149:, she said, "I was given a magnificent gift, and in a way I am like a priestess, for I feel that it is my responsibility to keep the flame lit in the best possible manner... I am Stignani because of my voice". She was highly disciplined in her choice of roles and in the number of appearances she made, refusing to take assignments which she felt were not right for her voice, and this no doubt contributed to the longevity of her career at the highest level.
145:, but it was in noble, dramatic parts that she was heard to greatest effect. Critics often referred to the grandeur of her performances. By her own account, she was short and plump, and she admitted her shortcomings as an actress, but she achieved dramatic power and characterization through the quality of her voice and technique. She knew her priorities: speaking to
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in 1903 (some sources cite her year of birth as 1904), Stignani studied music for five years at the San Pietro a
Majella Conservatory in Naples, including piano and composition as well as singing. The date of her singing début is usually said to have been in 1925 at the
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Stignani's voice was large and rich in tone, if sometimes hard-edged, and evenly balanced throughout its considerable range (extending from a low F to a high C). It had sufficient flexibility for her to undertake such roles as
Rossini's
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in Buenos Aires, and in many other
European cities outside Italy including Paris, Madrid, and Berlin (where she sang in 1933, 1937 and 1941). Among the new roles which she created during her career were Cathos in
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She appeared with the San
Francisco Opera in 1938 and again in 1948 but never at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. She toured extensively in North America in the years after World War II. Her first appearance at
282:; at this stage of her career Stignani may sound unduly mature as the young priestess, but the voice is still rich and resolute. There is also a live recording of the celebrated 1952 Covent Garden production of
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Stignani recorded a range of operatic arias in the late 1930s and early 1940s reflecting the variety of roles in her repertoire, and these have been variously reissued on CD.
63:, and Milan continued to be a principal stage for her during the rest of her career. She sang all of the major Italian mezzo-soprano roles, but also tackled Wagner's Ortrud (
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She retired from the stage in 1958 after appearances in London (as
Azucena) and in Dublin (as Amneris). Thereafter, she lived quietly in retirement at her home in
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to encore that last part, apparently the only time she ever sang an encore in opera in her career. She also appeared frequently in South
America, including the
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was in 1937, as
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in 1952 and 1957. In the second of the two 1957 performances the thunderous and sustained applause after the duet
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22:(10 July 1903 – 5 October 1974) was an Italian opera singer, who was pre-eminent in the dramatic
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opera house in Naples, in the role of
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Ebe
Stignani, in Opera Voices: Bob Rideout's biographies
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Among her recordings of complete operas/oratorios are:
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350:(Roma: Istituto per la collaborazione culturale).
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307:Shawe-Taylor, Desmond: 'Ebe Stignani', in
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362:Ebe Stignani: una voce e il suo mondo.
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364:(Imola: Grafiche Galeati).
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369:The last prima donnas
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200:La forza del destino
142:L'italiana in Algeri
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316:16 May 2008 at the
310:Grove Music Online
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