Virginia Damerini was an Italian opera singer, active in the 1880s and 1890s.
Early life
editVirginia Damerini was born and raised in the Apennines region of Italy.[1]
Career
editDamerini was a dramatic soprano. In 1884 she toured several American cities from Brooklyn to San Francisco with the Milan Grand Opera Company.[2][3] During that tour, The New York Times commented that "Signora Damerini's style is both refined and expressive."[4]
She performed in the premiere of Alberto Franchetti's Asrael in 1888. She sang the title role in Fosca in 1889 at Modena and again in 1890, at La Scala in Milan, with conductor Arnaldo Conti.[5] She sang the "notoriously difficult" title role in Vincenzo Bellini's Norma with Arturo Toscanini conducting, at Palermo in 1893.[6] In 1893, she was singing at El Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona on the night when the theatre was bombed by anarchist Santiago Salvador Franch.[7] Her sister Marie Damerini was reported among the casualties in the explosion.[8]
References
edit- ^ Aconito, "Virginia Damerini" Lo staffile gazzettino di lettere, arte, teatri, società (8 June 1887): 3.
- ^ Production Aida (November 26, 1884), BAM Archives.
- ^ "Theatrical" Jingo (November 5, 1884): 140.
- ^ "Italian Opera at the Star" New York Times (October 22, 1884): 5. via Newspapers.com
- ^ Marcos da Cunha Lopes Virmond, Rosa Tolón Marin, Lenita Waldige Mendes Nogueira, "Uma ária para Virginia Damerini: a última Fosca de Carlos Gomes" Opus: Revista Eletrônica da ANPPOM 19(1)(2013): 111-140.
- ^ Harvey Sachs, Toscanini: Musician of Conscience (Liveright Publishing 2017). ISBN 9781631492723
- ^ "Gran Teatre del Liceu" Almanaque del diario de Barcelona (1895): 70-71.
- ^ "Anarchism in Spain" The San Francisco Chronicle (November 9, 1893): 2. via Newspapers.com
