Elena Bianchini-Cappelli
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Elena Bianchini-Cappelli | |
|---|---|
 Elena Bianchini-Cappelli as "Tosca", from a 1919 publication. | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 1873 |
| Died | September 19, 1919 (aged 45–46) Rimini, Italy |
| Occupation | Opera singer |
Elena Bianchini-Cappelli (1873 – September 19, 1919) was an Italian dramatic soprano opera singer.
Elena Bianchini-Cappelli was from Rome.[1] She studied voice with Guglielmo Vergine in Naples, while he was also teaching Enrico Caruso.[2]
Career
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She appeared with Caruso in 1895, in Cavalleria Rusticana at Caserta.[3] The pair also appeared together in Puccini's Manon Lescaut in Cairo in 1895;[4] the two were only given five days to learn the show before opening night, so Caruso fastened the score to Bianchini-Cappelli's back, limiting her stage movement: "I was helpless to do more than hold as still as possible, serving as a human music rack for my comrade," she recalled. "And what did the rascal do? He was bursting to laugh!"[3]
In 1899 she was in the cast of Wagner's Siegfried at La Scala.[5] She was in the cast of Verdi's Un ballo in maschera when it was conducted by Arturo Toscanini at Trento.[6] She first performed in the United States in 1902, the year she sang "Sylvia" in Zanetto at the Metropolitan Opera House, under the direction of composer Pietro Mascagni.[7]
In her forties she taught voice in New York City, endorsed by her old friend Caruso.[2]