Antonietta Meneghel (27 June 189326 January 1975), better known by her stage name Toti Dal Monte, was a celebrated Italian

operatic Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libret ...

lyric soprano A lyric soprano is a type of operatic soprano voice that has a warm quality with a bright, full timbre that can be heard over an orchestra. The lyric soprano voice generally has a higher tessitura than a soubrette and usually plays ingenue (stock c ...

. She may be best remembered today for her performance as Cio-cio-san in

Puccini Giacomo Puccini (Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 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 li ...

'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 L ...

'', having recorded this role complete in 1939 with

Beniamino Gigli Beniamino Gigli ( , ; 20 March 1890 – 30 November 1957) was an Italian opera singer (lyric tenor). He is widely regarded as one of the greatest tenors of his generation. Early life Gigli was born in Recanati, in the Marche, the son of a shoem ...

as Pinkerton.

Career

Born in

Mogliano Veneto Mogliano Veneto ( vec, Mogian ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Treviso, Veneto, northern Italy, located halfway between Mestre (Venice) and Treviso. Culture Mogliano is well known for the Medieval festival, which takes place in Septe ...

, in the

Province of Treviso The Province of Treviso ('' it, Provincia di Treviso'') is a province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Treviso. The province is surrounded by Belluno in the north, Vicenza in the west, Padua in southwest, Venice in the so ...

, Dal Monte studied singing at the Naples Conservatory under

Barbara Marchisio Barbara Marchisio (6 December 1833 – 19 April 1919) was an Italian operatic contralto and one of Rossini's favorite singers. She was known for her excellent technique and a voice which possessed both agility and a very wide extension which all ...

. She made her debut at La Scala at the age of 23 as Biancofiore in Zandonai's ''

Francesca da Rimini Francesca da Rimini or Francesca da Polenta (died between 1283 and 1286) was a medieval 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 c ...

''. She was an immediate success, and her clear "nightingale-like" voice came to be highly appreciated throughout the world. Her best-known roles included the

bel canto Bel canto (Italian for "beautiful singing" or "beautiful song", )—with several similar constructions (''bellezze del canto'', ''bell'arte del canto'')—is a term with several meanings that relate to Italian singing. The phrase was not associat ...

parts of Amina (in

Bellini Bellini is an Italian name, Italian surname, formed as a patronymic or plural form of Bellino (surname), Bellino. People *Family of Italian painters: **Jacopo Bellini (c. 1396–c. 1470), father of Gentile and Giovanni **Gentile Bellini (c. 1429� ...

's ''

La sonnambula ''La sonnambula'' (''The Sleepwalker'') is an opera semiseria in two acts, with music in the ''bel canto'' tradition by Vincenzo Bellini set to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani, based on a scenario for a ''ballet-pantomime'' written by ...

''), Lucia (in

Donizetti Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was an Italian composer, best known for his almost 70 operas. Along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, he was a leading composer of the ''bel canto'' opera style duri ...

's ''

Lucia di Lammermoor ''Lucia di Lammermoor'' () is a (tragic opera) in three acts by Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian-language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's 1819 historical novel '' The Bride of Lammermoor''. ...

'') and Gilda (in

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 to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...

's ''

Rigoletto ''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play ''Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had cont ...

''). In 1922 she performed several parts opposite the tenor Carlo Broccardi at the

Teatro Massimo The Teatro Massimo Vittorio Emanuele is an opera house and opera company located on the Piazza Verdi in Palermo, Sicily. It was dedicated to King Victor Emanuel II. It is the biggest in Italy, and one of the largest of Europe (at the time of its ...

in Palermo; including Cio-cio-san, Gilda, and the title heroine in

Alfredo Catalani Alfredo Catalani (19 June 1854 – 7 August 1893) was an Italian operatic composer. He is best remembered for his operas '' Loreley'' (1890) and ''La Wally'' (1892). ''La Wally'' was composed to a libretto by Luigi Illica, and features Catalani' ...

's ''

La Wally ''La Wally'' is an opera in four acts by composer Alfredo Catalani, to a libretto by Luigi Illica, first performed at La Scala, Milan, on 20 January 1892. The libretto is based on a hugely successful ' by Wilhelmine von Hillern (1836–1916), ...

''. In 1924, fresh from triumphs in Milan and Paris, but before her debut in London or New York, she was engaged by Dame

Nellie Melba Dame Nellie Melba (born Helen Porter Mitchell; 19 May 186123 February 1931) was an Australian operatic dramatic coloratura soprano (three octaves). She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian era and the early 20th century ...

to be one of the star singers of an Italian opera company that Melba was organising to make a tour of Australia. She proved a popular and critical success on the tour, and there was no rivalry between the ageing Melba and the much younger Dal Monte. Rather, they threw bouquets after each other's performances. In 1928, on her third visit to Australia, she married tenor Enzo de Muro Lomanto in

St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney The Cathedral Church and Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Mother of God, Help of Christians (colloquially, St Mary's Cathedral) is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney and the seat of the Archbishop of Sydney, curren ...

. The wedding party created international headlines when, according to some sources, it gave the

Fascist salute The Roman salute, alternatively called the Fascist salute, is a salute, gesture in which the right arm is fully extended, facing forward, with palm down and fingers touching. In some versions, the arm is raised upward at an angle; in others, it ...

on the cathedral steps."The Melba – JC Williamson Tour of 1928"
andrewsopera.blogspot.com, 17 July 2006; accessed 4 June 2015. This was disputed when the original article about the wedding was republished

republication of an article from 24 August 1928 in ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'', 23 August 2020 On 12 January 1929 at La Scala she created the role of Rosalina, in the world premiere of

Umberto Giordano Umberto Menotti Maria Giordano (28 August 186712 November 1948) was an Italian composer, mainly of operas. He was born in Foggia in Apulia, southern Italy, and studied under Paolo Serrao at the Conservatoire of Naples. His first opera, ''Marina ...

's '' Il re''. She retired from the operatic stage in 1945. However, she continued to work in the theatre (as well as to make the occasional recording) and appeared in a number of films, of which the best known is perhaps her last,

Enrico Maria Salerno Enrico Maria Salerno (September 18, 1926 – February 28, 1994) was an Italian actor, voice actor and film director. He was also the voice of Clint Eastwood in the Italian version of Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy films, and the voice of Ch ...

's '' Anonimo veneziano'', a 1970 story about a musician at

La Fenice Teatro La Fenice (, "The Phoenix") is an opera house in Venice, Italy. It is one of "the most famous and renowned landmarks in the history of Italian theatre" and in the history of opera as a whole. Especially in the 19th century, La Fenice bec ...

. She became a singing teacher and coach; her pupils included

Dodi Protero Dodi Protero (March 13, 1931 – April 22, 2007) was a Canadians, Canadian operatic soprano who had a prolific international career from 1955 through 1980. A singer with a great deal of technical finesse, she excelled in the coloratura soprano and ...

, Dolores Wilson, Maaria Eira and Gianna D'Angelo.

Death

Dal Monte died in 1975 at the age of 81, in Pieve di Soligo, as a result of circulatory disorders.

References

Sources

* This text was based, in part, on the equivalent article in the

Italian Wikipedia The Italian Wikipedia ( it, Wikipedia in italiano) is the Italian-language edition of Wikipedia. This edition was created on May 11, 2001 and first edited on June 11, 2001. As of , , it has articles and more than registered accounts. It is th ...

.
Toti del Monte
at operaitaliana.com. *
"Remembering Toti"
at thewaythefutureblogs.com

Bibliography

* ''The Last Prima Donnas'', by Lanfranco Rasponi, Alfred A Knopf, 1982; {{DEFAULTSORT:Dal Monte, Toti 1893 births 1975 deaths People from Mogliano Veneto Italian operatic sopranos 20th-century Italian women opera singers