Alice Laura Barbi (1 June 1858 – 4 September 1948) was an Italian
mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano (, ), or mezzo ( ), is a type of classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A bel ...
and
violin
The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...
ist. She had a short, yet successful career as a concert performer. She was a close friend of
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period (music), Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, oft ...
.
Biography
Alice Barbi was born in
Modena
Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025.
A town, and seat of an archbis ...
,
Duchy of Modena and Reggio
The Duchy of Modena and Reggio (; ; ) was an Italian state created in 1452 located in Northern Italy, Northwestern Italy, in the present day region of Emilia-Romagna. It was ruled since its establishment by the noble House of Este, and from 1814 ...
on 1 June 1858.
She began studying music at a young age under her father Henry's guidance. She was a near-prodigy violinist,
debuting at the age of seven. After staying in Egypt she studied in
Bologna
Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...
at the
Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini
The Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini (previously known as the Liceo Musicale di Bologna, and better known in English as the Bologna Conservatory) is a college of music in Bologna, Italy. The conservatory opened on 3 December 1804, as the ...
. She was trained in musical theory and studied multiple languages. She attended lectures by Carlo Verardi. She later dedicated herself to singing, studying with
Luigi Zamboni
Luigi Zamboni (1767 – 28 February 1837) was an Italian operatic buffo bass-baritone.
He was born in Bologna, where he began his singing career in 1791 in a production of Cimarosa's '' Il fanatico burlato''. Engagements followed in Napl ...
and Alessandro Busi in Bologna and later with
Luigi Vannuccini
Luigi Vannuccini (4 December 1828 – 14 August 1911) was an Italian conductor, composer and teacher of bel canto
Life
Born in Foiano della Chiana, Vannuccini began his musical studies with his father Ernesto, who had been singing teacher in Flo ...
in
Florence
Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025.
Florence ...
, where she had moved with the help of the
Corsini family
The House of Corsini is the name of an old and influential Italian nobility, Italian princely family, originally from Florence, whose members were elected to many important political and Ecclesiology, ecclesiastical positions, including that of ...
.
Barbi started her singing career alongside
Antonio Cotogni
Antonio "Toto" Cotogni (; 1 August 1831 – 15 October 1918) was an Italian baritone of the first magnitude. Regarded internationally as being one of the greatest male opera singers of the 19th century, he was particularly admired by the composer ...
and
Giovanni Sgambati in a concert at the
Quirinale
The Quirinal Palace ( ) is a historic building in Rome, Italy, the main official residence of the President of the Italian Republic, together with Villa Rosebery in Naples and the Tenuta di Castelporziano, an estate on the outskirts of Rome, som ...
. Her public debut was a concert organized by impresario Andreoli in
Milan
Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
on 2 April 1882. The program included four arias from
Handel
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel ( ; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concerti.
Born in Halle, Germany, H ...
,
Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn ( ; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...
,
Jommelli, and
Rossini
Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. He gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano p ...
.
Schumann
Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...
and
Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...
were her specialities for recitals.
A review by
William Beatty-Kingston in ''
The Theatre
The Theatre was an Elizabethan playhouse in Shoreditch (in Curtain Road, part of the modern London Borough of Hackney), just outside the City of London. Built in 1576, after the Red Lion, it was the first permanent theatre built exclusiv ...
'' praised the two chamber music recitals she gave at
Prince's Hall
Prince's Hall was a concert venue in Piccadilly, London.
It was part of the premises of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, at 190–195 Piccadilly, situated behind the galleries where annual exhibitions of the Institute took place. ...
in July 1886. He referred to her as the best ''cantatrice di camera'' in Europe and described her singing as "the outcome of a rare and surprising combination of natural gifts and indefatigable cultivation." Her program for the recitals illustrated the development of vocal music since the 17th century. Beatty-Kingston wrote that "All the laudatory adjectives in my vocabulary are insufficient to express my sense of the beauty, grace and poetical feeling characterising her rendering of these compositions, one and all." In addition to singing, she performed as a violinist on occasion. Barbi spent considerable time abroad, traveling to Austria, Germany, England, and Russia.
Barbi found an ardent admirer in German composer Johannes Brahms and the pair were close friends in his final years.
Brahms wrote to Austrian composer
Richard Heuberger
Richard Franz Joseph Heuberger (18 June 1850 in Graz, Austria – 28 October 1914 in Vienna, Austria) was an Austrian composer of operas and operettas, a music critic, and teacher.
Heuberger was born in Graz, the son of a bandage manufacturer ...
about Barbi toward the close of 1890, relating that "From someone like Barbi we can all learn! Above all the Italian lady sings supremely steadily, with a solid pulse, and... projects the structure of every piece she sings."
Brahms arranged for Barbi to visit
Clara Schumann
Clara Josephine Schumann (; ; née Wieck; 13 September 1819 – 20 May 1896) was a German pianist, composer, and piano teacher. Regarded as one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic music, Romantic era, she exerted her influence o ...
that autumn.
The first time he heard her sing one of his songs, he said, "Today I've heard my songs for the first time." Brahms would accompany Barbi around Venice. While their relationship was platonic, it was the subject of gossip and Brahms told
Ignaz Brüll that she was the only woman he had wanted to marry after middle age.
Barbi's career was short. She retired from the stage on 21 December 1893 to marry Baron Boris von Wolf-
Stomersee (1850–1917). Brahms provided piano accompaniment for her farewell concert's entire program.
Barbi had two daughters,
Alexandra
Alexandra () is a female given name of Greek origin. It is the first attested form of its variants, including Alexander (, ). Etymology, Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; genitive, GEN , ; ...
(1894–1982), who became a psychoanalyst and married
Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
Giuseppe Tomasi, 11th Prince of Lampedusa, 12th Duke of Palma, GE (23 December 1896 – 23 July 1957), known as Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (), was a Sicilian writer, nobleman, and Prince of Lampedusa. He is most famous for his only novel, '' ...
, and Olga (1896–1984), who married diplomat Augusto Biancheri Chiappori and was the mother of
Boris Biancheri.
[Boris Biancheri Chiappori, ''L'ambra del Baltico: carteggio immaginario con Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa'', Milano: Feltrinelli, 1994, p. 9-11, ]
Google libri
Following Stomersee's death in 1917, Barbi married Pietro della Torreta, the Italian Ambassador to Great Britain, in 1920.
Barbi died in
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
on 4 September 1948.
Notes
References
* A. Zapperi, «Barbi, Alice». ''
Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani
The ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani'' () is a biographical dictionary published in 100 volumes by the Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, started in 1960 and completed in 2020. It includes about 40,000 biographies of distinguished Italia ...
'', Vol. VI, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, 1964
on-line
* Bianca Maria Antolini, Alice Barbi: una cantante da concerto in Europa tra Otto e Novecento, in Giuseppe Martucci e la caduta delle Alpi, a cura di Antonio Caroccia, Paologiovanni Maione e Francesca Seller, Lucca, LIM, 2008, pp. 283–340 (Strumenti della ricerca musicale, 14).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barbi, Alice
1858 births
1948 deaths
Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini alumni
Italian mezzo-sopranos
Italian violinists
Musicians from Modena
Italian women classical violinists