Marina de Gabaráin

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Marina de Gabaráin
Born1917
San Sebastián (Donostia), Spain
Died13 June 1972 (aged 54–55)
Paris, France
OccupationOperatic mezzo-soprano

Marina de Gabaráin (1917[a] – 13 June 1972) was a Spanish mezzo-soprano. Her international career began at Glyndebourne in 1952, where she appeared in Rossini's La Cenerentola as Angelina (Cinderella), which became her signature role.

Life

Born in

Carl Rosa Opera's Scottish 1949 tour.[1][2]

She achieved international recognition when she appeared in the title role of Angelina in Rossini's

At the

Opera di Roma, as well as concert appearances in Spanish repertoire under conductors including Leopold Stokowski, Ataúlfo Argenta and Lorin Maazel.[1]

After her marriage (1959) to the Italian industrialist Giancarlo Villa, and the birth of their daughter Beatriz in 1961, her career took second place in her life[1] – although she did achieve a major success in Pretoria during 1964, with performances as Azucena, Carmen, and Amneris in Verdi's Aida. She also maintained a fruitful musical partnership with the guitarist Julian Bream, with whom she regularly performed in Spanish voice-guitar recitals.[6] In 1968 she showed the first signs of the serious illness which was to cause her definitive retirement, and her death in 1972 while undergoing treatment in Paris.[1]

Vocal style

Although famed for its agility, her dark mezzo-soprano was heavier than that style usually associated with the Rossini repertoire in which she achieved her earlier successes. Her range (Middle C to High D) was wide and true, her lower register rich in colour – although for some critics her voice tended to become hard and occasionally strained in its upper registers, and others felt that her talents were better-suited to the stage than to the recording studio.[7] Nevertheless, her small legacy of commercial recordings (supplemented by many off-air performances) assures her a significant place amongst the finest 20th-century operatic mezzo-sopranos.[1]

Recordings

Gabaráin's recordings include:

Year Composer – Opera
(role)
Cast,
Orchestra, Chorus and Conductor
Label
1953 La Cenerentola
(Angelina)
Ian Wallace (Don Magnifico), Juan Oncina (Ramiro), Chorus and Orchestra of Glyndebourne Festival, Vittorio Gui
CD: Warner Classics 0288462 (2011)[8]
1957 de Falla – Siete canciones populares españolas
Hallé Orchestra, John Barbirolli
CD: Warner Classics 9029538608 (2020)
1959 CarissimiHistoria Divitis Orchestra Dell'Angelicum Di Milano, Umberto Cattini LP: Angelicum LPA-972 (1959)
1959 de Falla – El amor brujo
(Gitana)
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet CD: Decca 4339082 (1999)

Notes

  1. ^ 1917 according to Joaquín Martín de Sagarmínaga, Diccionario de cantantes líricos españoles, Acento Editorial, 1997, p. 151. Other sources give 1925.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Joaquín Martín de Sagarmínaga, Diccionario de cantantes líricos españoles, Acento Editorial, 1997, p. 151
  2. ^ "Carmen 1949 | Tour | Opera Scotland". www.operascotland.org.
  3. ^ a b c d "Opera Archive – Marina de Gabaráin". Glyndebourne.
  4. ^ a b Gabarain Marina de / mezzosoprano (in German) operissimo.com
  5. ^ "Royal Opera House Performance Database". www.rohcollections.org.uk.
  6. ^ Karl-Josef Kutsch and Leo Riemens, Großes Sängerlexikon, Vol.IV, pp.1054–5 (Saur Verlag, Bern, 2003)
  7. ^ from Eric Blom, Music & Letters, Vol.30, issue ii (review of La Cenerentola, Glyndebourne)
  8. ^ Recordings on. Operadis-opera-discography.org.uk. Retrieved on 9 September 2020.

External links