Maria Cebotari
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Maria Cebotari (original name: Ciubotaru, 10 February 1910 – 9 June 1949) was a Bessarabian- Romanian lyric coloratura soprano. She was widely known as a singer by the mid 1930s and noted in particular for her wide range of repertoire. Beniamino Gigli stated that Cebotari was one of the greatest female voices he had ever heard. Maria Callas was compared to her, and Angela Gheorghiu named Maria Cebotari among the artists she admires the most. With thousands of people in attendance, her funeral was "one of the most imposing demonstrations of love and honor any deceased artist has ever received" in the history of
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.


Biography

Cebotari was born in Chişinău, Bessarabia, and studied singing at the Chişinău Conservatory in 1910. In 1929, she joined the
Moscow Art Theater The Moscow Art Theatre (or MAT; , ''Moskovskiy Hudojestvenny Akademicheskiy Teatr'' (МHАТ) was a theatre company in Moscow. It was founded in by the seminal Russian theatre practitioner Konstantin Stanislavski, together with the playwright ...
Company as an actress. Shortly after, she married the company's leader, Alexander Virubov. She soon moved to
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
with the company and studied singing with Oskar Daniel for three months. She made her debut as an operatic singer as Mimi in ''
La Bohème ''La bohème'' ( , ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions '':wikt:quadro, quadri'', ''wikt:tableau, tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto b ...
'' at
Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...
Semperoper The Semperoper () is the opera house of the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden (Saxon State Opera) and the concert hall of the Staatskapelle Dresden (Saxon State Orchestra). It is also home to the Semperoper Ballett. The building is located on the Th ...
on 15 March 1931.
Bruno Walter Bruno Walter (born Bruno Schlesinger, September 15, 1876February 17, 1962) was a Germany, German-born Conducting, conductor, pianist, and composer. Born in Berlin, he escaped Nazi Germany in 1933, was naturalised as a French people, French cit ...
invited her to the
Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival () is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer, for five weeks starting in late July, in Salzburg, Austria, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart's operas are a focus of ...
, where she sang Euridice in
Gluck Christoph Willibald ( Ritter von) Gluck (; ; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the Holy Roman Empire at ...
's opera ''
Orfeo ed Euridice (; French: '; English: ''Orpheus and Eurydice'') is an opera composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck, based on the myth of Orpheus and set to a libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi. It belongs to the genre of the '' azione teatrale'', meaning an ...
''. In 1935, she sang the part of
Aminta ''Aminta'' is a play written by Torquato Tasso in 1573, represented during a garden party at the court of Ferrara. Both the actors and the public were noble persons living at the Court, who could understand subtle allusions the poet made to that ...
in the world premiere of
Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; ; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer and conductor best known for his Tone poems (Strauss), tone poems and List of operas by Richard Strauss, operas. Considered a leading composer of the late Roman ...
' opera ''
Die Schweigsame Frau ''Die schweigsame Frau'' (''The Silent Woman''), Op. 80, is a 1935 comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to a libretto by Stefan Zweig after Ben Jonson's 1609 comedy '' Epicœne, or The Silent Woman''. Composition history Since '' Elek ...
'' under
Karl Böhm Karl August Leopold Böhm (28 August 1894 – 14 August 1981) was an Austrian conductor. He was best known for his performances of the music of Mozart, Wagner, and Richard Strauss. Life and career Education Karl Böhm was born in Graz, St ...
at Dresden Semper Opera House. Strauss advised her to move to Berlin, and in 1936 she joined the
Berlin State Opera The Staatsoper Unter den Linden ( State Opera under the Lime Trees), also known as the Berlin State Opera (), is a listed building on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic center of Berlin, Germany. The opera house was built by order of P ...
, where she was a
prima donna In opera or ''commedia dell'arte'', a prima donna (; Italian for 'first lady'; : ''prime donne'') is the leading female singer in the company, the person to whom the ''prime'' roles would be given. ''Prime donne'' often had grand off-stage pe ...
until 1946. That year, she sang Susanna in ''
Le Nozze di Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' (, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna ...
'', Zerlina in ''
Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; full title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanish legen ...
'', and Sophie in ''
Der Rosenkavalier (''The Knight of the Rose'' or ''The Rose-Bearer''), Op. 59, is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from Louvet de Couvrai's novel ''Les amours du cheva ...
'' for the Dresden Semper Opera Company's performances at Covent Garden
Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orch ...
of
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
. Cebotari appeared at many opera houses, including the
Vienna State Opera The Vienna State Opera (, ) is a historic opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by ...
and
La Scala La Scala (, , ; officially , ) is a historic opera house in Milan, Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as (, which previously was Santa Maria della Scala, Milan, a church). The premiere performa ...
Opera House of
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 ...
. In 1938, she divorced Virubov and married the Austrian actor
Gustav Diessl Gustav Diessl (30 December 1899 – 20 March 1948) was an Austrian artist, and film and stage actor. Biography Diessl was born Gustav Karl Balthasar Diessl in Vienna. In 1916, he was an extra on different stages in Vienna but was soon recruite ...
, with whom she had two sons. In 1946, she left
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
and joined the Vienna State Opera House. The next year, she revisited Covent Garden with the Vienna State Opera Company and sang
Salome Salome (; , related to , "peace"; ), also known as Salome III, was a Jews, Jewish princess, the daughter of Herod II and princess Herodias. She was granddaughter of Herod the Great and stepdaughter of Herod Antipas. She is known from the New T ...
, Donna Anna in ''Don Giovanni,'' and Countess Almaviva in ''Le Nozze di Figaro''. On September 27 of that year, she was Donna Anna to the Ottavio of
Richard Tauber Richard Tauber (16 May 1891, Linz – 8 January 1948, London) was an Austrian lyric tenor and film actor. He performed the tenor role in numerous operas, including ''Don Giovanni'' by Mozart and Lorenzo Da Ponte. Early life Richard Tauber was b ...
, in his final stage appearance less than a week before his cancerous left lung was removed. In early 1949, she suffered severe pain during the performance of ''Le Nozze di Figaro'' at La Scala Opera House. At first, doctors did not consider it serious. However, on 31 March 1949, she collapsed during the performance of
Karl Millöcker Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl of Austria, last Austrian Emperor * Karl (footballer) (born 1993), Karl Cach ...
's operetta ''Der Bettelstudent'' in Vienna. During surgery on 4 April, doctors found cancer in her liver and pancreas. She died from cancer on 9 June 1949 in Vienna. British pianist
Clifford Curzon Sir Clifford Michael Curzon CBE (né Siegenberg; 18 May 19071 September 1982) was an English classical pianist. Curzon studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and subsequently with Artur Schnabel in Berlin and Wanda Landowska and ...
and his wife Lucille Wallace adopted her two sons. Cebotari had a versatile voice; her repertoire covered
coloratura Coloratura ( , , ; , from ''colorata'', the past participle of the verb ''colorare'', 'to color') is a passage of music holding elaboration to a melody. The elaboration usually takes the form of runs, trills, wide leaps or other virtuoso ma ...
,
soubrette A soubrette is a female minor stock character in opera and theatre, often a pert lady's maid. By extension, the term can refer generally to any saucy or flirtatious young woman. The term arrived in English from Provençal via French, and means " ...
, lyric, and dramatic roles, as is illustrated in her performance history. She concentrated on four composers:
Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...
,
Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; ; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer and conductor best known for his Tone poems (Strauss), tone poems and List of operas by Richard Strauss, operas. Considered a leading composer of the late Roman ...
,
Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi ( ; ; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto, a small town in the province of Parma, to a family of moderate means, recei ...
, and
Puccini Giacomo Puccini (22 December 1858 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long line of composers, s ...
. Richard Strauss described her as "the best all-rounder on the European stage, and she is never late, and she never cancels". During a BBC interview decades after her death, Herbert von Karajan said she was the greatest "Madame Butterfly" he had ever conducted.


Films

Along with her successful career at the opera houses, Cebotari appeared in several operatic films, such as ''Verdi's Three Women'', ''Maria Malibran'', and ''The Dream of Madame Butterfly''. Cebotari also was cast in the film ''
Odessa in fiamme ''Odessa in Flames'' (, ) is a 1942 Italian-Romanian propaganda war film directed by Carmine Gallone and starring Maria Cebotari, Carlo Ninchi and Filippo Scelzo. The film is about the Battle of Odessa in 1941, where the city was taken in an ope ...
'' (''Odessa in Flames'') in 1942, directed by Italian director
Carmine Gallone Carmine Gallone (10 September 1885 – 11 March 1973) was an early Italian film director, screenwriter, and film producer, who was also controversial for his works of pro-Fascist propaganda and historical revisionism. Considered one of Itali ...
with the script by Nicolae Kiriţescu. The movie is a fascist propaganda film about the Battle of Odessa, which was won by Romanian and Nazi troops. The Romanian-Italian co-production won at the Festival of Venice in 1942. In the film, Cebotari plays the role of Maria Teodorescu, an opera singer from Bessarabia, in Chisinau with her eight-year-old son at the time of the invasion. Her husband fights as a captain in the Romanian army in Bucharest, and her son is taken. Teodorescu is informed that her son will be kept in a camp and trained to be a Soviet man. Teodorescu consents to perform Russian music in theatres and taverns in exchange for her son's return. By chance, her spouse discovers her photo, and the family gets back together. ''Odessa in Flames'' was banned after Soviet troops reached Bucharest. The film was later rediscovered in the
Cinecittà Cinecittà Studios (; Italian for Cinema City) is a large film studio in Rome, Italy. With an area of 400,000 square metres (99 acres), it is the largest film studio in Europe, and is considered the hub of Italian cinema. The studios were constru ...
archives in Rome, where it was screened for the first time in years in Romania in December 2006. Director Vlad Druc's documentary "Aria" (2005) about the life of Maria Cebotari faced difficulties when screening in Moldova during the Communist administration (which ended in 2009). This was due to a part in the movie where the soprano self-identifies as Romanian, contrary to the official policy of the Communist government that called the ethnic majority Moldovan.


Recordings

Many of her surviving recordings are from live performances, either in opera houses or radio broadcasts. Almost all have now been digitally remastered. The Austrian CD label ''
Preiser Records Preiser Records is an independent Austrian record label. It was founded in 1952 by Otto G. Preiser (1920–1996). The label is particularly important for recordings from the Viennese cabaret scene, especially from the 1950s and 1960s (Helmut Qua ...
'' has issued several of her CDs, among which is ''The Art of Maria Cebotari'' and ''Maria Cebotari singt Richard Strauss''. * Mozart – ''Le nozze di Figaro'' (Böhm 1938, in German/Ahlersmeyer, Teschemacher, Schöffler, Wessely, Böhme) Preiser * Puccini – ''Turandot'' (Keilberth 1938, in German/Hauss, Buchta, Hann, Eipperle, Harlan, Schupp, Kiefer), Koch-Schwann * Schoeck – ''Das Schloss Dürande'' (Heger live 1943, excerpts/Anders, Berglund, Fuchs, Domgraf-Fassbaender, Greindl, Hüsch), Jecklin * R. Strauss – ''Salome'' (Krauss 1947 live/Rothmüller, Höngen), Gebhardt * R. Strauss – ''Taillefer'' ( Rother 1944/ Walter Ludwig,
Hans Hotter Hans Hotter (19 January 19096 December 2003) was a German operatic bass-baritone. He stood and his appearance was striking. His voice and diction were equally recognisable. Early life and career Born in Offenbach am Main, Hesse, Hotter studied ...
), Preiser * Verdi – ''Luisa Miller'' (Elmendorff 1944, in German/Böhme, Hopf, Hann, Herrmann, Eipperle), Preiser * Verdi – ''La traviata'' (Steinkopf 1943, in German/Rosvaenge, Schlusnus), Iron Needle * von Einem – ''Dantons Tod'' ( Fricsay live 1947/Schöffler, Patzak, Klein, Weber, Alsen, Hann), Stradivarius * Recital (Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, Leoncavallo, J. Strauss, Arditi, Rachmaninov, Beckmann, Mackeben, Tchaikovsky), Preiser – LV * Recital – Maria Cebotari singt Arien (Mozart, J. Strauss, Gounod, Puccini and R. Strauss), Preiser – LV * Maria Cebotari – Arien, Duette, Szenen (Mozart, Bizet, Verdi, Puccini), Preiser * Recital – Maria Cebotari singt Richard Strauss (''Salome'', ''Feuersnot'', ''Der Rosenkavalier'', ''Daphne'', ''Taillefer''), Preiser (Berliner Rundfunk Sinfonie Orchester,
Artur Rother Artur Martin Rother (12 October 1885 – 22 September 1972) was a German conductor who worked mainly in the opera house. He was born in Stettin, Pomerania (now Szczecin, Poland). His father was an organist and music teacher. He studied under Hu ...
, 1–4 recorded 1943, 5 in 1944). * Maria Cebotari: Arias, Songs and in Film, Weltbild * Recital – Maria Cebotari singt Giuseppe Verdi (''La traviata'', ''Rigoletto''), Preiser * Four Famous Sopranos of the Past (Gitta Alpar,
Jarmila Novotná Jarmila Novotná (September 23, 1907 in Prague – February 9, 1994 in New York City) was a Czech lyric coloratura soprano and actress. From 1940 to 1956, she was a star of the Metropolitan Opera. Early career A student of Emmy Destinn, Novot ...
and Esther Réthy), Preiser – LV * Bruno Walter Vol. 1, Symphony No 2 and No 4 (1948/50), LYS *
Helge Rosvaenge Helge Rosvaenge (born Helge Anton Rosenvinge Hansen, 29 August 189717 June 1972) was a Danish-born operatic tenor whose career was centred on Germany and Austria, before, during and after World War II. His last name is sometimes spelled Roswaenge ...
in Szenen aus ''André Chénier'' und ''Rigoletto'' – Duets, Preiser * Helge Rosvaenge – Duets, Preiser – LV * Grosse Mozartsänger Vol. 1 1922 – 1942, Orfeo * Von der Königlichen Hofoper zur Staatsoper ‘Unter den Linden’, Preiser – LV


Filmography

* ''
Troika Troika or troyka (from Russian тройка, meaning 'a set of three' or the digit '3') may refer to: * Troika (driving), a traditional Russian harness driving combination, a cultural icon of Russia Politics * Triumvirate, a political regime rul ...
'' (1930) * '' Girls in White'' (1936) * ''
Mother Song ''Mother Song'' (German: ''Mutterlied'') is a 1937 German-Italian musical drama film directed by Carmine Gallone and starring Beniamino Gigli, Maria Cebotari and Hans Moser.Waldman p.202 It was produced by Itala Film, a Berlin-based production c ...
'' (1937) * ''Strong Hearts'' (1937) * ''
Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi ( ; ; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for List of compositions by Giuseppe Verdi, his operas. He was born near Busseto, a small town in the province of Parma ...
'' (1938) * ''
The Dream of Butterfly ''The Dream of Butterfly'' (Italian: '' Il sogno di Butterfly'', German: ''Premiere der Butterfly'') is a 1939 musical drama film directed by Carmine Gallone and starring Maria Cebotari, Fosco Giachetti and Germana Paolieri. It is an variation o ...
'' (1939) * ''
Love Me, Alfredo! ''Love Me, Alfredo!'' (Italian: ''Amami, Alfredo!'') is a 1940 Italian romantic drama film directed by Carmine Gallone and starring Maria Cebotari, Claudio Gora and Lucie Englisch.Nowell-Smith p.57 It portrays the relationship between an establi ...
'' (1940) * ''
Odessa in Flames ''Odessa in Flames'' (, ) is a 1942 Italian-Romanian propaganda war film directed by Carmine Gallone and starring Maria Cebotari, Carlo Ninchi and Filippo Scelzo. The film is about the Battle of Odessa in 1941, where the city was taken in an ope ...
'' (1942) * ''
Maria Malibran Maria Felicia Malibran (; 24 March 1808 – 23 September 1836) was a Spanish singer who commonly sang both contralto and soprano parts, and was one of the best-known opera singers of the 19th century. Malibran was known for her stormy personality ...
'' (1943)


Sources

*


External links

* * *
Photographs and literature

MoldovaStamps.org 1994 postage stamp of the Republic of Moldova – Maria Cebotari
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cebotari, Maria 1910 births 1949 deaths Burials at Döbling Cemetery Musicians from Chișinău People from Kishinyovsky Uyezd Moldovan opera singers Romanian operatic sopranos Austrian operatic sopranos Eastern Orthodox Christians from Moldova Romanian emigrants to Austria Romanian people of Moldovan descent 20th-century Romanian women opera singers 20th-century Austrian women opera singers Deaths from pancreatic cancer in Austria Deaths from liver cancer in Austria Actors from Chișinău