Ebe Stignani
Short in stature and by no means slender, mezzo-soprano Ebe Stignani was a paragon among twentieth-century singers in her vocal range, a compass sweeping from low F to a shining high C of a quality and power many dramatic sopranos envied. Although she herself admitted to being no actress, her stage appearances carried enormous force through her singing alone. Her career was born in an age of other great mezzos and extended nearly three decades into the prime years of Giulietta Simionato, Elena Nicolai, and Fedora Barbieri. She recorded often, preserving several of her most celebrated roles in complete performances.
Beginning with the study of piano at the Conservatory of San Pietro di Maiella in her native Naples, Stignani soon undertook courses in vocal training under Agostino Roche who cautioned her not to exploit her facile top register by becoming a soprano. During her five years with Roche, she worked on solfège and scales even as she studied harmony and both the choral and the operatic literature.
Stignani's debut took place at the San Carlo in Naples in 1925 when she plunged into the dramatic role of Amneris in Verdi's Aida. Called upon by Arturo Toscanini for an audition, she found herself with a contract for La Scala and began her long career there with La Gioconda, Götterdämmerung, and Weber's Der Freischütz (in the brief, but uncompromisingly soprano role of Aennchen). Soon, she was singing under the finest conductors of the time: Ghione, Gui, Guarnieri, Marinuzzi, Panizza, and Serafin. Given the size and thrust of her voice, she was assigned a great deal of Wagner, each role sung in her native language, as was the custom of the time in Italy. Likewise, she came to make the big Verdi roles her own -- Ulrica, Azucena, Preziosilla, and Eboli in Don Carlo. In the latter, she was a last-minute substitute for the revered Giuseppina Cobelli and, despite her usually placid nature, found the experience of taking over for a singer so esteemed by the Scala audience a nerve-wracking one. Stignani triumphed, and found the demanding role becoming one of her two mainstay parts, the other being Leonora in Donizetti's La favorita.
Beyond the Verdi/Wagner literature, Stignani embraced Fidalma in Cimarosa's Il matrimonio segreto, Carmen, Adalgisa in Bellini's Norma, Marina in Boris Godunov, Dalila and the role she loved above all others, Orfeo in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice. Elsewhere in Italy, her roles at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino were the High Priestess in Spontini's La vestale and Fenena in Nabucco in 1933. By 1940, she was engaged for the more important role of Arsace in Rossini's Semiramide. Meanwhile, other opera houses outside of Italy summoned her for a variety of works. She sang in London beginning in 1937, when she debuted as Amneris, and continuing periodically until her Adalgisa opposite Callas in 1952 and 1957, the year before her retirement. The United States heard her in opera only, at San Francisco (1938 and 1948) and in Chicago (1955), where her appearances included a memorable Il trovatore with Callas and Björling. A rapturously received recital at Carnegie Hall in 1948 failed to produce another offer from the Metropolitan Opera (a 1939 contract was voided by the outbreak of WWII), but she sang with success in South America as well as throughout Europe.
Among Stignani's commercially recorded roles are Amneris (twice), Adalgisa (twice), Eboli, Preziosilla, and Laura.
© TiVo
Diskografie
14 Album, -en • Geordnet nach Bestseller
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Ebe Stignani (Recital)
Oper - Erschienen bei Teatro Records am 14.03.2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Verdi: Aida
Renata Tebaldi, Ebe Stignani, Mario del Monaco, Coro dell'Accademia Nazionale Di Santa Cecilia, Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale Di Santa Cecilia, Alberto Erede
Klassik - Erschienen bei Decca Music Group Ltd. am 01.01.1952
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bizet: Carmen
Vincenzo Bellezza, Ebe Stignani, Beniamino Gigli
Oper - Erschienen bei Urania am 30.11.1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Verdi: Il Trovatore
Carlo Tagliabue, Maria Callas, Gino Penno, Ebe Stignani, Antonino Votto, Orchestra del Teatro della Scala di Milano
Klassik - Erschienen bei NAR International am 17.09.2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lebendige Vergangenheit - Ebe Stignani
Klassik - Erschienen bei Preiser Records am 07.02.1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gioconda (La) (La Scala) (1931)
Giannina Arangi-Lombardi, Camilla Rota, Ebe Stignani, Milan La Scala Chorus, Orchestra del Teatro della Scala di Milano, Lorenzo Molajoli
Instrumentalmusik - Erschienen bei Naxos am 06.11.2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Verdi: Il Trovatore
Gino Penno, Maria Callas, Ebe Stignani
Oper - Erschienen bei Urania am 11.08.2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Verdi: Don Carlo, extraits (Mono Version)
Mirto Picchi, Ebe Stignani, Orchestra sinfonica dell'EIAR di Roma, Fernando Previtali
Verschiedenes - Erschienen bei BNF Collection am 01.01.1958
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Verdi: Aida, Act IV, Extracts (Mono Version)
Renata Tebaldi, Mario del Monaco, Ebe Stignani, Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale Di Santa Cecilia
Klassik - Erschienen bei BNF Collection am 01.01.1954
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Divissima (Maria Callas)
Maria Callas, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Ebe Stignani, Vari, Varié
Klassik - Erschienen bei Fimvelstar am 22.10.2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ponchielli: La Gioconda, pages choisies (Mono Version)
Ebe Stignani, Gina Cigna, Cesare Siepi, Orchestra Sinfonica Dell'eiar Di Torino
Verschiedenes - Erschienen bei BNF Collection am 01.01.1958
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Pages choisies d'opéras - Saint-Saëns: Samson et Dalila, extraits (Mono Version)
Verschiedenes - Erschienen bei BNF Collection am 01.01.1958
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Aida & Il Trovatore - Giuseppe Verdi
Maria Callas, Ebe Stignani, Giulietta Simionato
Oper - Erschienen bei OperaPrima-Carillon am 23.04.2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Aida (1951) (Original Soundtrack Film with Sophia Loren and Lois Maxwel)
Original Soundtrack - Erschienen bei JB Production CH am 28.08.2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo