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Luisa Tetrazzinni
Note by Norman White |
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| Tetrazzini was a glorious coloratura soprano with a flawless vocal technique, yet the thrill is not just the unique bell-like quality of the voice above the stave, but the strong, dramatic sound of her lower chest register.
She was born into a musical family in Florence on 29th June 1871. Her father was a military tailor able to provide a comfortable living for the family. She had two elder sisters, one of whom, Eva, became an established opera singer and married the international conductor, Cleofonte Campanini, who helped the young Luisa gain engagements, launching her career abroad. Despite the difficulty experienced by her sister in the singing profession, Luisa was undaunted, claiming that there was never a time in her life when she did not sing. The Tetrazzini family never missed a performance at the local opera house and on one of those occasions, 21st October 1890, Meyerbeer's L'Africaine was announced. Just before the curtain went up, the conductor declared that the performance would have to be cancelled due to the illness of the soprano singing the role of Inez. Luisa shot to her feet and shouted that there was no need to cancel as she knew the role! The conductor was finally persuaded by the public to accept Luisa who, after a rehearsal, made a successful début the next day. She was promptly invited to Rome to repeat the same role and within a few days she performed for the Queen of Italy, singing at her request excerpts from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. Her contract in Rome was immediately extended until the end of the season. Although her international reputation was to take seventeen years to achieve, within five years she was performing with the established star Battistini and the rising tenor Caruso. In 1892 she appeared in South America at the opera house in Buenos Aires, quickly gaining a large following and huge performance fees. Her reputation was such that by 1898 she had her own opera company touring many of the South American countries. At this time she was also performing with such stars as Tamagno, creator of Verdi's Otello , Borgatti, one of Italy's finest Wagnerian tenors, and the baritone Sammarco who sang in many world premieres. Her acceptance as a world class Prima Donna came in London in 1907 when she performed to an apathetic audience in a half empty Covent Garden, many of whom hadn't even paid for their tickets. By the end of the first act most of these people who had never heard of Tetrazzini were on their feet shouting for more. After this, tickets for Tetrazzini performances became almost impossible to obtain. News of her triumph reached America where she was invited by Oscar Hammerstein to appear in his Manhattan Opera House, set up to compete with the established Metropolitan Opera. It is surprising that, despite her world-wide acclaim, she only appeared for one season at the Metropolitan Opera and never at La Scala Milan, the leading opera house of the world. During the First World War she returned to Italy to raise money for the wounded and to entertain the troops. After the war she did not return to the operatic stage, concentrating instead on world-wide concert tours. She was heard in London as late as 1934 on one of her farewell tours, still with the bubbling personality but the voice betraying signs of age. Tetrazzini had earned a fortune over the years but sadly she was duped by a young man whom she married in 1926 (her third marriage) and in a very short time her vast wealth had almost completely disappeared. Her last years in Milan were financially difficult as her only income came from teaching a few pupils. She died on 28th April 1940 with the state paying for her funeral. |
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