Elisabetta Manfredini-Guarmani (2 June 1780 – after 1828) was an Italianopera singer best known for having created the leadingsoprano roles in four ofRossini's operas, roles which he wrote specifically for her voice.[1]Antonia Elisabetta Manfredini was born inBologna and was the daughter of the composer and music theoristVincenzo Manfredini. After her stage debut in 1810 when she sang in the premiere ofStefano Pavesi'sIl trionfo di Gedeone at Bologna's Teatro del Corso, she went on to perform atLa Fenice,La Scala,Teatro Regio di Torino, Rome'sTeatro Argentina and several other opera houses, primarily in Northern Italy. In addition to the roles she created in Rossini's operas, she also sang in the world premieres of operas by several composers who are lesser known today, includingPietro Raimondi,Simon Mayr, andFerdinando Paër. Her last known appearance was in 1828 after which there is no further trace of her. The date and place of her death are unknown.
Manfredini-Guarmani was born inBologna to a prominent musical family. Her father,Vincenzo Manfredini, was a well-known composer and music theorist who had been active at the Russian court from 1758 until his return to Bologna in 1769. Her mother, Maria Monari, was an Italian opera singer who was performing in Russia at the time of their marriage. The Manfredini family were originally fromPistoia. Vincenzo's fatherFrancesco was a composer, violinist, and church musician and his older brotherGiuseppe was a notedcastrato singer who had served the Russian court as a singing teacher during Vincenzo's time there.[2] According to Italian musicologist Leonella Grasso Caprioli, Manfredini-Guarmani's baptismal certificate states her date of birth as 2 June 1780.[3] Earlier sources have variously listed her birth year as 1786[2] and 1790,[4] although they do not provide the exact day or month. Caprioli has suggested that the assumption of a post-1786 birth year may have been due to her relatively late appearance as a professional singer. Little is known about Manfredini-Guarmani's early life and training. In 1802, three years after her father's death, she married a fellow Bolognese, Vincenzo Antonio Guarmani and as a young woman appears to have been active in the musical life of the city. She sang in private concerts at the home of the composerFrancesco Sampieri and by 1811 was already a member of Bologna'sAccademia Filarmonica and an honorary member of the Accademia dei Concordi.[5]
She made her professional debut on 11 March 1810 when she sang the role of Egla in the premiere ofStefano Pavesi'ssacred opera,Il trionfo di Gedeone (The Triumph ofGideon), at theTeatro del Corso in Bologna. She was 30 years old, and it is unclear why she undertook an opera career at an age when many female singers of the day were already into their second decade on stage.[6] However,Francesco Regli writing in 1860 described her as having come from a "respectable family which had fallen on hard times".[7] Her debut performance received considerable praise, with the critic ofIl Redattore del Reno writing:
Signora Elisabetta Manfredini Guarmani, who has appeared for the first time on stage [...] enchants with the grace of her singing which deeply touches the soul.[8]
Engagements followed later that year at theTeatro della Pergola in Florence, where she sang the title role in the premiere ofPietro Raimondi'sEloisa Verner, and at the Teatro Grande inBrescia, where she sang Ifigenia in the premiere ofMayr'sIl sagrifizio di Ifigenia, a performance which inaugurated the new theatre.[3] In the summer of 1811, she was back in Bologna to sing the title role in a revival ofPaisiello'sNina, ossia La pazza per amore at the Teatro Marsigli.
Manfredini-Guarmani first worked withGioachino Rossini in May 1811, when she sang inHaydn's oratorioThe Seasons. The special performance of the oratorio (sung in Italian asLe quattro stagioni) was in celebration of the birth of theNapoleon II two months earlier and was conducted from the harpsichord by Rossini.[5] When Rossini wrote his operaCiro in Babilonia, he composed the role of Almira specifically for Manfredini-Guarmani's voice. Following its premiere at the Teatro Comunale onFerrara in 1812, he went on to compose three more operas featuring her in the leading soprano role,Tancredi (1813),Sigismondo (1814), andAdelaide di Borgogna (1817).Adelaide had only a modest success when it premiered at theTeatro Argentina in Rome. TheGazzetta di Bologna reported that the music was not well-suited to her and that her voice had been affected by the fumes of the oil lamps used to light the theatre.[9] Although this was the last Rossini role that she created, she continued to perform in multiple revivals of his other operas until 1824, appearing as Desdemona inOtello, Cristina inEduardo e Cristina, Zenobia inAureliano in Palmira, Elcìa inMosè in Egitto, and the title role inZelmira. According toElizabeth Forbes, the music Rossini wrote for her suggests that she had a voice of "exceptional flexibility".[10]
Interspersed with her work in Rossini's operas, Manfredini-Guarmani created several roles in operas by other composers who are lesser known today, specialising in what Caprioli calls the "fragile and persecuted" pre-Romantic heroine.[3] Francesco Regli described her as having sung those roles "angelically" with an extremely beautiful and well-schooled voice and clear diction which made up for a certain lack of warmth in her intereptation.[11]
In 1812 she sang in the premieres ofPavesi'sAspasia e Cleomene at theTeatro della Pergola in Florence andTeodoro atLa Fenice in Venice. The Carnival season of 1814 found her at theTeatro Regio in Turin where she created the roles of Rosanne inGenerali'sBajazet and Cleopatra inErcole Paganini'sCesare in Egitto. In 1815, shortly after appearing in Rossini'sSigismondo at La Fenice, she appeared there in the premiere ofCoccia'sEuristea o L'amore generoso. Later that year she was engaged byLa Scala in Milan where she created the role of Mandane inPaër'sL'eroismo in amore and also sang the title role in a revival of Mayr'sGinevra di Scozia.[12]
Manfredini-Guarmani's acquaintance with the Bolognese aristocrat and composerFrancesco Sampieri, pre-dated her professional career. In addition to singing in private concerts at his house, they were both members of Bologna's Accademia Filarmonica and Accademia dei Concordi (founded by Sampieri). A year after her debut, she sang in the premiere of hisLa nascita del Re di Roma, Bologna's second musical celebration of the birth of theNapoleon II. He also composed a special aria for her which she inserted in her 1816 performances as Briseide in a revival of Paër'sAchille atForlì. She went on to create the title role in Sampieri'sIl trionfo di Emilia which premiered in Rome in 1818. Ten years after her stage debut in Bologna she returned there to sing in a revival ofMorlacchi'sLe Danaidi at theTeatro Contavalli. The performance on 28 November 1820 was a benefit for her, and she additionally performed a scene fromIl trionfo di Emilia between the first and second acts ofLe Danaidi.[13]
In her later career, she no longer created new roles, but continued to sing leading soprano roles in operas already in the repertory. In addition to her appearances in revivals of Rossini's operas, she sang the title role in Mayr'sMedea in Corinto several times as well as Clotilde in hisLa rosa bianca e la rosa rossa. The critic inTeatri, arti e letteratura wrote of her 27 December 1828 performance inLa rosa bianca e la rosa rossa atRimini:
Signora Elisa Manfredini a distinguished singer, performed theprima donna role to great applause. Both her accomplished singing and her noble stage presence make her worthy of the unanimous praise she receives.[14]
She was 48 at the time. After the Rimini appearance there is no further trace of her. The date and place of her death are unknown.[3]
Elisabetta Manfredini-Guarmani is known to have sung in the world premieres of the following works:[15]
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