Fedora Barbieri
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fedora Barbieri | |
|---|---|
 Fedora Barbieri come Mrs. Meg Page in Falstaff, 1942-1943 (photo with dedication) | |
| Occupations | operatic mezzo-soprano, actress |
Fedora Barbieri (4 June 1920 – 4 March 2003) was an Italian dramatic mezzo-soprano and actress.[1][2]
Barbieri was born in Trieste. She performed regularly in Florence for fifty years, and performed internationally through the years.[1][3] She died, aged 82, in Florence.[1]
After studying singing with Federico Bugamelli and Luigi Toffolo, she won an audition at age twenty to enter the school of the Teatro Comunale in Florence, where she studied with Giulia Tess.[3] She then debuted in November 1940, as Fidalma in Il matrimonio segreto.[1] Her Teatro alla Scala debut, where she was to have her greatest successes, came in 1942, as Meg Page.[4]
She was one of the first performers to investigate and perform in early operas by Monteverdi and Pergolesi.
She made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera on 6 November 1950, as Princess Eboli in Verdi's Don Carlos. Altogether, she gave 95 performances there over 9 seasons, in 11 different roles.[4] She also sang Eboli in the famous Luchino Visconti production for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden's centenary, in 1958.
In 1956, the mezzo-soprano filmed Mistress Quickly, in Falstaff, for RAI, conducted by Tullio Serafin and directed by Herbert Graf, with Giuseppe Taddei and Scipio Colombo.
Though she never officially retired, she more or less discontinued performing live in the 1990s, making her career one of the longest in opera history. She sang last time on stage in 2000 (Mamma Lucia in Cavalleria Rusticana).
