Maria Piccolomini
| Marietta Piccolomini | |
|---|---|
Marietta Piccolomini ca. 1860
|
|
| Born |
Maria Teresa Violante Piccolomini Clementini 5 March 1834 Siena |
| Died | 11 December 1899 (aged 65) Florence |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Occupation | Opera soprano |
Marietta Piccolomini (5 March 1834 – 11 December 1899) was an Italian soprano.
Marietta Piccolomini was born Maria Teresa Violante Piccolomini Clementini in Siena (Sienna), Italy on 5 March 1834. She was descended from Italian noble House of Piccolomini, and her parents were horrified at her wanting to pursue a career in opera, but she succeeded in persuading them to allow her to do so. From the age of four years, Marietta had amused herself at playing at mock theatrical representations. She used to sing duets with her mother, a skilful amateur, and she had been instructed by Pietro Romani (1791–1877), one of the first professional singing teachers in Italy.
Marietta had long implored her father to allow her to appear on the stage. At last she prevailed and she made her debut in Rome, November, 1852, in Donizetti's Poliuto and Antonio Cagnoni’s Don Bucefalo, under the guidance of her teacher, Romani. Then she appeared in her native town of Sienna and subsequently, she went to Florence, where she performed in Lucrezia Borgia.
In Pisa in 1853, she sang Gilda in Rigoletto and in Turin in 1855 she sang Violetta in La Traviata, a role in which she became especially famous. The response in Turin was a spectacle not seen before in the world of entertainment. Throngs surrounded her hotel. Men tried to unharness the horses from her carriage so that they might draw it through the streets themselves but she would not permit this.
When word of her success in Turin reached Britain, she was invited to sing the British premiere of La Traviata at Her Majesty's Theatre in London, where she appeared for the first time on May 24, 1856. In spite of the doubts raised by music critics about her technical skills as a singer, audiences received her exceedingly well and she "was adopted at once as the pet (and afterwards how much petted!) child of Her Majesty's Theatre". On June 26, Piccolomini appeared for the first time as Maria, in La figlia del reggimento, and on July 26 in Don Pasquale. Although these performances revealed her inexperience, critics praised her dramatic ability. Following her season in England, Picolomini sang in Dublin with great success.
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