Hello media-ga
Thank-you for suggesting an interesting research project on this
celebrity of nineteenth century opera.
=============
ELENA D'ANGRI
=============
Born in Corfu on May 14, 1824, Elena D'Angri was the first Greek
singer to have an international career. She was admired both in Europe
and the USA.
Her first stage performance was at the Opera House in Lucca, Tuscany.
When she was 20, in 1844, she was already singing at La Scala Opera
House in Milan, where she stayed until 1847.
While at La Scala she gave 131 performances in 12 different operas.
These included:
Il Giuramento Mercadante
Saffo Pacini
Semiramide Rossini
Linda di Chamounix Donizetti
La Prova d'un Opera Seria Gnecco
In this last opera, she played the role of Corilla, the prima donna,
and was praised particularly for her "vivid characterization". "La
Prova" is a comic opera which was extremely popular in the nineteenth
century and provided scope for the leading singers to adapt the parts
to show off their individual talents. It tells the story of rehearsals
for an opera. As well as humor provided by the cast's "mistakes",
there is drama when a storm spoils their picnic and the lovers (the
prima donna and her leading man) quarrel.
While still based in Milan, D'Angri made a very successful trip to
Vienna, where the Emperor Ferdinand granted her the title of "cantante
di camera" (court singer).
The composer Donizetti mentions her in letters he wrote in the 1840s,
and reviews of the period praise "her agility and precision in
passages of vocal virtuosity" and "her charm on stage".
Between 1847 and 1849 she sang in St. Petersburg, then moved to Paris.
In 1849 and 1850 she was prima donna at the Parisian Théâtre-Italien.
In 1851 she sang at Covent Garden, which at that time was known as The
Royal Italian Opera House. (In England most opera of the period was
either Italian or Italian in style.)
In the same year the well-known Belgian artist, Charles Baugniet, who
was also in London, captured her portrait in a lithograph. (See below)
In 1858 and 1859 she sang in New York City, taking the roles of
Arsace, Maddalena, Azucena, Orsini and Italiana, among others.
There is a picture of her as Orsini in a collecion at the University
of Texas, but the picture is undated.
Her first performances in New York were with pianist Sigismund
Thalberg.
During her time there she sat for portrait photographer C.D.
Fredricks.
She toured North America and also Spain.
The most authoritative source I have consulted (the Grove Dictionary
of Opera - see below) says that she retired in 1860 and lived in
Barcelona.
However, there is a webpage from the University of Venezuela which
says that in 1862 she sang at a concert in the Irving Hall in New
York. This concert was a showcase for an eight-year-old pianist,
Teresa Carreño.
There is no record of her date of death.
Her name is sometimes given as Angri.
You might also like to know that she is mentioned in a short story of
1861, "The Music Essence", where her voice is described as a
"wonderful honey of song ".
=========
PORTRAITS
=========
There are a couple of good portraits of her on the web:
1851 Portrait by Charles Baugniet (click on picture to enlarge it)
http://gallica.bnf.fr/scripts/ConsultationTout.exe?E=0&O=07720060
Photograph by CD Fredricks
http://www.picturehistory.com/find/p/15092/mcms.html
The University of Texas also holds this picture:
"D'Angri, Éléna, as Maffeo Orsini"
Prints Collection
http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/research/fa/taprints.folder2.html
==========
REFERENCES
==========
My main source for this information is an article by the Greek
musicologist, George (Giorgos) Leotsakos, in:
The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, edited by Stanley Sadie.
Macmillan (1992)
And these online sources:
Elena D'Angri said to have participated in concert with Teresa Carreño
http://kuainasi.ciens.ucv.ve/pianola/tc.html
Newsgroup discussion
http://groups.google.co.uk/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&threadm=20011022224000.14346.00000799%40mb-cj.aol.com&rnum=2&prev=/groups%3Fq%3Dd%27angri%2Bgroup:rec.music.opera%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26group%3Drec.music.opera%26selm%3D20011022224000.14346.00000799%2540mb-cj.aol.com%26rnum%3D2
The Music-Essence, by Fitz Hugh Ludlow
New York Commercial Advertiser, December 31, 1861
http://www.well.com/user/dpd/music.html
"In the 19th. century, opera in Great Britain was essentially Italian
opera. The chief venue, Covent Garden, was known as The Royal Italian
Opera House."
http://home.prcn.org/~pauld/opera/19cent13.htm
Also:
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Sadie.
Macmillan (2001)
Leotsakos cites this book for Donizetti's letters (dated April 15,
1845 and May 6, 1848):
G. Zavadini, "Donizetti, vita, musiche, epistolario", Bergamo, 1948
==================
POSSIBLE FOLLOW-UP
==================
There is surprisingly little information available on Elena D'Angri,
despite her celebrity. Perhaps singers from before the age of
recording are less well remembered?
If you had more details of the 1851 newspaper story it might be
possible to track down even more about D'Angri.
It would be nice if you could check which newspaper this actually was,
as the London Daily Mail was not founded till later in the century.
Could it have been the Daily News?
It might be possible to follow this up via the London Newspaper
Library:
http://www.bl.uk/collections/newspapers.html
Another idea: D'Angri is mentioned on one page of "Toward a History of
Opera in Nineteenth-Century America" by June C. Ottenberg, see:
http://info.greenwood.com/books/0313278/0313278415.html
Even though I went to a music reference library to research this
answer, I did not find a copy of Ottenberg's book. I hope you might
have better luck. If you would like a used copy, even though only one
page would be relevant, you would find one at Abe Books:
http://dogbert.abebooks.com
It's just possible you might be able to contact George Leotsakos
through the Ionian University Music Department and ask if he knows of
any further sources of information.
http://www.uion.edu.gr/index.html
I hope you will find this interesting!
Please don't hesitate to request clarification if anything needs more
explanation and I will do my best to help.
Regards - Leli
searches:
Elena D'Angri
Elena Angri
Madame D'Angri
Mlle D'Angri
plus library research |
Clarification of Answer by
leli-ga
on
06 Jun 2003 02:44 PDT
Dear media-ga
Well, I've done what I can, but information about Elena D'Angri's
personal life is just not available, and so I've collected suggestions
and addresses for you.
I managed to find an address for the Catholic Archdiocese in Corfu and
hope they can help you out with information about which part of the
island Father Corelli served in, and more too. If there are baptismal
records for 1824, perhaps they would show Elena's parents?
There's also a huge German reference book available in some major
libraries which has material on D'Angri but presumably it will be
career oriented. I know it doesn't cover anything about her life after
1860.
The complete lack of information about her later life does make one
wonder if she changed her last name. I've found you a genealogy
society in Barcelona who might possibly have suggestions about how to
research this.
So far I've had no response to the emails I sent off, but I'd let you
know, of course, if anything turned up.
Good luck with your research!
Leli
===============
CORFU (KERKYRA)
===============
In Corfu, the main address for the Catholic Church is:
KATHOLIKI ARCHIEPISKOPI
(Catholic Archdiocese)
MONTSENIGOU 3
KERKYRA 49100
GREECE
TEL: +30 2661 030277
You can see the address in Greek on this page:
http://66.221.6.153/corfu/useful_phone_nrs/useful_phone_nrs.html
The accurate version of the phone number came from here:
Greek Phone Directory
http://www.grecian.net/greekphones/index.htm
There is a Catholic Church in Solomon Street in Corfu town. It is next
door to a monastery with a library, at one time the only library on
the island, so it might be another possible source of help.
"The Tenedos church
At the top of Solomon street under the southern bastions of the New
Fortress, stands the Roman Catholic church of Tenedos dedicated to the
Blessed Virgin of Carmel. It is named after an icon of the Virgin Mary
brought to Corfu when the Venetians were forced to evacuate the island
of Tenedos in 1657. The Church and adjacent monastery are dated from
1749."
http://www.corfuxenos.gr/hl/churches-town.htm
One other interesting and, I hope, relevant fact is that in 1908 there
was only one parish on Corfu:
"There is but one parish, with six churches or chapels, and some ten
priests."
Catholic Encyclopedia: Corfu
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04362a.htm
One church was destroyed by bombing in World War II.
I also discovered that the proportion of Roman Catholics in Corfu
nowadays is less than 0.7% of the population.
==================================
BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF SINGERS
==================================
There is a huge German reference book which has information about
Elena D'Angri but I think you will only find it in a few very large
libraries. Although it is in German, I found this description of it in
English:
"Karl-Josef Kutsch und Leo Riemens
Großes Sängerlexikon
(Biographical Dictionary of Singers)
New, enlarged edition
Jubilee edition May 1999. 5 volumes. 4,024 pages. Softcover.
ISBN 3-598-11419-2
The Biographical Dictionary of Singers is notable for both its huge
fund of material and its broad historical coverage. From the end of
the 16th century the dictionary traces the history of those forms of
vocal art which have remained dominant up to the present – opera,
oratorium, aria, cantata, lied, religious vocal music – and at the
same time keeps up with the very latest developments.
As well as containing around 14,500 biographies of well-known, lesser
known and near-forgotten singers, the dictionary provides details of
further literature and sound recordings, a comprehensive bibliography
and, in the appendix, a register of opera and operetta premières.
The latest edition of this unique reference work thus lives up to the
reputation of its renowned precursors."
Elena D'Angri would be in volume 1.
This is the entry from the Library of Congress:
Author: Kutsch, K. J.
Title: Grosses Sängerlexikon / K.J. Kutsch, Leo Riemens;
unter Mitwirkung von Hansjörg Rost.
Edition: 3. erw. Aufl.
Published: München : K.G. Saur, c1997-2002.
Description: 7 v. : geneal. tables ; 25 cm.
LC Call No.: ML105.K83 1997
ISBN: 3598112505
Notes: Includes discographies, bibliographical
references, and indexes.
1. Aarden-Davis -- 2. Davislim-Hiolski -- 3.
Hirata-Möwes -- 4. Moffo-Seidel -- 5.
Seideman-Zysset.
Anhang, Opern und Operetten und deren
Uraufführungen.
Bibliographie -- Bd. 6-7. Ergänzungen.
Subjects: Singers -- Biography -- Dictionaries -- German.
Other authors: Riemens, Leo
Rost, Hansjörg
Here's an Amazon listing for it:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/3317016388/qid=1054837950/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/102-5248369-5665708?v=glance&s=books
======================
GENEALOGICAL RESOURCES
======================
There are genealogy websites with message boards and mailing lists.
Sometimes this is a way to contact other people doing similar
research.
http://searches.rootsweb.com/share.html
http://boards.ancestry.com/
http://genforum.genealogy.com/my/
http://hellenes-diaspora.nostos.gr/listsub.html#1
A book aimed at North Americans researching family history:
"In Search of Your European Roots"
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/080631446X/102-5248369-5665708?vi=glance
Help from professional genealogists:
http://www.progenealogists.com/onsiteevaluation.htm
http://www.progenealogists.com/onsiteinternational.htm
Genealogy Society in Barcelona:
S C G H S V N
Arxiu Nacional de Catalunya ANC
c. Jaume I, 33-35
08190 SANT CUGAT DEL VALLÈS
(el Vallès Occidental) Barcelona
(Catalunya - Espanya)
Tel. 935 897 788, ext. 227
Fax. 935 898 035
email:scgenealogia@scgenealogia.org
http://www.scgenealogia.org/
Once more - good luck!
Leli
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