Maria Farneti (8 December 1877 – 17 October 1955) was an Italian soprano singer.

Early life

Maria Farneti was born at

Forlì Forlì ( ; ; ; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) and city in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, and is, together with Cesena, the capital of the Province of Forlì-Cesena.The city is situated along the Via Emilia, to the east of the Montone river, ...

, the daughter of Domenico Farneti and Clementina Babini. She studied voice with Virginia Gazzuoli, at the Liceo Rossini in

Pesaro Pesaro (; ) is a (municipality) in the Italy, Italian region of Marche, capital of the province of Pesaro and Urbino, on the Adriatic Sea. According to the 2011 census, its population was 95,011, making it the second most populous city in the ...

.Alan Mallach
''The Autumn of Italian Opera: From Verismo to Modernism, 1890-1915''
(University Press of New England 2007): 187-188.

Career

Farneti, "said to be the greatest beauty on the Italian stage", made her official debut in 1899, 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 ...

'' in

Sansepolcro Sansepolcro, formerly Borgo Santo Sepolcro, is a town and ''comune'' founded in the 11th century, located in the Italian Province of Arezzo in the eastern part of the region of Tuscany. Situated on the upper reaches of the Tiber river, the town ...

. In 1900 she sang at

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 ...

with

Enrico Caruso Enrico Caruso (, , ; 25 February 1873 – 2 August 1921) was an Italian operatic first lyric tenor then dramatic tenor. He sang to great acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and the Americas, appearing in a wide variety of roles that r ...

. In 1902 she made her North American debut and sang in

Pietro Mascagni Pietro Mascagni (7 December 1863 – 2 August 1945) was an Italian composer primarily known for his operas. His 1890 masterpiece '' Cavalleria rusticana'' caused one of the greatest sensations in opera history and single-handedly ushered in the ...

's ''

Iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye * Iris (color), an ambiguous color term *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants * Iris (given name), a feminine given name, and a list of peopl ...

'' in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. In 1906 she gave her interpretation of

Cio-Cio-San ''Madama Butterfly'' (; ''Madame Butterfly'') is an opera in three acts (originally two) by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It is based on the short story "Madame Butterfly" (1898) by John Luth ...

in ''

Madama Butterfly ''Madama Butterfly'' (; ''Madame Butterfly'') is an opera in three acts (originally two) by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It is based on the short story " Madame Butterfly" (1898) by John Lu ...

'' 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, ...

and

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

, and she was well-reviewed in ''

Ariane Ariane may refer to: *Ariana (name), also Ariane, Arianne Arts * ''Ariane'' (Martinů), an opera by Bohuslav Martinů, first performed 1961 * ''Ariane'' (Massenet), an opera by Jules Massenet, first performed 1906 * ''Ariane'' (film), a 1931 ...

'' in 1908. She sang on tours of South America, at theatres in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

and

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, in 1911 and 1913. She was the first to sing the title role of Mascagni's ''

Isabeau ''Isabeau'' is a ''leggenda drammatica'' or opera in three parts by Pietro Mascagni, 1911, from an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica. Mascagni conducted its first performance on 2 June 1911 at the Teatro Coliseo, Buenos Aires. A retelling of the ...

''. Her last stage role was in

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 ...

's ''

La Rondine ''La rondine'' (''The Swallow'') is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giuseppe Adami, based on a libretto by Alfred Maria Willner and . It was first performed at the Grand Théâtre de Monte Carlo (or the Thé� ...

'' in 1917. She made recordings in 1910 (for Edison), 1914-1917 (for

Fonotipia Records Fonotipia Records, or Dischi Fonotipia, was an Italian gramophone record label established in 1904 with a charter to record the art of leading opera singers and some other celebrity musicians, chiefly violinists. Fonotipia continued to operate int ...

), and 1930-1931 (for Columbia). In 1922 she coached Irish soprano

Margaret Burke Sheridan Margaret Burke Sheridan (15 October 1889 – 16 April 1958) was an Irish opera singer (lyric soprano). Born in Castlebar, County Mayo, she was known as ''Maggie from Mayo'' and is regarded as Ireland's second prima donna, after Catherine Hayes ( ...

for a performance of ''Madama Butterfly''.

Personal life

Farneti married a lawyer, Luigi Riboldi, in 1917, and spent her retirement in a villa on

Lake Como Lake Como ( , ) also known as Lario, is a lake of glacial origin in Lombardy, Italy. It has an area of , making it the third-largest lake in Italy, after Lake Garda and Lake Maggiore. At over deep, it is one of the deepest lakes in Europe. ...

. The Riboldis were friends with

Arturo Toscanini Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orche ...

and his wife, into the 1940s. Maria Farneti died in 1955, aged 78 years. There is a street named for her in Forlì, and another in

São Paulo, Brazil SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Serb Autonomous Regions (''Srpska autonomna oblast'', SAO), during the breakup of Yu ...

.Rua Maria Farneti
Jardim São Roberto, São Paulo. In 2015, there was a musical commemoration in Forlì to mark sixty years since her death.

References

External links

*Roberta Paganelli
''Maria Farneti nel cielo di Puccini e Mascagni''
(Grafikamente 2015). A biography published for the 60th anniversary of Farneti's death. {{DEFAULTSORT:Farneti, Maria 1877 births 1955 deaths Italian opera singers