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| Joseph Cornell Planet Set - Tête Etoilée - Giuditta Pasta (dédicace) 1950 glass, crystal, wood, paper Tate Gallery |
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| Maxim Gauci Miniature Portrait of Giuditta Pasta ca. 1831 watercolor on ivory Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Anonymous Italian Fan-Maker Giuditta Pasta in Gioachino Rossini's Tancredi ca. 1830 pigment on vellum with mother-of-pearl sticks Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Alfred Edward Chalon Madame Pasta as Medea 1826 drawing, with watercolor Victoria & Albert Museum |
"The Italian soprano Giuditta Pasta was born in Saronno in 1797 and studied with Giuseppe Scappa in Milan, where she made her debut in his opera Le Tre Eleonore in 1815. In Paris the following year she appeared as Clorina in Paer's Il Principe di Taranto, and in London in 1817 at the King's Theatre in the title role of Cimarosa's Penelope. After another year's study with Scappa she was more successful in Venice in 1819 as Adelaide in Pacini's Comingo, but her first triumph was in Paris in 1821 as Desdemona in Rossini's Otello, a role she repeated in London in 1824, and followed with Semiramis in his Semiramide, with the composer conducting both works. Performing regularly in London, Paris, Milan and Saint Petersburg, she became particularly associated with the roles of Amina in Bellini's Sonnambula and the title roles in Donizetti's Anna Bolena and Norma, all three of which were written for her. She is said to have introduced dramatic realism to the opera stage, and her fame was as much a result of the intensity of her acting as of the brilliance of her voice, which became increasingly uneven towards the end of her career. Retiring from the stage in 1835, she died at Blevio, Lake Como, in 1865."
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| Louis Dupré Giuditta Pasta 1831 lithograph British Museum |
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| J.L. Marks (publisher) Giuditta Pasta as Norma (upper left) from Marks's Miniature Portraits series 1839 hand-colored engraving Victoria & Albert Museum |
"The role of the scorned Druid priestess Norma is notoriously difficult to sing, and demands intensely dramatic acting. Bellini and his librettist Felice Romani based their opera on the play Norma, or, The Infanticide by Alexandre Soumet, conceiving the role for Pasta. Bellini wrote to the singer on 1 September 1831: I hope that you will find this subject to your liking. Romani believes it to be very effective, and precisely because of the all-inclusive character for you, which is that of Norma. He will manipulate the situations so that they will not resemble other subjects at all, and he will retouch, even change, the characters to produce more effect, if need be. Writing of her, Paul Scudo said: Beautiful, intelligent, and passionate, Pasta made up for the imperfections of her vocal organ by means of incessant work, and a noble, tender, knowing style. An actress of the first rank, she submitted each breath to the control of an impeccable taste, and never left a single note to chance. Stendhal, a passionate admirer and friend of Pasta, admitted that she had a voice made up of three distinct ranges: not all moulded from the same metal, as they say in Italy; but the fundamental variety of tone produced by a single voice affords one of the richest veins of musical expression which the artistry of a great soprano is able to exploit. Sergio Segalini concludes his analysis of Pasta as a singer: her limitations were obvious, but by dint of sheer effort, Giuditta Pasta forged an extremely accomplished technique that allowed her to become the ideal interpreter of Bellini and Donizetti. She was never able to erase her vocal asperities, nor give to her voice the exquisite beauty of a Maria Malibran. Bu thanks to those very asperities, she learned how to bring an infinite variety of vocal colours to her interpretations."
– from curator's notes at the Victoria & Albert Museum
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| Joseph Mallett (printer) Playbill for a Morning Concert at the New Argyll Rooms held by Mr Bellon, with Madame Pasta and others 1826 letterpress Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Charles Joseph Hullmandel (printer) Madame Pasta as Semiramis ca. 1824-26 hand-colored lithograph British Museum |
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| Lane-Richard-James-(printer)- Giuditta Pasta as Semiramis 1837 hand-colored lithograph British Museum |
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| John Hayter Madame Pasta in Medea ca. 1827 lithograph Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| John Hayter Madame Pasta in Medea ca. 1827 lithograph Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Anonymous British Printmaker Madame Pasta as Desdemona 1828 engraving Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Anonymous British Printmaker Madame Pasta as Romeo ca. 1830 hand-colored engraving Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| John Carr Armytage after John Hayter Madame Pasta as Medea 1863 etching and engraving British Museum |
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| François Gérard Portrait of Giuditta Pasta ca. 1830 oil on canvas Museo del Teatro alla Scala, Milan |