Giuseppina Strepponi, Italian soprano and educator (d. 1897)
Clelia Maria Josepha (Giuseppina) Strepponi (Lodi 8 September 1815 – Villanova sull'Arda 14 November 1897) was a nineteenth-century Italian operatic soprano of great renown and the second wife of composer Giuseppe Verdi.
She is often credited with having contributed to Verdi's first successes, starring in a number of his early operas, including the role of Abigaille in the world premiere of Nabucco in 1842. A highly gifted singer, Strepponi excelled in the bel canto repertoire and spent much of her career portraying roles in operas by Vincenzo Bellini, Gaetano Donizetti, and Gioachino Rossini, often sharing the stage with tenor Napoleone Moriani and baritone Giorgio Ronconi. Donizetti wrote the title role of his opera Adelia specifically for Strepponi. She was described as possessing a "limpid, penetrating, smooth voice, seemly action, a lovely figure; and to Nature's liberal endowments she adds an excellent technique"; her "deep inner feeling" was also lauded.Both her personal and professional life were complicated by overwork, by at least three known pregnancies, and by her vocal deterioration which caused her to retire from the stage by the age of 31, in 1846 when she moved to Paris to become a singing teacher. While it is known that she had a professional relationship with Verdi from the time of his first opera, Oberto in 1839, they became a couple by 1847 when they lived together in Paris, then moved to Busseto in 1849, married in 1859, and remained together until the end of her life.
1815Sep, 8
Giuseppina Strepponi
Choose Another Date
Events on 1815
- 8Jan
Battle of New Orleans
War of 1812: Battle of New Orleans: Andrew Jackson leads American forces in victory over the British. - 1Mar
Hundred Days
Napoleon returns to France from his banishment on Elba, start of the Hundred Days. - 2Mar
Kingdom of Kandy
Signing of the Kandyan Convention treaty by British invaders and the leaders of the Kingdom of Kandy. - 20Mar
Hundred Days
After escaping from Elba, Napoleon enters Paris with a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force of around 200,000, beginning his "Hundred Days" rule. - 18Jun
Battle of Waterloo
Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Waterloo results in the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte by the Duke of Wellington and Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher forcing him to abdicate the throne of France for the second and last time.