Editing Marietta Alboni (section)

==Biography==
Alboni was born at [[Città di Castello]], in [[Umbria]]. She became a pupil of {{Interlanguage link multi|Antonio Bagioli (1783–1855)|it|3=Antonio Bagioli (1783-1855)|lt=Antonio Bagioli}} of [[Cesena]], Emilia–Romagna, and later of the composer [[Gioachino Rossini]], when he was 'perpetual honorary adviser' in (and then the principal of) the Liceo Musicale, now [[Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini]], in [[Bologna]]. Rossini tested the humble thirteen-year-old girl himself, had her admitted to the school with special treatment, and even procured her an early engagement to tour his [[Stabat Mater (Rossini)|''Stabat Mater'']] around Northern Italy, so that she could pay for her studies.<ref>Rossini himself taught her the part and she later told that all her life long she had kept singing exactly the same [[Variation (music)|variations]] ("cambiamenti") he had recommended to her (Pougin, 2001, p. 25).</ref> After she achieved her diploma and made a modest debut in Bologna, in 1842, as "Climene" in [[Giovanni Pacini|Pacini]]'s ''[[Saffo (opera)|Saffo]]'', she obtained a triennial engagement thanks to Rossini's influence on the impresario [[Bartolomeo Merelli]], Intendant at both Milan's [[Teatro alla Scala]] and Vienna's Imperial [[Theater am Kärntnertor|Kärntnertortheater]]. The favourable contract was signed by Rossini himself, "on behalf of Eustachio Alboni", father of Marietta, who was still a minor.<ref>Pougin, 2001, pp. 19–26.</ref> The singer remained, throughout her life, deeply grateful to her ancient "maestro", nearly a second father to her.

Her debut at Teatro alla Scala took place in December 1842 as "Neocle" in the Italian version of ''[[Le siège de Corinthe]]'', which was followed by roles in operas by [[Marco Aurelio Marliani|Marliani]], [[Gaetano Donizetti|Donizetti]] (as [[Lucrezia Borgia (opera)|"Maffio Orsini"]] and "Leonora" in the Scala premiere of an Italian version of ''[[La favorite]]''<ref>It was given in 1843 under the title of ''Elda'' (William Ashbrook, ''Favorite, La'', in Sadie, II, p. 141).</ref>), [[Matteo Salvi|Salvi]] and Pacini. In the season 1844–1845 she was engaged in the [[Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre|Saint Petersburg Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre]]; later, in 1846–47, she toured the principal cities of Central Europe, finally reaching London and Paris, where she settled permanently. In London, "she appeared in leading roles by Rossini and Donizetti (where she outshone [[Giulia Grisi]] and [[Jenny Lind]]) and also sang [[Le nozze di Figaro|Cherubino]] (performing with [[Henriette Sontag]])".<ref>Ciliberti.</ref> For the 1848 London run of ''[[Les Huguenots]]'', [[Giacomo Meyerbeer|Meyerbeer]] transposed the role of the page "Urbain" 'from soprano to contralto and composed the aria "Non! – non, non, non, non, non! Vous n'avez jamais, je gage"  in Act 2' for her.<ref>Owen Jander, J.B. Steane, [[Elizabeth Forbes (musicologist)|Elizabeth Forbes]], ''Contralto'', in S. Sadie, cited, I, p. 934.</ref> On 28 August 1848, she sang at a concert in Manchester's Concert Hall, sharing the stage with [[Lorenzo Salvi]] and [[Frédéric Chopin]].<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/mar/09/from-the-classical-archive-chopin-alboni-review-manchester-1848 "Review: Frédéric Chopin and Marietta Alboni perform in Manchester"], ''[[The Manchester Guardian]]'', 30 August 1948; also singing was Amalia Colbari; the conductor was Charles Seymour, who was later first violinist in [[The Hallé]] orchestra. The Manchester Concert Hall is now the site of the [[Midland Hotel, Manchester|Midland Hotel]].</ref> She toured the United States in 1852–53, appearing there with [[Camilla Urso]].
[[File:Pauline Viardot and Marietta Alboni in Act1 of Les Huguenots, Covent Garden 1848 - NGO1p59.jpg|thumb|upright|left|{{center|[[Pauline Viardot|Viardot]] and Alboni in [[Giacomo Meyerbeer|Meyerbeer]]'s ''[[Les Huguenots]]'', Covent Garden 1848}}]]

In 1853 she wed a nobleman, Count Carlo Pepoli, of the [[Papal States]],<ref>He bore almost the same name (his full name, however, was Achille Francesco Luigi Carlo Maria, Count Pepoli) and was a first cousin of [[Carlo Pepoli]], the librettist of [[Vincenzo Bellini|Bellini]]'s ''[[I puritani]]'' (Pougin, 2001, p. 77).</ref> but she kept her maiden name for the stage. In 1863 she had to retire the first time on account of her husband's serious mental illness. He died in 1867. A year later, in 1868, Alboni would take part in the funeral of her beloved master and friend, Rossini, in the [[Église de la Sainte-Trinité, Paris|Église de la Sainte-Trinité]].<ref>Their relationship was still so close that, not having a family vault of his own in [[Père Lachaise Cemetery]], Rossini was temporarily buried in Alboni's (Pougin, 2001, p. 110, note 66).</ref> There she sang, alongside [[Adelina Patti]], the leading [[soprano]] of the time, a stanza of ''[[Dies irae]]'', "Liber scriptum", adjusted to the music of the duet "Quis est Homo" from Rossini's own ''Stabat Mater''. Out of deference to her master, she also accepted to resume her singing career mainly in order to tour the orchestral version of the ''[[Petite messe solennelle]]'' around Europe. Rossini had once expressed his hope that she would take upon herself to perform it when he was dead. He had said that he had composed it, and especially the new section "O salutaris", just having her voice in mind.<ref>Pougin, 2001, pp. 86–89.</ref>

In 1872 she permanently retired from the stage with four performances of "Fidalma" in [[Domenico Cimarosa|Cimarosa]]'s ''[[Il matrimonio segreto]]'', at the Paris [[Comédie-Italienne|Théâtre des Italiens]]<ref>Pougin, 2001, p. 93.</ref> but, in fact, she never gave up singing in private and in benefit concerts.<ref>On 23 December 1880 she appeared once again, with a deep emotion, on the stage of the [[Paris Opéra]] (Pougin, 2001, pp. 103–104) for a benefit performance</ref> When in 1887 the French and Italian Governments agreed upon moving the mortal remains of Rossini into the [[Basilica di Santa Croce di Firenze|Basilica di Santa Croce]] in Florence, Alboni, then a sixty-one-year-old lady living in seclusion, wrote to the Italian Foreign Minister, [[Carlo Felice Nicolis, conte di Robilant|Di Robilant]], proposing that the ''Petite Messe Solennelle'', "the last musical composition by Rossini", be performed in Santa Croce the day of the funeral, and "demanding the honour, as an Italian and a pupil of the immortal Maestro," of singing it herself in her "dear and beloved homeland". Her wish, however, never came true and she was just given the chance of being present at the exhumation ceremony in Paris. The Paris correspondent of the Rome newspaper ''Il Fanfulla'' wrote on the occasion: "photographers snapped in the same shot the greatest performer of ''Cenerentola'' and ''Semiramide'', and what is left of the man who wrote these masterpieces".<ref>Pougin, 2001, pp. 108–110.</ref>

In 1877 she had remarried—to a French military officer named Charles Zieger. She died at [[Ville-d'Avray]], near Paris, in her "Villa La Cenerentola", and was buried at [[Père Lachaise Cemetery]]. Always engaged in charity (often in memory of Maestro Rossini), she left nearly all her estate to the poor of Paris. In her will she wrote that by singing she had earned all her fortune, and on singing she would pass away, with the sweet thought that she had employed it to encourage and to console.<ref>Pougin, 2001, p. 111.</ref>
[[File:Marietta Alboni estensione.JPG|thumb|right|{{center|"My [[vocal range]]"<br>(free reproduction of an annotation of Marietta Alboni's own vocal range,<br>drawn by herself in a family album)<ref>The reproduction is modelled after the copy published in Pougin, 2001, p. 9.</ref>}}]]