Hina Spani
Born: 15 February 1896 Buenos Aires, Argentina
Died: 11 July 1969 Buenos Aires, Argentina
Died: 11 July 1969 Buenos Aires, Argentina
I think it would be fitting to start at the end of the story with excerpts from some interviews that Spani gave in the fifties. She had fascinating insights about vocalism, opera and lieder and she held very strong opinions about some singers, which I think will both amuse and amaze you in the light of later events. Some of her thoughts will interest those who are not particularly interested in her career. They are taken from articles in La Prensa (Buenos Aires), Record Collector and essays by various musicologists and record collectors.
After I’m finished with a discussion of her interviews, I will outline her career in some detail and make a few comments on her recorded legacy.
Spani was a noted lyrico-spinto whose career was centered in the nineteen twenties, and, as you will see, was pretty much behind her by the early thirties. She concentrated on lieder more than the opera stage in the later years and was a most renowned and respected concert artist in both Europe and South America.
About herself - “My favorite roles? Art songs.! …with a song it is possible to command an expressive power, a feeling and an intimacy seldom found in an operatic excerpt…..There are exceptions, however. Among my seventy roles (I’ve only found sixty one to date) Cio Cio San is my favorite. I have always considered it to be a lyric role, not a dramatic one. When sung by a large voice, it is often shouted and it distorts not only the music but the character. After Cio Cio San, Wally is the role I love most “ I think that anyone who knows her recording of “Ebben ne andro lontano” will not wonder why she was particularly fond of the role. Hers is among the most outstanding and is considered by some to be the best ever recorded as well as her finest recording.
“I wish I had been able to record a great deal more of the song repertoire because it was there that I felt most at home. In those days, there was, unfortunately, not a great market for the art song and so I had to content myself with that which the record companies offered, which was still considerable. You know, I was scheduled to record a complete Otello, as well, but as so often happens, it unfortunately did not materialize. It was one of my favorite roles. Still, there are excerpts which I believe give a fair impression of my singing in that opera”.
About other singers - “Unquestionably Caruso and Ruffo were the greatest. To have sung with them in the same performance was one of the greatest thrills of my life. And I was so young! My debut season. What a way to begin one’s career. Claudia Muzio, I consider to be unequalled, especially as an actress. As a pure singer, there is no one like Lotte Lehmann. Other magnificent singers among the women are Giannina Arangi Lombardi and Toti dal Monte, whose vocalism is a lesson in perfection. Then there was Conchita Supervia who sang with an authority that I have never seen equalled. I was no less impressed by Rosa Ponselle whose Vestale I saw in Florence. Among the men, I have great admiration for Pertile (to whom she would later refer as the”perfect” Lohengrin), Georges Thill, a magnificent Lohengrin, Gigli and Schipa. I have wonderful memories of Apollo Granforte, an ideal Tonio and Iago, and of Renato Zanelli, a superb Otello. De Angelis as Mose was a miracle.”
The comments that follow are from an interview in 1954 taken from the Record Collector. “I believe that the new voices are very good, and in some cases, even more beautiful than of the older generation…but as a rule, the technique is a failure. In the last twenty years good taste and musicianship have improved but the bel canto line in the best sense of the word has been lost. Most young singers are in too much of a hurry to get to the top. Many fine voices lack proper training and a solid foundation. The evolution from the lyric to the dramatic, the Goddess Kirsten Flagstad being an outstanding example, should take place gradually and never be forced or pushed. Fortunately, all is not dark for we have some notable exceptions. We are fortunate in having Leonard Warren and Victoria de los Angeles whom I consider to be one of the most versatile and phenomenal artists I have ever heard. One might say that she has been touched by a magician’s wand or a kind fairy who gave her every gift necessary to become the best singer of our time, which I consider her.” I imagine Spani would have smiled very broadly, had she lived long enough to know just how astounding the Spanish diva’s career would be.
When asked if she was satisfied with her own career, she responded “An imaginative artist is never satisfied when thinking of the many things that have been planned but never done. No matter what has been accomplished, that feeling cannot be avoided.”
Hina Spani was born on 15 February 1896 in Puan, Argentina in the province of Buenos Aires. She was known as a precocious child and at the age of twelve, after four years of private study, she debuted at Cordoba in a recital of Spanish songs. Her talent was immediately recognized by some of Argentina’s most influential musicians and she was encouraged to locate in Buenos Aires where she studied privately for five years. In 1914 she migrated to Italy with her mother to continue her studies and within the year was invited to debut at La Scala as Anna in Catalani’s “Loreley”. The date was 13 March 1915, and the cast included Eugenia Burzio and Edward Johnson, who, many years later would be the manager of the Metropolitan Opera. He was then singing under the name of Edoardo di Giovanni. The young singer was immediately contacted by the Teatro Colon and offered a contract for their upcoming season. She sang in “Francesca da Rimini” with Rosa Raisa and Hippolito Lazaro, in “L’Africaine” with Raisa and Titta Ruffo, in “Pagliacci” with Caruso and Ruffo, “Carmen” with Genevieve Vix and Bernardo de Muro, and a concert in which she sang scenes from “Manon” with Caruso. The company gave performances at Montevideo, Rosario, Tucuman and Cordoba, where she was feted to a gala reception, remembered fondly as the little girl who sang such lovely songs just a few years ago.
Her success in her home country cannot be overestimated, but she felt that further study was needed and decided to take a long sabbatical from public performances in order to restudy her technique. During a three year period of intense training, she gave occasional recitals at Buenos Aires, Cordoba and Rosario. At the advanced age of twenty she tackled such demanding pieces of music as Alceste’s “Divinites du Styx” Elsa’s “Traum” and Isolde’s “Liebestod” to astounded audiences.
Spani was reengaged at the Colon in the 1918 season and sang in “Carmen”, “Pagliacci”, an Argentinian opera called “Tucuman” and Donna Elvira in “Don Giovanni”. She continued to study for another year and in the 1919 season appeared at the Colon in “Damnation of Faust”, “Loreley” , Gianni Schicchi and as both Margherita and Elena in Mefistofele with Gigli, whose performance was to remain one of Spani’s most prized memories. “His voice was as a sound from heaven”. At Montevideo she sang a single performance of “Loreley” with Muzio. From there it was back to Italy and the beginning of her international career.
On 10 January 1920 she debuted at Turin’s Teatro Regio in Massenet’s “Zanetto” under the baton of her fellow Argentinian, Ettore Panizza and a month later she debuted at the notoriously difficult Regio of Parma in “Lohengrin” under Tullio Serafin’s leadership. Her success as Elsa was so great that she was immediately invited to Ravenna to sing the role with Pertile, the “ideal” Lohengrin. At Bergamo in September she met Nazzareno de Angelis for the first time when she sang Sinaide in “Mose”. He was so impressed with her, and she with him, that an immediate arrangement was made for her debut at Milan’s Teatro Dal Verme. She appeared in seventeen performances of“Damnation of Faust”, ten of “Tannhauser”, ten of “Pagliacci” and, with the great bass, some sixteen performances of “Mefistofele”.
In 1921 at the Dal Verme, she added Maddalena di Coigny to her growing repertoire, and at Cesena she sang Mimi for the first time. She also appeared at Perugia in “Damnation of Faust” and at Milan’s Teatro Carcano in “Mefistofele” and the world premiere of “Uomo Che Ride”. On 22 December she debuted at the San Carlo of Naples as Sieglinde and “Il Giornale d’Italia” reported that “Hina Spani in the transcendent role of Sieglinde was also transcendent as a performer”. Her stay in Naples extended for nearly five months and she appeared in “La Wally”, “Cavalleria Rusticana” which she performed twenty times, “Boheme”, Marina in “Boris Gudunov” and a new work called “Glauco”. It was in Naples that Italy first saw her as a recitalist when, on 15 March at the Conservatorio she sang music by Gluck, Schumann and Brahms. From Naples she traveled to Rome for a debut at the last of Italy’s big three, the Teatro Costanzi. On 27 April she sang in “Andrea Chenier” with Jesus de Gaviria and Jose Segura-Tallien, followed by “La Wally” and in both “Cavalleria Rusticana” and “Pagliacci”. In October she appeared for the first time at Trieste, singing Elsa, and at year’s end, she returned to the Dal Verme for “Lohengrin”, an opera called “La Tempesta” and her first Desdemonas, partnered by Gennaro de Tura. “Otello” was repeated eleven times.
In January of 1923 she sang fifteen performances of “Mefistofele” at Reggio Emilia undertaking both roles once again. Her success in the Wagner repertoire was especially noteworthy and she returned to Trieste for “Tannhauser” in February and Elsa at Cagliari in April. Spani had been away from home for nearly four years and she happily accepted a very impressive contract to sing at the Colon and throughout South America in the “summer” and “autumn”. It would indeed be a grand tour.
As Spani stepped onto the stage at the Colon on the evening of 3 June she received an enormous ovation from the capacity audience. She was about to sing Mathilde in Rossini’s “Guglielmo Tell” with John O’Sullivan and Carlo Galeffi. The revival was a tremendous success for all, but her reception was “like nothing we have previously experienced”. La Prensa also declared that “Argentina has never produced a voice so beautiful as that of Hina Spani.” The rest of her season at the Colon was occupied with a succession of Argentinian and World Premieres, the latter being Boero’s “Raquela” on 26 June and Gilardi’s “Ilse” on 13 July. The local premieres were: Pizzetti’s “Debora and Jaele” and de Falla’s “La Vida Breve”. She also sang scenes from “Un Ballo in Maschera” in a concert. At Rosario she sang for the first time in Ricitelli’s newly premiered “Compagnacci” and repeated the opera at Montevideo. At Cordoba she sang “Nedda” to the Pagliaccio of Miguel Fleta and at Rio de Janeiro she added “Jupyra” by the Brazilian, Ernani Braga. She also sang in “Damnation of Faust” with O’Sullivan and in “Manon Lescaut’ with Pertile. At Sao Paolo she closed the season as Mimi to the Rodolfo of Pertile. In all, she sang forty-five performances over a four month period and left for Italy, having realized her greatest successes to date. She now had a reputation as one of opera’s most prolific artists and one of its greatest risk takers, and she would be repeatedly asked in succeeding years to learn new roles in adventurous repertoire; a gallery of expositions which would equal seventy by the time she left the stage.
She had tested Amelia at Buenos Aires and decided that it was time to sing the complete role. On 1 January 1924, she sang in “Un Ballo in Maschera” at Cremona’s Teatro Ponchielli with Bonci in what she, herself, called “one of my greatest successes, a nearly perfect performance by all the participants”. At Modena she sang in Andrea Chenier, and while there, she received a call from Riccardo Zandoai requesting that she learn his most recent opera, “Giulietta e Romeo”. She agreed and on 14 February at Piacenza with Zandonai on the podium, she sang Giulietta for the first time, with Franco lo Giudice as her Romeo. The group visited Brescia, Turin and Catania. At Catania, the receptions were so enthusiastic that five scheduled performances became seven. In a period of sixty days she sang twenty-four performances of the opera. The date remains unclear, but it was in this period that she sang her first Aida at the Tuscan town of Prato. She spoke of damaging the voice should one undertake the role too early or sing it too often, but her success in “Ballo” emboldened her to take the first tentative step. It was, in her words, “very well received”, but it would be a role that she was to sing very few times in her career. In May she sang Mathilde at Florence with O’Sullivan and in July she sang ten performances of “Andrea Chenier” at the Verona Arena with Francesco Merli and Benvenuto Franci. Merli was to remark that “hers was the most beautifully sung Maddalena I ever heard”. September found her at Lucca for performances of “Un Ballo in Maschera”. On 5 November she repeated “Guglielmo Tell” with O’Sullivan at Genoa’s Politeama and on the 15th she sang the title role in “Loreley” for the first time.
On 29 November 1924, the world learned of the death of Giacomo Puccini. Opera houses everywhere altered schedules for memorials. At Santiago Chile, Gilda dalla Rizza sang Suor Angelica and so intense was the feeling on both sides of the footlights that the performance had to be stopped twice. At the conclusion, El Mercurio noted “the grief was as a river”. Arturo Toscanini was determined that the funeral mass in Milan would properly honor the awesome and somber occasion. He appealed to the Vatican for permission to perform some of Puccini’s music in the Duomo and he invited Spani and De Angelis to be the soloists at the service. The dispensation was granted. With hundreds standing inside and thousands standing outside, Spani sang the “Addio” from “Edgar”. The program was repeated intact on 29 December at La Scala. During the month, she sang Margherita in Mefistofele at Scala with Arangi Lombardi, Pertile and De Angelis. Her words: “I remember with the greatest of pleasure the work of Arangi Lombardi, Pertile and De Angelis in this opera, brilliantly conducted by Toscanini”. I will note that the Scala chronology lists Panizza as the conductor, at least for the premiere. She continued “ It was of a perfection that I can rarely recall”. On 9 January 1925 at Milan’s Teatro del Popolo she sang in another memorial to Puccini. Her solo was “In quelle trine morbide” from “Manon Lescaut” and the program ended with “O soave fanciulla” from “Boheme” with Pertile. Spani recalled that there was no applause after the duet; that the audience stood in place for some time, then left in silence.
Spani’s season at La Scala ended with performances of “Andrea Chenier”. Pertile and Enrico Molinari joined her under Vittorio Gui’s baton. At Rome’s Costanzi she sang both Margherita and Elena in “Mefistofele” again with De Angelis. This time Merli sang the role of Faust. The season continued with “Guglielmo Tell” with O’Sullivan, Segura- Tallien and Tancredi Pasero, and ended with a single Aida. Her debut in Paris was on 30 May at the Gaite Lyrique as Santuzza. She also gave two recitals at the Circle Artistique. In October at Trieste she repeated Amelia in “Ballo” and prepared for her Spanish debut. On 7 November, both she and Giordano’s “Cena delle Beffe” appeared for the first time at Barcelona’s Liceo. Their success was extraordinary and as Spani recalled it “Titta Ruffo became so engrossed in his role that it appeared as though he forgot he was only acting, and lost complete control. He badly damaged my costume and came very close to causing me serious injury. I doubt that many stage performances have surpassed that evening in dramatic power”. She appeared in “Aida” “Guglielmo Tell” and “Otello” with O’Sullivan, “Andrea Chenier”, Albeniz’ “Pepita Jiminez”, “Cavalleria Rusticana” and “Pagliacci”.
In February and March of 1926 Spani toured throughout Italy with a recital program that included Wagner’s “Wesendonck Lieder” and music of such contemporary Italians as Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Vittorio Gui. Rome, Naples, Milan, Bergamo, Bussano, Brescia, Florence, Genoa, Mantua, Venice, Trieste and Verona were among the thirty five cities visited. At Rome’s Teatro Augusteo the Wagner cycle was performed with orchestra and conducted by Gui. In April she debuted at Nice’s Municipal as Aida, and on 7 May she debuted at Valencia as Selika in “L’Africaine”. She, Miguel Fleta and Giuseppina Zinetti toured to Palma de Majorca, Bilbao, Seville, Granada, Cordoba, Malaga and Alicante in the Meyerbeer opera along with “Tosca”, “Aida” and, for Zinetti, “La Favorita”. At several places, bullrings were pressed into service to accommodate the enormous demand for tickets and at Alicante, a sports stadium became an opera house. Valencia’s “Fidelio” reported: “we have paid the highest ticket prices for any event ever seen in this city, but, of little concern, the theater could have been sold four times over”.
In the autumn she returned to Italy where she alternated performances of “L’Africaine” and “Ballo in Maschera” at Mirandola and Rimini. On 25 November, she returned to the Liceo for “L’Africaine”, and on 14 December, “Lohengrin” was presented with Spani, Fleta, Zinetti and Granforte, whose debut at the Liceo it was. The ovation for Fleta was so enormous that he had to encore “Da voi lontano” in Catalan, and again, one more time, at the end of the performance. Spani remembered it as “perhaps the most excited audience before whom I ever sang. We were all very generously applauded, but Fleta’s very presence was cause for delirium”. The Liceo season continued until 15 February 1927 with “Tosca”, “Aida”, “Ballo in Maschera”, the World Premiere of “Espigadoro”, and “Boheme”. In April she sang in Marchetti’s “Ruy Blas” for the first time at Lecce’s Teatro Greco, and in May she sang Desdemona at Ancona. Concerts occupied her time in June, including at Bologna on the 6th, with Gigli. Milan’s del Popolo hosted her in an all Brahms evening in November, as did Verona, Zurich, Lugano, Geneva and Locarno. The old year ended at Madrid’s Teatro Zarzuela with performances of “Aida” and “Tosca”, and the new one began there with “Mefistofele” and Antonia in “Contes d’Hoffmann”.
On 3 March, at Milan’s del Popolo, she presented a concert of arias from “Alceste” and “Le Nozze di Figaro”, after which she sailed for Australia with Toti dal Monte, Giannina Arangi Lombardi, Giuseppina Zinetti, Francesco Merli, Angelo Minghetti, Apollo Granforte, Luigi Rossi Morelli and several other singers of the first rank. The company appeared at Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth and performed from May to October. Spani sang in “Madama Butterfly”, “Lohengrin”, “Tannhauser”, “Faust”, “Aida”, and, at Perth, the opening night “Turandot”. The Sydney Mail said of her Cio Cio San, “Hina Spani was a complete success. She is a most refined artist, possessing a voice of very sweet quality and phrasing with finish”. At one performance of “Butterfly” officers and crew of the Argentinian naval vessel “Sarmiento” presented her with a parasol of orange blossoms as a remembrance of her favorite role and of the affection with which she was held in her homeland. In a post season review, C.N. Bayertz , Australia’s most influential music critic, wrote in the Sydney Sunday Times, “Hina Spani has certainly the most beautiful voice among the female singers, ….and is a singlularly gifted stylist”.
After concerts at Sydney, the company embarked for Italy and, in January 1929, Spani sang in “La Wally” at Cremona. On the 25th at Milan’s Teatro del Popolo she sang a recital of music by Turina, Granados, Nin, Obradors, and de Falla. In March, she sang in “La Wally”, “Andrea Chenier” and “Pagliacci” at Sanremo and repeated “La Wally” at Savona. In April, at Barcelona she sang in the world premiere of Pahissa’s “Marianella” as well as a performance of “Aida”. On 28 July, at Valencia’s Plaza de Toros, Spani sang in “Il Trovatore” with Antonio Cortis and two days later sang Tosca with the world renowned tenor. Before sailing for Buenos Aires, Spani returned to Italy for several outdoor recitals, including one dedicated to Tosti at his birthplace, Ortuna-sul-Mare. At the Colon, on 17 October she appeared as Turandot. In November she sang Aida and participated in the world premiere of Gaito’s “Lazaro. She was partnered in all three operas by her countryman, Pedro Mirassou. On New Year’s Day 1930 she sang in “Guglielmo Tell” at the Regio of Parma and on the 19th of January in a gala celebration of the theater’s Centenary she sang in “Il Trovatore” with Bruna Castagna, Pertile, and Giulio Fregosi. In March she returned to La Scala after a five year absence for “Guglielmo Tell” in the company of Lauri Volpi, Franci and Pasero. She appeared in recital before the King and Queen of Spain at Madrid’s Royal Palace, at Vicenza’s Palazzo Ducale in honor of Prince Umberto and at Milan’s Palazzo Visconti.
Spani’s season at the Colon was most impressive. She appeared in “Cavalleria Rusticana” with Galliano Masini and Carlo Galeffi, “Boris Gudunov” with Chaliapin, whose “intensity and impact was only matched by Caruso and Ruffo”, Guridi’s “Amaya”, “Mefistofele” with George Thill and Pasero, and “Lohengrin” with Luisa Bertana, Thill and Galeffi. She also appeared in a concert in scenes from “La Dolores”. 1930 ended at Genoa’s Carlo Felice with “Guglielmo Tell”.
The Rossini opera opened the new year at the Regio of Turin with Spani, Marletta and Montesanto. In May she sang Marchetti’s “Ruy Blas” at the composer’s home town of Camerino and in August at Montecatini she sang in “Andrea Chenier” and “Madama Butterfly”. The year ended with her usual concert tour to Milan, Trieste, Verona and other cities in Northern Italy. In 1932, she divided her time between opera and recitals. From early January through March she sang, according to her statements, “in fifty two Italian cities”. In July and August she appeared in “Cavalleria Rusticana” with the Carro di Tespi. Among the cities visited were Cassino, Senigallia and Faenza. On 11 Sept at Venice’s Teatro La Fenice she appeared in concert, singing Espoile’s “El Palito” and in October at the del Popolo, she sang de Falla’s “Seven Popular Songs”. Milan also heard her in Pizzetti’s “Sacrifice of Abraham and Isaac” conducted by Gui.
She returned to Barcelona in the winter of 1933 for “La Vida Breve” and “Aida” and to Naples in March for her first performances of the Countess in “Le Nozze di Figaro”. The Maggio Musicale Fiorentino presented her in a concert of the music of Liuzzi on 26 May after which she performed the same program in several Tuscan cities. It was during this engagement that she had the opportunity to see Rosa Ponselle in “La Vestale” at the Comunale, an assumption that Spani considered one of the greatest musical experiences of her life. In August she appeared with Italian Radio of Rome as Donna Anna, and in October Turin’s Radio Studio hosted her in “La Wally”. Trieste’s University heard her in a recital series in October and her year ended with more concerts at Milan.
On 13 January 1934 she appeared at Florence’s Sala Bianca in a recital of music by Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Scarlatti and Brahms, and two weeks later, at Genoa’s Carlo Felice she sang opera for the last time in Italy. Luigi Rossi-Morelli sang Boris Gudunov to her Marina, and the revival was conducted by Sergio Failoni.
She sang music of Smetana on 23 March at Milan and stayed in the city to hear a concert by the young American, Marian Anderson. So struck was she by the voice and artistry of this young woman that she immediately contacted friends in Buenos Aires who arranged Anderson’s first concert tour of Argentina. In April at Trieste, she sang in the Carissimi oratorio, “La Figlia di Jephte”. She returned to South America in the late spring and appeared at both Buenos Aires and Montevideo in concert versions of Respighi’s “Maria Egiziaca” with Carlo Tagliabue under the direction of Tullio Serafin. Her season at the Colon included only one opera, Gilardi’s “La Leyenda del Urutau”. She ended the year at Buenos Aires with a recital series at the Teatro Cervantes and returned to Italy for recitals. On 22 March 1935 she offered an evening of Neapolitan Songs at the del Popolo of Milan, and with this concert, she bade farewell to Italy and the stages of Europe.
She sang in “Simon Boccangra” and “Ballo in Maschera” at the Colon in June. In September, she debuted at Santiago, Chile as Maddalena di Coigny with Mirassou and Galeffi. The season extended into November and she was heard in “Manon Lescaut”, “Madama Butterfly”, “Lohengrin” and “Don Giovanni” (Anna). In 1936 Buenos Aires saw Spani in four operas, all new to her: Gaito’s “Sangre de las Guitarras”, Malipiero’s “Giulio Cesare” (Portia), Rameau’s “Castor and Pollux” with Marjorie Lawrence and “Il Matrimonio Segreto”. The 1937 season presented her in “Maria Egiziaca” and Monteverdi’s “Orfeo” and in 1938 she sang Ottavia in ‘L’Incoronazione di Poppea. Colon audiences saw her in June of 1939 as Verdi’s Lady Macbeth after which she returned to Santiago for “Cavalleria Rusticana” and Lietti’s “Mauricio”. In 1939 Spani sang in “Oberto” at the Colon , and with those performances, she closed out her career at that theater. She continued to give occasional performances at an outdoor theater in Buenos Aires, and in the summer of 1940, she sang in opera for the last time, appearing as the “Trovatore” Leonora. It is known that she gave a series of recitals at the Teatro Cervantes every year until 1946.
Of her recordings, I think that the two “Lohengrin” arias, along with “Ma dall’ arido stela divulsa” and “Ebben” are her greatest, showing a lovely tone, floating line, wonderfully secure top notes and idiomatic expression. I am also very fond of “Selva Opaca” from “Guglielmo Tell” and the Nedda, Silvio duet from “Pagliacci” with Apollo Granforte. Spani’s favorites were the two “Trovatore” arias, which she declared were often played by Toscanini as a demonstration of perfect bel canto line. Her daughter’s favorite recording was a simple but lovely song called “Amarilli”. Other collectors have been very impressed by “In quelle trine morbide” and “Vissi d’arte”, as well they might.
Spani was a major force in Buenos Aires musical life almost until her death at the age of seventy three in 1969. In a late interview, she talked about her daughter. “Teresa is a gifted mezzo soprano who is making quite a name for herself as an interpreter of art songs. She sings under her name, Serantes, not Spani. Perhaps one day Serantes will be a noted name in the music world. Individuals must not be hampered by ghosts, even if it happens that the ghosts are the parents.”
To her memory!
Special thanks to Tom Kaufman, Dr. Ramiro Sanchez and Pete Wilson for their help and encouragement with this article.
© Bob Rideout
After I’m finished with a discussion of her interviews, I will outline her career in some detail and make a few comments on her recorded legacy.
Spani was a noted lyrico-spinto whose career was centered in the nineteen twenties, and, as you will see, was pretty much behind her by the early thirties. She concentrated on lieder more than the opera stage in the later years and was a most renowned and respected concert artist in both Europe and South America.
About herself - “My favorite roles? Art songs.! …with a song it is possible to command an expressive power, a feeling and an intimacy seldom found in an operatic excerpt…..There are exceptions, however. Among my seventy roles (I’ve only found sixty one to date) Cio Cio San is my favorite. I have always considered it to be a lyric role, not a dramatic one. When sung by a large voice, it is often shouted and it distorts not only the music but the character. After Cio Cio San, Wally is the role I love most “ I think that anyone who knows her recording of “Ebben ne andro lontano” will not wonder why she was particularly fond of the role. Hers is among the most outstanding and is considered by some to be the best ever recorded as well as her finest recording.
“I wish I had been able to record a great deal more of the song repertoire because it was there that I felt most at home. In those days, there was, unfortunately, not a great market for the art song and so I had to content myself with that which the record companies offered, which was still considerable. You know, I was scheduled to record a complete Otello, as well, but as so often happens, it unfortunately did not materialize. It was one of my favorite roles. Still, there are excerpts which I believe give a fair impression of my singing in that opera”.
About other singers - “Unquestionably Caruso and Ruffo were the greatest. To have sung with them in the same performance was one of the greatest thrills of my life. And I was so young! My debut season. What a way to begin one’s career. Claudia Muzio, I consider to be unequalled, especially as an actress. As a pure singer, there is no one like Lotte Lehmann. Other magnificent singers among the women are Giannina Arangi Lombardi and Toti dal Monte, whose vocalism is a lesson in perfection. Then there was Conchita Supervia who sang with an authority that I have never seen equalled. I was no less impressed by Rosa Ponselle whose Vestale I saw in Florence. Among the men, I have great admiration for Pertile (to whom she would later refer as the”perfect” Lohengrin), Georges Thill, a magnificent Lohengrin, Gigli and Schipa. I have wonderful memories of Apollo Granforte, an ideal Tonio and Iago, and of Renato Zanelli, a superb Otello. De Angelis as Mose was a miracle.”
The comments that follow are from an interview in 1954 taken from the Record Collector. “I believe that the new voices are very good, and in some cases, even more beautiful than of the older generation…but as a rule, the technique is a failure. In the last twenty years good taste and musicianship have improved but the bel canto line in the best sense of the word has been lost. Most young singers are in too much of a hurry to get to the top. Many fine voices lack proper training and a solid foundation. The evolution from the lyric to the dramatic, the Goddess Kirsten Flagstad being an outstanding example, should take place gradually and never be forced or pushed. Fortunately, all is not dark for we have some notable exceptions. We are fortunate in having Leonard Warren and Victoria de los Angeles whom I consider to be one of the most versatile and phenomenal artists I have ever heard. One might say that she has been touched by a magician’s wand or a kind fairy who gave her every gift necessary to become the best singer of our time, which I consider her.” I imagine Spani would have smiled very broadly, had she lived long enough to know just how astounding the Spanish diva’s career would be.
When asked if she was satisfied with her own career, she responded “An imaginative artist is never satisfied when thinking of the many things that have been planned but never done. No matter what has been accomplished, that feeling cannot be avoided.”
Hina Spani was born on 15 February 1896 in Puan, Argentina in the province of Buenos Aires. She was known as a precocious child and at the age of twelve, after four years of private study, she debuted at Cordoba in a recital of Spanish songs. Her talent was immediately recognized by some of Argentina’s most influential musicians and she was encouraged to locate in Buenos Aires where she studied privately for five years. In 1914 she migrated to Italy with her mother to continue her studies and within the year was invited to debut at La Scala as Anna in Catalani’s “Loreley”. The date was 13 March 1915, and the cast included Eugenia Burzio and Edward Johnson, who, many years later would be the manager of the Metropolitan Opera. He was then singing under the name of Edoardo di Giovanni. The young singer was immediately contacted by the Teatro Colon and offered a contract for their upcoming season. She sang in “Francesca da Rimini” with Rosa Raisa and Hippolito Lazaro, in “L’Africaine” with Raisa and Titta Ruffo, in “Pagliacci” with Caruso and Ruffo, “Carmen” with Genevieve Vix and Bernardo de Muro, and a concert in which she sang scenes from “Manon” with Caruso. The company gave performances at Montevideo, Rosario, Tucuman and Cordoba, where she was feted to a gala reception, remembered fondly as the little girl who sang such lovely songs just a few years ago.
Her success in her home country cannot be overestimated, but she felt that further study was needed and decided to take a long sabbatical from public performances in order to restudy her technique. During a three year period of intense training, she gave occasional recitals at Buenos Aires, Cordoba and Rosario. At the advanced age of twenty she tackled such demanding pieces of music as Alceste’s “Divinites du Styx” Elsa’s “Traum” and Isolde’s “Liebestod” to astounded audiences.
Spani was reengaged at the Colon in the 1918 season and sang in “Carmen”, “Pagliacci”, an Argentinian opera called “Tucuman” and Donna Elvira in “Don Giovanni”. She continued to study for another year and in the 1919 season appeared at the Colon in “Damnation of Faust”, “Loreley” , Gianni Schicchi and as both Margherita and Elena in Mefistofele with Gigli, whose performance was to remain one of Spani’s most prized memories. “His voice was as a sound from heaven”. At Montevideo she sang a single performance of “Loreley” with Muzio. From there it was back to Italy and the beginning of her international career.
On 10 January 1920 she debuted at Turin’s Teatro Regio in Massenet’s “Zanetto” under the baton of her fellow Argentinian, Ettore Panizza and a month later she debuted at the notoriously difficult Regio of Parma in “Lohengrin” under Tullio Serafin’s leadership. Her success as Elsa was so great that she was immediately invited to Ravenna to sing the role with Pertile, the “ideal” Lohengrin. At Bergamo in September she met Nazzareno de Angelis for the first time when she sang Sinaide in “Mose”. He was so impressed with her, and she with him, that an immediate arrangement was made for her debut at Milan’s Teatro Dal Verme. She appeared in seventeen performances of“Damnation of Faust”, ten of “Tannhauser”, ten of “Pagliacci” and, with the great bass, some sixteen performances of “Mefistofele”.
In 1921 at the Dal Verme, she added Maddalena di Coigny to her growing repertoire, and at Cesena she sang Mimi for the first time. She also appeared at Perugia in “Damnation of Faust” and at Milan’s Teatro Carcano in “Mefistofele” and the world premiere of “Uomo Che Ride”. On 22 December she debuted at the San Carlo of Naples as Sieglinde and “Il Giornale d’Italia” reported that “Hina Spani in the transcendent role of Sieglinde was also transcendent as a performer”. Her stay in Naples extended for nearly five months and she appeared in “La Wally”, “Cavalleria Rusticana” which she performed twenty times, “Boheme”, Marina in “Boris Gudunov” and a new work called “Glauco”. It was in Naples that Italy first saw her as a recitalist when, on 15 March at the Conservatorio she sang music by Gluck, Schumann and Brahms. From Naples she traveled to Rome for a debut at the last of Italy’s big three, the Teatro Costanzi. On 27 April she sang in “Andrea Chenier” with Jesus de Gaviria and Jose Segura-Tallien, followed by “La Wally” and in both “Cavalleria Rusticana” and “Pagliacci”. In October she appeared for the first time at Trieste, singing Elsa, and at year’s end, she returned to the Dal Verme for “Lohengrin”, an opera called “La Tempesta” and her first Desdemonas, partnered by Gennaro de Tura. “Otello” was repeated eleven times.
In January of 1923 she sang fifteen performances of “Mefistofele” at Reggio Emilia undertaking both roles once again. Her success in the Wagner repertoire was especially noteworthy and she returned to Trieste for “Tannhauser” in February and Elsa at Cagliari in April. Spani had been away from home for nearly four years and she happily accepted a very impressive contract to sing at the Colon and throughout South America in the “summer” and “autumn”. It would indeed be a grand tour.
As Spani stepped onto the stage at the Colon on the evening of 3 June she received an enormous ovation from the capacity audience. She was about to sing Mathilde in Rossini’s “Guglielmo Tell” with John O’Sullivan and Carlo Galeffi. The revival was a tremendous success for all, but her reception was “like nothing we have previously experienced”. La Prensa also declared that “Argentina has never produced a voice so beautiful as that of Hina Spani.” The rest of her season at the Colon was occupied with a succession of Argentinian and World Premieres, the latter being Boero’s “Raquela” on 26 June and Gilardi’s “Ilse” on 13 July. The local premieres were: Pizzetti’s “Debora and Jaele” and de Falla’s “La Vida Breve”. She also sang scenes from “Un Ballo in Maschera” in a concert. At Rosario she sang for the first time in Ricitelli’s newly premiered “Compagnacci” and repeated the opera at Montevideo. At Cordoba she sang “Nedda” to the Pagliaccio of Miguel Fleta and at Rio de Janeiro she added “Jupyra” by the Brazilian, Ernani Braga. She also sang in “Damnation of Faust” with O’Sullivan and in “Manon Lescaut’ with Pertile. At Sao Paolo she closed the season as Mimi to the Rodolfo of Pertile. In all, she sang forty-five performances over a four month period and left for Italy, having realized her greatest successes to date. She now had a reputation as one of opera’s most prolific artists and one of its greatest risk takers, and she would be repeatedly asked in succeeding years to learn new roles in adventurous repertoire; a gallery of expositions which would equal seventy by the time she left the stage.
She had tested Amelia at Buenos Aires and decided that it was time to sing the complete role. On 1 January 1924, she sang in “Un Ballo in Maschera” at Cremona’s Teatro Ponchielli with Bonci in what she, herself, called “one of my greatest successes, a nearly perfect performance by all the participants”. At Modena she sang in Andrea Chenier, and while there, she received a call from Riccardo Zandoai requesting that she learn his most recent opera, “Giulietta e Romeo”. She agreed and on 14 February at Piacenza with Zandonai on the podium, she sang Giulietta for the first time, with Franco lo Giudice as her Romeo. The group visited Brescia, Turin and Catania. At Catania, the receptions were so enthusiastic that five scheduled performances became seven. In a period of sixty days she sang twenty-four performances of the opera. The date remains unclear, but it was in this period that she sang her first Aida at the Tuscan town of Prato. She spoke of damaging the voice should one undertake the role too early or sing it too often, but her success in “Ballo” emboldened her to take the first tentative step. It was, in her words, “very well received”, but it would be a role that she was to sing very few times in her career. In May she sang Mathilde at Florence with O’Sullivan and in July she sang ten performances of “Andrea Chenier” at the Verona Arena with Francesco Merli and Benvenuto Franci. Merli was to remark that “hers was the most beautifully sung Maddalena I ever heard”. September found her at Lucca for performances of “Un Ballo in Maschera”. On 5 November she repeated “Guglielmo Tell” with O’Sullivan at Genoa’s Politeama and on the 15th she sang the title role in “Loreley” for the first time.
On 29 November 1924, the world learned of the death of Giacomo Puccini. Opera houses everywhere altered schedules for memorials. At Santiago Chile, Gilda dalla Rizza sang Suor Angelica and so intense was the feeling on both sides of the footlights that the performance had to be stopped twice. At the conclusion, El Mercurio noted “the grief was as a river”. Arturo Toscanini was determined that the funeral mass in Milan would properly honor the awesome and somber occasion. He appealed to the Vatican for permission to perform some of Puccini’s music in the Duomo and he invited Spani and De Angelis to be the soloists at the service. The dispensation was granted. With hundreds standing inside and thousands standing outside, Spani sang the “Addio” from “Edgar”. The program was repeated intact on 29 December at La Scala. During the month, she sang Margherita in Mefistofele at Scala with Arangi Lombardi, Pertile and De Angelis. Her words: “I remember with the greatest of pleasure the work of Arangi Lombardi, Pertile and De Angelis in this opera, brilliantly conducted by Toscanini”. I will note that the Scala chronology lists Panizza as the conductor, at least for the premiere. She continued “ It was of a perfection that I can rarely recall”. On 9 January 1925 at Milan’s Teatro del Popolo she sang in another memorial to Puccini. Her solo was “In quelle trine morbide” from “Manon Lescaut” and the program ended with “O soave fanciulla” from “Boheme” with Pertile. Spani recalled that there was no applause after the duet; that the audience stood in place for some time, then left in silence.
Spani’s season at La Scala ended with performances of “Andrea Chenier”. Pertile and Enrico Molinari joined her under Vittorio Gui’s baton. At Rome’s Costanzi she sang both Margherita and Elena in “Mefistofele” again with De Angelis. This time Merli sang the role of Faust. The season continued with “Guglielmo Tell” with O’Sullivan, Segura- Tallien and Tancredi Pasero, and ended with a single Aida. Her debut in Paris was on 30 May at the Gaite Lyrique as Santuzza. She also gave two recitals at the Circle Artistique. In October at Trieste she repeated Amelia in “Ballo” and prepared for her Spanish debut. On 7 November, both she and Giordano’s “Cena delle Beffe” appeared for the first time at Barcelona’s Liceo. Their success was extraordinary and as Spani recalled it “Titta Ruffo became so engrossed in his role that it appeared as though he forgot he was only acting, and lost complete control. He badly damaged my costume and came very close to causing me serious injury. I doubt that many stage performances have surpassed that evening in dramatic power”. She appeared in “Aida” “Guglielmo Tell” and “Otello” with O’Sullivan, “Andrea Chenier”, Albeniz’ “Pepita Jiminez”, “Cavalleria Rusticana” and “Pagliacci”.
In February and March of 1926 Spani toured throughout Italy with a recital program that included Wagner’s “Wesendonck Lieder” and music of such contemporary Italians as Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Vittorio Gui. Rome, Naples, Milan, Bergamo, Bussano, Brescia, Florence, Genoa, Mantua, Venice, Trieste and Verona were among the thirty five cities visited. At Rome’s Teatro Augusteo the Wagner cycle was performed with orchestra and conducted by Gui. In April she debuted at Nice’s Municipal as Aida, and on 7 May she debuted at Valencia as Selika in “L’Africaine”. She, Miguel Fleta and Giuseppina Zinetti toured to Palma de Majorca, Bilbao, Seville, Granada, Cordoba, Malaga and Alicante in the Meyerbeer opera along with “Tosca”, “Aida” and, for Zinetti, “La Favorita”. At several places, bullrings were pressed into service to accommodate the enormous demand for tickets and at Alicante, a sports stadium became an opera house. Valencia’s “Fidelio” reported: “we have paid the highest ticket prices for any event ever seen in this city, but, of little concern, the theater could have been sold four times over”.
In the autumn she returned to Italy where she alternated performances of “L’Africaine” and “Ballo in Maschera” at Mirandola and Rimini. On 25 November, she returned to the Liceo for “L’Africaine”, and on 14 December, “Lohengrin” was presented with Spani, Fleta, Zinetti and Granforte, whose debut at the Liceo it was. The ovation for Fleta was so enormous that he had to encore “Da voi lontano” in Catalan, and again, one more time, at the end of the performance. Spani remembered it as “perhaps the most excited audience before whom I ever sang. We were all very generously applauded, but Fleta’s very presence was cause for delirium”. The Liceo season continued until 15 February 1927 with “Tosca”, “Aida”, “Ballo in Maschera”, the World Premiere of “Espigadoro”, and “Boheme”. In April she sang in Marchetti’s “Ruy Blas” for the first time at Lecce’s Teatro Greco, and in May she sang Desdemona at Ancona. Concerts occupied her time in June, including at Bologna on the 6th, with Gigli. Milan’s del Popolo hosted her in an all Brahms evening in November, as did Verona, Zurich, Lugano, Geneva and Locarno. The old year ended at Madrid’s Teatro Zarzuela with performances of “Aida” and “Tosca”, and the new one began there with “Mefistofele” and Antonia in “Contes d’Hoffmann”.
On 3 March, at Milan’s del Popolo, she presented a concert of arias from “Alceste” and “Le Nozze di Figaro”, after which she sailed for Australia with Toti dal Monte, Giannina Arangi Lombardi, Giuseppina Zinetti, Francesco Merli, Angelo Minghetti, Apollo Granforte, Luigi Rossi Morelli and several other singers of the first rank. The company appeared at Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth and performed from May to October. Spani sang in “Madama Butterfly”, “Lohengrin”, “Tannhauser”, “Faust”, “Aida”, and, at Perth, the opening night “Turandot”. The Sydney Mail said of her Cio Cio San, “Hina Spani was a complete success. She is a most refined artist, possessing a voice of very sweet quality and phrasing with finish”. At one performance of “Butterfly” officers and crew of the Argentinian naval vessel “Sarmiento” presented her with a parasol of orange blossoms as a remembrance of her favorite role and of the affection with which she was held in her homeland. In a post season review, C.N. Bayertz , Australia’s most influential music critic, wrote in the Sydney Sunday Times, “Hina Spani has certainly the most beautiful voice among the female singers, ….and is a singlularly gifted stylist”.
After concerts at Sydney, the company embarked for Italy and, in January 1929, Spani sang in “La Wally” at Cremona. On the 25th at Milan’s Teatro del Popolo she sang a recital of music by Turina, Granados, Nin, Obradors, and de Falla. In March, she sang in “La Wally”, “Andrea Chenier” and “Pagliacci” at Sanremo and repeated “La Wally” at Savona. In April, at Barcelona she sang in the world premiere of Pahissa’s “Marianella” as well as a performance of “Aida”. On 28 July, at Valencia’s Plaza de Toros, Spani sang in “Il Trovatore” with Antonio Cortis and two days later sang Tosca with the world renowned tenor. Before sailing for Buenos Aires, Spani returned to Italy for several outdoor recitals, including one dedicated to Tosti at his birthplace, Ortuna-sul-Mare. At the Colon, on 17 October she appeared as Turandot. In November she sang Aida and participated in the world premiere of Gaito’s “Lazaro. She was partnered in all three operas by her countryman, Pedro Mirassou. On New Year’s Day 1930 she sang in “Guglielmo Tell” at the Regio of Parma and on the 19th of January in a gala celebration of the theater’s Centenary she sang in “Il Trovatore” with Bruna Castagna, Pertile, and Giulio Fregosi. In March she returned to La Scala after a five year absence for “Guglielmo Tell” in the company of Lauri Volpi, Franci and Pasero. She appeared in recital before the King and Queen of Spain at Madrid’s Royal Palace, at Vicenza’s Palazzo Ducale in honor of Prince Umberto and at Milan’s Palazzo Visconti.
Spani’s season at the Colon was most impressive. She appeared in “Cavalleria Rusticana” with Galliano Masini and Carlo Galeffi, “Boris Gudunov” with Chaliapin, whose “intensity and impact was only matched by Caruso and Ruffo”, Guridi’s “Amaya”, “Mefistofele” with George Thill and Pasero, and “Lohengrin” with Luisa Bertana, Thill and Galeffi. She also appeared in a concert in scenes from “La Dolores”. 1930 ended at Genoa’s Carlo Felice with “Guglielmo Tell”.
The Rossini opera opened the new year at the Regio of Turin with Spani, Marletta and Montesanto. In May she sang Marchetti’s “Ruy Blas” at the composer’s home town of Camerino and in August at Montecatini she sang in “Andrea Chenier” and “Madama Butterfly”. The year ended with her usual concert tour to Milan, Trieste, Verona and other cities in Northern Italy. In 1932, she divided her time between opera and recitals. From early January through March she sang, according to her statements, “in fifty two Italian cities”. In July and August she appeared in “Cavalleria Rusticana” with the Carro di Tespi. Among the cities visited were Cassino, Senigallia and Faenza. On 11 Sept at Venice’s Teatro La Fenice she appeared in concert, singing Espoile’s “El Palito” and in October at the del Popolo, she sang de Falla’s “Seven Popular Songs”. Milan also heard her in Pizzetti’s “Sacrifice of Abraham and Isaac” conducted by Gui.
She returned to Barcelona in the winter of 1933 for “La Vida Breve” and “Aida” and to Naples in March for her first performances of the Countess in “Le Nozze di Figaro”. The Maggio Musicale Fiorentino presented her in a concert of the music of Liuzzi on 26 May after which she performed the same program in several Tuscan cities. It was during this engagement that she had the opportunity to see Rosa Ponselle in “La Vestale” at the Comunale, an assumption that Spani considered one of the greatest musical experiences of her life. In August she appeared with Italian Radio of Rome as Donna Anna, and in October Turin’s Radio Studio hosted her in “La Wally”. Trieste’s University heard her in a recital series in October and her year ended with more concerts at Milan.
On 13 January 1934 she appeared at Florence’s Sala Bianca in a recital of music by Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Scarlatti and Brahms, and two weeks later, at Genoa’s Carlo Felice she sang opera for the last time in Italy. Luigi Rossi-Morelli sang Boris Gudunov to her Marina, and the revival was conducted by Sergio Failoni.
She sang music of Smetana on 23 March at Milan and stayed in the city to hear a concert by the young American, Marian Anderson. So struck was she by the voice and artistry of this young woman that she immediately contacted friends in Buenos Aires who arranged Anderson’s first concert tour of Argentina. In April at Trieste, she sang in the Carissimi oratorio, “La Figlia di Jephte”. She returned to South America in the late spring and appeared at both Buenos Aires and Montevideo in concert versions of Respighi’s “Maria Egiziaca” with Carlo Tagliabue under the direction of Tullio Serafin. Her season at the Colon included only one opera, Gilardi’s “La Leyenda del Urutau”. She ended the year at Buenos Aires with a recital series at the Teatro Cervantes and returned to Italy for recitals. On 22 March 1935 she offered an evening of Neapolitan Songs at the del Popolo of Milan, and with this concert, she bade farewell to Italy and the stages of Europe.
She sang in “Simon Boccangra” and “Ballo in Maschera” at the Colon in June. In September, she debuted at Santiago, Chile as Maddalena di Coigny with Mirassou and Galeffi. The season extended into November and she was heard in “Manon Lescaut”, “Madama Butterfly”, “Lohengrin” and “Don Giovanni” (Anna). In 1936 Buenos Aires saw Spani in four operas, all new to her: Gaito’s “Sangre de las Guitarras”, Malipiero’s “Giulio Cesare” (Portia), Rameau’s “Castor and Pollux” with Marjorie Lawrence and “Il Matrimonio Segreto”. The 1937 season presented her in “Maria Egiziaca” and Monteverdi’s “Orfeo” and in 1938 she sang Ottavia in ‘L’Incoronazione di Poppea. Colon audiences saw her in June of 1939 as Verdi’s Lady Macbeth after which she returned to Santiago for “Cavalleria Rusticana” and Lietti’s “Mauricio”. In 1939 Spani sang in “Oberto” at the Colon , and with those performances, she closed out her career at that theater. She continued to give occasional performances at an outdoor theater in Buenos Aires, and in the summer of 1940, she sang in opera for the last time, appearing as the “Trovatore” Leonora. It is known that she gave a series of recitals at the Teatro Cervantes every year until 1946.
Of her recordings, I think that the two “Lohengrin” arias, along with “Ma dall’ arido stela divulsa” and “Ebben” are her greatest, showing a lovely tone, floating line, wonderfully secure top notes and idiomatic expression. I am also very fond of “Selva Opaca” from “Guglielmo Tell” and the Nedda, Silvio duet from “Pagliacci” with Apollo Granforte. Spani’s favorites were the two “Trovatore” arias, which she declared were often played by Toscanini as a demonstration of perfect bel canto line. Her daughter’s favorite recording was a simple but lovely song called “Amarilli”. Other collectors have been very impressed by “In quelle trine morbide” and “Vissi d’arte”, as well they might.
Spani was a major force in Buenos Aires musical life almost until her death at the age of seventy three in 1969. In a late interview, she talked about her daughter. “Teresa is a gifted mezzo soprano who is making quite a name for herself as an interpreter of art songs. She sings under her name, Serantes, not Spani. Perhaps one day Serantes will be a noted name in the music world. Individuals must not be hampered by ghosts, even if it happens that the ghosts are the parents.”
To her memory!
Special thanks to Tom Kaufman, Dr. Ramiro Sanchez and Pete Wilson for their help and encouragement with this article.
© Bob Rideout