Pasta, Giuditta (Maria Costanza née Negri)

Pasta, Giuditta (Maria Costanza née Negri), famous Italian soprano; b. Saronno, near Milan, Oct. 28, 1797; d. Blevio, Lake Como, April 1, 1865. She studied with Asioli at the Milan Cons, and with Giuseppe Scappa, making her debut in his Le tre Eleonore at the Teatro degli Accademici Filodrammatici in Milan (1815). She then made her Paris debut in Paër’s Il Principe di Taranto (1816) and her London debut as Telemachus in Cimarosa’s Penelope at the King’s Theatre (Jan. 11, 1817). After further studies with Scappa, she sang in Venice, Padua, Rome, Brescia, Trieste, and Turin. She then returned to Paris and made a sensational appearance as Desdemona in Rossini’s Otello at the Théâtre-Italien (June 5,1821), her voice being acclaimed as a vocal phenomenon and her dramatic abilities without equal. She continued to sing there, appearing in the premiere of Rossini’s II viaggio a Reims (June 19, 1825); also sang in London from 1824. She created the title role in Pacings Niobe at Naples’s Teatro San Carlo (Nov. 19, 1826). After singing in Vienna (1829), she created the title role in Donizetti’s Anna Bolena (Milan, Dec. 26, 1830) and Amina in Bellini’s La Sonnambula (Milan, March 6, 1831); then created the title role in Bellini’s Norma at Milan’s La Scala (Dec. 26, 1831) and Beatrice di Tenda in Venice (March 16,1833). Following appearances in London (1837) and St. Petersburg (1840), she virtually abandoned the stage due to the wretched condition of her voice. At the apex of her career, she astounded her auditors by the range of her voice, which encompassed A in the low register to D in the high treble; combined with her rare dramatic gifts, she had few equals on the operatic stage.

Bibliography

M. Ferranti-Giulini, G. P. e i suoi tempi (Milan, 1935).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire