Description

MARIA GALVANY (MANCHA REAL, ANDALUSIA, SPAIN, 1875 – MADRID, SPAIN, 1927 or RIO DE JANEIRO, 1949)

 

 

 

 

She studied at the Madrid Conservatory with the renowned singing teacher Lázaro María Puig and Napoleone Verger. She made her debut as Lucia at Cartagena in 1897. Specializing in coloratura roles, she sang with great success in Spain and Italy, gaining her greatest popularity in South America. She also toured with a company that performed throughout Europe, including Russia (where she was a favorite singer), visiting London 1909, where she appeared at Drury Lane as Amina, Rosina and in the title role of Meyerbeer’s ”Dinorah”. In Lisbon she sang uninterruptedly for 15 years at the Coliseu. She gained great success in Parma, Venezia, and Genoa. It seems rather strange, however, that she never managed to appear at La Scala, the Met, the Teatro Cólon or at Covent Garden. She retired to Brazil and died there in poverty. Comment: Vocally, Maria Galvany represents an extreme case. Her virtuosity, the limpidity of her trills, roulades, and above all, her staccati lead us to think, more of an instrument than of a voice. One might get the impression to listen to a canary. Nevertheless, some of her recordings are remarkable for the sweetness of her voice. Listen to the duets she made opposite Tita Ruffo. You will hear a singer capable to adapt the musicality of her great br. colleague. In the following title she “invented” a breathtaking cadenza.

 

Chronology of some appearances

 

1896 Barcellona Gran Via Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina)

1898 Madrid Reale Crispino e la Comare (Annetta)

1899 Madrid Reale Africana (Ines)

1901 Lisbona Coliseo Recrejos Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina)

1901 Kischineff Nazionale Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina)

1902 Montevideo Solis Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina)

1902 Buenos Ayres Odeon Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina)

1903 Nice Jetee Promenade Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina)

1903 Kiev Soloznikoff Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina)

1903 Lisbona Coliseo Recrejos Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina)

1904 Lisbona Coliseo Recrejos Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina)

1904 Domodossola Galletti Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina)

1904 Napoli Bellini Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina)

1905 Lisbona Coliseo Recrejos Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina)

1905 Lisbona Coliseo Recrejos Boheme (Mimi)

1905 Lisbona Coliseo Recrejos Crispino e la Comare (Annetta)

1905 Rio de Janeiro Lirico Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina)

1905 San Paolo Vittoria Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina)

1905 Amsterdam Paleis Voor Volksvlijt Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina)

1905 San Paolo Santana Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina)

1905 Santa Fè Municipal Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina)

1906 San Pietroburgo Nuovo Conservatorio Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina)

1906 San Pietroburgo  Nuovo Conservatorio Don Pasquale (Norina)

1906 Kiev Soloznikoff Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina)

1906 Odessa Municipale Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina)

1906 San Pietroburgo Aquarium Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina)

1907 Bucarest Nazionale Barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina)

 

TRACKLIST

 

G&T, Milano 1907-10/11

Hamlet (Thomas): Ora a noi 053162 1307c

Roméo et Juliette (Gounod): Nella calma 053163 1308c

L’incantatrice (Arditi) 053165 1399½c

Barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini): Dunque io son with Titta Ruffo 054181 1328½c

Hamlet (Thomas): Nega se puoi le luce with Titta Ruffo 054180 1312½c

 

Gramophone, Milano 1908-05?

Barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini): Ah qual colpo with Fernando de Lucia 54384 11168b

Puritani (Bellini): Vieni fra queste braccie with Francesco Marconi 054208 1446c

Linda di Chamounix (Donizetti): O luce di quest’anima 53549 11190b

Sonnambula (Bellini): Prendi, l’anel ti dono with Fernando de Lucia 054217 1443c

Sonnambula (Bellini): Ah non giunge 53551 11192b

Maggio, Valzer (Dufau) 053193 1450c

Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti): Splendon le sacre faci 053181 1453½c

Dinorah (Meyerbeer): Ombra leggiera 053180 1451½c

Lakmé (Delibes): Aria della campanelle 053182 1455½c

Traviata (Verdi): Sempre libera with Remo Andreini 054209 1456c

Crispino e la Comare (Ricci): Io non sono più l’Annetta 53550 11191b

 

Edison 4-min cylinders, USA? 1911?

Zauberflöte (Mozart): Aria della regina della notte 35012

Traviata (Verdi): Sempre libera 35018

Sonnambula (Bellini): Come per me sereno BA 28123