Anita Cerquetti

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Anita Cerquetti

Anita Cerquetti (13 April 1931 – 11 October 2014) was an Italian dramatic soprano who had a short but meteoric career in the 1950s. Her voice was very powerful and pleasing to audiences.[1]

Career

Cerquetti was born in

Les abencérages) under Carlo Maria Giulini in 1956, and as Elvira in Ernani under Dimitri Mitropoulos in 1957. Her La Scala debut came in 1958 as Abigaille in Nabucco. She also sang on RAI in a variety of roles, such as Anaide in Mosè, Mathilde in Guglielmo Tell and Elena in I vespri siciliani. In America she sang a little; her debut there was in 1955 at Lyric Opera of Chicago as Amelia in Un ballo in maschera, opposite Jussi Björling and with Tullio Serafin conducting. In July 1958 she was due to make her debut at London's Royal Opera House, as Aida,[2] but had to withdraw after a late June appendectomy (she was replaced by Leontyne Price);[3]
she was destined never to sing there.

Early end

Cerquetti made headlines in January 1958 when she replaced "in extremis" the ailing

Rome Opera House.[4] She was already singing the role at the San Carlo in Naples. She commuted between the two cities to honor both engagements for several weeks. This "tour de force" won her great acclaim but had serious effects on her health.[5]
Shortly afterward she started withdrawing little by little from the stage until her complete retirement in 1961 at just thirty years of age.

Recordings

She made only two studio recordings, both for

Mario del Monaco, Ettore Bastianini, Giulietta Simionato and Cesare Siepi under Gianandrea Gavazzeni. But there are many pirated live recordings, and a few of them — such as the 1957 Florence Ernani (with del Monaco, Bastianini, Boris Christoff, and Mitropoulos conducting), the 1958 Mexico City Aida (with Flaviano Labò, Nell Rankin, Cornell MacNeil, Fernando Corena and Norman Treigle) and the 1958 Rome Norma (with Franco Corelli
) — are legendary. Here is a partial list of the others:

There have also been releases of recordings from her recitals, on specialist labels.

Personal life

Anita Cerquetti was married to baritone Edo Ferretti, who predeceased her.[1] She herself lived to the age of 83, her death in Perugia in 2014 resulting from heart problems.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b Yardley, William (17 October 2014). "Anita Cerquetti, Opera Fill-In Who Soared, Dies at 83". The New York Times.
  2. ^ "Visconti to produce Don Carlos", in The Times, Saturday March 8, 1958, p. 3 column B.
  3. ^ "A New Star at Covent Garden", in The Times, Thursday July 3, 1958, p. 5 column D.
  4. ^ G. B. Meneghini (1981). My Wife Maria Callas. London, The Bodley Head, p. 265.
  5. ^ "Anita Cerquetti - obituary", in The Daily Telegraph, Friday 31 October 2014 (accessed 3 November 2014).
  6. ^ "Lirica in lutto, è morta Anita Cerquetti" in il Resto del Carlino, 11 October 2014 (accessed 3 November 2014) (in Italian)

Sources

External links

Bibliography

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