Description

ROSA RAISA (BIALYSTOK, RUSSIA, 23 MAY, 1893 – SANTA MONICA / CALIFORNIA, 28 SEPTEMBER, 1963)

 

 

 

 

She was a Polish-born, Italian-trained, Russian-Jewish dramatic operatic soprano. In 1926 she created the role of Turandot at La Scala, Milan. She was born as Raitza Burchstein, daughter of Herschel and Frieda Leah (Constantanovsky) Burchstein, in Białystokin 1893. Her mother died in 1899 and Herschel remarried, Chaya. Along with her cousins (Sasha Vigdorchik and his family) she fled Poland when she was 14 due to the pogroms, emigrating to the Isle of Capri, Italy. There Raitza met Dario Ascarelli and his wife Ester,], 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. (See Marchisio’s entry in The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera, edited by Harold Rosenthal and John Warrack, Oxford University Press, second edition, 1980.).

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: “Oberto, Conte di San Bonafico” and “Un ballo in maschera,” and also signed her for his Philadelphia-Chicago Opera. As she was under 21 years of age, her engagement was confirmed in a handshake. In her Chicago Aida debut (November 29, 1913) at the famous Auditorium, she revealed “a voice the like of whose power had never been heard on that stage.”

Debuts and successes followed rapidly for Raisa: a 3-mmonth tour of North America, London and Paris. During the early period of World War I she made debuts at Rome, Milan (La Scala), Buenos Aires(Teatro Colãn) and Rio de Janeiro. She returned to the Chicago Opera in 1916 as a well-established dramatic soprano. Enrico Caruso, who sang with her in Londonand Buenos Aires, considered her the “greatest dramatic soprano in the world”. Triumphs followed rapidly; she was acclaimed for her Aida, Norma, Maliella in I gioielli della Madonna, and Rachel in La Juive.

In 1924, Arturo Toscanini brought her back to La Scala for the creation of Boito’s Nerone (in the role of Asteria). At that time Giacomo Puccini heard her again (he had first heard her sing in Zandonai’s “Francesca da Rimini” in 1916; offering her the creation of his next opera “La Rondine” for 1917) and told her he wanted her to create the lead role in his new, as yet unfinished opera, Turandot. Puccini died in November of that year and left Turandot unfinished. Turandot had its world premiere at La Scala on 25 April 1926, under Toscanini’s baton, with Raisa appearing as Turandot and Miguel Fleta as Calaf. It was at this performance that Toscanini stopped the performance at the exact point where Puccini had ceased composing; the finale, prepared by Franco Alfano from Puccini’s musical sketches, was given at the second performance two nights later (27 April). Toscanini believed her to be the “most gifted of dramatic sopranos”.

Rosa Raisa married the Italian baritone Giacomo Rimini (1888–1952) in 1920; the couple had first met five years earlier. Their careers merged and after retirement in 1938 they opened a voice/opera school together in Chicago. 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. She often closed her recitals with the Yiddish song “Eili, Eili”.

On 4 November 1929, she 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, the Chicagoindustrialist 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. Rosa Raisa died in Los Angeles, Californiain 1963, aged 70, from undisclosed causes.

 

Chronology of some appearances

 

1913 Parma  Teatro Regio Ballo in maschera (Amelia)

1913 Baltimora  Opera House Boheme (Mimi)

1913 Chicago  Civic Opera House Boheme (Mimi)

1914 Minneapolis  St.Paul Theater Boheme (Mimi)

1915  Buenos Ayres  Teatro Colon Boheme (Mimi)

1915 Buenos Ayres  Teatro Colon Boheme (Mimi)

1915 Rio de Janeiro  Teatro Municipal Boheme (Mimi)

1916 Chicago  Civic Opera House Andrea Chenier (Maddalena)

1916 Buenos Ayres  Teatro Colon Ballo in maschera (Amelia)

1916 Rio de Janeiro  Teatro Municipal Ballo in maschera (Amelia)

1919 Chicago  Civic Opera House Ballo in maschera (Amelia)

1920 Chicago  Civic Opera House Andrea Chenier (Maddalena)

1925 Chicago  Civic Opera House Andrea Chenier (Maddalena)

1927 Chicago  Civic Opera House Ballo in maschera (Amelia)

1928 Milano  Teatro La Scala Andrea Chenier (Maddalena)

1930 Chicago  Civic Opera House Ballo in maschera (Amelia)

 

 

TRACKLIST

 

 

1. Africana (Meyerbeer) In grembo a me Pathé 60055
2. Aida (Verdi) O patria mia Vocalion (11035) 70007
3. Aida (Verdi) La fatal pietra (Verdi) with Giulio Crimi Vocalion (7104) 52023
4. Aida (Verdi) O patria mia Pathé60070
5. Aida (Verdi) O terra addio (Verdi) with Giulio Crimi Vocalion (7106) 52043
6. Aida (Verdi) Ritorna vincitor (Verdi) Vocalion (11511) 70007
7. Aida (Verdi) Ritorna vincitor Pathé60054
8. Andrea Chenier (Giordano) La mamma morta (Giordano) La Voce Del Padrone (2M 1446-2) DB2123
9. Andrea Chenier (Giordano) La mamma morta Pathé 60062
10. Cappelli d’oro (trad) Pathé 60062
11. Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni) Voi lo sapete  Vocalion (10984) 52048
12. Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni) Turridu mi tolse l’onore Brunswick90004
13. Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni) Voi lo sapete (Mascagni) Brunswick15174
14. Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni) Voi lo sapete (Mascagni) La Voce Del Padrone (2M 1443-1) DB2123
15. Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni) Voi lo sapete Pathé 60054
16. Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni) Voi lo sapete Vocalion 30010 A667
17. Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni) Voi lo sapete Vocalion 30010 A668
18. Don Giovanni (Mozart) La ci darem la mano (Mozart) with Giacomo Rimini Vocalion 15131
19. Don Giovanni (Mozart) La ci darem la mano Vocalion (5810) 30108
20. Don Giovanni (Mozart) La ci darem la mano Vocalion (5811) 30108
21. Eili, Eili (Traditional; arranged by Josef Bonime) Vocalion (5505) 30101
22. Eili, Eili (Traditional; arranged by Josef Bonime) Vocalion (A692) 30011
23. Ernani (Verdi) Ernani! Ernani, involami (Verdi) Brunswick 15174
24. Ernani (Verdi) Surta e la notte… Ernani! Ernani, involami Vocalion (11192) 70039
25. Forza del Destino (Verdi) Pace, pace, mio dio (Verdi)Vocalion (7164) 52013
26. Forza del Destino (Verdi) Pace, pace, mio dio (Verdi) Vocalion (7163) 52013
27. Gioconda (Ponchielli)Suicidio Vocalion (1855) 54027
28. Gioconda (Ponchielli) Suicidio HMV(2M 1445-2) DB2122
29. Gioconda (Ponchielli) Suicidio Vocalion (5850) 70034
30. I Vespri Siciliani (Verdi) Merce, dilette amiche {Bolero} Vocalion (5781) 30115
31. I Vespri Siciliani (Verdi) Merce, dilette amiche Vocalion (5782) 30115
32. Il FlautoMagico (Mozart) La dove prende (Mozart) with Giacomo Rimini Vocalion 15131
33. Il Trovatore (Verdi) Miserere with Giulio Crimi Vocalion (5813) 55007
34. Kalinka (Russian Folk Song) Vocalion (7033) 30160
35. La paloma (Yradier) Vocalion (10996) 52051
36. Le Crucifix (Jean-Baptiste Faure) with Giacomo Rimini Vocalion (7143) 52031
37. Madama Butterfly (Puccini) Un bel di vedremoVocalion (11190) 70036
38. Mefistofele (Boito) L’altra notte (Boito) Vocalion (11157) 70036
39. Night (Russian Folk Song) Vocalion (7039) 30165
40. None But the Lonely Heart (Tchaikovsky) Vocalion (7093) 30134
41. Norma (Bellini)Ah, bello a me ritorna Brunswick (XE 29236 B) Unpublished
42. Norma (Bellini) Casta diva Pathé 60055
43. Norma (Bellini) Casta diva Vocalion (5508) 55001
44. Otello (Verdi) Ave Maria (Verdi) Vocalion (7098) 52007
45. Tosca (Puccini) Vissi d’arte Vocalion (8637) 30155
46. Tosca (Puccini) Vissi d’arte (Puccini) Vocalion (8636) 30155
47. Tosca (Puccini) Vissi d’arte (Puccini) Voce Del Padrone (2M 1442-2) DB2122
48. Trovatore (Verdi)Timor di me… D’amor sull ‘ali rosee Vocalion (A669) 54007
49. Trovatore (Verdi) D’amor sull’ali rosee Pathé 60070
50. Trovatore (Verdi) Mira d’acerbe lagrime (Verdi) with Giacomo Rimini Brunswick 90004
51. Trovatore (Verdi) Mira d’acerbe lagrime (Verdi) with Giacomo Rimini Vocalion (11095) 70039
52. Trovatore (Verdi) Miserere (Verdi) with Armand Tokatyan Vocalion (11189) 55010