THE PRIMA DONNA AND OPERA, 1815–1930

This book is concerned not so much with the ‘prima donna’ as with prime donne: a group of working artists (sometimes famous but more often relatively unknown and now long forgotten) and the circumstances of their professional lives. It attempts to locate these singers within a broader history, including not only the specificities of operatic stage practice but the life beyond the opera house – the social, cultural and political framing that shaped individual experience, artistic endeavour and audience reception. Rutherford addresses questions such as the multiple discourses on the image of the singer and their impact on the changing profile of the professional artist from figlia dell'arte at the beginning of the era to middle-class woman at the end; the aspect of the ‘stage mother’ and patronage; issues of vocal training and tuition; professional life in the operatic market-place; and performance (both vocal and dramatic) conventions and practices.

SUSAN RUTHERFORD is Lecturer in Performance Studies in Drama, School of Arts, Histories and Cultures at the University of Manchester. She is co-editor of The New Woman and Her Sisters: Feminism and Theatre, 1850–1914 and the author of several essays on opera and singers. In 2003, she was the recipient of the biennial Premio Internazionale: ‘Giuseppe Verdi’, awarded by the Istituto Nazionale di Studi Verdiani, for her forthcoming monograph on Verdi's heroines.

CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN OPERA

Series editor: Arthur Groos,

Volumes for Cambridge Studies in Opera explore the cultural, political and social influences of the genre. As a cultural art form, opera is not produced in a vacuum. Rather, it is influenced, whether directly or in more subtle ways, by its social and political environment. In turn, opera leaves its mark on society and contributes to shaping the cultural climate. Studies to be included in the series will look at these various relationships including the politics and economics of opera, the operatic representation of women or the singers who portrayed them, the history of opera as theatre, and the evolution of the opera house.

Published titles

Opera Buffa in Mozart's Vienna
Edited by Mary Hunter and James Webster

Johann Strauss and Vienna: Operetta and the Politics of Popular Culture
Camille Crittenden

German Opera: From the Beginnings to Wagner
John Warrack

Opera and Drama in Eighteenth-Century London: The King's Theatre, Garrick and the Business of Performance
Ian Woodfield

Opera Liberalism, and Antisemitism in Nineteenth-Century France: The Politics of Halévy's La Juive
Diana R. Hallman

Aesthetics of Opera in the Ancien Régime, 1647–1785
Downing A. Thomas

Three Modes of Perception in Mozart: The Philosophical, Pastoral, and Comic in Così fan tutte
Edmund J. Goehring

Landscape and Gender in Italian Opera: The Alpine Virgin from Bellini to Puccini
Emanuele Senici

The Prima Donna and Opera, 1815–1930
Susan Rutherford

The Prima Donna and Opera, 1815–1930

Susan Rutherford

University of Manchester

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
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CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York

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Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521851671

© Susan Rutherford 2006

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without
the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2006

Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN-13 978-0-521-85167-1 hardback
ISBN-10 0-521-85167-x hardback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

CONTENTS

PREFACE

The support of many people contributed to the development of this book. My colleagues at the University of Manchester, led by Professor Viv Gardner, generously agreed to my absence on various trips: funding was made available to me from the Department of Drama's research allocation and the Prudhoe Fund for a number of smaller visits; the University's Research Support Fund awarded me a larger grant to sustain several valuable months in Italy.

Permissions to publish documents, illustrations and material from other sources have been granted by various bodies. I am pleased to acknowledge David Mayer and the Chicago Historical Society for the inclusion of extracts from the letters of Mary Garden; the Istituzione Casa della Musica, Parma, for illustrations and letters from the Archivio Storico del Teatro Regio; the Museo del Teatro alla Scala, the Metropolitan Opera House archive, the National Portrait Gallery and the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek for the illustrations of various singers. Paul Frecker generously supplied the photograph of Pauline Viardot; Dirk Körschenhausen and Marcelo T. Galvao de Castro did likewise for the photographs of Katharina Klafsky. Michael Turnbull shared his findings on Mary Garden with me. Myles Gleeson-White gave me access to documents pertaining to the career of Cicely Gleeson-White. The book includes extracts from three of my earlier essays published elsewhere: I am grateful for the permission to reprint them here.

The staff of a number of important institutions and libraries aided my research. Cristina Trombella, the director of the Casa della Musica, Parma, has been kindness itself and made me welcome in myriad ways (even finding a home for my beloved bicicletta); I am grateful also to Francesca Montresor and Olivia Cantarelli, librarians Tommaso Granelli and Federica Bianchieri, and especially to Rosaria Ferrari, who aided my investigations into the rich archives of the Teatro Regio and provided much support and friendship. During my many visits to the Istituto Nazionale di Studi Verdiani (with its peerless library of books and other material on the history of opera), its renowned director Pierluigi Petrobelli has been an invaluable mentor; Marisa Di Gregorio Casati and Anna Zuccoli have courteously dealt with my endless requests. Staff at the Biblioteca Archiginnasio, the Civico Museo Bibliografico Musicale, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the British Library, the Henry Watson Library and the John Rylands University Library have all been instrumental in assisting me.

Writing this book has often brought to mind voices from the past: I recall particularly those of Frederic Cox, Sheila Barlow, Horst Günter and Rosemary Walton, all of whom played a vital role in developing my understanding of singing and music. I hope at least some of what is written here reflects their teaching.

Conversations (some lengthy and ruminative, others brief and perfunctory) with a number of scholars were helpful in clarifying my mind and suggesting new directions. David Mayer sparked my interest in Mary Garden by generously handing me a box of her letters to his grandmother, and supervised the development of a portion of the following material in its original form as my Ph.D. thesis; George Taylor elucidated aspects of performance and nineteenth-century theatre; the ever-supportive Viv Gardner was always ready to discuss gender issues and theatre, and provided warm sisterhood throughout the period of writing. Michael Holt's unique perspective on art and culture illuminated my knowledge of the processes of creativity and the realities of theatre-making; I miss greatly his presence at the university since his retirement. Both David Fallows and Pierluigi Petrobelli possess a similar knack of being able to enlighten my grasp of a particular topic in a few short words, and make me think again. Stephen Banfield kindly commented on early drafts of two chapters. Fabrizio Della Seta made available to me useful material on Marietta Piccolomini. Linda Hutcheon's appreciation of some of this research in its earlier forms as conference