Everything about Victoria De Los Ngeles totally explained
Victoria de los Ángeles (in Catalan, Victòria dels Àngels) (
November 1,
1923 –
January 15,
2005) was a
Catalan operatic
soprano and recitalist whose career began in the early 1940s and reached its height in the mid 1960s. Her voice could best be described as that of a flexible full lyric soprano with enough weight and volume to sing both lyric and dramatic roles. While she later made fewer appearances in
opera, she continued to give recitals, focusing on mostly French and Spanish
lieder, into the 1990s. She sang at the
Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992.
Born Victòria López García into a humble Catalan family in
Barcelona, she studied at the
Barcelona Conservatory, graduating in just three years in
1941 at age 18. That year, she made her operatic debut as Mimì at the
Liceu, but then resumed her musical studies.
In
1945, she returned to the Liceu to make her professional debut as the Countess in
The Marriage of Figaro. After winning first prize in the
Geneva International Competition in
1947, she sang Salud in
Falla's La vida breve with the
BBC in
London in
1948.
In
1949 she made her first appearance in the
Paris Opéra as Marguerite. The following
year, she debuted in
Salzburg and
Royal Opera House,
Covent Garden as Mimi, and the
United States with a recital at
Carnegie Hall. In March,
1951, she made her
Metropolitan Opera debut in
New York as Marguerite, singing with the company for ten years.
She made noted recordings of
La vida breve,
La bohème,
Pagliacci, and
Madama Butterfly. The last three paired her with renowned tenor
Jussi Björling.
She also sang at
La Scala in Milan from 1950 to
1956. In
1957 she sang at the
Vienna State Opera.
After making her debut at the
Bayreuth Festival as Elisabeth in 1961, she devoted herself principally to a concert career. However, for the next twenty years, she continued to make occasional appearances in one of her favourite operatic roles,
Carmen. She was among the first Spanish-born operatic singers to record the complete opera in
1958, a recording conducted by Sir
Thomas Beecham using the recitatives added by
Ernest Guiraud after
Bizet's death.
Though Carmen lay comfortably in her range, she nevertheless sang major soprano roles, best known of which were Donna Anna, Manon, Nedda, Desdemona, Cio-Cio-San, Mimi, Violetta and Mélisande. Like
Montserrat Caballé, she was a true exponent of bel canto singing.
De los Àngeles performed regularly in song recitals with
pianists Gerald Moore and
Geoffrey Parsons, occasionally appearing with other eminent singers, such as Dame
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.
On
January 15 2005, Victoria de los Ángeles died of
heart failure in Barcelona at age 81. She had been hospitalized for a bronchial infection since
December 31. Those close to her said her voice was still beautiful to the end.
De los Àngeles married Enrique Magriñá in
1948 and had two sons, one of whom survived her.
Bibliography
- Roberts, Peter, Victoria de los Ángeles, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1982.
Further Information
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