Caterina Cavalieri

Caterina Cavalieri (1755-1801) was one of the best singers in Vienna at the time of Antonio Salieri and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. She was the first to interpret the role of Konstanze from the opera The Abduction from the Seraglio, as well as the role of Madame Silberklang in the singspiel The Impresario.

Antonio Salieri

Caterina Cavalieri and Antonio Salieri

She was born in 1755 as Katherina Magdalena Josepha Cavalier in Lichtenthal. Since her father Joseph Karl was a church musician, she received first music lessons in the family. One of the happiest circumstances that struck her as a young girl was meeting Antonio Salieri, one of the most esteemed teachers and composers of that time. She became his student and this gave her an excellent opportunity to develop her career in Vienna. Caterina's first appearances on the opera stage have earned her great acclaim. It helped the development of her career which lasted almost two decades. She made her debut in 1775 singing in La finta giardiniera by Pasquale Anfossi. This was followed by a role in Ignaz Umlauf's singspiel. Of particular note was the role of Nannette in Salieri's opera Der Rauchfangkehrer, which was written for Caterina.

Caterina Cavalieri as Nannette

While working in the service of the Imperial Theater, Caterina was among the best singers in the troupe, although she received less income than her Italian colleagues. She was obviously talented as an actress and a singer, but Caterina made progress thanks to Salieri. There was also another important fact. The period of her artistic activity coincided with the efforts of Emperor Joseph II to establish a national theater that would perform German operas. His wish was to create something that could compete with Italian opera. The aim of the Imperial Theater was to stage works of high quality in German language, because opera as a genre was seen as an efficient tool in the hands of those who cared about social policy. In spite of that, during this period composers produced works that went beyond the social circumstances of the time, so some of the operas are still performed today.

Cavalieri and Mozart

Caterina Cavalieri as an interpreter of Mozart's music

Caterina Cavalieri interpreted several great heroines from Mozart's operas. She premiered the role of Konstanze from The Abduction from the Seraglio and Madame Silberklang from The Impresario. When she was assigned Don Elvira at the Vienna premiere of Don Giovanni, Mozart wrote for her the aria Mi tradì quell'anima ingrata.

At that time, a Society of Musicians was active in Vienna. It organized concerts for its own purposes. This charity was intended to help musicians and their families. Leading composers of the time wrote for those occasions and also participated as performers. Such was the case with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Caterina Cavalieri. For one of the charity concerts, the composer wrote a cantata Davide penitente, borrowing music from one of his unfinished sacred works. He wrote the aria Tra l'oscure ombre funeste for Caterina, keeping in mind that she could easily sing beautiful and elegant melodies in legato, as well as coloraturas.

Caterina Cavalieri as Konstanze

Mozart's opera The Abduction from the Seraglio premiered in 1782 at the Burgtheater in Vienna under the auspices of the imperial project aimed at creating a national opera. Among the works prepared for these purposes, The Abduction from the Seraglio stands out as an opera which gained considerable success. The main roles were entrusted to members of a troupe formed for the national theater. Caterina Cavalieri sang the role of Konstanze. The role of Belmonte was given to a German tenor Valentin Adamberger, to whom Mozart also wrote some other compositions. Ludwig Fischer, a respected German bass and composer's friend, was hired to interpret the role of Osmin. The opera was a huge success at the premiere and it was often performed during Mozart's life. Today it is regularly staged in opera houses worldwide.

One of the most demanding arias for a coloratura soprano was written for Konstanze. It's her aria Martern aller Arten. The main features are the energetic singing in the middle register of the voice, against a strong orchestral accompaniment, as well as the coloraturas that cover the whole range of Caterina's voice. The average duration of this aria is about nine minutes. It requires vocal strength and dramatic intensity in all the registers, so a singer with a strong lyric voice is needed to perform it properly. Many coloraturas require a flexible voice that is able to perform virtuoso passages with ease. Nonetheless, the difficulty of this aria lies not so much in the coloraturas as in the endurance and strength of the singer. The tempo of this aria is fast, so the singer does not have much time to rest. The range of the aria spans more than two octaves, so a singer's voice should sound good both in its lower and higher registers.

Caterina Cavalieri began to withdraw from the operatic stage in 1790.