Maria Malibran

The famous opera diva of the Romantic era - Maria Malibran - was born on March 24th 1808 into a musical family. Her parents, father Manuel and mother Joaquina, brother Manuel and sister Pauline were professional musicians. Not only that, all the members of this family members were - singers. They left a significant mark in the history of music, especially in the fields of opera and vocal pedagogy. Maria has sung in operas that are now an integral part of the repertoire of famous opera houses around the world. Her voice type which could be described as coloratura contralto is very rare nowadays. Some of the roles she introduced are now being sung by sopranos or mezzos.

Maria Malibran and Gioacchino Rossini

Maria Malibran's name is largely associated with roles in Rossini's operas, such as Otello, Tancredi, Il Turco in Italia, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, La Cenerentola and Semiramide. Many composers admired her extraordinary talent, beauty, acting skills and education. This is how Rossini described her:

"Her superior intelligence, breadth of knowledge and unimaginably fiery temper made her overshadow every other woman I knew."

Maria Malibran and Vincenzo Bellini

Besides performing roles in Rossini's operas, Maria Malibran often sung in the operas of Vincenzo Bellini. She performed the role of Romeo in I Capuletti e i Montecchi, the role of Amina in La Sonnambula, the title role in Bellini's Norma, as well as the role of Elvira in the opera I Puritani.

Among the admirers of Maria Malibran were some of the greatest composers of Romanticism, such as Chopin, Mendelssohn, Liszt. Vincenzo Bellini met Malibran in the spring of 1833 in London, when she performed with great success the role of Amina in his opera La Sonnambula. In a letter he sent to his colleague, Bellini revealed how fascinated he was with her enormous talent and Maria herself showed a keen interest and affection for his music, which meant much to him as a composer.

Voice and appearance

Her voice was agile, it spanned almost three octaves. Based on the variety of ornaments, intricate cadenzas, fiorituras and trills she herself wrote in the scores, it is easy to conclude that she could sing like a true virtuoso could perform on an instrument, like the violin or the flute However, what distinguished Maria Malibran as an artist was that she was able to use her purely technical vocal abilities as a means of expression. In addition, she was talented as an actress and proved to be both good as a comedian and as a tragedian, which certainly made her a complete artist. A French music critic writes about it:

"Malibran's voice is sonorous, full of brilliance and strength, it has that velvety quality that gave a special color to her interpretations of gentle and passionate arias. She possessed all the art of singing demanded - vivacity, precision, flexibility and ease of execution of various fiorituras and ornaments, adding to it strength, grace or flirtation when needed."

Considering she had an extraordinary voice range, ranging from the deep note of a contralto to the highest notes of a coloratura soprano, Maria Malibran sang equally well roles written for a variety of female voices. Such opera singers belong to a special type of female voice called soprano sfogato. These were deep female voices who had good lower register and a dark color, but could easily sing in the high register of a soprano, reaching even the highest notes of a coloratura soprano. Such singers were indeed very rare in the history of music. Apart from Maria Malibran, other female artists like Giuditta Pasta, Isabella Colbran or Giuseppina Strepponi had that kind of a voice. Music experts believe that Maria Callas was a worthy representative of this unique voice type.

Operatic career

After her operatic debut in London, when she as an 18 year old girl sang the role of Rosina in The Barber of Seville, Maria Malibran stayed with her family for about two years in America, where she delighted audiences in New York with her performances. During those years, the Garcia family was in fact the first to introduce Italian opera in America, performing works by themselves. That was not difficult given that the whole family was professionally engaged in singing. The first opera they performed was Rossini's The Barber of Seville in November 1825. Father Manuel sang the role of Count Almaviva, his wife interpreted Berta, their son Manuel was Figaro, while Maria sang Rosina.

At the end of 1827 Maria returned to Europe in order to develop her career. She achieved tremendous success in her native Paris, where she was celebrated as the most popular prima donna of the French capital. Many prominent artists such as Stendhal, Lamartine, Georges Sand, Liszt, Rossini and Chopin praised her. She also performed successfully in London, where she met Bellini. Maria was very much loved in Italy, where she also repeatedly delighted the audience. We can only imagine how an extraordinary artist would she have become if she had not fell off a horse in 1836. Although she suffered serious injuries on that unfortunate occasion, Maria refused to visit a doctor and continued to perform tirelessly until she passed away a few months later at the age of 28.