De los Angeles, Victoria
$20.00
Spanish lyric soprano, hailed as one of the greatest sopranos of all time
Description
Type: Signed autograph album page
Condition: Very good, light spots at top & bottom
Description: (1923-2005) Spanish lyric soprano and recitalist, her career reached its height from the mid-1950s to mid-60s.
She studied voice and guitar at the Barcelona Conservatory graduating in 1941. In 1941, while a student, she made her opera debut as Mimì in “La Boheme” at the Liceu then resumed her studies. In 1945, she returned to the Liceu for her professional debut as the Countess in “The Marriage of Figaro.”
After winning 1st prize in the 1947 Geneva International Music Competition, she sang Salud in Falla’s “La Vida Breve” with the BBC in London in 1948. In her early years in particular, she also sang a lot of “music antiche” (“florid music”). While she later made fewer opera appearances, she continued to give recitals with French, German Lieder and Spanish art songs or songs based on Mexican Nahuatl texts into the 90s.
In 1949, she made her debut at the Paris Opera as Marguerite. She debuted in Salzburg, at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and at Carnegie Hall in 1950. In March 1951, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Marguerite and sang with the Met for 10 years. In 1952, she became an instant favorite in Buenos Aires’ Teatro Colon in the title role of “Madama Butterfly”, returning to Buenos Aires many times until 1979. She sang at Milan’s La Scala 1950-56 and, in 1957, at the Vienna State Opera.
After making her 1961 Bayreuth Festival debut as Elisabeth in “Tannhauser”, she devoted herself principally to a concert career, but for the next 20 years, made occasional appearances in one of her favorite roles, “Carmen”, among the 1st Spanish-born opera singers to record the complete opera. She also sang major soprano roles, incl. Donna Anna, Manon, Nedda, Desdemona, Cio-Cio-San, Mimi, Violetta, Rosina, and Mélisande.
De los Ángeles performed regularly in song recitals, occasionally with other eminent singers; recitals of Spanish songs with pianist Alicia de Laroccha were legendary. At 68, she sang at the Barcelona Olympic Games. The French government named her a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor in 1994. In 2007, she was ranked #3, after Callas and Sutherland, in the BBC Music Magazine’s List of the Top 20 Sopranos of All Time.
Frameable 4 ¼ x 5 ¼ light green autograph album page (signed in person with green ink), adding year 1977
