Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss
Conchita Supervia (long)
42 views
Skip to first unread message
Enrique Eskenazi
Nov 26, 1999, 3:00:00 AM11/26/99
to
Today I've bought the 3CD's 'Conchita Supervia. The complete operatic
recordings" recently issued by ARIA. The quality of transfers is excellent,
and the antology is exhaustive, so I promt to Supervia fans to get this
collection. Aria label may be reachaed on-line at:
http://www.webcat.es/webcat/ariarecording/
but I don't know if they offer these new CDs in their web-page. Anyhow,
there you'll find their snail address and their phone number.
With the kind permission of its author (Esteve Valls i Salvador), I'm
copying the biography accompanying this outstanding collection.
Conchita Supervia was born in Barcelona on December 9th. The exact date of
her birth is not quite clear as two different years are mentioned: either
1895 or 1899. The singer herself gave rise to this confussion because,
perhaps out of coquetry, she claimed she had been born on 1899, this being
the date her husband put on her tomb in London. In any case, scholars have
accepted 1895 as the true date, which makes her debut as an adolescent more
credible. Her first appearance on stage at such an early age as 15 is
surprising enough, and it is almost impossible to accept that she was only
eleven, should we consider 1899 as the actual year of her birth.
Supervia went to the Damas Negras School in Barcelona. She studied singing
with Maestro Alfredo Martini and she soon distinguished also as a remarkable
pianist. This would be quite normal in the case of a singer if it were not
for the fact that she suddenly appeared making her debut at Teatro Colon in
Buenos Aires, with the Goula Opera Company, in the spring of 1910. Thus
Supervia followed a tradition stemming from the 19th century, with many of
the toip sopranos beginning to sing in public at a very young age. This was
the case of the Garcia sisters, Grisi, Patti, Tetrazzini, Sembrich or, in
the case of Spain, light sopranos such as Maria Barrientos, Elvira de
Hidalgo, Josefina Huguet, Graziella Pareto or Mercedes Capsir. But
Supervia's peculiarity was in the the fact that she belonged to a different
cord, namely the mezzo-soprano coloratura, and in that her debut was the
most precocious, as she was not yet fifteen.
On occasion of her debut at the Colon, she sang in four different parts. The
first one was 'Blanca de Beaulieu', from the Argentinian composer Cesar
Stiattesi, the fist opera in Spanish performed in that theater, in which she
had the role of an old woman, Mere Marceau. It is amazing that she should
play the role of a woman so far apart from her own age, and it's said that
the make-up people had to do wonders to conceal her young traits. The second
role was that of Zulima, in Thomas Breton's opera 'Los Amantes de Teruel',
algon with the Catalan tenor Francesc Vignas. Then she played one of the
three mermaids in Ruperto Chapi's 'Circe' and finished her stay in Argentina
as Lola in Mascagni's 'Cavalleria Rusticana'.
Upon her return to Europe in 1911, we find Supervia in the leading role of
Bizet's 'Carmen'. Singing a strenuous part like this one at such an early
age could have been fatal, but it seems that our singer was very sure of her
vocal possibilities bc. that same year she was called for the leading role
in the Italian premiere of 'Der Rosenkavalier' -in Italian- with the
Romanian soprano Hariclea Darclee, at the Constanzi theater in Rome.
Conchita Supervia made again an impact with her precocity in the role of
Octavian, supposed to be about seventeen, when the singer herself was only
sixteen. This is perhpas the only time when this role has been performed
with the youthful deportment that Strauss demanded in order to convey the
pure and innocent feelings required.
In 1912 she appeared at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, singing two
heavy weight roles of the mezzo repertoire: Carmen and Dalila. During these
early years of her career, Supervia was to give life to the most
characteristic parts of her cord. In 1913 we find her singing 'Carmen' with
Bernardo de Muro and Mariano Stabile, at Venice's Malibran Theater, and she
returned to Barcelona to sing 'Carmen' and 'Cavalleria Rusticana'.
In 1914 she made her debut at the Havana Opera Theater as Carmen, and at the
Liceu she began to find the repertoire most suitable to her vocality and
sang Thomas' 'Mignon', Donizetti's 'La Favorita' and Rossini's 'Il Barbiere
di Siviglia', where she was accompanied by the great Riccardo Stracciari and
by the Catalan tenor Joan Nadal. This last opera was a revelation of the
course the singer should follow: she re-established the original tessitura
of Rosina's part, rescuing that role from all the whimsical additions made
through the years by light sopranos which altered the original score. The
result was an explosive one as our singer revealed herself with
extraordinary aptitudes for florid singing. She sang 'Carmen' again with
Luis Canalda and Mercedes Capsir, and the role of Dalila again with Canalda.
She was payed homage with a Serata d'Onore which took place on 13th Feb.
1915 during which, in addition to the first two acts of 'Samson and Dalila'
and the fourth Act of 'Carmen', she sang several Catalan songs, a genre that
would accompany her throughout her career.
The same year, she crossed the Atlantic again to appear in Chicago: on the
18th November she played Charlotte in Massenet's 'Werther' with Lucien
Muratore and Dufranne. She also sang 'Mignon' with an important cast formed
by Charles Dalmores, Lisa Laudozy and Marcel Journet. During the same
season, in Jan. 1916, she sang 'Carmen' and was the first singer to supplant
Geraldine Farrar in this role, who had monopolized it in that theater for
years. She soon returned to Europe and in a few years she was to appear in
the major theatres of Italy. During World War I, in 1918, she gave birth to
her son Giorgio, fruit of her relationship with the Italian lawyer Francesco
Santamaria. The boy was to be the apple of her eyes. Supervia refused to
marry Santamira, who became mayor of Naples in later years. From that time
was a cycle of songs for children written for her by the Italian composer
Gennai. Supervia also cultivated chamber music and gave recitals in many
places and, often, at the Palau de la Musica Catalana, in Barcelona.
The twenties meant a step forward in Supervia's research about Rossini: in
1921 she added the part of 'La Cenerentola''s Angelina to her repertoire. In
1926 a fuarther step was taken in her career when she was called by Bittorio
Gui to open the Turin Theater with 'L'italiana in Algeri'. She also sang
there 'La Cenerentola' and 'Barbiere'. Supervia was to make audiences of the
leading Italian and European theaters discover these roles that hadn't been
heard in their original tessitura since the last century. In 1928 she
returned to the Gran Teatre del Liceu where she presented her 'Italiana in
Algeri', absent from that theatre since 1861, and also 'Il barbiere di
Siviglia', as well as a novelty: Humperdink's 'Hansel und Gretel'.
The same year, she performed at La Scala 'Der Rosenkavalier' next to Ines
Maria Ferraris as Sophie, under the conduction of the composer. The two
artists also sang together in 'Hansel und Gretel'. They recorded excerpts of
both operas. At La Scala, she also 'played the role of Cherubino in Mozart's
'Nozze di Figaro'. In the years 1929-30, the demanding Parisian audiences
fell at her feet when she sang 'L'Italiana' and 'Cenerentola' at the Theatre
des Champs Elysees, and 'Carmen' at the Opera Comique, where she took the
important step of playing the role in the original language. In Paris she
also sang Lehar's operetta 'Frasquita'.
In 1931 she married Ben Rubinstein, a Jewish businessman born in England.
She adopted her husband's religion and settled down in Great Britain, this
being the reason of the prefence for Supervia that English audiences held
from then on.
That ssame year she toured Great Britain giving more than twenty concerts in
five weeks, two of them at London's Albert Hall. She ten went to the States
for an eight week tour, returning to Chicago's stage as Carmen. Her co-stars
were Rene Maison and John Charles Thomas. Chicago's audience could then
appreciate that her acting was more mature. In the course of that tour, the
17th Feb. 1932, she gave a recital at New York's Town Hall, giving rise to
extraordinary expectations, this being the only time she sang there.
In 1933 she opened the season of the Maggio Musicale Fioreentino with 'La
Cenerentola'. In 1934 she sang at London's Covent Garden: 'Carmen' and 'La
Cenerentola', and returned next year as Angelina ('Cenerentola'), Carmen and
Isabella ('L'Italiana in Algeri'). The artist was at the summit of her
career, and in London she was in position to impose the cast whe was to sing
with.
In 1934 seh played in the English film 'Evensong', directed by Victor
Saville, as a young beginner who triumphs over a song queen. In this film
it's interesting to see her in Musetta's walts from 'La Boheme', as we can
witness her winsome manner on stage.
On March 30th 1936 Conchita Supervia died unexpectedly of childbirth, at the
age of 41, when her voice was at its best and her fame was acknowledged all
over the operatic world. As she professed her husband's religion, she was
buried with her unborn child at the Liberal Jewish Cemetery in northwest
London. Her mausoleum was designed by the renowned British architect Sir
Edwin Luytens, and embellished by Great Britain's most famous sculptor, Sir
William Reid Dick.
recordings" recently issued by ARIA. The quality of transfers is excellent,
and the antology is exhaustive, so I promt to Supervia fans to get this
collection. Aria label may be reachaed on-line at:
http://www.webcat.es/webcat/ariarecording/
but I don't know if they offer these new CDs in their web-page. Anyhow,
there you'll find their snail address and their phone number.
With the kind permission of its author (Esteve Valls i Salvador), I'm
copying the biography accompanying this outstanding collection.
Conchita Supervia was born in Barcelona on December 9th. The exact date of
her birth is not quite clear as two different years are mentioned: either
1895 or 1899. The singer herself gave rise to this confussion because,
perhaps out of coquetry, she claimed she had been born on 1899, this being
the date her husband put on her tomb in London. In any case, scholars have
accepted 1895 as the true date, which makes her debut as an adolescent more
credible. Her first appearance on stage at such an early age as 15 is
surprising enough, and it is almost impossible to accept that she was only
eleven, should we consider 1899 as the actual year of her birth.
Supervia went to the Damas Negras School in Barcelona. She studied singing
with Maestro Alfredo Martini and she soon distinguished also as a remarkable
pianist. This would be quite normal in the case of a singer if it were not
for the fact that she suddenly appeared making her debut at Teatro Colon in
Buenos Aires, with the Goula Opera Company, in the spring of 1910. Thus
Supervia followed a tradition stemming from the 19th century, with many of
the toip sopranos beginning to sing in public at a very young age. This was
the case of the Garcia sisters, Grisi, Patti, Tetrazzini, Sembrich or, in
the case of Spain, light sopranos such as Maria Barrientos, Elvira de
Hidalgo, Josefina Huguet, Graziella Pareto or Mercedes Capsir. But
Supervia's peculiarity was in the the fact that she belonged to a different
cord, namely the mezzo-soprano coloratura, and in that her debut was the
most precocious, as she was not yet fifteen.
On occasion of her debut at the Colon, she sang in four different parts. The
first one was 'Blanca de Beaulieu', from the Argentinian composer Cesar
Stiattesi, the fist opera in Spanish performed in that theater, in which she
had the role of an old woman, Mere Marceau. It is amazing that she should
play the role of a woman so far apart from her own age, and it's said that
the make-up people had to do wonders to conceal her young traits. The second
role was that of Zulima, in Thomas Breton's opera 'Los Amantes de Teruel',
algon with the Catalan tenor Francesc Vignas. Then she played one of the
three mermaids in Ruperto Chapi's 'Circe' and finished her stay in Argentina
as Lola in Mascagni's 'Cavalleria Rusticana'.
Upon her return to Europe in 1911, we find Supervia in the leading role of
Bizet's 'Carmen'. Singing a strenuous part like this one at such an early
age could have been fatal, but it seems that our singer was very sure of her
vocal possibilities bc. that same year she was called for the leading role
in the Italian premiere of 'Der Rosenkavalier' -in Italian- with the
Romanian soprano Hariclea Darclee, at the Constanzi theater in Rome.
Conchita Supervia made again an impact with her precocity in the role of
Octavian, supposed to be about seventeen, when the singer herself was only
sixteen. This is perhpas the only time when this role has been performed
with the youthful deportment that Strauss demanded in order to convey the
pure and innocent feelings required.
In 1912 she appeared at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, singing two
heavy weight roles of the mezzo repertoire: Carmen and Dalila. During these
early years of her career, Supervia was to give life to the most
characteristic parts of her cord. In 1913 we find her singing 'Carmen' with
Bernardo de Muro and Mariano Stabile, at Venice's Malibran Theater, and she
returned to Barcelona to sing 'Carmen' and 'Cavalleria Rusticana'.
In 1914 she made her debut at the Havana Opera Theater as Carmen, and at the
Liceu she began to find the repertoire most suitable to her vocality and
sang Thomas' 'Mignon', Donizetti's 'La Favorita' and Rossini's 'Il Barbiere
di Siviglia', where she was accompanied by the great Riccardo Stracciari and
by the Catalan tenor Joan Nadal. This last opera was a revelation of the
course the singer should follow: she re-established the original tessitura
of Rosina's part, rescuing that role from all the whimsical additions made
through the years by light sopranos which altered the original score. The
result was an explosive one as our singer revealed herself with
extraordinary aptitudes for florid singing. She sang 'Carmen' again with
Luis Canalda and Mercedes Capsir, and the role of Dalila again with Canalda.
She was payed homage with a Serata d'Onore which took place on 13th Feb.
1915 during which, in addition to the first two acts of 'Samson and Dalila'
and the fourth Act of 'Carmen', she sang several Catalan songs, a genre that
would accompany her throughout her career.
The same year, she crossed the Atlantic again to appear in Chicago: on the
18th November she played Charlotte in Massenet's 'Werther' with Lucien
Muratore and Dufranne. She also sang 'Mignon' with an important cast formed
by Charles Dalmores, Lisa Laudozy and Marcel Journet. During the same
season, in Jan. 1916, she sang 'Carmen' and was the first singer to supplant
Geraldine Farrar in this role, who had monopolized it in that theater for
years. She soon returned to Europe and in a few years she was to appear in
the major theatres of Italy. During World War I, in 1918, she gave birth to
her son Giorgio, fruit of her relationship with the Italian lawyer Francesco
Santamaria. The boy was to be the apple of her eyes. Supervia refused to
marry Santamira, who became mayor of Naples in later years. From that time
was a cycle of songs for children written for her by the Italian composer
Gennai. Supervia also cultivated chamber music and gave recitals in many
places and, often, at the Palau de la Musica Catalana, in Barcelona.
The twenties meant a step forward in Supervia's research about Rossini: in
1921 she added the part of 'La Cenerentola''s Angelina to her repertoire. In
1926 a fuarther step was taken in her career when she was called by Bittorio
Gui to open the Turin Theater with 'L'italiana in Algeri'. She also sang
there 'La Cenerentola' and 'Barbiere'. Supervia was to make audiences of the
leading Italian and European theaters discover these roles that hadn't been
heard in their original tessitura since the last century. In 1928 she
returned to the Gran Teatre del Liceu where she presented her 'Italiana in
Algeri', absent from that theatre since 1861, and also 'Il barbiere di
Siviglia', as well as a novelty: Humperdink's 'Hansel und Gretel'.
The same year, she performed at La Scala 'Der Rosenkavalier' next to Ines
Maria Ferraris as Sophie, under the conduction of the composer. The two
artists also sang together in 'Hansel und Gretel'. They recorded excerpts of
both operas. At La Scala, she also 'played the role of Cherubino in Mozart's
'Nozze di Figaro'. In the years 1929-30, the demanding Parisian audiences
fell at her feet when she sang 'L'Italiana' and 'Cenerentola' at the Theatre
des Champs Elysees, and 'Carmen' at the Opera Comique, where she took the
important step of playing the role in the original language. In Paris she
also sang Lehar's operetta 'Frasquita'.
In 1931 she married Ben Rubinstein, a Jewish businessman born in England.
She adopted her husband's religion and settled down in Great Britain, this
being the reason of the prefence for Supervia that English audiences held
from then on.
That ssame year she toured Great Britain giving more than twenty concerts in
five weeks, two of them at London's Albert Hall. She ten went to the States
for an eight week tour, returning to Chicago's stage as Carmen. Her co-stars
were Rene Maison and John Charles Thomas. Chicago's audience could then
appreciate that her acting was more mature. In the course of that tour, the
17th Feb. 1932, she gave a recital at New York's Town Hall, giving rise to
extraordinary expectations, this being the only time she sang there.
In 1933 she opened the season of the Maggio Musicale Fioreentino with 'La
Cenerentola'. In 1934 she sang at London's Covent Garden: 'Carmen' and 'La
Cenerentola', and returned next year as Angelina ('Cenerentola'), Carmen and
Isabella ('L'Italiana in Algeri'). The artist was at the summit of her
career, and in London she was in position to impose the cast whe was to sing
with.
In 1934 seh played in the English film 'Evensong', directed by Victor
Saville, as a young beginner who triumphs over a song queen. In this film
it's interesting to see her in Musetta's walts from 'La Boheme', as we can
witness her winsome manner on stage.
On March 30th 1936 Conchita Supervia died unexpectedly of childbirth, at the
age of 41, when her voice was at its best and her fame was acknowledged all
over the operatic world. As she professed her husband's religion, she was
buried with her unborn child at the Liberal Jewish Cemetery in northwest
London. Her mausoleum was designed by the renowned British architect Sir
Edwin Luytens, and embellished by Great Britain's most famous sculptor, Sir
William Reid Dick.
Regards
---
Enrique
eske...@teleline.es
Io chi sono? Eh, non lo so.
-Nol sapete?
Quasi no.
Matthew B. Tepper
Nov 27, 1999, 3:00:00 AM11/27/99
to
Enrique Eskenazi wrote:
>
> Today I've bought the 3CD's 'Conchita Supervia. The complete operatic
> recordings" recently issued by ARIA. The quality of transfers is excellent,
> and the antology is exhaustive, so I promt to Supervia fans to get this
> collection. Aria label may be reachaed on-line at:
> http://www.webcat.es/webcat/ariarecording/
> but I don't know if they offer these new CDs in their web-page.
>
> Today I've bought the 3CD's 'Conchita Supervia. The complete operatic
> recordings" recently issued by ARIA. The quality of transfers is excellent,
> and the antology is exhaustive, so I promt to Supervia fans to get this
> collection. Aria label may be reachaed on-line at:
> http://www.webcat.es/webcat/ariarecording/
> but I don't know if they offer these new CDs in their web-page.
No, only an earlier issue of rare song recordings by Supervia. But at
least they do provide an e-mail address. Thanks for the heads-up!
--
Matthew B. Tepper: WWW, science fiction, classical music, ducks!
My personal home page -- http://home.earthlink.net/~oy/index.html
My main music page --- http://home.earthlink.net/~oy/berlioz.html
To write to me, do for my address what Androcles did for the lion
"Compassionate Conservatism?" * "Tight Slacks?" * "Jumbo Shrimp?"
Ivrys88
Nov 27, 1999, 3:00:00 AM11/27/99
to
Enrique Eskenasi wrote:
>On March 30th 1936 Conchita Supervia died unexpectedly of childbirth, at the
>age of 41, when her voice was at its best and her fame was acknowledged all
>over the operatic world. As she professed her husband's religion, she was
>buried with her unborn child at the Liberal Jewish Cemetery in northwest
>London. Her mausoleum was designed by the renowned British architect Sir
>Edwin Luytens, and embellished by Great Britain's most famous sculptor, Sir
>William Reid Dick.
Among other famous musicians who rest in London's Golders Green Cemetery,
which, to clarify, has both an Orthodox and a Liberal side, is the cellist
Jacqueline du Pre. Thanks to Enrique for a fascinating post. The film excerpt
of Supervia as Musetta can be seen in the video "The Art of Singing." She sings
Musetta's Waltz transposed down a tone, and is indeed charming.
Eduardo J Baez
Nov 27, 1999, 3:00:00 AM11/27/99
to
The bio is riveting, thank you for sharing it. I wish we could get more
information somewhere about some of the specific performances, such as the
recital in New York in the 1930s. How was she received by the public and
the critics there? Supervia is an excellent subject for a book-length
biography, if only to dispel or confirm some of the myths that have
surrounded her memory in the last two decades, since she was
"re-discovered."
Enrique Eskenazi <eske...@teleline.es> wrote in message
news:81mnq9$u5$1...@diana.bcn.ttd.net...
0 new messages