Caterina Mancini

Caterina Mancini (November 10, 1924, Genzano di Roma) is an Italian dramatic coloratura soprano, primarily active in Italy in the 1950s.

Mancini made her debut in 1948, as Giselda in "I Lombardi", in Florence. In 1950, she appeared in Bologna and Venice,in "Norma", and made her debut at La Scala in Milan, in "Lucrezia Borgia", in 1951.

The same year, she sang in many Verdi operas on radio broadcast (RAI) to commemorate 50th anniversary of Verdi's death. Many of these broadcasts have been released by the record company Cetra, notably, "Nabucco", "Ernani", "Attila", "La battaglia di Legnano", "Il trovatore", and "Aïda".

She sang mostly in Italy, notably as Anaide in "Mosè in Egitto" inFlorence (1955), and as Amelia in "Il duca d'Alba", in Verona (1956). She made occasional appearances in France and Spain. Other notable roles included: Amelia, Elisabetta, Gioconda, Santuzza, Tosca.

Mancini was a dramatic coloratura soprano, possessing a large and powerful, yet surprisingly flexible voice, which made her an excellent exponent of early Verdi operas. Health problems in the early 1960s led her to withdraw little by little from the stage. In fact, on November 30, 1963, she sang the contralto part in a performance of the oratorio "Messiah", for the Dallas Opera. The event was dedicated to the memory of John F. Kennedy, who had been slain in that city a few days earlier. The other soloists included Jon Vickers and Norman Treigle, and it was conducted by Nicola Rescigno. It was billed as her "first appearance as a contralto and in an English work."

Her career was in many ways similar to the one of Anita Cerquetti; both had short but brilliant careers, and both were more of less eclipsed by Maria Callas, and nowadays almost forgotten.

elected recordings

* Verdi - "Nabucco" - Paolo Silveri, Antonio Cassinelli, Caterina Mancini, Gabriella Gatti, Mario Binci - Coro e Orchestra della RAI Roma, Fernando Previtali - CETRA (1951)

* Verdi - "Ernani" - Gino Penno, Caterina Mancini, Giuseppe Taddei, Giacomo Vaghi - Coro e Orchestra della RAI Roma, Fernando Previtali - CETRA (1951)

* Verdi - "Il trovatore" - Giacomo Lauri-Volpi, Caterina Mancini, Miriam Pirazzini, Carlo Tagliabue, Alfredo Colella - Coro e Orchestra della RAI Torino, Fernando Previtali - CETRA (1951)

* Verdi - "Aïda" - Caterina Mancini, Mario Filippeschi, Giulietta Simionato, Rolando Panerai, Giulio Neri - Coro e Orchestra della RAI Roma, Vittorio Gui - CETRA (1951)

ources

*"Le guide de l'opéra, les indispensables de la musique", R. Mancini & J-J. Rouvereux, (Fayard, 1995) ISBN 2-213-59567-4