Virginia Guerrini

Biography

Virginia Guerrini (20 February 1871, Brescia – 26 February 1948, Brescia) was an Italian operatic mezzo-soprano. She made her professional opera debut at the Garibaldi Theatre in Treviso as Elsa in Richard Wagner's Lohengrin in 1889. The following year she made her debuts at the Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi as Laura in La Gioconda, the Teatro Dal Verme in Milan as Adalgisa in Vincenzo Bellini's Norma, the Liceu in Ortrud in Lohengrin, and Loretta in Alberto Franchetti's Asrael at the Teatro Regio in Turin.[1]

In 1892 Guerrini made her debut at La Scala as Adalagisa. At La Scala she created roles in several world premieres, including Afra in Alfredo Catalani's La Wally (1892) and Meg Page in Falstaff (1893). Other roles she sang at La Scala included both Anacoana and Iguamota in Alberto Franchetti's Cristoforo Colombo, Emilia in Otello, Nefte in Ponchielli's Il figliuol prodigo. She also appeared in major opera houses in South America, Russia, Germany, Spain, and Portugal during her career.

After retiring from the stage in 1925, Guerrini taught singing in her native city of Brescia. She died there in 1948.

Roles created

• Afra ne La Wally di Catalani (20 Gennaio 1892, Milano)
• Mrs Meg Page in Falstaff di Verdi (9 Febbraio 1893, Milano)
• Verdi Messa da Requiem „per l'anniversario della morte di Alessandro Manzoni 22 Mai 1874“

Repertoire

• Bellini Norma, Adalgisa
• Bellini Norma, Norma
• Bizet La jolie fille de Perth, Mab
• Catalani La Wally Walburga, Afra, 1892 Mailand
• Donizetti Don Sebastiano, Zaida
• Donizetti La favorita, Leonora
• Franchetti Asrael, Liboria
• Franchetti Cristoforo Colombo, Anacoana, 1896 Neapel (2.Fassung)
• Gluck Orfeo, Orfeo
• Mascagni Cavalleria rusticana, Lola
• Mascagni Guglielmo Ratcliff, Margherita
• Meyerbeer Le prophète, Fidès
• Mozart Don Giovanni, Donna Anna
• Ponchielli Il figliuol prodigo, Nefte
• Ponchielli La Gioconda, Laura
• Saint-Saëns Samson et Dalila, Dalila
• Strauss, R. Elektra, Klytämnestra
• Verdi Aïda, Amneris
• Verdi Falstaff Meg Page 1893 Mailand
• Verdi Falstaff Mrs.Quickly
• Verdi Otello Emilia
• Verdi Rigoletto Maddalena
• Verdi I vespri siciliani, Ninetta
• Verdi Messa da Requiem „per l'anniversario della morte di Alessandro Manzoni 22 Mai 1874“
• Wagner Lohengrin, Elsa
• Wagner Lohengrin, Ortrud
• Wagner Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg Magdalena
• Wagner Tannhäuser

Biographies

• http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/virginia-guerrini_(Dizionario-B...
• https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Guerrini
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Guerrini