Mirella Freni, matchless Italian prima donna, dies at 84

The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Thursday, March 28, 2024


Mirella Freni, matchless Italian prima donna, dies at 84
Mirella Freni, right, as Fedora Romazov and Placido Domingo as Loris Ipanov in Giordano’s “Fedora” at the opening night gala of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Sept. 20, 2002. Freni, an exemplary Italian prima donna for nearly 50 years, whose voice was ideally suited to lighter lyric roles but maintained its bloom even as she took on weightier, more dramatic repertory in midcareer, died on Feb. 9, 2020, at her home in Modena, in north-central Italy. She was 84. Sara Krulwich/The New York Times.

by Anthony Tommasini



NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE ).- Mirella Freni, an exemplary Italian prima donna for nearly 50 years, whose voice was ideally suited to lighter lyric roles but maintained its bloom even as she took on weightier, more dramatic repertory in midcareer, died Sunday at her home in Modena, in north-central Italy. She was 84.

She died after a long degenerative illness and a series of strokes, said J.F. Mastroianni, her longtime manager.

In the late 20th century, when opera was becoming increasingly internationalized, Freni was hailed as a last exponent of the great Italian operatic heritage.

“That tradition is ending,” Plácido Domingo was quoted as saying in a 1997 New York Times article about Freni. “Mirella is the end of a chain. After that, you cannot see who really follows her.”

Many opera lovers acknowledged Freni’s special claim on this tradition, which valued bel canto principles of producing rich, unforced sound; of shaping even, lyrical lines across the range of a voice; and of sensitively matching sound to words.

In her early years Freni won acclaim for her exquisite singing in lighter roles like Bizet’s Micaëla in “Carmen,” Mozart’s Susanna in “The Marriage of Figaro” and Zerlina in “Don Giovanni,” and Verdi’s Nannetta in “Falstaff.” She sang those roles with a matchless blend of radiance, lyrical ardor and girlish pluck.

With her beguiling stage presence, quiet charisma and the affecting vulnerability she could summon in her singing, Freni made Mimì in Puccini’s “La Bohème” a signature part. She won international acclaim in the role in a landmark 1963 production at La Scala in Milan, directed by Franco Zeffirelli and conducted by Herbert von Karajan, who became one of her major champions.

Though vocal beauty and proper technique were central to the Italian tradition, Freni placed a premium on expressivity and feeling. Commenting on the state of opera in a 1997 interview with The Times, she said there were many young artists who sing well and move well. “But that is all,” she added. “Finito! I want something deeper.

“It is important to have emotion, to live through the music onstage,” she continued. “Also, the Italian singers have a special feeling for the language. Even when we speak it is musical.”

Yet she steadily expanded her repertoire and, as the colorings of her voice grew darker with maturity, sang more dramatically intense and vocally heavy roles, like Desdemona in Verdi’s “Otello,” Verdi’s Aida and Puccini’s Manon Lescaut. She was particularly urged on this course by Karajan, who brought her to the Salzburg Festival to sing Desdemona and the demanding role of Elisabetta in Verdi’s “Don Carlo.”

With the support of her second husband, Bulgarian bass Nicolai Ghiaurov, she ventured into Russian repertory, singing Tatyana in Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” and Lisa in Tchaikovsky’s “Pique Dame.”

Yet Freni never lost the warmth and richness of her lyric soprano origins. Reviewing her performance in “Manon Lescaut” at the Met in 1990, The Times’ Donal Henahan marveled at her longevity and excellence.

“The wonder of Mirella Freni at this stage of her career,” he wrote, “is that she continues to sing Puccini with seemingly reckless ardor while preserving a surprisingly fresh and beautiful sound.”

Still, Freni considered herself a judicious soprano. She could say no, even to the imposing Karajan, if she thought a particular role was not right for her. She recorded Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” twice, including a film version conducted by Karajan, but never performed the role complete in a staged production in an opera house.

“I am generous in many ways, but not when I think it will destroy my voice,” she said in a 2013 Opera News interview. “Some singers think they are gods who can do everything,” she added. “But I have always been honest with myself and my possibilities.”

She was born Mirella Fregni on Feb. 27, 1935, in Modena, eight months before Luciano Pavarotti was born in the same town. They would become friends and colleagues.

When Freni was 5, her uncle was playing a new recording of the Italian coloratura soprano Toti Dal Monte singing a melodically ornate aria from “Lucia di Lammermoor.” Young Mirella started singing along.

“I sang all the notes,” Freni recalled in that 1997 interview. “My family was amazed. But my father, who was a ‘barbiere,’ like Figaro, thought it was unnatural. He slapped me — with love, of course — and said, ‘What are you doing, stupid girl?’ I was so angry, I refused to sing another note for years.”

When she was 12, her uncle had her enter a national competition. Singing Puccini’s aria “Un bel dì,” Freni won. One of the judges, the great tenor Beniamino Gigli, cautioned her to go slowly. It was advice that she followed.

She made her professional debut in 1955 in her hometown as Micaëla in “Carmen.” Following a season with the Netherlands Opera, she began appearing in major houses and festivals, including La Scala, Glyndebourne in England and Covent Garden in London.

She made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1965 as Mimì and returned regularly to sing, among various roles, Adina in Donizetti’s “L’Elisir d’Amore,” Liù in Puccini’s “Turandot” and a new 1967 production of Gounod’s “Roméo et Juliette” opposite the star tenor Franco Corelli (with whom she recorded the opera splendidly the next year).

But she had been absent from the Met for more than 14 years when she returned in 1983 as Elisabetta in “Don Carlo,” with James Levine conducting and Ghiaurov as Philip II. In 1996, the Met mounted a production of a rarity, Giordano’s “Fedora,” for Freni and Domingo, garnering rave reviews for both. She sang more than 140 performances with the company in all.

In 2005, at 70, Freni sang in a production of Tchaikovsky’s “The Maid of Orleans” with the Washington National Opera. In May of that year, the Met presented her in a gala celebrating the 40th anniversary of her company debut and her 50th year in opera. The performance was her unannounced farewell to the stage.

Freni’s first marriage, to the Italian conductor and pianist Leone Magiera, also from Modena, ended in divorce. She married Ghiaurov in 1978. He died in 2004. She is survived by her daughter, Micaëla Magiera; two grandchildren; and a sister, Marta Fregni.

In later years Freni found satisfaction in teaching. After she enjoyed success with master classes at the University of Bologna, the mayor of Vignola, a town near Modena, invited her to establish a center for the study of singing there. Housed in a medieval castle, it drew students from around the world.

“They set up a little ostello” — a cozy hostel — “for the students,” Freni said in a 2005 interview with The Times. “They never want to leave.” She offered guidance and encouragement, but also warnings to be careful.

“They all scream,” she said. “They can’t give expression to the phrase. They don’t give the right accent to the words.” She said that she told her students over and over, “Pazienza! You must wait.”

Asked whether she thought of herself as the “last prima donna,” as she was sometimes called, Freni demurred.

“You tell me why I am the last of a tradition,” she said. “I have done my job honestly. I have worked hard and with joy.”

© 2020 The New York Times Company










Today's News

February 11, 2020

Ancient Egyptian canopic jars to dinosaur eggs star in Artemis Gallery's Feb. 13 auction

81 Leonard Gallery opens Taher Jaoui's solo exhibition Controlled Entropy

Asheville Art Museum acquires 15 works from Appalachia Now! artists

Exhibition presents more than 70 masterpieces by Caravaggio, Bernini and their contemporaries

Häusler Contemporary Zurich opens new exhibition with an encounter of Brigitte Kowanz and Haroon Mirza

Rare objects discovered in the Havering Hoard reveal fascinating insights into Bronze Age London

Christie's France announces Old Master & 19th Century Drawings Sale during the Drawing week

Pierre de Coubertin's founding text donated to Olympic museum

Nationalmuseum acquires two glass sculptures by Rasmus Nossbring

Revitalized Seattle Asian Art Museum reopens to the public

Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac opens Marc Brandenburg's first UK solo exhibition

Matthew Girling steps down as Bonhams' Global CEO, Bruno Vinciguerra will assume responsibilities

Serpentine 2020 Pavilion will be designed by Counterspace

Lowest-mintage circulating U.S. gold coin highlights Heritage Auctions' Long Beach Expo offerings

Sotheby's Dubai to showcase works by renowned artists from Europe, Asia & the Middle East

Flowers Gallery celebrates 50th anniversary and expansion in 2020

Sarah Scaturro appointed Eric and Jane Nord Chief Conservator at Cleveland Museum of Art

Master Drawings New York 2020 reports robust sales and record attendance

Snow problem for Japan's ice sculpture festival

Mirella Freni, matchless Italian prima donna, dies at 84

Living it large with 1934 Delage D6-11 Saoutchik style cabriolet for sale with H&H Classics

Exhibition of works by Alex Frost made from products that feed our 'on-the-go' lifestyle on view a Firstsite

'Fact and Fiction in Contemporary Photography' on view at Joslyn Art Museum

Smart Museum of Art and Wrightwood 659 present 'The Allure of Matter: Material Art from China'

Three new exhibitions ring in the new decade at the Fleming Museum of Art

How to Start a Clothing Line on a Budget




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez

sa gaming free credit
Attorneys
Truck Accident Attorneys
Accident Attorneys

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site Parroquia Natividad del Señor
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful