Alboni, Marietta (1826 - 1894)

Italian contralto

Marietta Alboni in the role of Angelina in La Cenerentola by Rossini

Maria Anna Marzia dite Marietta Alboni was considered the greatest Rossinian contralto of the 19th century. However, her wide-ranging voice also enabled her to sing true soprano roles, and she even tackled with ease the baritone role of Don Carlo in Ernani, in London in 1847, after both Antonio Tamburini and Giorgio Ronconi had turned her down.

A pupil of Gioachino Rossini, whom she would always regard as her mentor, Alboni made her debut at the age of 16 in Bologna and at La Scala in Milan, and quickly made a name for herself on all the major European stages, before finally settling in Paris. In 1852-1853, she toured Europe and the United States with violinist Camille Urso and singer Henriette Sontag.

After an interruption from 1863 to 1867 to remain at the bedside of her husband, Count Achille Pepoli, Alboni came out of retirement to sing at Rossini's funeral in the Church of the Sainte-Trinité in Paris.

She made her final farewell to the stage at the Théâtre Italien in Paris in 1872, playing the role of Fidalma in Il matrimonio segreto de Domenico. Cimarosa

Discover the artist's world through various documents: each image opens the door to one of his interpretations, his portraits in civilian clothes, his autographs or press articles about him from the period