Maria Caniglia (1905-1979) was a spinto soprano who sang at many of the major opera houses, though her career was mainly in Italy. She was a regular performer at La Scala and then at the Rome Opera House. She opened the 1938 Met season as Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello. After 14 performances during the 38-39 season, she never returned to the Met. There are several likely reasons she never returned to New York. The onset of WW II is an obvious explanation. The dominance of Zinka Milanov in the Italian spinto repertory is another. Milanov debuted at the Met in 1937 and remained with the company until 1966, with a four-year hiatus from 1947 to 1951. Finally, Caniglia’s voice was just a bit below the standard expected of a singer with such a big career in Italy.
She made numerous recordings, several with Beniamino Gigli. Her voice was uneven. Nevertheless, she was capable of realizing the emotional content of some of the music she sang, especially that of the late verismo composers.
Her voice was improperly placed. Much of her sound came from the throat with almost nothing from the chest register. Her high notes were sometimes controlled screams that were disembodied from the rest of her voice. Her tone was often unsteady and inclined to wobble. Despite these flaws, she had a long and successful career. She is considered by some to be the leading Italian spinto soprano between the primes of Claudia Muzio and Renata Tebaldi. That opinion, at least to me, seems a stretch.
The 10 arias below give a good impression of her strengths and weaknesses. First Verdi. Her Met debut was, as mentioned above, as Desdemona. The ‘Ave Maria’ is from the final act, just before her matrimonial murder. Her vocal placement in this excerpt is much better than in some of the other selections.
‘Tacea la notte placida’ is from Act 1 of Il Trovatore. Leonora recalls her love for a mystery knight who later appeared as a troubador and sang beneath her window. Naturally, he’s the tenor.
‘Suicidio’ is from Act 4 of Ponchielli’s only opera to enter the standard operatic repertoire, La Gioconda. The soprano prepares to die by her own hand rather than submit to the embrace of the baritone. In this case of baritonal rejection, Barnaba, the villainous baritone, is a very nasty piece of work, and her choice is understandable. The lack of chest tones is particularly noticeable in the aria’s last word.
Mascagni’s L’Amico Fritz was his second opera. It is occasionally performed in Italy, but rarely elsewhere. ‘Non mi resta che il pianto’ is in Act 3. Suzel, the soprano, voices her despair and love for Fritz – the tenor. Things work out and the opera ends happily.
‘Ebben? Ne andrò lontana’ is Catalani’s best-known composition – likely his only well-known one to most people. It’s from the first act of his opera La Wally.
Nextm two Puccini aria. His third opera, Manon Lescaut, was his first hit. ‘In quelle trine morbida’ is in Act 2. The eponymous soprano has deserted her young, but poor lover for an older man with lots of cash. Now she’s a bit sorry.
‘Vissi d’arte’ is Tosca’s show stopper aria from Act 2 of Tosca. This description is literally true. While Tosca has to have an aria, this one is terrific, but it stops the action like a hundred-car pile-up on the interstate. After the diva has her moment, the action resumes as if nothing had happened.
Umberto Giordano’s only opera to make it big is Andrea Chénier. While it’s a tenor’s opera, it also has good roles for soprano and baritone. ‘La mamma morte’ is in Act 3. The soprano relates the ill effects of the French Revolution on her and her aristocratic family.
Finally, two arias from another composer to have only one opera in the standard repertory – Francesco Cilea. Adriana Lecouvreur is very loosely based on the life of the French actress Adrienne Lecouvreur (1692-1730). Io son l’umile ancella (I am the humble servant of the creative spirit) is in Act 1.
The opera has one of the more imaginative death scenes. Adriana dies from inhaling poisoned violets sent to her by her rival in love. She dies, but not before singing an apostrophe (‘Poveri fiori’) to the flowers she thinks were from her lover.
