My Thursday May 6, 2010, Chicago Sun-Times and suntimes.com obituary reflections on the death of the great Giulietta Simionato.
Giulietta Simionato as Amneris in Verdi's Aida
Mezzo-soprano dies a week before her 100th birthday
GIULIETTA SIMIONATO | 1910-2010: Legendary opera star
Giulietta Simionato, one of the most beloved opera singers of the 20th century, whose career connected her directly with the masters of the 19th century and who remained a vital presence into the second decade of the 21st century, died Wednesday at her home in Rome, one week before she would have celebrated her 100th birthday.
Miss Simionato, a mezzo-soprano, had an international career across oceans and continents, but her American presence was centered on her deep and historic connection with Lyric Opera of Chicago, beginning with its founding in 1954 as Lyric Theatre of Chicago. She sang 13 roles -- including Rosina, Carmen, Mignon, Santuzza, Cherubino, Azucena, Amneris, and Eboli -- over six seasons with Lyric from 1954 to 1961.
[Giulietta Simionato at Lyric Opera of Chicago's 50th Anniversary Gala in October 2004. ]
Her first appearance with the company also marked her U.S. debut, as Adalgisa in the November 1954 production of Bellini's Norma, with the legendary Maria Callas making her North American debut in the title role. Her last appearance at the Civic Opera House came in 2004 at Lyric's 50th anniversary gala concert, where she was honored as a "Jubilarian" alongside tenor Carlo Bergonzi, soprano and mezzo Régine Crespin, mezzo Marilyn Horne, and ballet legend Maria Tallchief.
At 94, Miss Simionato was as elegant, beautiful, witty, and charming as ever. At the time, Lyric press agent Danny Newman, who was also honored at the gala, said of her, "Who else but Giulietta is a great comic, tragedian, counselor and friend who never would try to steal a show yet who knows that all eyes are always upon her?"
Miss Simionato also managed to remain a loyal friend and advocate of both the mercurial Callas and Callas's putative rival, another Italian star Renata Tebaldi, throughout the lives of both women.
In an essay for Lyric's gala concert program book, Miss Simionato wrote (in Italian -- Lyric provided the audience with an English translation): "I see the whole of my numerous Lyric Opera performances as a large bouquet of flowers of every kind, magnificent in their harmony of colors and in the good taste of their arrangement, to such a degree that if I had to select just one, I would be in difficulty having to discriminate."
She then told the story of, in her words, "tragicomic singularity," about the time she broke an ankle during Act 2 of Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur in 1957 but was somehow patched up enough -- including with a plaster cast -- to undertake the third act. Conductor Tullio Serafin, her fellow cast members, and the thousands in the audience held their breath as she arrived onstage in a wheelchair "escorted by two lackeys dressed up in wigs and costumes (we were, after all, still in the 18th century!!)."
"Indifferent to my physical immobility, dismay, and pain, I tried as best I could to honor my commitment and my duty as an artist, giving wholly of myself, without fear or reticence, to song, to music, to the love of the public and to all those who have made this marvelous theater unique in the world," she concluded her essay.
Miss Simionato, a native of Forli, in Italy's Emilia-Romagna region, made her debut in 1927 when she was just 17. But it was a full ten years before she made a breakthrough into major roles, including performing Santuzza in the 1890 Cavalleria rusticana under the baton of its composer, Pietro Mascagni.
After World War II, when she was already in her mid-30s, her career took off, and it continued until, after marrying an Italian doctor, she chose to retire in 1966 at La Scala on the 30th anniversary of her debut at that historic opera house in Milan.
La Scala issued a statement Wednesday on her death: "Giulietta Simionato has definitively entered our memories and the history of the opera."
Her funeral will be held today at the Chapel of the Knights of Malta in Rome. Next week, Chicago opera historian Andy Karzas will present a one-hour memorial tribute on his weekly program From the Recording Horn, on 98.7WFMT and via free streaming over wfmt.com at 4 p.m. Saturday May 15 CDT.
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