Anita Cerquetti

Anita Cerquetti (April 13, 1931) is an Italian dramatic soprano who enjoyed a short but brilliant career in the 1950s.

Cerquetti was born in Montecosaro, near Macerata, Italy. She was first a student of the violin, she trained eight years with Luigi Mori. After a mere one year of vocal study at the Conservatory of Perugia she made her operatic debut in Spoleto in 1951 as Aida. She sang all over Italy, notably in Florence as Noraime in "Les Abencérages", under Carlo Maria Giulini in 1956, and as Elvira in "Ernani", under Dimitri Mitropoulos in 1957. Her Teatro alla Scala debut was in 1958 as Abigail in "Nabucco". She also sang on RAI in a wide variety of roles such as Elcia in "Mosè in Egitto", Mathilde in "Guglielmo Tell", Elena in "I vespri siciliani", etc.

Cerquetti made headlines in January 1958, when she replaced "in extremis" the ailing Maria Callas in "Norma", at the Rome Opera House. She was already singing the role at the San Carlo in Naples. She commuted between the two cities to honor both engagements for several weeks. This "tour de force" won her great acclaim but had serious effects on her health. Shortly after she started withdrawing little by little from the stage until her complete retirement in 1961, aged only 30.

Cerquetti sang relatively little in America. Her debut there was at the
Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1955, as Amelia in "Un ballo in maschera", opposite Jussi Björling, with Tullio Serafin conducting.

Cerquetti made only two commercial recordings, both for Decca in 1957,a recital of Italian opera arias and a complete "La Gioconda" with Mario del Monaco, Ettore Bastianini, Giulietta Simionato, Cesare Siepi. Among her "pirated" recordings is a 1958 "Aida", from Mexico City, with Flaviano Labò, Nell Rankin, Cornell MacNeil, Fernando Corena and Norman Treigle. The Rome Norma of 1958 with Franco Corelli is also available. In 1996 she sang and talked in Jan Schmidt-Garre's film "Opera Fanatic".

Sources

* Alain Pâris, "Dictionnaire des interprètes et de l'interpretation musicale au XX siècle" (2 vols), Ed. Robert Laffont (Bouquins, Paris 1982, 4th Edn. 1995, 5th Edn 2004). ISBN 2-221-06660-X
* Roland Mancini and Jean-Jacques Rouveroux, (orig. H. Rosenthal and J. Warrack, French edition), "Guide de l’opéra", Les indispensables de la musique (Fayard, 1995). ISBN 2-213-01563-6
* Allmusic.com, Erik Eriksson.

External links

* [http://cerquetti.saint-sever.org/ Anita Cerquetti]

Bibliography

* "The Last Prima Donnas", by Lanfranco Rasponi, Alfred A Knopf, 1982. ISBN 0-394-52153-6