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Rosa Raisa (23 May 189328 September 1963) was a Polish-born and Italian-trained Russian and Jewish operatic
dramatic soprano A dramatic soprano is a type of operatic soprano with a powerful, rich, emotive voice that can sing over, or cut through, a full orchestra. Thicker vocal folds in dramatic voices usually (but not always) mean less agility than lighter voices but a ...
who became a naturalized American. She possessed a voice of remarkable power and was the creator of the title role of Puccini's last opera, ''
Turandot ''Turandot'' ( ; see #Origin and pronunciation of the name, below) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. Puccini left the opera unfinished at the time of his death in 1924; it ...
'', at
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 ...
, Milan.


Life and career


Early life and operatic beginnings

She was born as Raitza Burchstein, the daughter of Herschel and Frieda Leah Burchstein, in
Białystok Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the List of cities and towns in Poland, tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area. Biał ...
(Tsarist Russia, now
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
) in 1893. Some of her family fled Russia when she was 14 due to the
pogrom A pogrom is a violent riot incited with the aim of Massacre, massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe late 19th- and early 20th-century Anti-Jewis ...
s, emigrating to Italy. There Raitza met Dario Ascarelli, who recognized her talent and potential and sponsored her at the Naples Conservatory ( San Pietro a Majella). Her teacher at the conservatory, the contralto Barbara Marchisio (1833–1919), had been one of the most prominent Italian singers of the mid-19th century. Marchisio brought Raisa in 1912 to Cleofonte Campanini, a leading operatic conductor and impresario. After the audition, he engaged the 20-year-old singer for the 1913 Parma Verdi Centenary (which included '' Oberto, Conte di San Bonifacio'' and '' Un ballo in maschera''), and also signed her for his Philadelphia-Chicago Opera. As she was under 21 years of age, these engagements were confirmed by handshake.


Debuts in Europe and America

Debuts and successes followed rapidly for Raisa. Her North American debut was on 14 November 1913 with Campanini's Chicago-Philadelphia Opera Company in Baltimore as Mimí in Puccini's ''
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 ...
'' with
Giovanni Martinelli Giovanni Martinelli (22 October 1885 – 2 February 1969) was an Italian operatic spinto tenor. He was associated with the Italian lyric-dramatic repertory, although he performed French operatic roles to great acclaim as well. Martinelli wa ...
of the Metropolitan Opera as Rodolfo in his first season in North America. (Martinelli was also her partner in 1937 in her last stage appearance of her career in Halévy's ''
La Juive ''La Juive'' (, ) is a grand opera in five acts by Fromental Halévy to an original French libretto by Eugène Scribe; it was first performed at the Opéra National de Paris, Opéra de Paris, on 23 February 1835. Composition history ''La Juive'' ...
'' in Chicago). Her first role in Philadelphia was Isabella of Aragon in the United States premiere of Alberto Franchetti's ''Cristoforo Colombo'', followed by Verdi's
Aida ''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is a tragic opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 De ...
on 29 November 1913 at the
Auditorium Theatre The Auditorium Theatre is a music and performance venue located in the Auditorium Building at 50 E. Ida B. Wells Drive in Chicago, Illinois. Inspired by the Richardsonian Romanesque Style of architect Henry Hobson Richardson, the building was d ...
in Chicago. Edward Moore, then critic for the ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
'', stated that hers was "a voice the like of whose power had never been heard on that stage". She added several roles to her stage repertoire with the Chicago-Philadelphia company: Santuzza in Mascagni's ''
Cavalleria rusticana ''Cavalleria rusticana'' (; ) is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from an 1880 Cavalleria rusticana (short story), short story of the same name and subsequent ...
'' (Dallas), Donna Anna in Mozart's ''
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 ...
'' (Philadelphia), Klytemnestra in Vittorio Gnecchi's ''Cassandra'' (Philadelphia—Western Hemisphere premiere), and Elsa in ''
Lohengrin Lohengrin () is a character in German Arthurian literature. The son of Parzival (Percival), he is a knight of the Holy Grail sent in a boat pulled by swans to rescue a maiden who can never ask his identity. His story, which first appears in Wo ...
'' in English (Seattle). In the spring of 1914 she went to London where she debuted at
Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist sit ...
in ''
Aida ''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is a tragic opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 De ...
'' 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 ...
, participated as Helen of Troy in Boito's ''
Mefistofele ''Mefistofele'' () is an opera in a prologue and five acts, later reduced to four acts and an epilogue, the only completed opera with music by the Italian composer-librettist Arrigo Boito (there are several completed operas for which he was lib ...
'' with Claudia Muzio, John McCormack and Adamo Didur, and substituted for Claire Dux as the Countess in Mozart's ''
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 ...
''. The London company went to Paris where she sang her only Nedda in Leoncavallo's ''Pagliacci'', and again sang Amelia in Verdi's '' Un ballo in maschera''. In November 1914 publisher Tito Ricordi, who had personally auditioned Raisa in his studio, recommended her to the management of the Modena opera for a long run (Raisa recalled nineteen performances) of Riccardo Zandonai's new opera, ''
Francesca da Rimini Francesca da Rimini or Francesca da Polenta (died between 1283 and 1286) was an Italian noblewoman of Ravenna, who was murdered by her husband, Giovanni Malatesta, upon his discovery of her affair with his brother, Paolo Malatesta. She was a ...
'', first performed in Turin only a few months earlier. This led to an engagement at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome for more Francescas, Aidas and two novelties, ''Fedra'', a prize-winning opera premiere by a young Romano Romani (later Rosa Ponselle's coach and mentor) and ''Abdul'' by Brazilian Alberto Nepomuceno. Legendary Emma Carelli, an esteemed soprano in her own right who had become the director of the Rome Opera, introduced Raisa to her husband Walter Mocchi, who organized the glamorous opera seasons in Buenos Aires. As South America was in the Southern Hemisphere, there was a long-standing tradition of the finest Italian artists boarding ships after the end of the opera season in Italy and performing in the reverse seasons, the autumn and winter months in South America. The annals of operatic performances in South America oftentimes read as the "greatest" Italian opera to be seen, the
Teatro Colón The Teatro Colón () is a historic opera house in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is considered one of the ten best opera houses in the world by National Geographic. According to a survey carried out by the acoustics expert Leo Beranek among leadin ...
in Buenos Aires a defining theatre. Mocchi took Raisa to South America in May 1915 for a long season, first in Buenos Aires and Rosario in Argentina, Montevideo in Uruguay and São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre in Brazil. In addition to her Francescas and Aidas (including another with Caruso) she added Meyerbeer's '' L'Africana'' also starring
Titta Ruffo Titta Ruffo (9 June 1877 – 5 July 1953), born as Ruffo Cafiero (double forename) Titta, was an Italian operatic baritone who had a major international singing career. Known as the "Voce del leone" ("voice of the lion"), he was greatly admi ...
, and sang the Marschallin in the South American premiere of ''
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 ...
'' by Richard Strauss in Italian with Gilda dalla Rizza as Octavian and the then unknown
Amelita Galli-Curci Amelita Galli-Curci (18 November 1882 – 26 November 1963) was an Italian lyric coloratura soprano. She was one of the most famous operatic singers of the 20th century and a popular recording artist, with her records selling in large numbe ...
as Sophie. All these operas were conducted by
Gino Marinuzzi Gino Marinuzzi (24 March 188217 August 1945) was an Italian conductor and composer, particularly associated with the operas of Wagner and the Italian repertory. Biography Marinuzzi was born and studied in Palermo; graduating from the Palermo ...
, who for many years championed Raisa.


La Scala and Puccini

Raisa made her
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 ...
debut as Francesca upon her return from South America. She performed many Francescas and Aidas as well as Lida in Verdi's rare early opera '' La battaglia di Legnano'' at the Scala. After her Francesca at La Scala, she encountered Giacomo Puccini, who visited her after the performance. He was very taken with her performance and potential, Raisa later told the press, that when she asked him which of his operas he thought best for her to tackle, Puccini said: "there is no opera I have written to which your voice is not suited; they are all the same for you." He told her he wanted her to create his next opera (still a work in progress, '' La rondine'') Whether he was more entranced with her youth and beauty or her vocal powers is unknown, but his plan for this assumption of Magda was advanced enough that in January 1917 she was announced in the world press for the premiere of this light opera in Monte Carlo. Raisa did not go to Monte Carlo as she was in the United States and was fearful of the submarine warfare at that stage of the Great War. At about the same time Puccini first encountered Raisa,
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 ...
heard her and told his friends in the opera world that he considered Raisa a "female Tamagno", more appropriate for the heroic ''
Turandot ''Turandot'' ( ; see #Origin and pronunciation of the name, below) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. Puccini left the opera unfinished at the time of his death in 1924; it ...
'' she would create nine years later. In 1916 she reprised her Francescas and Aidas at the Rome Opera and returned to South America for another exhausting season, adding Alfredo Catalani's Loreley, Valentina in Meyerbeer's ''Gli Ugonotti'' (''
Les Huguenots () is an opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer and is one of the most popular and spectacular examples of grand opera. In five acts, to a libretto by Eugène Scribe and Émile Deschamps, it premiered in Paris on 29 February 1836. Composition history '' ...
'') and Alice Ford in Verdi's ''
Falstaff Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare and is eulogised in a fourth. His significance as a fully developed character is primarily formed in the plays ''Henry IV, Part 1'' and '' Part 2'', w ...
'' to her repertoire. ''Falstaff'' was to play a part in her career for it gave her an only chance to play the non-title role in an opera with baritone Giacomo Rimini, at that time her lover and after 1920 her husband. In August 1916 Campanini elaborated to the ''Chicago Tribune'' his plans for the upcoming 1916–17 season of the Chicago Opera Association (no longer the Chicago-Philadelphia Opera Company), and clearly building up the return of Raisa to Chicago, quoting Caruso, "he considers Rosa Raisa the greatest dramatic soprano in the world." The only problem with Campanini's prediction was that
Amelita Galli-Curci Amelita Galli-Curci (18 November 1882 – 26 November 1963) was an Italian lyric coloratura soprano. She was one of the most famous operatic singers of the 20th century and a popular recording artist, with her records selling in large numbe ...
was to take Chicago, and the world by storm and she ultimately became the attraction of the company.


Chicago years

After her return to Chicago in 1916, Raisa, along with
Mary Garden Mary Garden (20 February 1874 – 3 January 1967) was a Scottish-American operatic lyric soprano, then mezzo-soprano, with a substantial career in France and America in the first third of the 20th century. She spent the latter part of her chil ...
, Edith Mason, Claudia Muzio, and Galli-Curci, were the lead sopranos around which the repertoire of the company revolved. Essentially Raisa was the company's dramatic soprano, Garden the French-repertory soprano, Galli-Curci the light coloratura, Mason a lyric, and Muzio a spinto soprano. Of all these, Muzio was the only one to share some roles with Raisa (Leonora in Verdi's '' Il trovatore'', Desdemona in ''
Otello ''Otello'' () is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on William Shakespeare, Shakespeare's play ''Othello''. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, first performed at the La Scala, Teatro alla Scala, M ...
'', Aida, Santuzza, and Puccini's
Tosca ''Tosca'' is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1 ...
). Raisa was the company's only Maliella in Wolf-Ferrari's '' I gioielli della Madonna'' (''Jewels of the Madonna''), Gioconda, Amelia in Verdi's '' Un ballo in maschera'' (always billed as ''Masked Ball'' in Chicago), Rachel in Meyerbeer's ''
La Juive ''La Juive'' (, ) is a grand opera in five acts by Fromental Halévy to an original French libretto by Eugène Scribe; it was first performed at the Opéra National de Paris, Opéra de Paris, on 23 February 1835. Composition history ''La Juive'' ...
'' (always announced as ''The Jewess'' in Chicago), and Bellini's
Norma Norma may refer to: * Norma (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) ** Norma Lizbeth Ramos, a Mexican bullying victim Astronomy *Norma (constellation) * 555 Norma, a minor asteroid * Cygnus Arm or Norma Arm, a spiral ...
. This is significant as Claudia Muzio had performed Norma with some success in Italy and South America, but staked no claim to the role over Raisa in Chicago. Raisa, over the next 16 seasons (1916–17 through 1931–32), sang almost five hundred times in Chicago and on its transnational tours. She also sang two long seasons in Mexico (1917 and 1919) returned to South America for three more seasons (1918, 1921, and 1929). She sang Norma in Buenos Aires, singing it 22 times there in three seasons. The title role of '' Lo schiavo'' by Antônio Carlos Gomes was added to her role list in Latin America. In Chicago she added Maddalena in ''
Andrea Chénier ''Andrea Chénier'' () is a verismo opera in four acts by Umberto Giordano, set to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica, and first performed on 28 March 1896 at La Scala, Milan. The story is based loosely on the life of the French poet An ...
'', Zina in
Raoul Gunsbourg Raoul Samuel Gunsbourg (January 6, 1860, in Bucharest – May 31, 1955, in Monte Carlo) was a Jewish-Romania-bornBorn in Bucharest, Gunsbourg is a son of a French father and Romanian mother. His grandfather was a rabbi. opera director, impresari ...
's ''Le Vieil Aigle'', Isabeau in the North American premiere of Mascagni's opera, Basiliola in Italo Montemezzi's ''La Nave'', Puccini's
Suor Angelica ''Suor Angelica'' (''Sister Angelica'') is an opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an original Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano. It is the second opera of the trio of operas known as ''Il trittico'' (''The Triptych''). It received its wor ...
, Elisabeth in Wagner's ''
Tannhäuser Tannhäuser (; ), often stylized "The Tannhäuser", was a German Minnesinger and traveling poet. Historically, his biography, including the dates he lived, is obscure beyond the poetry, which suggests he lived between 1245 and 1265. His name ...
'', Minnie in Puccini's '' La fanciulla del West'', Puccini's
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 ...
(at the
Ravinia Festival Ravinia Festival is a primarily outdoor music venue in Highland Park, Illinois. It hosts a series of outdoor concerts and performances every summer from June to September in a wide variety of musical genres from classical to pop. The first orche ...
outside Chicago, also Giordano's ''
Fedora A fedora () is a hat with a soft brim and indented crown.Kilgour, Ruth Edwards (1958). ''A Pageant of Hats Ancient and Modern''. R. M. McBride Company. It is typically creased lengthwise down the crown and "pinched" near the front on both sides ...
'' at Ravinia), Toinette in Frank Harling's jazz opera ''A Light from St. Agnes'', Rosalinde in an English-language ''
Die Fledermaus ' (, ''The Bat'', sometimes called ''The Revenge of the Bat'') is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée, which premiered in 1874. Background The original literary source for ' was ...
'' by Johann Strauss, and Zandonai's
Conchita Conchita is originally a diminutive for the Spanish feminine given name Concepción. Conxita is the Catalan equivalent. ''Conchita'' is also the diminutive of ''concha'' (seashell). Conchita may refer to: People * Conchita Anes (1929/1930–20 ...
.


World premieres: Turandot and Asteria

Raisa also famously added to her repertoire the role of Asteria in Boito's posthumous opera, '' Nerone'' (1924), and the title role in Puccini's ''
Turandot ''Turandot'' ( ; see #Origin and pronunciation of the name, below) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. Puccini left the opera unfinished at the time of his death in 1924; it ...
'' (1926) at Toscanini's
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 ...
, both world premieres in the most lavish Scala productions of that storied era. In Raisa's version of the ''Nerone'' rehearsals, Puccini managed to enter into the auditorium at an early rehearsal and Toscanini had a tantrum when he realized Puccini was in the house, as it was his firm policy that no one was to be present at the early rehearsals prior to the final dress rehearsal at which the Milanese opera establishment would be invited, no exceptions, not even for Puccini. It fell to Raisa to escort Puccini to the stage door; it was then that Puccini, who had heard some of the early scenes of the Boito opera which featured some stentorian high notes, told Raisa that he was writing ''Turandot'', "It is a role I can just see you and hear you" and he wanted her to create it, telling her that only the final scene still had to be composed. In an interview with the ''Chicago Tribune'' the day after word came that Puccini died in Brussels, Raisa told the newspaper that she had playfully told Puccini that he "better be sure to put in plenty of high Cs". On 7 October 1924, less than two months before Puccini died, Angelo Scandiani, administrative director of La Scala, wired Herbert Johnson of the Chicago Opera that Puccini and Toscanini had cast three Chicago Opera artists, Rosa Raisa, Edith Mason, and Giaccomo Rimini, for the lead roles in the upcoming ''Turandot''. At that time it was thought that the premiere would take place in April 1925, but Puccini's death at the end of November 1924 postponed these plans;
Franco Alfano Franco Alfano (8 March 1875 – 27 October 1954) was an Italian composer and pianist, best known today for his operas ''Cyrano de Bergerac'' (1936) and '' Risurrezione'' (1904), and for having completed Puccini's opera ''Turandot'' in 1926. He ha ...
was selected to compose the final scene from Puccini's sketches. The premiere was on 25 April 1926 with Raisa as Turandot,
Miguel Fleta Miguel Burro Fleta (28 December 1897, in Albalate de Cinca, Province of Huesca, Aragon – 29 May 1938, in A Coruña) was a Spanish operatic lyric tenor. Despite his short stage career, lasting from 1919 to 1935, Fleta has been described as one ...
as Calaf, and Maria Zamboni, a Scala lyric soprano as Liu, replacing Mason who was pregnant. It is at this performance that Toscanini stopped the performance at the place Puccini stopped composing, addressing the audience with essentially these words "here is where the Maestro died." John Gutman of the Metropolitan Opera in a 1962 interview with Raisa asked her if the artists knew that Toscanini would make this gesture. Raisa said that there were rumblings backstage that something like this might happen, but the artists were never told this officially; therefore, they were somewhat, but not totally, surprised. There is anecdotal information that Puccini on his deathbed had asked Toscanini to make such a gesture at the premiere, but this is not possible to confirm.


New Chicago Opera House: First broadcasts

On 4 November 1929, Raisa was awarded the honor of opening the new Chicago Civic Opera House in a performance of ''Aida'' (broadcast throughout the USA) with a stellar cast personally selected by Civic Opera president
Samuel Insull Samuel Insull (November 11, 1859 – July 16, 1938) was a British American business magnate. He was an innovator and investor based in Chicago who helped create an integrated electrical infrastructure in the United States. Insull created hold ...
, the Chicago industrialist who later ran foul of the law. Raisa and Rimini invested their considerable earnings in Insull securities (actually a ponzi scheme) and eventually lost their fortune, on paper estimated in the range of a million dollars. Most people in the United States believe that high quality opera broadcasts started with the Metropolitan Opera in 1931. The Chicago Opera was broadcasting nationally since 1927, every week for one hour; Mary Garden, Claudia Muzio, Frida Leider, Raisa, Tito Schipa,
Eva Turner Dame Eva Turner (10 March 1892 – 16 June 1990) was an English dramatic soprano. Determined from an early age to become an opera singer, she studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London and then joined the chorus of the Carl Rosa Opera Com ...
,
Alexander Kipnis Alexander Kipnis ( – May 14, 1978) was a Russian and American bass singer. Having initially established his artistic reputation in Europe, Kipnis became an American citizen in 1931, following his marriage to an American. He appeared often at ...
and Vanni-Marcoux are some of the headliners who were heard on the radio across America. It is doubtful that any of these transmissions have been preserved.


1933: Last performances on stage

1933 is the last year that Raisa performed a reasonably full schedule. Since January 1931 when she left the stage to prepare for the birth of her daughter, having had six unsuccessful pregnancies, many things happened: the demise of the Chicago Opera, the world-wide deteriorating economic situation and a general contraction of operatic activity in the United States. But Raisa sang a run of ''Tosca'' in Genoa, created Manuela in Zandonai's one-act opera ''Una partita'' at La Scala, sang Alice Ford in ''Falstaff'' with Rimini at the first
Maggio Musicale Fiorentino The Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (literal English translation: 'Florence Musical May') is an annual Italian arts festival in Florence, including a notable opera festival, under the auspices of the Opera di Firenze. The festival occurs between late A ...
, ''Tosca'' in the presence of Queen Mary at Covent Garden. She recorded four
verismo In opera, , from , meaning 'true', was a post-Romantic operatic tradition associated with Italian composers such as Pietro Mascagni, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Umberto Giordano, Francesco Cilea and Giacomo Puccini. ''Verismo'' as an operatic ge ...
arias for La voce del padrone in Milan, and sang five performances of ''Gli Ugonotti'' at the Arena in Verona with
Giacomo Lauri-Volpi Giacomo Lauri-Volpi (11 December 1892 – 17 March 1979) was an Italian tenor with a lyric voice of exceptional range and technical facility. He performed throughout Europe and the Americas in a top-class career that spanned 40 years. Career an ...
and a stellar cast. She can be seen, but not heard, in an edited version of the act 4 love duet with Lauri-Volpi as Raoul.


Concerts

Rosa Raisa married the Italian baritone Giacomo Rimini (1888–1952) in 1920; the couple had first met five years earlier and were inseparable lovers. Rimini was descended from Sephardic Jews on his father's side and his mother was Hungarian-Italian. Rimini was raised as a Catholic. Their careers merged and after retirement in 1938 they opened a voice/opera school together in Chicago, first at the historic Congress Hotel, across from the Auditorium Theatre, and during World War II they moved to North Michigan Avenue. Their daughter Rosa Giulietta Frieda Rimini was born 7 July 1931. They sang hundreds of concerts together, especially in the United States, many of them sponsored by Jewish groups as Raisa had become a beloved ethnic icon. Her concerts were almost always with Rimini, she singing two-thirds of the concert, he one-third. In their concerts they closed the first half and the end, with duets. The most frequent duets they sang were " Là ci darem la mano" from ''Don Giovanni'' where they could be outwardly playful and sexy. The act 4 duet from ''Il trovatore'' was often given at the end of the printed program. It is fascinating that they often sang after the first half of a concert a duet from Verdi's ''
Luisa Miller ''Luisa Miller'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play '' Kabale und Liebe'' (''Intrigue and Love'') by the German dramatist Friedrich von Schiller. Verdi's initial idea f ...
'', giving Raisa an opportunity to do some flashy coloratura and ending on a high C. She often closed her recitals with the Yiddish song "Eili, Eili". "Eili Eili" is a Yiddish song starting with the Hebrew words 'Eili, Eili', ("God, why have you forsaken us?") and ending with the Jewish credo, "Sh'mah Yisroel" ("Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.") This song exists in several arrangements. Raisa had the popular music composer Joseph Bonomie arrange the song for her voice. Her 1918 recording is remarkable for it shows the cello-like coloring of the lower voice, the liquid middle register, as well as the ease of her upper. She sings the song with great feeling, appropriately sobbing on key words. It was reported that she often sang this song with her eyes closed.


Death

Raisa suffered from cancer, having undergone a double mastectomy in the 1940s. She died in
Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, on 28 September 1963, and her granddaughter, Suzanne Homme, told Raisa's biographer Charles Mintzer that her death certificate listed "bone cancer" as the immediate cause of death. She was buried in
Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City Holy Cross Cemetery is a Catholic Church, Catholic cemetery at 5835 West Slauson Avenue in Culver City, California, operated by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Archdiocese. It is partially in the Culver City city limi ...
.


Recordings

Raisa's relatively few recordings (from 1917 to 1933 for four different record companies, Pathe, Vocalion, Brunswick, and Italian HMV) reveal a beautiful timbre and a florid technique rare in singers of her type. Her famous vocal power, almost always mentioned in reviews, can only be detected in a few of the recordings. An anthology of these recordings was issued in 1998 on CD by Marston Records (53001-2). The Marston issue also contains an audio interview with Raisa, while its liner notes feature valuable biographical information about her and an evaluation of her voice. Almost all the reviews of her live performances express astonishment at her phenomenal vocal power. Only on the electric Italian HMVs can some of that power be detected. Alan Kelly, the HMV expert and historian told Larry Lustig of ''The Record Collector'' magazine that the company's logs of that May 1933 recording session had notes: "bad" microphone technique and "blasting". She had to be placed in the middle of the orchestra to achieve some reasonable balance. The HMVs do not show Raisa's voice at its freshest, but the voice is still golden and beautiful, with magisterial delivery, and a sense of her unusual power. Lauri-Volpi in his seminal book on singers of his experience and knowledge, ''Voci Parallele'', states that by 1933 Raisa's voice was but an x-ray of how he remembered her earlier in her career.
Giacomo Lauri-Volpi Giacomo Lauri-Volpi (11 December 1892 – 17 March 1979) was an Italian tenor with a lyric voice of exceptional range and technical facility. He performed throughout Europe and the Americas in a top-class career that spanned 40 years. Career an ...
, ''Voci parallele'' (Reprinted by Bongiovanni, Bologna, 1977).


References

Sources *


Further reading

*Michael Scott, ''The Record of Singing. Vol 2: 1914–1925''. Duckworth: London, 1979, pp. 71–73.


External links


"Biographical sketch and photos"
cantabile-subito.de

issued on Marston Records {{DEFAULTSORT:Raisa, Rosa 1893 births 1963 deaths Polish operatic sopranos Russian operatic sopranos Jewish opera singers Musicians from Białystok Naturalized citizens of the United States American people of Polish-Jewish descent Deaths from breast cancer in California Deaths from bone cancer in California Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Italy Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City 20th-century Russian women opera singers 20th-century Polish women opera singers Italian emigrants to the United States Russian Jews