Virginia Damerini was an Italian operatic soprano, active towards the end of the 19th century.
Early life Virginia Damerini was born and raised in the Apennines region of Italy.Aconito, "Virginia Damerini" Lo staffile gazzettino di lettere, arte, teatri, società (8 June 1887): 3.
Career Damerini was a dramatic soprano. In 1884 she toured several American cities from Brooklyn to San Francisco with the Milan Grand Opera Company.Production Aida (November 26, 1884), BAM Archives."Theatrical" Jingo (November 5, 1884): 140. During that tour, The New York Times commented that "Signora Damerini's style is both refined and expressive.""Italian Opera at the Star" New York Times (October 22, 1884): 5. via Newspapers.com
She created the role of Nefta in the premiere of Alberto Franchetti's Asrael in 1888.
Later on, she sang the title role in Gomes' Fosca (in which she was coached by the composer himself, and even had the latter compose a new aria specifically for her voice) in 1889 at Modena and again in 1890, at La Scala in Milan, with conductor Arnaldo Conti.Marcos da Cunha Lopes Virmond, Rosa Tolón Marin, Lenita Waldige Mendes Nogueira, "Uma ária para Virginia Damerini: a última Fosca de Carlos Gomes" Opus: Revista Eletrônica da ANPPOM 19(1)(2013): 111-140.
She also sang the "notoriously difficult" title role in Vincenzo Bellini's Norma with Arturo Toscanini conducting, at Palermo in 1893.Harvey Sachs, Toscanini: Musician of Conscience (Liveright Publishing 2017).
In 1893, she was singing Mathilde in Rossini's William Tell at El Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona on the night when the theatre was bombed by anarchist Santiago Salvador."Gran Teatre del Liceu" Almanaque del diario de Barcelona (1895): 70-71. Her sister Marie Damerini was reported among the casualties in the explosion."Anarchism in Spain" The San Francisco Chronicle (November 9, 1893): 2. via Newspapers.com
References