Marietta Brambilla

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Marietta Brambilla was an Italian contralto who sang leading roles in the opera houses of Europe from 1827 until her retirement from the stage in 1848. She was also a distinguished composer.

She is best known today for having created the roles of Maffio Orsini in Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia and Pierotto in his Linda di Chamounix, but she also created several other roles in lesser-known works. She was the elder sister of the opera singers Teresa and Giuseppina Brambilla and the aunt of Teresina Brambilla who was also an opera singer.

Brambilla was born in Cassano d'Adda, the daughter of Gerolamo and Angela (née Columbo) Brambilla. She was the eldest of five sisters, all of whom became opera singers. Teresa (1813–1895) was a soprano who created the role of Gilda in Rigoletto. Giuseppina sang both contralto and soprano roles and was married to the tenor Corrado Miraglia. Both had very prominent careers. Annetta (1812–?) and Lauretta (1823-1881) were both sopranos who had lesser careers, appearing primarily in provincial Italian opera houses.[1][2][3][a]

Marietta Brambilla studied at the Milan Conservatory and made her stage debut in 1827 at Her Majesty's Theatre in London as Arsace in Rossini's Semiramide. She sang in several other operas in London that season as well as giving recitals in other English cities. She returned to Italy in 1828 where she sang at La Fenice in the world premiere of Pietro Generali's Francesca da Rimini. Brambilla made her debut at La Scala in the 1833 world premiere of Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia as Maffio Orsini, a role he had written expressly for her. He also composed Pierotto in Linda di Chamounix for her and adapted the tenor role of Armando di Gondì in Maria di Rohan for her voice when the opera had its first Paris performance in 1843.[4]

Brambilla retired from the stage in 1848, after which she taught singing in Milan and composed several albums of songs and vocal exercises. She married Count Francesco Furga-Gornini in 1857. The marriage ended with his death four years later. She died of cancer in Milan at the age of 68 and was buried in Cassano d'Adda.

Brambilla created the following roles, the majority of which were male characters performed en travesti. She was also the contralto soloist in the first performance of In morte di Maria Malibran de Bériot, a cantata in memory of Maria Malibran jointly composed by Gaetano Donizetti, Giovanni Pacini, Saverio Mercadante, Nicola Vaccai, and Pietro Antonio Coppola which took place at La Scala on 17 March 1837.[5]

• Paolo in Pietro Generali's Francesca da Rimini, La Fenice, Venice, 27 December 1828
• Arturo in Carlo Coccia's Rosmunda d'Inghilterra, La Fenice, Venice, 28 February 1829
• Maffio Orsini in Gaetano Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia, La Scala, Milan, 26 December 1833
• Enrico Pontigny in Luigi Ricci's Un'avventura di Scaramuccia, La Scala, Milan, 8 March 1834
• Bianca in Saverio Mercadante's Il giuramento, La Scala, Milan, 11 March 1837
• Guiscarda Obonello in Federico Ricci's Corrado d'Altamura, La Scala, Milan, 16 November 1841
• Pierotto in Gaetano Donizetti's Linda di Chamounix, Kärntnertor Theater, Vienna, 19 May 1842
• Irene in Vincenzo Maria Battista's Irene, Teatro San Carlo, Naples, 26 December 1847

BRAMBILLA MARIETTA, TERESA E GIUSEPPINA. Manetta Brambilla fu un contralto di grande rinomanza. Nacque ne' primi anni di questo secolo a Gassano d'Adda. Ebbe voce soave ed oltre modo simpatica. Fu un vero modello di precisione e di buon gusto, e quindi tanto in Italia come all'estero ottenne applausi entusiastici. Sono già molti anni che si è ritirata dalle scene in Milano, ove aperse pri- vata scuola, e fa allievi al bel canto. È autrice di Esercizii e Voca- 96 BRIG lizzi per soprano in chiave di sol, adottati dal Conservatorio di Parigi: autrice di Melodie, di Romanze, di Ballate, d'Ariette, ecc. Sua sorella Teresa si è pure meritata una bella rinomanza. Esordi ai Teatro Italiano di Parigi nel Nabucco, e corse onorevole e bril- lante carriera. AFirenze, a Napoli, a Torino, a Venezia, a Parigi, ecc. ecc. , ebbe onori ed ovazioni. Da qualche anno si è fermata in Odessa, e pare abbia lasciate le scene. Brambilla Giuseppina è la terza Musa di codesta famiglia. Anche essa onorò il puro stile e la vera scuola, e colse applausi ne' pri- rnarii Teatri. Qualch'anno fa, si fece sposa al tenore Corrado Mira- glia, siciliano, artista di qualche merito, e Autore di un Album Musicale, pel quale la Corte di Portogallo lo creò Cavaliere.