Maria Farneti
Every composer's favorite soprano, every colleague's favorite artist, every theater's favorite diva and many collector's favorite verismo artist. Maria Farneti was one of the few and true interpretive visionaries at the end of the nineteenth century and the first years of the twentieth. Gemma Bellincioni set a new standard of vocal style with her unique interpretation of Mascagn's Santuzza and Farneti grabbed the opportunity to place the stamp of dramatic truth upon the music of her time. Eugenia Burzio took the new movement to its logical, if controversial, apex with her interpretations of Verdi and Bellini, and so, these three immensely influential women framed a new direction in the evolution of musical history.
Maria Farneti was born in the small town of Forli on 8 December 1877 and by the age of eight was a recognized vocal prodigy, exhibiting an unusually mature musical instinct and a voice of remarkable size and range. While still in her early teens she was enrolled at the Pesaro Liceo where she studied for several years under the tutelage of Virginia Boccabadati Carignani who was the primary teacher of Celestina Boninsegna, and a mentor of Fiorello Giraud and Alessandro Bonci.
Farneti graduated in the spring of 1898 and before the year was out she had made her first professional appearances when she appeared at Recanati in a musical "poem" dedicated to Leonardi and composed by Pietro Mascagni who at that time was the director of the Pesaro Conservatory. In October Maria made her operatic debut at Sansepolcro as Mimi in "La Boheme". No reviews have been unearthed, but it is a matter of record that the young soprano was very depressed after the engagement and had to wait nearly a year before securing a contract. On November 1899 Maria debuted at the prestigious Teatro Regio of Turin in its premiere performance of Mascagni's "Iris" to an enormous reception.
After a run of fifteen performances Farneti continued her season at the Regio with Verdi's Desdemona. Later in 1900 she appeared at Rimini in Puccini's "Manon Lescaut" and at the Bologna Comunale, Maria sang ten performances of Iris.
During the autumn, Desdemona was Farneti's calling card at several Italian provincial towns, including Jesi and Catanzaro and on 17 January 1901 she created the role of Rosaura in "Le Maschere" at Venice's Teatro La Fenice, while her fellow classmate, Boninsegna, was singing the role at the Costanzi of Rome. Mascagni had scheduled seven concurrent World Premieres of his new opera and six of the seven succeeded in presenting the opera at exactly the same time. The Naples premiere had to be postponed for two days because of the tenor's last minute indisposition. At Rome, there were twenty performances, but elsewhere it found general disfavor and was soon dropped from the repertoire.
However, Farneti's personal success was assured and the Fenice persuaded her to fulfill the remainder of her contract with several performances of "Andrea Chenier". Genoa was Farneti's next stop where she spent the autumn singing Mimi and Iris at the Politeama and Desdemona, Iris and Goldmark's "Regina di Saba" at the Carlo Felice. In January of 1902 Maria journeyed to Trento for the World Premiere of Lazzari's "La contessa di Eygemont".
Mascagni brought "Iris" to the United States in the autumn of 1902 and he chose Farneti to portray the fragile heroine. She, Piero Schiavazzi and Francesco Navarrini debuted at Philadelphia's Academy on 14 October 1902, and two nights later, New York hailed the opera, the composer and the protagonist with prolonged ovations at the Metropolitan Opera House. Baltimore, Buffalo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Boston were visited, as well as Montreal, Canada, and Farneti managed to schedule recitals at most of the stops on the tour. It was her only visit to the North America.
In the winter of 1903 Farneti added Elsa in "Lohengrin" to her growing repertoire and she appeared at both Parma and Verona in the Wagner work before sailing to Buenos Aires and her first South American season.
The Teatro del Opera hosted Maria in "Iris", Massent's "Griselidis", "Germania", Hansel and Gretel, "Manon Lescaut" and "Mefisofele". All performances were conducted by Arturo Toscanini and Enrico Caruso partnered her in the Puccini, Mascagni, Franchetti and Boito operas. At Montevideo Giovanni Zenatello sang in "Mefistofele". Such stellar company would daunt the bravest young singer, but it was Farneti who garnered the headlines, and critical response was nothing short of idolatrous. She was hailed as a creative genius, a dramatic revelation, with a personality so intense that her slightest gesture held the full attention of the audience. To the enormous relief of the theater's management Farneti signed a contract for the following season before returning to Italy. In the autumn Farneti sang at Turin's Vittorio Emanuele and the Carignano. Both theaters presented her as Iris and the Carignano mounted "Tosca" and the world premiere of Lozzi's "Mirandolina" for her. The Costanzi of Rome was anxious for Farneti's services and on 17 March 1904 she debuted as Alice Ford in "Falstaff" with Magini Coletti in the title role and Mancinelli on the podium. It was a very short season, a mere five performances, but Farneti was engaged for seven roles in the following season, and she contentedly sailed for Buenos Aires in late April.
Toscanin opened the season at the Teatro del Opera with Lohengrin, featuring Farneti, Parsi Pettinella, Giuseppe Borgatti, Pasquale Amato and Adamo Didur. The roster also included Angelica Pandolfini, Rosina Storchio, Mario Sammarco, Eduardo Garbin and Pietro Schiavazzi, each of whom was provided a number of "star turns", most important among them, the Buenos Aires premiere of "Madama Butterfly" with Storchio. Farneti appeared in "Falstaff", "Iris", "Manon Lescaut" and "La Wally", and as in the previous year the company traveled to Montevideo for a brief season, where she repeated Elsa and Wally. "Ebben, ne andro lontano was encored twice before an audience that would not allow her to leave the stage. It was during 1904 that Puccini began corresponding with Farneti, expressing his intense desire to have her appear in "Madama Butterfly". The letters are signed in every case, "your devoted servant" Giacomo Puccini. It was far from an easy "sell" and supplications continued well into 1905. Farneti expressed the wish that the Buenos Aires premiere be assigned to her, and when that didn't happen she withdrew any interest in future engagements. It is a fairly complicated story, but one in which a case might certainly be made for Farneti's reluctance. Storchio had appeared in the failed World Premiere at La Scala, and was replaced by Salomea Kruscelnicka when the rewritten version surfaced at Brescia three months later. Given those facts, there was no apparent reason why Puccini would have felt bound to Storchio as his choice for the Buenos Aires premiere, though it is likely that contracts had already been signed. Passions do sometimes interfere with reason. Not to worry, there is a happy ending!
Farneti returned to Rome for seven operas in the winter of 1905: both roles in "Mefistofele", Sieglinde in "Die Walkuere", "La Boheme", Amalia in "La Cabrera" by Dupont, Antonia in "Contes d'Hoffmann" and Mascagni's "L'Amico Fritz" and "Zanetto". Critical commentary centered on her magnificent stage presence and upon the strength of her vocal delivery in the Wagner opera. She remained in Rome for five months and appeared some fifty times before taking her first long break from the lyric stage in five years. However, it was not all relaxation because Maria had agreed to sing in both the Naples and Palermo premieres of "Madama Butterfly" and she spent several months in preparation. On 20 December Farneti debuted at the San Carlo as Tosca and on 24 January 1906, Naples saw it's first performance of the new Puccini work. It was an awesome success for Farneti and for Puccini who extolled his new heroine in front page articles throughout Italy. In a private letter to Farneti dated 29 January, Puccini wrote, "for your vivid and beautiful presentation of Butterfly, you have my complete admiration and thanks.
After "Otello" at the San Carlo, Maria returned to Rome for Catalani's "Loreley".
On 26 April, Palermo's Massimo presented "Butterfly" for the first time and Farneti realized another extraordinary success. Puccini to Farneti, dated 25 April (so we must assume that either the reference is to the final dress rehearsal, or the annals of the Massimo have dated the premiere incorrectly) Dear signorina Farneti, I wish to tell you of my admiration and gratitude for the success of Butterfly at Palermo. It was the ideal interpretation of my little Cio Cio San. A thousand cordial "saluti" – G P. On 11 May Farneti appeared in a command gala performance before Italy's King, Vittorio Emanuele and his wife, Elena of Savoia. On 20 December Maria returned to the San Carlo for additional performances of "Butterfly" and in January of 1907 she appeared there in "L'Amico Fritz'' and "La Wally". Her Palermo season included Sieglinde, Cio Cio San and Wally, and again the receptions were idolatrous. Newspapers recalled pictures of a theater shrouded in stunned silence as the curtain was lowered over Butterfly's lifeless body. "We observed an audience, yes, including many men, whose tears ran as a river. A remarkable sight!".
Despite these overwhelming successes, there remained a strain between Farneti and her major champion. When the opera was presented at Lucca, Puccini's birthplace, in September of 1907 with Camilla Ikso, the response was poor. Puccini again wrote to Farneti, "You can save my Butterfly and I pray with all my strength that you will sing the last four performances". There was no response, and his letter, dated 18 September 1907 is the last correspondence between them that has seen the light of day.
It is likely that Farneti never received the letter, or at least not in time to send an appropriate response. She was in South America from May through August, first at the Teatro del Opera of Buenos Aires, then at the Teatro Solis of Montevideo. "Butterfly" with Rinaldo Grassi, "Boheme" with Grassi and De Luca, "Bartered Bride" with Didur, "Herodiade" with Parsi Pettinella, Scampini and Nani and finally, "Manon Lescaut" with Grassi found only superlatives in the press and, as usual, audiences were unrestrained in their receptions.
Farneti returned to Italy in late September, and after a prolonged vacation she appeared at Turin's Regio in Massenet's "Arianna", "La Wally" and "Lohengrin". She returned to Rome on 25 March 1908 for the Costanzi's premiere of "Butterfly" to another huge storm of critical and popular acclaim. Puccini assisted at the dress rehearsal and attended the first performance. Italy's Queen Elena, who had fallen in love with the work, again assumed the place of honor in the royal box and led the frantic applause at the final curtain. Il Messagero recalled Farneti as "delicious, refined and profoundly moving". There were ten performances.
A new role, Paolina in Donaudy's "Sperduti nel buoi" completed Farneti's Rome season and in early May she sailed for one of the most exciting events in operatic history, the inaugural season of the Buenos Aires Teatro Colon. The theater was built to accommodate nearly four thousand, with a decorative abundance and extravagant public areas that have not since been matched. Farneti's magnificent reviews and receptions the previous summer assured that she would be an important member of a company that included Lucia Crestani, Amelia Pinto, Esperanza Clausenti, Amadea Santarelli, Amadeo Bassi, Giuseppi Borgatti, Antonio Paoli, Titta Ruffo and Feodor Chaliapin. Among highly anticipated events were the world premieres of Mancinelli's "Paolo e Francesca" and Panizza's "Aurora". Crestani (who claimed to have sung Aida six hundred times, the largest number in history) and Bassi, opened the season in the Verdi opera on 25 May to an ovation that kept the bow
curtains busy for over an hour. The season was completely sold out and every performance was followed by lavish demonstrations of approval for the venture, the operas and the artists. Farneti's debut was as Cio Cio San and she later appeared in "Aurora" and "Paolo e Francesca" with Bassi and Ruffo, "Mefistofele" with Santarelli as Elena, Bassi and Chaliapin, "Otello" with Paoli and Ruffo and "Don Giovanni" with Pinto, Clasenti, Ruffo and Chaliapin. It was an extraordinary time for opera in South America and the Colon ensemble confined its season to Buenos Aires with one very brief visit to La Plata to commemorate the Argentine national holiday. In July, a company that included Di Lerma, Agostinelli, Taccani, Bonini and Mansuseto appeared at Montevideo's two major theaters the Solis and the Uriquiza, and in August the Solis welcomed Krusceniski, Alda, Ruszkowska, Anselmi, Grassi, Stracciari, Didur and de Segurola.
A short vacation for rest and relaxation became an interval of nearly a year and Farneti seriously contemplated retirement. She was an adventurous woman who wished to be challenged, who yearned for new roles, but none were forthcoming. Mascagni confided to her that he was beginning to compose a new opera based upon the legend of Lady Godiva and that he wished her to be the creator. She was intrigued and agreed to consider the offer. As a prelude to their continuing collaboration, the composer convinced her to appear in a gala concert for the King of Italy and the Czar of Russia at the Royal Castle of Racconigi on 24 October 1909. The evening included one operatic selection, the fourth act quarter from "Rigoletto" in which Farneti, was joined by
Parsi-Pettinella, Grassi and Ruffo. It was her last excursion into the Verdi repertoire. 1909 ended with performances of "Iris" at Florence.
In January 1910 Farneti returned to Turin for "Herodiade" and a new role, Catalani's "Edmea". After performances of "Lohengrin" and "Iris" at Rome, she retreated into a long period of study under Mascagni's tutelage in preparation of the World Premiere of "Isabeau". On 19 December, Mascagni hosted a dinner at his Roman villa and, for the first time, music from the new opera was performed. The composer was at the piano and Farneti sang her solo music before "an enthralled" audience of critics and friends. Farneti's only other appearances prior to "Isabeau"'s premiere were as Manon Lescaut at Naples in March 1911.
On 15 April at Genoa's Teatro Carlo Felice there was a dress rehearsal of the new opera and Mascagni expressed satisfaction. The following day, a company headed by the composer, with Farneti, Boninsegna, Ladislawa Hotkowska, Italo Cristalli, Gennaro de Tura, Carlo Galeffi and Gaudio Mansueto sailed for Buenos Aires. The season opened at the Teatro Coliseo on 6 May with "Aida" featuring Boninsegna as "a glorious artist, who crowned her victory in the duet with Amonasro and the following one with Radames". Mascagni received standing ovations every time he mounted the podium and at the evening's conclusion the company was awarded a reception that continued for nearly an hour. Farneti opened her season on 10 May in "Lohengrin" to enormous applause and within the week she had also sung in"La Boheme" and "Iris", this last being recalled as the greatest triumph of the season by local critics.
2 June finally arrived, and in an atmosphere of enormous anticipation, "Isabeau" was presented for the first time with Farneti, Antonio Saludas and Galeffi. Unruly crowds surrounded the theater in an attempt to obtain tickets, and later, to rush the entrances. At the final curtain, demonstrations continued for what seemed an eternity. Reviewers lavished praise upon all involved and termed the opera "Mascagni's most important achievement", a "new direction, in which the creative process has led Mascagni into the realm of Debussy and Richard Strauss", a "work of true inspiration and genius". There were eight performances.
Saludas, as Folco, was praised for his bravery in challenging the cruelly high tessitura, and Farneti received unqualified raves.
However, in a letter dated 10 July to his close friend, Anna Lolli, Mascagni stated "She (Farneti) very much wishes to sing in the Italian premiere, but there is now a great fear …..because the part of Isabeau is too dramatic for her; act three is simply too demanding for her resources". In fact, Mascagni completed arrangements for the Italian premiere at La Scala with Adelina Agostinelli while he was still in South America. "The Mascagni Tour", as it would forever be known, included performances of "L'Amico Fritz" with Farnei, and "Cavalleria Rusticana", "Guglielmo Ratcliff" and "Amica" with Boninsegna. Rosario, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paolo, Montevideo, and Santiago, Chile were visited and the company closed the season at Valparaiso on 24 October with "Isabeau". The critic of Santiago's El Mercurio declared their visit "the most significant musical event in Chile's history".
In 1912 Farneti sang in the local premiere of "Paolo e Francesca" at Genoa and later in the local premiere of "Isabeau" at Naples. On 13 March she received a letter from Paolo Tosti. "Va bene, cara Divina! (He then discusses the performance of the 11th which he attended) The correspondence ends "I kiss your two hands. Your devoted" (P.T.). Two nights later with the great composer at the piano, Farneti gave a sold out concert at the Teatro San Carlo. In April she sang in the local premiere of "Isabeau" at Brescia and in February of 1913 she sang in the Rome premiere to unanimously favorable reviews and huge audience response. The summer found her on another long visit to South America, and "Isabeau" was again the centerpiece. The tour began at Buenos Aires' Coliseo and included stops at Rosario, Cordoba, Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo. Farneti, in addition to "Isabeau", sang in "Lohengrin", "Iris", "Madama Butterfly", Nepomuceno's "Abul" and "Mefistofele". Bernardo de Muro, who was to perform Folco nearly four hundred times during a twenty five year career, sang with Farneti in the two Mascagni operas throughout the tour.
Maria was tired and declared her intention to close out her career. However, on 22 July 1914 she received a letter from Umberto Giordano inviting her to appear in the Italian premiere of "Madame Sans Gene", an offer that was immediately accepted. (The composer had admired Farneti for many years and had, on several previous occasions, offered her important productions. In a letter dated 20 August1909, he asked her to consider singing in the world premiere of his "Mese Mariano" at Naples, but for reasons not known, it first saw the light of day at Palermo, without Farneti.) On 28 February 1915, at Turin's Teatro Regio, she sang in the new opera for the first time, and on 18 September, under Toscanini's direction, she repeated her triumph at Milan's Teatro Dal Verme. There were no performances in 1916, and after a few concerts in the summer of 1917, she r eturned to the Dal Verme on 7 October in a new opera, Puccini's "La Rondine". With this revival, Maria Farneti retired from the stage and from public life.
It is noted that Farneti is reported to have sung in "Il Trovatore" with Antonio Paoli but I have no firm evidence of this engagement. Were it to have happened, it would stand with "Otello" and "Flastaff" as the only other Verdi opera in her repertoire. She flourished in the world of contemporary music and it flourished, in no small measure, because of her creative genius and remarkable musical instincts.
To the amazement of the musical world, Farneti returned to the recording studio in 1930-31 and made a number of recordings, which remain her most important and well known. Included are "Son pochi fiori" from L'amico Fritz, Butterfly's Death and from her beloved Iris, "Io pingo…pingo" and "Un di (ero piccina)". They are for many collectors, including the author, among the most emotionally wrenching and dramatically riveting ever heard.
Nothing is known of Farneti's life during the next twenty five years;
her retreat from public life was complete and she died in her ancestral
home at Forli on 17 October 1955. To her memory!
© Bob Rideout
Maria Farneti was born in the small town of Forli on 8 December 1877 and by the age of eight was a recognized vocal prodigy, exhibiting an unusually mature musical instinct and a voice of remarkable size and range. While still in her early teens she was enrolled at the Pesaro Liceo where she studied for several years under the tutelage of Virginia Boccabadati Carignani who was the primary teacher of Celestina Boninsegna, and a mentor of Fiorello Giraud and Alessandro Bonci.
Farneti graduated in the spring of 1898 and before the year was out she had made her first professional appearances when she appeared at Recanati in a musical "poem" dedicated to Leonardi and composed by Pietro Mascagni who at that time was the director of the Pesaro Conservatory. In October Maria made her operatic debut at Sansepolcro as Mimi in "La Boheme". No reviews have been unearthed, but it is a matter of record that the young soprano was very depressed after the engagement and had to wait nearly a year before securing a contract. On November 1899 Maria debuted at the prestigious Teatro Regio of Turin in its premiere performance of Mascagni's "Iris" to an enormous reception.
After a run of fifteen performances Farneti continued her season at the Regio with Verdi's Desdemona. Later in 1900 she appeared at Rimini in Puccini's "Manon Lescaut" and at the Bologna Comunale, Maria sang ten performances of Iris.
During the autumn, Desdemona was Farneti's calling card at several Italian provincial towns, including Jesi and Catanzaro and on 17 January 1901 she created the role of Rosaura in "Le Maschere" at Venice's Teatro La Fenice, while her fellow classmate, Boninsegna, was singing the role at the Costanzi of Rome. Mascagni had scheduled seven concurrent World Premieres of his new opera and six of the seven succeeded in presenting the opera at exactly the same time. The Naples premiere had to be postponed for two days because of the tenor's last minute indisposition. At Rome, there were twenty performances, but elsewhere it found general disfavor and was soon dropped from the repertoire.
However, Farneti's personal success was assured and the Fenice persuaded her to fulfill the remainder of her contract with several performances of "Andrea Chenier". Genoa was Farneti's next stop where she spent the autumn singing Mimi and Iris at the Politeama and Desdemona, Iris and Goldmark's "Regina di Saba" at the Carlo Felice. In January of 1902 Maria journeyed to Trento for the World Premiere of Lazzari's "La contessa di Eygemont".
Mascagni brought "Iris" to the United States in the autumn of 1902 and he chose Farneti to portray the fragile heroine. She, Piero Schiavazzi and Francesco Navarrini debuted at Philadelphia's Academy on 14 October 1902, and two nights later, New York hailed the opera, the composer and the protagonist with prolonged ovations at the Metropolitan Opera House. Baltimore, Buffalo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Boston were visited, as well as Montreal, Canada, and Farneti managed to schedule recitals at most of the stops on the tour. It was her only visit to the North America.
In the winter of 1903 Farneti added Elsa in "Lohengrin" to her growing repertoire and she appeared at both Parma and Verona in the Wagner work before sailing to Buenos Aires and her first South American season.
The Teatro del Opera hosted Maria in "Iris", Massent's "Griselidis", "Germania", Hansel and Gretel, "Manon Lescaut" and "Mefisofele". All performances were conducted by Arturo Toscanini and Enrico Caruso partnered her in the Puccini, Mascagni, Franchetti and Boito operas. At Montevideo Giovanni Zenatello sang in "Mefistofele". Such stellar company would daunt the bravest young singer, but it was Farneti who garnered the headlines, and critical response was nothing short of idolatrous. She was hailed as a creative genius, a dramatic revelation, with a personality so intense that her slightest gesture held the full attention of the audience. To the enormous relief of the theater's management Farneti signed a contract for the following season before returning to Italy. In the autumn Farneti sang at Turin's Vittorio Emanuele and the Carignano. Both theaters presented her as Iris and the Carignano mounted "Tosca" and the world premiere of Lozzi's "Mirandolina" for her. The Costanzi of Rome was anxious for Farneti's services and on 17 March 1904 she debuted as Alice Ford in "Falstaff" with Magini Coletti in the title role and Mancinelli on the podium. It was a very short season, a mere five performances, but Farneti was engaged for seven roles in the following season, and she contentedly sailed for Buenos Aires in late April.
Toscanin opened the season at the Teatro del Opera with Lohengrin, featuring Farneti, Parsi Pettinella, Giuseppe Borgatti, Pasquale Amato and Adamo Didur. The roster also included Angelica Pandolfini, Rosina Storchio, Mario Sammarco, Eduardo Garbin and Pietro Schiavazzi, each of whom was provided a number of "star turns", most important among them, the Buenos Aires premiere of "Madama Butterfly" with Storchio. Farneti appeared in "Falstaff", "Iris", "Manon Lescaut" and "La Wally", and as in the previous year the company traveled to Montevideo for a brief season, where she repeated Elsa and Wally. "Ebben, ne andro lontano was encored twice before an audience that would not allow her to leave the stage. It was during 1904 that Puccini began corresponding with Farneti, expressing his intense desire to have her appear in "Madama Butterfly". The letters are signed in every case, "your devoted servant" Giacomo Puccini. It was far from an easy "sell" and supplications continued well into 1905. Farneti expressed the wish that the Buenos Aires premiere be assigned to her, and when that didn't happen she withdrew any interest in future engagements. It is a fairly complicated story, but one in which a case might certainly be made for Farneti's reluctance. Storchio had appeared in the failed World Premiere at La Scala, and was replaced by Salomea Kruscelnicka when the rewritten version surfaced at Brescia three months later. Given those facts, there was no apparent reason why Puccini would have felt bound to Storchio as his choice for the Buenos Aires premiere, though it is likely that contracts had already been signed. Passions do sometimes interfere with reason. Not to worry, there is a happy ending!
Farneti returned to Rome for seven operas in the winter of 1905: both roles in "Mefistofele", Sieglinde in "Die Walkuere", "La Boheme", Amalia in "La Cabrera" by Dupont, Antonia in "Contes d'Hoffmann" and Mascagni's "L'Amico Fritz" and "Zanetto". Critical commentary centered on her magnificent stage presence and upon the strength of her vocal delivery in the Wagner opera. She remained in Rome for five months and appeared some fifty times before taking her first long break from the lyric stage in five years. However, it was not all relaxation because Maria had agreed to sing in both the Naples and Palermo premieres of "Madama Butterfly" and she spent several months in preparation. On 20 December Farneti debuted at the San Carlo as Tosca and on 24 January 1906, Naples saw it's first performance of the new Puccini work. It was an awesome success for Farneti and for Puccini who extolled his new heroine in front page articles throughout Italy. In a private letter to Farneti dated 29 January, Puccini wrote, "for your vivid and beautiful presentation of Butterfly, you have my complete admiration and thanks.
After "Otello" at the San Carlo, Maria returned to Rome for Catalani's "Loreley".
On 26 April, Palermo's Massimo presented "Butterfly" for the first time and Farneti realized another extraordinary success. Puccini to Farneti, dated 25 April (so we must assume that either the reference is to the final dress rehearsal, or the annals of the Massimo have dated the premiere incorrectly) Dear signorina Farneti, I wish to tell you of my admiration and gratitude for the success of Butterfly at Palermo. It was the ideal interpretation of my little Cio Cio San. A thousand cordial "saluti" – G P. On 11 May Farneti appeared in a command gala performance before Italy's King, Vittorio Emanuele and his wife, Elena of Savoia. On 20 December Maria returned to the San Carlo for additional performances of "Butterfly" and in January of 1907 she appeared there in "L'Amico Fritz'' and "La Wally". Her Palermo season included Sieglinde, Cio Cio San and Wally, and again the receptions were idolatrous. Newspapers recalled pictures of a theater shrouded in stunned silence as the curtain was lowered over Butterfly's lifeless body. "We observed an audience, yes, including many men, whose tears ran as a river. A remarkable sight!".
Despite these overwhelming successes, there remained a strain between Farneti and her major champion. When the opera was presented at Lucca, Puccini's birthplace, in September of 1907 with Camilla Ikso, the response was poor. Puccini again wrote to Farneti, "You can save my Butterfly and I pray with all my strength that you will sing the last four performances". There was no response, and his letter, dated 18 September 1907 is the last correspondence between them that has seen the light of day.
It is likely that Farneti never received the letter, or at least not in time to send an appropriate response. She was in South America from May through August, first at the Teatro del Opera of Buenos Aires, then at the Teatro Solis of Montevideo. "Butterfly" with Rinaldo Grassi, "Boheme" with Grassi and De Luca, "Bartered Bride" with Didur, "Herodiade" with Parsi Pettinella, Scampini and Nani and finally, "Manon Lescaut" with Grassi found only superlatives in the press and, as usual, audiences were unrestrained in their receptions.
Farneti returned to Italy in late September, and after a prolonged vacation she appeared at Turin's Regio in Massenet's "Arianna", "La Wally" and "Lohengrin". She returned to Rome on 25 March 1908 for the Costanzi's premiere of "Butterfly" to another huge storm of critical and popular acclaim. Puccini assisted at the dress rehearsal and attended the first performance. Italy's Queen Elena, who had fallen in love with the work, again assumed the place of honor in the royal box and led the frantic applause at the final curtain. Il Messagero recalled Farneti as "delicious, refined and profoundly moving". There were ten performances.
A new role, Paolina in Donaudy's "Sperduti nel buoi" completed Farneti's Rome season and in early May she sailed for one of the most exciting events in operatic history, the inaugural season of the Buenos Aires Teatro Colon. The theater was built to accommodate nearly four thousand, with a decorative abundance and extravagant public areas that have not since been matched. Farneti's magnificent reviews and receptions the previous summer assured that she would be an important member of a company that included Lucia Crestani, Amelia Pinto, Esperanza Clausenti, Amadea Santarelli, Amadeo Bassi, Giuseppi Borgatti, Antonio Paoli, Titta Ruffo and Feodor Chaliapin. Among highly anticipated events were the world premieres of Mancinelli's "Paolo e Francesca" and Panizza's "Aurora". Crestani (who claimed to have sung Aida six hundred times, the largest number in history) and Bassi, opened the season in the Verdi opera on 25 May to an ovation that kept the bow
curtains busy for over an hour. The season was completely sold out and every performance was followed by lavish demonstrations of approval for the venture, the operas and the artists. Farneti's debut was as Cio Cio San and she later appeared in "Aurora" and "Paolo e Francesca" with Bassi and Ruffo, "Mefistofele" with Santarelli as Elena, Bassi and Chaliapin, "Otello" with Paoli and Ruffo and "Don Giovanni" with Pinto, Clasenti, Ruffo and Chaliapin. It was an extraordinary time for opera in South America and the Colon ensemble confined its season to Buenos Aires with one very brief visit to La Plata to commemorate the Argentine national holiday. In July, a company that included Di Lerma, Agostinelli, Taccani, Bonini and Mansuseto appeared at Montevideo's two major theaters the Solis and the Uriquiza, and in August the Solis welcomed Krusceniski, Alda, Ruszkowska, Anselmi, Grassi, Stracciari, Didur and de Segurola.
A short vacation for rest and relaxation became an interval of nearly a year and Farneti seriously contemplated retirement. She was an adventurous woman who wished to be challenged, who yearned for new roles, but none were forthcoming. Mascagni confided to her that he was beginning to compose a new opera based upon the legend of Lady Godiva and that he wished her to be the creator. She was intrigued and agreed to consider the offer. As a prelude to their continuing collaboration, the composer convinced her to appear in a gala concert for the King of Italy and the Czar of Russia at the Royal Castle of Racconigi on 24 October 1909. The evening included one operatic selection, the fourth act quarter from "Rigoletto" in which Farneti, was joined by
Parsi-Pettinella, Grassi and Ruffo. It was her last excursion into the Verdi repertoire. 1909 ended with performances of "Iris" at Florence.
In January 1910 Farneti returned to Turin for "Herodiade" and a new role, Catalani's "Edmea". After performances of "Lohengrin" and "Iris" at Rome, she retreated into a long period of study under Mascagni's tutelage in preparation of the World Premiere of "Isabeau". On 19 December, Mascagni hosted a dinner at his Roman villa and, for the first time, music from the new opera was performed. The composer was at the piano and Farneti sang her solo music before "an enthralled" audience of critics and friends. Farneti's only other appearances prior to "Isabeau"'s premiere were as Manon Lescaut at Naples in March 1911.
On 15 April at Genoa's Teatro Carlo Felice there was a dress rehearsal of the new opera and Mascagni expressed satisfaction. The following day, a company headed by the composer, with Farneti, Boninsegna, Ladislawa Hotkowska, Italo Cristalli, Gennaro de Tura, Carlo Galeffi and Gaudio Mansueto sailed for Buenos Aires. The season opened at the Teatro Coliseo on 6 May with "Aida" featuring Boninsegna as "a glorious artist, who crowned her victory in the duet with Amonasro and the following one with Radames". Mascagni received standing ovations every time he mounted the podium and at the evening's conclusion the company was awarded a reception that continued for nearly an hour. Farneti opened her season on 10 May in "Lohengrin" to enormous applause and within the week she had also sung in"La Boheme" and "Iris", this last being recalled as the greatest triumph of the season by local critics.
2 June finally arrived, and in an atmosphere of enormous anticipation, "Isabeau" was presented for the first time with Farneti, Antonio Saludas and Galeffi. Unruly crowds surrounded the theater in an attempt to obtain tickets, and later, to rush the entrances. At the final curtain, demonstrations continued for what seemed an eternity. Reviewers lavished praise upon all involved and termed the opera "Mascagni's most important achievement", a "new direction, in which the creative process has led Mascagni into the realm of Debussy and Richard Strauss", a "work of true inspiration and genius". There were eight performances.
Saludas, as Folco, was praised for his bravery in challenging the cruelly high tessitura, and Farneti received unqualified raves.
However, in a letter dated 10 July to his close friend, Anna Lolli, Mascagni stated "She (Farneti) very much wishes to sing in the Italian premiere, but there is now a great fear …..because the part of Isabeau is too dramatic for her; act three is simply too demanding for her resources". In fact, Mascagni completed arrangements for the Italian premiere at La Scala with Adelina Agostinelli while he was still in South America. "The Mascagni Tour", as it would forever be known, included performances of "L'Amico Fritz" with Farnei, and "Cavalleria Rusticana", "Guglielmo Ratcliff" and "Amica" with Boninsegna. Rosario, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paolo, Montevideo, and Santiago, Chile were visited and the company closed the season at Valparaiso on 24 October with "Isabeau". The critic of Santiago's El Mercurio declared their visit "the most significant musical event in Chile's history".
In 1912 Farneti sang in the local premiere of "Paolo e Francesca" at Genoa and later in the local premiere of "Isabeau" at Naples. On 13 March she received a letter from Paolo Tosti. "Va bene, cara Divina! (He then discusses the performance of the 11th which he attended) The correspondence ends "I kiss your two hands. Your devoted" (P.T.). Two nights later with the great composer at the piano, Farneti gave a sold out concert at the Teatro San Carlo. In April she sang in the local premiere of "Isabeau" at Brescia and in February of 1913 she sang in the Rome premiere to unanimously favorable reviews and huge audience response. The summer found her on another long visit to South America, and "Isabeau" was again the centerpiece. The tour began at Buenos Aires' Coliseo and included stops at Rosario, Cordoba, Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo. Farneti, in addition to "Isabeau", sang in "Lohengrin", "Iris", "Madama Butterfly", Nepomuceno's "Abul" and "Mefistofele". Bernardo de Muro, who was to perform Folco nearly four hundred times during a twenty five year career, sang with Farneti in the two Mascagni operas throughout the tour.
Maria was tired and declared her intention to close out her career. However, on 22 July 1914 she received a letter from Umberto Giordano inviting her to appear in the Italian premiere of "Madame Sans Gene", an offer that was immediately accepted. (The composer had admired Farneti for many years and had, on several previous occasions, offered her important productions. In a letter dated 20 August1909, he asked her to consider singing in the world premiere of his "Mese Mariano" at Naples, but for reasons not known, it first saw the light of day at Palermo, without Farneti.) On 28 February 1915, at Turin's Teatro Regio, she sang in the new opera for the first time, and on 18 September, under Toscanini's direction, she repeated her triumph at Milan's Teatro Dal Verme. There were no performances in 1916, and after a few concerts in the summer of 1917, she r eturned to the Dal Verme on 7 October in a new opera, Puccini's "La Rondine". With this revival, Maria Farneti retired from the stage and from public life.
It is noted that Farneti is reported to have sung in "Il Trovatore" with Antonio Paoli but I have no firm evidence of this engagement. Were it to have happened, it would stand with "Otello" and "Flastaff" as the only other Verdi opera in her repertoire. She flourished in the world of contemporary music and it flourished, in no small measure, because of her creative genius and remarkable musical instincts.
To the amazement of the musical world, Farneti returned to the recording studio in 1930-31 and made a number of recordings, which remain her most important and well known. Included are "Son pochi fiori" from L'amico Fritz, Butterfly's Death and from her beloved Iris, "Io pingo…pingo" and "Un di (ero piccina)". They are for many collectors, including the author, among the most emotionally wrenching and dramatically riveting ever heard.
Nothing is known of Farneti's life during the next twenty five years;
her retreat from public life was complete and she died in her ancestral
home at Forli on 17 October 1955. To her memory!
© Bob Rideout