| In the occasion of the meetings
of 69th Florence May Musical Festival, it was presented
the book “Fedora Barbieri”, written by Elio
Trovato. It is about the great mezzosoprano, who was
born in Trieste and lived in Florence, one of the most
famous Callas’s mates on the stage.
Fedora Barbieri, dead in Florence
on March 4th 2003 at the age of 83, was one of the most
beloved and popular voice in the 20th century, and she
could boast about her sixty-year-long successful career
all over the world.
It is a very rich book with 565 pages,
including also the catalogue of the permanent exhibition
“La veste della voce” (The habit of the
voice), at the Town Theatre Museum “Carlo Schmidl”
of Trieste.
Her costumes and archive were given,
according to the singer’s will, by her sons Ugo
and Franco Barlozzetti.
As we can see from the massive and
complete biography, Fedora Barbieri performed beside
the biggest singers of the 20th century, from Beniamino
Gigli to Mario Del Monaco, from Renata Tebaldi to Giuseppe
Di Stefano, and she was Arturo Toscanini’s favourite
artist.
A lot of times she had sang with Maria
Callas since 1947, soon after the Greek singer had arrived
in Italy and had her debut in Verona with “Gioconda”.
In December of the same year the two leading opera singers
were together in “Tristano e Isotta” at
the Fenice Theatre in Venice.
In 1949, in Buenos Aires they performed
“Norma”, that was later successfully arranged
in Florence at the May Musical Festival, where, in 1953,
there was the revival of Cherubini’s “Medea”.
Several times they sang together at
the Scala Theatre and the Metropolitan in New York.
In the book there are two inedited
pictures of the stars during a concert at Palazzo Pitti
in Florence, in 1953, in favour of the Red Cross.
Fedora Barbieri was born on June 4th
1920 and when she was still very young she began singing
guided by Luigi Toffolo. Only six months later she sat
for a competition announced by the Centro di Avviamento
Lirico (Lyric Studies Centre), at Florence Town Theatre
presided by Mario Labroca, where she had won a bursary,
accomplishing her vocal and scenic skill, guided by
Giulia Tess.
On November 4th 1940 she faced for
the first time the stage of the Town Theatre in Florence
performing Fidalma in Cimarosa’s “Matrimonio
segreto”. The following day, in the same theatre
she performed Azucena in Verdi’s “Trovatore”,
taking the place of Gianna Pederzini, who was unexpectedly
unwell. It was a double triumph for her and this brought
her into the most prestigious theatres in Italy and
abroad.
Her debut at the Scala Theatre took
place in 1942 with Beethoven’s “Nona Sinfonia”,
conducted by Victor De Sabata; in 1949 she went to the
Metropolitan in New York and sang in “Aida”
and “Don Carlo”. In 1950 she was for the
first time at the Covent Garden in London with the Scala
ensemble. On that occasion she was conferred the title
“Cavaliere of Gran Croce” by the Republic
Minister Carlo Azeglio Ciampi.
Maria Callas and Fedora Barbieri with Mario Petri (first
on the left)
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