Giulia Grisi
| Giulia Grisi | |
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Grisi as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni
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| Born | 22 May 1811 Milan, Italy |
| Died | 29 November 1869 (aged 58) Berlin, Germany |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Occupation | Opera singer (soprano) |
| Spouse(s) | Giovanni Matteo Mario |
| Relatives |
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Giulia Grisi (22 May 1811 – 29 November 1869) was an Italian opera singer. She performed widely in Europe, the United States and South America and is widely considered to be one of the leading sopranos of the 19th century.
Her second husband was Giovanni Matteo Mario de Candia (also known as "Mario the Tenor"), scion of a noble family of the Kingdom of Sardinia. She is buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. Her grave is marked "Juliette de Candia", using the de Candia name.
Born in Milan, Giulia Grisi was the daughter of one of Napoleon's Italian officers. She came from a musically-gifted family, her maternal aunt Giuseppina Grassini (1773–1850) being a favourite opera singer both on the continent and in London. Her older sister, Giuditta and her cousin Carlotta were both artistes, the former as a singer and the latter as a ballet dancer. Giuditta was the creator of the pants role of Romeo in Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi.
Grisi was trained for a musical career, making her stage debut as Emma in Rossini's Zelmira in Bologna in 1828.
Rossini and Bellini both took an interest in her, she was the first to play the part of Adalgisa in Bellini's Norma in Milan, in which the dramatic soprano Giuditta Pasta took the title role. Grisi appeared in Paris in 1832 in the title role of Semiramide in Rossini's opera and was a great success; in 1834 she made her debut in London as Ninetta in La gazza ladra; and, again in Paris, in 1835 she created the role of Elvira in the premiere of Bellini's final opera, I puritani at the Théâtre-Italien. In 1842, Donizetti wrote the parts of Norina and Ernesto in Don Pasquale for Grisi and Giovanni Matteo De Candia, usually known by his stage-name of Mario, who was to become the love of her life.
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