Fiorenza Cossotto Totally Explained

Everything about Fiorenza Cossotto totally explained

Fiorenza Cossotto is an Italian mezzo soprano. She is considered by many to be one of the great mezzo-sopranos of the 20th century, a natural successor to Giulietta Simionato.

Life and career

Born on April 22, 1935 in Crescentino di Vercelli, Italy, Cossotto attended the Turin Academy of Music and graduated top of her class. After her studies with Mercedes Llopart, she made her operatic debut as Sister Matilde in the world premiere of Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites in 1957 at La Scala in Milan. Her international debut was at the 1958 Wexford Festival as Giovanna Seymour in Donizetti's Anna Bolena. Her Covent Garden debut was in 1959 as Neris in Cherubini's Médée, with Maria Callas in the title role. A 1962 performance of the lead in La favorita at La Scala led to wider fame and she made her American debut in the same role in 1964 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and as Amneris at the Metropolitan Opera in 1968.
   Altogether between the seasons of 1967–68 and 1988–89 she gave one hundred forty-eight performances at the Met (exclusively leading roles).
   She kept on singing, and in 2005 she celebrated her 70th birthday with a performance of Suor Angelica at the Théâtre Royal in Liège, Belgium.
   She was married to the Italian bass Ivo Vinco for over 40 years, and had a son, Roberto. The marriage ended in divorce.

Cossotto and Callas

Fiorenza sang with Maria Callas as early as 1957 in Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride, and many times later, until Callas' last Norma in Paris. However, at one performance in Paris, right after their duet, Callas has canceled the rest of the performance. Some claim that Cossotto intentionally sabotaged Callas by over-singing her and holding high notes longer when the latter's voice (by that time - 1965) was in poor form. Others claim in favor of Cossotto that she encouraged Callas to do the best that she could, and otherwise was quite cautious with her and tried to back her up. Private recordings made at the time (and issued subsequently) are interpreted in both ways. Both Cossotto (in an interview, 2006) and Ivo Vinco (1982) said that Callas was a great friend of Cossotto, and it was she who invited her to sing Adalgisa. On the other hand, Zeffirelli and Simionato were both on the accusers' side. This occasion is under a debate still, mainly because the main figure who could tell the truth died in 1977.
Cossotto on the subject:
ť "But look, it's a disgrace! It's been forty years, and books still come out speaking ill of me. The first year, we did our rehearsals, and everything went well. Callas was in good voice. There was no reason for her not to do Norma, which was her war-horse. During the last two performances [in1965], she wasn't well — she'd a cold, which passed down [intothe chest]. The last performance, poor thing, she couldn't say no, because all of Onassis's elite was in the theater. But logically, she couldn't [sing], because she'd already sung two performances on the cold. You don't play with Norma! In the [first] duet, it goes up to an A for the mezzo-soprano, and Callas must do the C. And the C didn't come out. When we got to the end of the duet, she could no longer do [hereCossotto sings the four ascending notes to the C]. But I couldn't hear this. I didn't know if she sang or didn't sing. I thought, it was better I sing my A calmly, so people won't notice, just in case. Instead, they started to say, 'Look, she sings when the other one doesn't sing anymore!' But, the other one didn't make a sound because she was ill — the voice didn't come out.

ť "Later, Callas, at the end of the second act, said to me, 'Fiorenza, stay tonight until the end, because I'm not well, and we'll all go out [tobow] together.' We'll make a bit of a good impression is what she wanted to say. 'Look,' I said, 'I can't, because I've to pack, since tomorrow morning I've to leave really early, but let's see.' My hotel was right next to the Opéra. I said, 'I'll manage. I'll go and come back right away.' If she'd been angry with me, she wouldn't have said this. Is it true or not? But no one has ever published this! They have never said, 'Callas insisted that Cossotto be present at the end of the third act, that she go and thank the audience.' So, how does one explain this? If I'd sung an extra note — something only idiots can assert — she wouldn't have said to me, 'Stay.' She would have been angry. From there it started. Even now, at a distance of forty years, they still speak ill of me. She wanted me the second year, wanted my presence. So, what is all this fantasy? They do it to enrich the books and the articles, and so they damage a person. I tried to help her onstage in every way. I've always been a serious colleague, not a colleague who does harm to people."

Simionato's claim:
ť "...she [Callas] asked me to sing with her in two of her final performances of Norma [inParis], for her other partner [FiorenzaCossotto] had been behaving inconsiderately."

Spectrum of roles

According to the book "Opera" published by Koenemann, "She [Cossotto] and Giulietta Simionato were the leading Italian mezzo-sopranos of the 1960s and 1970's. She [Cossotto] won plaudits in the annals of operatic history for her wonderful vocal timbre, her perfect singing technique, and the ease with which she could master different registers. Besides singing the great mezzo roles, she also took the outstanding alto parts of the Italian operatic repertoire."
   It should be noted that apart from mezzo and alto roles she also sang soprano roles which are traditionally sung by mezzos, such as Santuzza (Cavalleria Rusticana) and Adalgisa (Norma).
   She sang Adalgisa next to the Normas of Callas, Joan Sutherland, Caballé, Gencer and Elena Souliotis. Full live documents (except for Callas which is partial) of these performances are commercially released in either audio or video.
   She also tried her luck in soprano roles (alas in studio only) of Lady Macbeth and Marchesa del Poggio (Un giorno di regno), and made a commercial recording of soprano arias by Verdi.
   Her repertory at the Met included Amneris, Eboli, Adalgisa, Santuzza, Azucena, Dalila, Carmen (only on tour and in the park concerts), Principessa (Adriana Lecouvreur) and Mistress Quickly (which she added in 1985 next to Taddei as Falstaff (opera)).

Studio Discography

Year	Work Role	Conductor Cast members	Label
1957	La Sonnambula (opera), Teresa	Antonino Votto Maria Callas Nicola Monti	EMI Classics
1959	La Gioconda (opera), Laura	Antonino Votto Maria Callas Piero Cappuccilli	EMI Classics
1959	Le nozze di Figaro, Cherubino	Carlo Maria Giulini Giuseppe Taddei Elizabeth Schwarzkopf	EMI Classics
1959	Requiem (Verdi), Mezzo-Soprano	Tullio Serafin Boris Christoff Eugenio Fernandi	Testament Records
1961	Don Carlo, Eboli	Gabriele Santini Boris Christoff Antonietta Stella	Deutsche Grammophon
1963	Il Trovatore, Azucena	Tullio Serafin Carlo Bergonzi Antonietta Stella	Deutsche Grammophon
1964	Rigoletto, Maddalena	Rafael Kubelik Renata Scotto Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau	Deutsche Grammophon
1965	Cavalleria Rusticana, Santuzza	Herbert Von Karajan Carlo Bergonzi Giangiacomo Guelfi	Deutsche Grammophon
1967	Medea (opera), Neris	Lamberto Gardelli Gwyneth Jones Bruno Prevedi	Decca Records
1967	Requiem (Verdi), Mezzo-Soprano	Herbert Von Karajan Leontyne Price Luciano Pavarotti	Deutsche Grammophon (audio and video)
1968	Cavalleria Rusticana, Santuzza	Herbert Von Karajan Gianfranco Cecchele Giangiacomo Guelfi	Deutsche Grammophon (Film)
1970	Requiem (Verdi), Mezzo-Soprano	Sir John Barbirolli Montserrat Caballe Jon Vickers	EMI Classics
1970	Il Trovatore, Azucena	Zubin Mehta Leontyne Price Placido Domingo	RCA Records
1972	Norma (opera), Adalgisa	Carlo Felice Cillario Montserrat Caballe Placido Domingo	RCA Records
1974	Un giorno di regno, Marchesa del Poggio	Lamberto Gardelli Jessye Norman Jose Carreras	Philips Records
1974	Aida, Amneris	Riccardo Muti Montserrat Caballe Placido Domingo	EMI Classics
1974	La Favorita, Leonora	Richard Bonynge Luciano Pavarotti Gabriel Bacquier	Decca Records
1975	Un ballo in maschera, Ulrica	Riccardo Muti Martina Arroyo Placido Domingo	EMI Classics
1976	Macbeth (opera), Lady Macbeth	Riccardo Muti Sherrill Milnes Jose Carreras	EMI Classics
1976	La Forza del Destino, Perziosilla	James Levine Leontyne Price Placido Domingo	RCA Records
1978	Tancredi, Tancredi	Gabriele Ferro Lella Cuberli Werner Hollweg	Warner Fonit
1978	Arie di Verdi, Abigaille (Nabucco) Elvira (Ernani) Medora(Il Corsaro) Eboli (Don Carlo) Amelia (Un Ballo in Maschera)	Nello Santi Ivo Vinco	Warner Fonit

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