Balbina Steffenone

Balbina Steffenone (also spelled Bina or Steffanone or Steffenoni, 1825-1896) was a 19th century soprano.

Born in Turin, Italycite book
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=J-m-Dzb-9GgC&pg=PA633&dq=Balbina+Steffenone&ei=BH_SRvLWBZ2MoQKa1MDQBw&sig=5GZsG4zpt1mzTBy6EoGe_hSDHZU
title=Briefwechsel und Tagebücher
author=Giacomo Meyerbeer
year=2004
publisher=Walter de Gruyter
language=German
isbn=3110180308
chapter=October 1857
accessdate=2007-08-26] , she studied in Bologna under Teresa Bertinotti, debuting as Lucia in "Macerata" in 1842.cite book
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=GgwbQC2KVzMC&pg=PA63&dq=Balbina+Steffanone&ei=BIHSRp3WBJPWoQKfv8HQBw&ie=ISO-8859-1&sig=h7ccrhmIw6vV08gd8XDpsO5fMh0
title=The Diaries of Giacomo Meyerbeer
author=Giacomo Meyerbeer
others=Robert Ignatius Le Tellier
year=2004
publisher= Fairleigh Dickinson University Press
accessdate=2007-08-26] After singing across Italy, she spent 1845-47 singing at Covent Garden, then went to North America, where she stayed for seven years. Her appearances ranged from Boston to Mexico City and Havana, where she remained a principal in the company under Giovanni Bottesini around 1850.cite book
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=RiogpMoAwO0C&pg=PA402&dq=Balbina+Steffanone&ei=BIHSRp3WBJPWoQKfv8HQBw&ie=ISO-8859-1&sig=d_-WmCI4EXNotGQJIYbtjeWw5a8#PPA402,M1
title=Opera on the Road: Traveling Opera Troupes in the United States, 1825-60
author=Katherine K. Preston
year=2001
publisher=University of Illinois Press
isbn=]

She sang in the American premiere of "Il trovatore" at the Academy of Music in New York, sharing the roles of Leonora and Ines in the production. ["Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia" (entry under Maggio 1855, Mercoledì) [http://www.amadeusonline.net/almanacco.php?Giornata=Mercoled%EC&Giorno=2&Mese=05] ] On her return from Cuba in 1855, when she played Lucrezia Borgia in the opera, the "New York Times" called her "one of the few worth welcoming back again"; but critic Richard Grant White wrote that her voice had deteriorated into "a bewildered shriek". [cite book
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=pvq65z0MTz8C&pg=PA591&dq=Balbina+Steffanone&ei=BIHSRp3WBJPWoQKfv8HQBw&ie=ISO-8859-1&sig=regmQAKURbFHcX7U6yWOJb336Rg
title=Strong on Music: The New York Music Scene in the Days of George Templeton Strong, 1836-1875
author=Vera Brodsky
year=1999
publisher=University of Chicago Press
accessdate=2007-08-26]

She continued her career in Europe, appearing in Vienna in 1859 and Naples in 1860-61, where she created Errico Petrella's "Morosina". She is reported to have retired in 1862, but also to have taken part in the première of Vincenzo Battista's "Giovanna di Castiglia" at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples in 1863. ["Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia" entry under (26 Aprile 1863, Domenica) in Italian at [http://www.amadeusonline.net/almanacco.php?Giornata=Domenica&Giorno=26&Mese=04] ]

She died in Naples in 1896.

References