Cruvelli, Sofia (real name, Johanne SophieCharlotte Criiwell)

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Cruvelli, Sofia (real name, Johanne SophieCharlotte Criiwell)

Cruvelli, Sofia (real name, Johanne SophieCharlotte Criiwell) , esteemed German soprano;b. Bielefeld, Aug. 29, 1824; d. Nice, Nov. 6, 1907. She studied in Paris with Piermarini, and completed her training with Bordogni and Lamperti. In 1847 she made her operatic debut in Venice as Odabella in Verdi’s Attila, and then appeared as Elvira and Abigaille at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London in 1848. After singing in Milan (1850), she sang at the Theatre-Italien in Paris (1851–53), where she appeared as Elvira, Norma, Semiramide, and Leonore. In 1854 she sang Donna Anna, Leonore, and Rossini’s Desdemona at London’s Covent Garden, and that same year she joined the Paris Opera, where she was notably successful as Valentine, Rachel, Giulia, and Helene in Verdi’s Les Vespres siciliennes, which role she created on June 13, 1855. Upon her marriage to Comte Vigier in 1856, she retired from the operatic stage. Her sister was Friederike Marie Cruwell (1824–68), a mezzo-soprano who studied with Roger and then pursued her career in France and Italy.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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