Erminia Borghi-Mamo

Erminia Borghi-Mamo (November 18, 1855 – July 29, 1941) was an Italian opera singer.

Portrait of Erminia Borghi Mamo

Early life
Erminia Borghi-Mamo, from an 1883 publication.

Erminia Borghi-Mamo was born in Paris, the daughter of Michele Mamo and Adelaide Borghi-Mamo, both Italian opera singers. She was literally born into the theatre: Adelaide Borghi-Mamo finished a performance of Verdi's Il Trovatore, then gave birth to Erminia hours later, in a room within the theatre of the Comédie-Italienne. She was named for soprano Erminia Frezzolini, a friend of Adelaide's.[1] She studied voice with her mother and with Alessandro Busi. Fellow soprano Ayres Borghi-Zerni was her cousin.

Career
A picture from La Ilustración Española y Americana (1878)

Erminia Borghi-Mamo made her opera stage debut in 1873, in Nice, in La forza del destino.[2] She was active in Italian opera for the next twenty years. "Still quite young, Mdlle. Borghi-Mamo is already mistress of the vocal art," an English writer reported in 1876, adding that "intelligence and soul are her characteristic qualities; she is all sympathy. The opening of her artistic career promises the most splendid future, for her voice is capable of the most delicate expression, and the most varied effects."[3] Her best-known roles included the title parts in Aida and Lucrezia Borgia, Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana, Margherita and Elena in Mefistofele,[4] and Leonora in Il trovatore. Her last performance was in 1893.[5]

Personal life

Erminia Borghi-Mamo married. She died in 1941, in Bologna, aged 85 years.[6] Her grave is in the Certosa di Bologna.[7]

References
  1. G. Sangiorgi, "Erminia Borghi-Mamo" Il Teatro Illustrato (Maggio 1883): 66-67.
  2. "Nice" The Musical World (January 10, 1874): 28.
  3. "Notes" The Musical Standard (July 1, 1876): 13.
  4. "Mefistofele" in Stanley Sadie and Laura Macy, eds., The Grove Book of Opera (Oxford University Press 2009): 403. ISBN 9780195309072
  5. Il Mefistofele di Boito al Comunale con Erminia Borghi Mamo, Biblioteca Salaborsa.
  6. "Erminia Borghi Mamo, Once Great Soprano" Daily News (July 31, 1941): 88. via Newspapers.com
  7. Daniela Schiavina, "Erminia Borghi-Mamo" Storia e Memoria di Bologna.
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