Marchesi (de Castrone), Blanche
Marchesi (de Castrone), Blanche
Marchesi (de Castrone), Blanche, French soprano and teacher of Italian-German descent, daughter of Salvatore Marchesi de Castrone and Mathilde Marchesi de Castrone (née Graumann); b. Paris, April 4,1863; d. London, Dec. 15,1940. After studying violin, she turned to vocal training with her mother. She began her career singing in private and charity concerts in Paris, and then appeared in Berlin and Brussels in 1895. On June 19, 1896, she made her London debut in a concert and made England her home. In 1900 she made her operatic debut as Brünnhilde in Die Walküre in Prague, and then returned to England to sing with the Moody-Manners Co. In 1902 she appeared at London’s Covent Garden as Elisabeth, Elsa, and Isolde. For the most part, however, she pursued a career on the concert stage. Later she was also active as a teacher. She made her farewell concert appearance in 1938. She publ, the memoir A Singer’s Pilgrimage (London, 1923), and the didactic vol. The Singer’s Catechism (London, 1932).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire