Gemma Bellincioni is famously remembered as the female singer who premiered the role of Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni (1863 – 1945) on May 17, 1890, a role she repeatedly performed on all the great stages of Europe and South America.Īfter the end of her operatic career, Gemma Bellincioni agreed to perform the role of Santuzza in the silent film Cavalleria Rusticana (1916) directed by the Italian silent film director Ugo Falena (1875 – 1931).Ī Diva Among Famous Italian Opera Singers When, during a piano rehearsal, the conductor Camillo De Nardis (18567 – 1951) heard the young Gemma sing, he immediately engaged her to perform the main female role of Vittoria, a prima donna (soprano).

According to Baccioni, Gemma’s parents had been engaged to sing the roles of Don Gregoria, a music teacher (bass) and Dorotea, his wife (mezzo-soprano). On the other hand, there are claims by Giovan Battista Baccioni, a contemporary of the female opera singer, that Gemma Bellincioni made her operatic debut at 16 years of age in November 1880 in Tutti in maschera ( Everyone in Disguise) by Italian composer Carlo Pedrotti (1817 – 1893).

Interestingly, there is conflicting information on when and how Gemma Bellincioni actually made her operatic debut.Īccording to the Italian musicologist Rodolfo Celletti (1917 – 2004), Gemma Bellincioni made her operatic debut when she was 14 years old in May 1879, at the Teatro della Societa Filarmonica in Naples in the opera Il segreto della Duchessa by composer Giuseppe Dell-Orefice (1848 – 1889). Records show that on Octoat age 6, Gemma Bellincioni appeared at the Teatro Filodrammatico in Milan in a song written for her by Italian composer Luigi Ricci-Stolz (1852 – 1906). As a child, Bellincioni was exposed to her parents’ rehearsals and performances and received music and singing instruction. She was the daughter of opera singers – bass Cesare Bellincioni and contralto Carlotta Soroldoni. Gemma Bellincioni was born Matilda Cesare Bellincioni on Augin Monza, Italy. Gemma Bellincioni as Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana

A Great Among Female Italian Opera Singers

Italian opera singer male