October 21, 2019.Giuditta Pasta.There are several anniversaries which we’d like to commemorate today: the birthdays of Franz Liszt, Luciano Berio, George Biset and Domenico Scarlatti.And there is also a very special singer we’d also like to write about as well. Franz Liszt was born on October 22nd of 1811 in the Kingdom of Hungary, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.One of the most important composers of the 19th century, he was also the first (and the greatest) in a long line of piano virtuosos.We’ve written about his life and, separately, about his piano cycle Années de pèlerinage (for example, here and here).Please browse our library, which has an extensive collection of his works.Some of Liszt’s best works were written for the then newly-improved keyboard instrument, the piano, and so were most of Domenico Scarlatti’s numerous sonatas, though during his lifetime the main keyboard instrument was not the piano but the harpsichord.Domenico, the son of the great composer Alessandro Scarlatti, was born on October 26th of 1685 in Naples.Like Liszt, he was an excellent keyboard player, he even beat Handel in a 1709 harpsichord competition organized by Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni (Handel was judged to be a better organ player).Scarlatti wrote 555 sonatas; though we don’t have all of them, you could find several wonderful performances on our site.
Another Italian,Luciano Berio, was born on October 24th of 1925 in Oneglia, Liguria, not far from the French border.One of the most interesting composers of the late 20th century, he had an unusual distinction of being uncompromisingly experimental and very popular at the same time.Here’s Berio’s O King, dedicated to Martin Luther King.Soprano Elise Ross is accompanied by members of the London Symphonietta, with the composer conducting.Finally, Georges Bizet, the author of Carmen, was born on October 25th of 1838 in Paris.
The singer we mentioned above is Giuditta Pasta, born on October 26th of 1797.She had an unusually beautiful voice with a huge range, the voice Italians call soprano sfogato.What is more, several opera roles, central to the bel canto repertoire, were written specifically for her.Giuditta Pasta was born Giuditta Negri on November 26th of 1797 in Saronno near Milan (in 1816 she married one Giuseppe Pasta, a fellow singer, and took his name).She studied in Milan and sung her debut role at the age of 19.By her early 20s she had performed in all major opera theater of Italy.Her first great triumph was the role of Desdemona in Rossini’s Otello which she sung at the Théâtre Italien in 1821 in Paris.In the subsequent years she became acclaimed as the greatest soprano in Europe.Rossini wrote the role of Corinna in Il viaggio a Reims for her in 1825; Donizetti – the role of the protagonist in the opera Anna Bolena in 1830.Bellini wrote two roles for Pasta, that of Amina in La sonnambula and then the great role of Norma, both in 1831.In 1835 Pasta retired from stage – she was only 38 years old.Her voice, soprano sfogato, had an enormous range: naturally a mezzo it went up to the coloratura soprano range.Wikipedia gives a wonderful quote from Stendhal, who describes Giuditta Pasta’s voice this way: “… she possesses the rare ability to be able to sing contralto as easily as she can sing soprano.Many notes … have the ability to produce a kind of resonant and magnetic vibration, which, through some still unexplained combination of physical phenomena, exercises an instantaneous and hypnotic effect upon the soul of the spectator.”Giuditta Pasta died in Como, Italy, on April 1st of 1865.
The portrait, above, was made by the Italian painter Giuseppe Molteni in 1829.Its title is “Portrait of the Singer Giuditta Pasta in the Stage Costume of “Nina or the Girl Driven Mad by Love”.”“Nina” is an opera by Giovanni Paisiello.
Giuditta Pasta, 2019
October 21, 2019. Giuditta Pasta. There are several anniversaries which we’d like to commemorate today: the birthdays of Franz Liszt, Luciano Berio, George Biset and Domenico Scarlatti. And there is also a very special singer we’d also like to write about as well. Franz Liszt was born on October 22nd of 1811 in the Kingdom of Hungary, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. One of the most important composers of the 19th century, he was also the first (and the greatest) in a long line of piano virtuosos. We’ve written about his life and, separately, about his piano cycle Années de pèlerinage (for example, here and here). Please browse our library, which has an extensive collection of his works. Some of Liszt’s best works were written for the then newly-improved keyboard instrument, the piano, and so were most of Domenico Scarlatti’s numerous sonatas, though during his lifetime the main keyboard instrument was not the piano but the harpsichord. Domenico, the son of the great composer Alessandro Scarlatti, was born on October 26th of 1685 in Naples. Like Liszt, he was an excellent keyboard player, he even beat Handel in a 1709 harpsichord competition organized by Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni (Handel was judged to be a better organ player). Scarlatti wrote 555 sonatas; though we don’t have all of them, you could find several wonderful performances on our site.
Another Italian, Luciano Berio, was born on October 24th of 1925 in Oneglia, Liguria, not far from the French border. One of the most interesting composers of the late 20th century, he had an unusual distinction of being uncompromisingly experimental and very popular at the same time. Here’s Berio’s O King, dedicated to Martin Luther King. Soprano Elise Ross is accompanied by members of the London Symphonietta, with the composer conducting. Finally, Georges Bizet, the author of Carmen, was born on October 25th of 1838 in Paris.
The portrait, above, was made by the Italian painter Giuseppe Molteni in 1829. Its title is “Portrait of the Singer Giuditta Pasta in the Stage Costume of “Nina or the Girl Driven Mad by Love”.” “Nina” is an opera by Giovanni Paisiello.