A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Pisaroni, Benedetta
PISARONI, Benedetta Rosamunda, an excellent contralto singer, was born at Piacenza, Feb. 6, 1793. Her instructors were Pino, Moschini, and Marchesi. Her first public appearances were made at Bergamo in 1811, in the rôles of Griselda, Camilla, and others, popular at that period. Her voice was then a high soprano, and her accomplishments as a singer so great that, in spite of a singularly unprepossessing appearance, she excited great admiration, and her fame spread rapidly all over Italy. A serious illness which she had at Parma, in 1813, resulted in the loss of some of her upper notes, which forced her to abandon her old soprano parts. She then applied herself to cultivating the lower register of her voice, which gained considerably in extent and volume, while the artistic resources she displayed were so great that the career by which she is remembered began in fact at this time. Some few of her notes had always a guttural, unpleasant sound, but in spite of this she was universally admitted to be the first Italian contralto. She appeared at Paris, in 1827, as Arsace in 'Semiramide.' Fétis writes of this occasion: 'Nerer shall I forget the effect produced on the audience when, advancing up the stage with her back to the public, contemplating the interior of the temple, she enunciated in a formidable voice, admirably produced, the phrase 'Eccomi alfine in Babilonia!' A transport of applause responded to these vigorous accents, this broad style, so rare in our days; but when the singer turned round, displaying features horribly disfigured by small-pox, a sort of shudder of horror succeeded to the first enthusiasm, many among the spectators shutting their eyes so as to hear without being condemned to see. But before the end of the opera her performance had gained a complete victory. After a few months the public thought no more about Madame Pisaroni's face, dominated as all were by her wonderful talent.'
She herself was so sensible of her physical defects that she never accepted an engagement without first sending her portrait to the manager, that he might be prepared exactly for what he was undertaking.
After singing in 'La Donna del Lago' and 'L'Italiana in Algeri,' displaying eminent dramatic as well as vocal qualities, she appeared in London in 1829, but was not appreciated. For two years afterwards she sang at Cadiz, and then returned to Italy. Here she failed to find the favour shown her in past days. Contralto parts were out of fashion; she had, too, earned an independent fortune. She retired accordingly into private life, and died at Piacenza, Aug. 6, 1872.