory of Music at the age of eleven to study piano and graduated with a gold medal in 1903. After giving a number of piano recitals in Milan she met the celebrated composer Pietro Mascagni who, after hearing her accompany herself in some vocal pieces, suggested that she should take serious singing lessons. She had a naturally placed coloratura soprano voice of great flexibility and wide range, from low A flat to high E. Her vocal delivery was even throughout the range, producing a soft, smooth, warm sound, that appealed to all, not merely opera lovers.

Her operatic debut took place at Trani on 26th December 1906, as Gilda in Rigoletto. She was soon to be heard all over Italy. During 1910 she toured South America with some of the greatest singers of the day, and her reception was always tumultuous. A major disappointment came just after this, when she returned to Milan. She sent copies of her press cuttings to La Scala and asked for an engagement. The only offer she received was a minor Scala and asked for an engagement. The only offer she received was a minor role in Bellini's La Sonnambula. Refusing the offer, she vowed never to set foot inside the Opera House again. Engagements followed for Russia and Spain and a return trip to South America. Her repertoire at this time included La Traviata, I puritani, Les Huguenots, La Wally, Un Ballo in Maschera, Pagliacci, Mignon, Hanlet and Der Rosenkavalier.

In 1916, after another engagement in South America, instead of returning across the Atlantic, she decided to go to New York and audition for the Met. No offer of engagement followed, but she was offered three performances as Gilda in Rigoletto for the Chicago Opera Company. After her first performance her fee of $300 was increased to $1500, and her contract extended to the whole season. She remained with the Chicago Opera Company until 1924. The celebrated soprano Geraldine Farrar was in the audience at her Chicago debut and 'She is as nearly perfect as it is humanly possible to be'.

Galli-Curci's New York debut was also with the Chicago Opera, as Dinorah, in 1918. The demand for tickets outweighed the supply by ten to one. The victor Record Company had signed her up before her American debut and by now her recordings had become best-sellers. Between January and June of the first year of issue she sold 400,000 copies. Her royalties alone during this period were more than the annual salary of the President of the United States.

Her Metropolitan debut did not take place until 1921 when she opened the season as Violetta in La Traviata, with Gigli and de Luca in the cast. She remained with the Met until her stage retirement in 1930.

By the late 1920's it had become evident that Galli-Curci was having vocal difficulties, particularly with pitch, which were being caused by a tumour in her throat. In 1935 she had an operation to have this removed but it had affected her voice to such an extent that it was not possible to continue her career at the exceptionally high standard that she had set. After 1936 she lived in retirement with her second husband and long-time accompanist, Homer Samuels. Later in life she was asked about her many gramophone records and commented, 'If I listen to those records made so many generations ago, in relation to that tantalising musical horizon I sought to achieve, I am very humble; but if I compare them to the records of other sopranos I am very proud'. She died on November 26th 1963.


© 1990 Norman White

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