Erminia Borghi-Mamo

Erminia Borghi-Mamo was born in Paris, the daughter of Michele Mamo and Adelaide Borghi-Mamo, both Italian opera singers. She was literally born into the theatre: Adelaide Borghi-Mamo finished a performance of Verdi's Il Trovatore, then gave birth to Erminia hours later, in a room within the theatre La Comédie Italienne. She was named for soprano Erminia Frezzolini, a friend of Adelaide's.^[1] She studied voice with her mother and with Alessandro Busi. Fellow soprano Ayres Borghi-Zerni was her cousin.

Erminia Borghi-Mamo made her opera stage debut in 1873, in Nice, in La forza del destino.^[2] She was active in Italian opera for the next twenty years. "Still quite young, Mdlle. Borghi-Mamo is already mistress of the vocal art," an English writer reported in 1876, adding that "intelligence and soul are her characteristic qualities; she is all sympathy. The opening of her artistic career promises the most splendid future, for her voice is capable of the most delicate expression, and the most varied effects."^[3] Her best-known roles included the title parts in Aida and Lucrezia Borgia, Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana, Margherita and Elena in Mefistofele,^[4] and Leonora in Il trovatore. Her last performance was in 1893.^[5]