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Origins and education
Giuditta Angiola Maria Costanza Pasta, born Negri in Saronno on October 26, 1797, and died in Como on April 1, 1865, was one of the most celebrated opera singers of the 19th century. Endowed with an extraordinary voice and uncommon dramatic talent, she is considered, along with Maria Malibran, one of the most influential performers of the Romantic era.
Daughter of Carlo Antonio Negri, a pharmacist from Lomazzo, and Rachele Ferranti, she began her musical studies within her family. Her first lessons in solfeggio and singing were given by her maternal uncle Filippo Ferranti, a cellist, while in Como she studied with Bartolomeo Lotti, maestro di cappella of the cathedral. Her first contact with the public took place in that very city: in 1812, the young Giuditta performed in the church of Santa Cecilia, already showing those expressive qualities that would later conquer European theaters.
Milan and the theatrical debut
The following year, her uncle took her to Milan, introducing her to the cultural circles of the Lombard capital. Here she received a complete education: she studied music with Pietro Raj, vice-censor of the Royal Conservatory, stage art with the famous dancer Antonia Pallerini, and perfected her vocal technique under the guidance of Giuseppe Scappa, a singing teacher at the Teatro alla Scala. The great contralto Giuseppina Grassini also took an interest in the young singer, contributing to the direction of her training.
Her theatrical debut occurred on January 30, 1816, at the Teatro dei Filodrammatici in Milan in the opera Lopez de Vega by Giuseppe Scappa, where she played the role of Baroness Isabella. On stage, she was joined by the amateur and Milanese lawyer Giuseppe Pasta, who just a few days earlier, on January 17 of that same year, had become her husband. Shortly after, she returned to the same theater in the stage action La contesa set to music by Pietro Raj, confirming her entry into Milanese theatrical life.
A voice built through study
When Giuditta Pasta first began singing, her voice did not impress the masters at all. It was described as limited, inflexible, with uneven notes and a tendency to drop in pitch. Nothing suggested the future queen of Romantic melodrama. The singer reacted with tireless study: she worked on breathing, range, and especially on the ability to color the voice. Over time, she transformed those very imperfections into a strength, achieving an instrument of exceptional expressive variety, capable of moving from the low register to the high sopracuto. Bellini, who wrote some of his most famous operas for her, defined her style with two words destined to become legendary: "sublime tragic."
First international experiences
During 1816, Ferdinando Paër invited her to the Théâtre-Italien in Paris for the staging of his opera Il principe di Taranto, in the role of Rosina. In the French capital, Pasta also tackled important roles of the Italian repertoire, including Donna Elvira in Mozart's Don Giovanni and the female lead in Nicola Antonio Zingarelli's Giulietta e Romeo.
The following year, she was engaged at His Majesty's Theatre in London, where she played Telemaco in Domenico Cimarosa's Penelope alongside Gaetano Crivelli. As had happened at her Italian debut, her London premiere was not met with enthusiasm, but the singer maintained all her commitments with great professionalism, performing in works by Paër, Mozart, and Giacomo Ferrari.
Resuming the career in Italy
After the birth of her daughter Clelia on March 27, 1817, Giuditta Pasta quickly resumed her artistic activity. In September of the same year, she returned to the stage at the Teatro San Benedetto in Venice, where she sang in Giovanni Pacini's Adelaide e Comingio. Over the next two years, she dedicated herself primarily to her Italian career, performing in numerous cities across the peninsula — including Padua, Rome, Brescia, Trieste, Turin, and Venice — and collaborating once again with the great Giuseppina Grassini.
In 1819, she also returned to the Théâtre-Italien in Paris, performing Vespina in Ferdinando Paër's opera Agnese di Fitz-Henry alongside leading performers such as Marco Bordogni, Luigi Lablache, and Filippo Galli.
First theatrical successes
In 1820, she debuted at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice as Gonzalvo in the world premiere of Giuseppe Nicolini's La conquista di Granata. The following year, she was the protagonist in the first performance of Stefano Pavesi's Arminio ossia L'eroe germano. During these years, her artistic persona began to be defined more clearly: Pasta was not only a singer with great vocal range, capable of tackling both contralto and soprano repertoires, but above all an intensely dramatic performer, capable of transforming singing into theatrical action.
Triumph in Paris
Between 1821 and 1823, Giuditta Pasta was one of the main stars of the Théâtre-Italien in Paris, where she performed a vast repertoire that included mainly Rossini's operas but also works by Mozart, Zingarelli, Paër, and Paisiello. In 1821, she performed Desdemona in Otello alongside Manuel García Sr. and Nicolas-Prosper Levasseur, and Enrico in Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra. The following year, she was the protagonist in Tancredi and sang Elcia in Mosè in Egitto. In 1822, she also played the lead in Johann Simon Mayr's Medea in Corinto, while in 1823 she appeared as Elvira in Mayr's La rosa bianca e la rosa rossa and as Carlotta in Saverio Mercadante's Elisa e Claudio. Her repertoire also included La gazza ladra, Mozart's Don Giovanni, Nicola Zingarelli's Giulietta e Romeo, Ferdinando Paër's Camilla, and Giovanni Paisiello's Nina, o sia La pazza per amore.
During these years, Pasta's fame grew rapidly. In Paris, she was in demand not only by theaters – including the Odéon and the Opéra – but also by high society and the nobility, who considered her one of the great musical celebrities of the time.
London and concerts with Rossini
In December 1821, she returned to Italy to perform Edoardo in Rossini's Eduardo e Cristina at the Teatro Regio in Turin alongside Nicola Tacchinardi. In 1824 and 1825, her activity took place mainly between London and Paris. In April 1824, she was Desdemona in Rossini's Otello at Her Majesty's Theatre in London. A few months later, she participated in the Almack's Assembly Rooms in the first performance of Rossini's cantata Il pianto delle Muse in morte di Lord Byron, singing with Isabella Colbran, Maria Malibran, and Giuseppe De Begnis.
During the same English stay, she performed in concert at the University of Cambridge with Rossini at the piano, Angelica Catalani, and the famous double bass player Domenico Dragonetti. She was also the protagonist of Rossini's Semiramide conducted by the composer himself at Her Majesty's Theatre and sang in a private concert at the Duke of Wellington's Apsley House, again with Rossini at the piano and Giuseppina Ronzi de Begnis.
In June 1825, she was again engaged at the King's Theatre in London for Il Barbiere di Siviglia, but a sudden illness forced her to cancel the June 11 performance, replaced by the very young Maria Malibran.
Il viaggio a Reims and European success
Having quickly recovered, Pasta returned to Paris where, on June 19, 1825, she performed the title role of Corinna in the world premiere of Rossini's Il viaggio a Reims at the Théâtre-Italien, alongside Ester Mombelli and Domenico Donzelli. The opera, composed to celebrate the coronation of Charles X, achieved enormous success. In the same year, the singer also performed Armando in Giacomo Meyerbeer's Il crociato in Egitto.
Naples and new theatrical triumphs
In 1826, in addition to her engagements in Paris where she performed Rossini's Zelmira with Giovanni Battista Rubini and the London performances of Medea in Corinto, Pasta debuted with extraordinary success at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples in the world premiere of Giovanni Pacini's Niobe, alongside Carolina Ungher. The following year, she was the protagonist of two new operas: Pietro Raimondi's Giuditta, also performed at San Carlo, and Carlo Coccia's Maria Stuart, regina di Scozia, presented in London.
The shift to the soprano register
In 1829, Giuditta Pasta appeared at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna as Desdemona in Rossini's Otello with Domenico Reina, as Semiramide, and as Amenaide in Tancredi. It was during these years that a decisive transformation in her career took place: after about fifteen years of activity as a contralto, the singer progressively shifted to the soprano register. The new debut occurred in Vienna, where she performed the protagonist of Rossini's Semiramide with extraordinary success.
The fame she achieved was such that sculptors Pompeo Marchesi and Giovan Battista Comolli carved two marble busts depicting the singer in the role of Semiramide. Comolli's bust is now preserved in the Museo del Teatro alla Scala in Milan. In honor of Marchesi's work, exhibited at Brera in 1829, the poet and librettist Felice Romani composed the song Pel busto di Giuditta Pasta.
Milan and the Imperial title
During those years, Pasta often stayed in Milan, where she owned an elegant palace in the Contrada del Monte, today via Montenapoleone, purchased around 1829 and decorated in the late Neoclassical style. Despite the prestigious Milanese residence, the singer also spent long periods in Paris, in the house on Rue de Richelieu, and later in the villa called "la Roda" in Blevio, on Lake Como, where she would spend the final years of her life.
In that same year, 1829, Count Czernin, chamberlain of the Habsburg court, conferred upon her the title of First chamber singer to Her Imperial Royal Apostolic Majesty, a recognition that officially established her position among the greatest lyrical artists in Europe.
Donizetti and the triumph of Anna Bolena
In 1830, Gaetano Donizetti composed the opera Anna Bolena for Giuditta Pasta, which debuted with enormous success at the Teatro Carcano in Milan on December 26 of the same year. The role was created specifically for her and marked one of the most important moments of her career. The opera was then also performed in London and at the Théâtre-Italien in Paris, with performers such as Marietta Brambilla and, later, Eugenia Tadolini.
During the composition of the opera, Donizetti stayed in Blevio as a guest of Pasta herself, who actively contributed to the musical and dramatic definition of the role with suggestions and observations. The collaboration between the singer and the composer demonstrated that Pasta was not only an extraordinary performer but also a musician capable of directly influencing the creative process of the works written for her.
Bellini and the birth of Romantic bel canto
In 1831, Pasta was the star in Milan of two new operas by Vincenzo Bellini. On March 6, at the Teatro Carcano, she performed with great success the role of Amina in the world premiere of La sonnambula, a part she also sang that same year in London and at the Théâtre-Italien in Paris. On December 26 of the same year, she debuted at La Scala in the role of Norma, on the occasion of the first performance of the namesake opera conducted by Alessandro Rolla, alongside Giulia Grisi. The evening did not have the hoped-for success, partly due to the singer's indisposition.
The meeting between Giuditta Pasta and Bellini was decisive for both. The singer found in the young composer an author capable of fully enhancing her exceptional dramatic and vocal abilities, while Bellini identified in her the ideal performer for his creations: an artist endowed with such range and vocal flexibility as to support his innovative and intensely expressive writing.
Casta Diva lowered for Pasta
When Vincenzo Bellini composed Norma for Giuditta Pasta, he knew the particularities of her voice well. The singer had a very wide range, but the tessitura was too high for her and tended to make her drop in pitch. For this reason, the composer made an unusual decision: he lowered the opera's most famous aria, Casta Diva, by a full tone, moving it from G major to F major. In this way, the part was more suitable for Pasta, and the singer could maintain that broad and solemn line that Bellini considered the character's true secret. The episode demonstrates how composers of the time modeled music on the specific qualities of great performers.
New operas and international successes
In 1832, Pasta continued to dominate European stages. She was again Anna Bolena and performed Bianca in the world premiere of Donizetti's Ugo, conte di Parigi at La Scala. In the same year, she also sang Norma under the direction of Bellini himself at the Teatro Riccardi in Bergamo (today Teatro Donizetti) and at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice.
The following year, she was Desdemona in Rossini's Otello and Tancredi in Venice. Also in 1833, Bellini composed a new opera for her, Beatrice di Tenda, performed in a world premiere at the Teatro La Fenice on March 16. The reception, however, was cold and the opera initially met with failure. During the same period, Pasta continued to perform in major roles of the repertoire, including Norma in London and Fausta in Venice.
Final years of the operatic career
In 1834, the singer returned to Venice as the protagonist of the world premiere of Emma d'Antiochia and continued to successfully perform Anna Bolena and Fausta. In 1835, she was Giulietta in Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi in London, under the composer's direction, and sang Norma at the Théâtre-Italien in Paris.
However, during these years, Pasta began to notice the first signs of vocal decline. After some unfortunate performances of Norma at La Scala, in which her voice could no longer sustain the difficulties of the part, she decided to temporarily retire from the stage. The singer, who for a long time had dominated the limits of her own voice with extraordinary technical strength, could no longer control it as in the past, and the reactions from critics and the public were severe.
Retirement from the stage and final concerts
After two years of rest, in 1837 she briefly returned to activity, performing at the Drury Lane in London and continuing with a series of concerts in Great Britain and Paris. Regarding the vocal condition of the singer in these final appearances, Pauline Viardot famously observed: Pasta was like Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper, "a painting in ruins, but the most beautiful painting in the world."
Her last operatic tour took place in 1841 in Russia, where in St. Petersburg and Moscow she again performed Norma, Semiramide, and Anna Bolena. She subsequently retired definitively from the stage, though she continued to participate in benefit concerts until 1845.
Final years in Blevio
After retirement, Pasta divided her time between Milan and the villa in Blevio on Lake Como. In 1846, her husband Giuseppe Pasta died. During the revolutionary movements of 1848, she enthusiastically supported the patriotic cause: upon hearing the news of the insurgents' victory in the Five Days of Milan, on March 22 she climbed the hill of Brunate with some supporters where she planted the tricolor flag and sang a hymn to free Italy.
Her last public appearance dates back to 1851, when she sang in a concert at the Royal Opera House along with her student Teresa Parodi. In the following years, she lived between Milan and Blevio, in the villa that bore her name. She died of bronchitis in 1865 in Como, at the age of sixty-seven, in the house that had belonged to her maternal grandmother. She was buried in Blevio, where a large tombstone in the cemetery still commemorates one of the most extraordinary performers in the history of melodrama.
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