1808–36, Spanish Mezzo-soprano Maria Malibran was the elder daughter of Manuel Garcia and made her debut at age 17 singing in the chorus of the King’s Theatre in London. Shortly afterwards, she replaced the indisposed Giuditta Pasta as Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia. Malibran was a brilliant, charismatic performer and was so successful as Rosina that she ...
in Prévost’s work had started far earlier. Daniel Auber had composed a Manon Lescaut in 1856 and the English composer Michael Balfe’s opera Maid of Artois (1836), written for Maria Malibran, was based on the same text. More recently, Hans Werner Henze’s Boulevard Solitude of 1952 used Prévost as its source. Introduction | Turn of the Century | Opera ...
long in coming, however, and Halévy had to endure rejections and failures before scoring his first success with Clari (1828), which was written for the Spanish mezzo-soprano Maria Malibran (1808–36). Halévy’s next significant work did not appear for another seven years, but when it did, it was his masterpiece. The opera, La juive (‘The Jewess’, 1835) ...
to New York, where she made her name immortal. She remains one of the nineteenth century’s most famous prima donnas. Introduction | Early Romantic | Opera Personalities | Maria Malibran | Early Romantic | Opera ...
1775–1832, Spanish The Spanish tenor, composer and teacher Manuel Garcia founded a remarkable family of eight singers in four generations. He was best known for interpretations of Rossini – notably Otello – and created the part of Norfolk in Elisabetta, regina d’Inghilterra. The role of Count Almaviva in Il barbiere was written for Garcia. After some six years ...
had a fine talent for charming ballads and his first two operas – The Siege of La Rochelle (1835) and The Maid of Artois (1836), which he wrote for Maria Malibran – were very successful. In 1841, Balfe tried, unsuccessfully, to establish English opera at the Lyceum Theatre in London. Later, though, his The Bohemian Girl ...
and their private lives were subject to intense media scrutiny. Early divas included Giuditta Pasta (1798–1865), who created the demanding title role in Bellini’s Norma, and the uninhibited Maria Malibran (1808–36). Malibran’s younger sister Pauline Viardot-Garcia (1821–1910) impressed many of the leading figures of the day, including Berlioz, Dickens, Gounod, George Sand and Turgenev, with ...
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