Anita Cerquetti facts for kids
Anita Cerquetti (born April 13, 1931 – died October 11, 2014) was a famous Italian opera singer. She was known as a soprano, which means she sang the highest female voice parts in operas. Anita had a very powerful and beautiful voice. She became very famous quickly in the 1950s, even though her career was short.
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Anita Cerquetti's Career
Anita Cerquetti was born in Montecosaro, a town near Macerata, Italy. She first studied the violin and trained for eight years. Then, she spent just one year studying singing at the Conservatory of Perugia.
In 1951, she made her first appearance in an opera in Spoleto. She sang the main role in the opera Aida. After that, she performed all over Italy. In 1956, she sang in Florence in an opera called Gli abencerragi. The famous conductor Carlo Maria Giulini led this performance. In 1957, she sang in Ernani with Dimitri Mitropoulos as the conductor.
Anita made her debut at the famous La Scala opera house in 1958. She played the part of Abigaille in the opera Nabucco. She also sang on RAI, which is Italy's national radio and TV network. There, she performed in many different operas.
Her first performance in America was in 1955. She sang in Lyric Opera of Chicago as Amelia in Un ballo in maschera. She performed alongside the great singer Jussi Björling.
A Short but Bright Career
Anita Cerquetti became very famous in January 1958. She stepped in at the last minute to replace the well-known singer Maria Callas. Maria Callas was not feeling well and could not sing in the opera Norma at the Rome Opera House.
At the same time, Anita was already singing the same role in Norma at the San Carlo in Naples. For several weeks, she traveled back and forth between Rome and Naples. She did this to perform in both shows. This amazing effort brought her a lot of praise. However, it also made her very tired and affected her health.
Soon after, she started to perform less and less. By 1961, when she was just 30 years old, she stopped singing on stage completely.
Recordings of Her Voice
Anita Cerquetti made only two official studio recordings. These were made for Decca in 1957. One was a collection of famous Italian opera songs. The other was a full recording of the opera La Gioconda. She sang with other famous artists like Mario del Monaco and Giulietta Simionato.
Many other recordings of her performances were made live by fans. These are sometimes called "pirated" recordings. Some of these live recordings are very famous. For example, her 1957 performance in Ernani and her 1958 performance in Norma are considered legendary.
Here is a list of some other operas she recorded live:
- Les vêpres siciliennes (November 1955)
- La Gioconda (January 1956)
- Guillaume Tell (April 1956)
- Les abencérages (May 1956)
- Don Carlos (June 1956)
- Moïse et Pharaon (June 1956)
- Un ballo in maschera (January 1957)
- La forza del destino (September 1957)
- Oberon (October 1957)
- La Gioconda (1957)
- La forza del destino (October 1958 - only parts of it)
- Nabucco (September 1960 - a radio recording)
Recordings from her concerts have also been released by special music labels.
Anita Cerquetti's Personal Life
Anita Cerquetti was married to a singer named Edo Ferretti, who sang in a lower voice range called baritone. He passed away before her. Anita lived to be 83 years old. She died in Perugia in 2014 because of heart problems.
