Isabella Fabbrica (Milan, c. 1802 – Turin, c. 1860) was an Italian operatic contralto.
Just after completing her studies at the Milan Conservatory, she made her debut in 1822 at La Scala, as Emerico in the première of Mercadante's Adele ed Emerico. The opera obtained a good success and this facilitated the career of Isabella Fabbrica, which in the same year interpreted other premières of operas of Donizetti (Chiara e Serafina) and Mercadante (Amleto).
After a few years spent mainly between Milan and Turin, she married, after dropping a possible union with Mercadante,[1] the tenor Giovanni Battista Montresor, son of the contralto Adelaide Malanotte.
After her debut in Rome in 1830, she spent some years in Portugal, where she obtained an extraordinary success.[2] Later Fabbrica sang also in Madrid and Saint Petersburg, until 1850, when she ceased her activity.
Isabella Fabbrica was very famous for her talents as an actress and for her powerful voice.[3]
Roles created
edit- Emerico in Mercadante's Adele ed Emerico (1822)
- Chiara in Donizetti's Chiara e Serafina (1822)
- Amleto in Mercadante's Amleto (1822)
- Giulia in Pacini's La vestale (1823)
- Demetrio in Mayr's Demetrio (1823)
- Alcibiade in Cordella's Alcibiade (1824)
- Romeo in Vaccai's Giulietta e Romeo (1825)
- Arturo in Coccia's Caterina di Guisa (1833)
References
editNotes
- ^ Regli, Dizionario biografico
- ^ Regli wrote in its Dizionario biografico: "She was beloved in all theaters where she sang, but in Lisbon she became an idol. Here she received unceasing handclaps and delighted the audience with her noble manners and her fine style." ("Se fu l'amore di tutti i Teatri che calcò, fu l'idolo di Lisbona, ove non cessavasi di applaudire e di gustare gli eletti suoi modi e il puro suo stile")
- ^ D'Annibale, Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani
Sources
- Regli, Francesco (1860). "FABBRICA ISABELLA e FABBRICA LUIGI". Dizionario biografico dei più celebri poeti ed artisti melodrammatici [...] che fiorirono in Italia dal 1800 al 1860 (in Italian). Torino: Enrico Dalmazzo.
- D'Annibale, Roberta (1993). "FABBRICA, Isabella". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Volume 43: Enzo–Fabrizi (in Italian). Rome: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana. ISBN 978-8-81200032-6. Retrieved 11 January 2015.