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Collection Data
- Description
- The collection includes letters from many composers, some of whom wrote roles for her, including from Vincenzo Bellini. Also includes letters and poems from acquaintances, as well as various ephemera such as receipts and ticket stubs.
- Names
- Pasta, Giuditta Maria Costanza, 1797-1865 (Creator)
- Bellini, Vincenzo, 1801-1835 (Correspondent)
- Rossini, Gioacchino, 1792-1868 (Correspondent)
- Dates / Origin
- Date Created: 1816 - 1864
- Library locations
- Music Division
- Shelf locator: JOB 16-01
- Topics
- Operas -- Performances
- Women in opera
- Sopranos (Singers)
- Genres
- Correspondence
- Notes
- Biographical/historical: Giuditta Maria Costanza Negri was born on October 28, 1797 in Saronno, Italy, a small town between Milan and Como. Her father was a pharmacist. In 1809, she began studying singing in Como with the maestro di cappella of the Como cathedral. After two years, she moved to Milan with her aunt and uncle, Rosalinde and Filippo Ferranti, where she studied with Giuseppe Scappa and Bonifazio Asioli, both composers as well as teachers. Pasta made her operatic debut in 1815 in Brescia, Italy. In 1816, she married tenor Giuseppe Pasta (called "Peppino" in correspondence with Giuditta). They traveled to Paris with her mother, Rachele Negri, intending to sing together at the Théâtre Italien. When Giuseppe's voice gave out, he became her manager.
Pasta's early performances in Paris and in London the following year were unsuccessful; her voice was considered inadequately trained and her acting was similarly criticized. In late 1817 the Pastas returned home, and in 1818 their daughter Clelia was born in Milan. Pasta resumed her career several months later. She continued her studies with Scappa and performed in smaller houses, mostly in Italy.
Early in her operatic career she premiered operas by her teachers Scappa and Asioli. In 1820, she premiered Giuseppe Nicolini's opera La conquista di Granata at La Fenice in Venice. In 1822, Pasta performed again in Paris, this time receiving an enthusiastic response, particularly for her emotive performance style. Her successes continued, and by the mid-1820s she was among the most famous singers in Europe. She performed in operas by many composers, and particlarly by Rossini, who may have written a role in Viaggio in Rheims for her. She performed in the opera seria genre, including both soprano and contralto roles, and both male and female characters. In 1830 Donizetti wrote Anna Bolena for her, and in 1831 Bellini wrote both Norma and La Sonambula for her. Pasta made her debut at La Scala in 1831, in the premiere of Bellini's Norma. For the next five years, she sang all over Europe as a prima donna, eventually returning to La Scala in 1834. However, beginning in 1835, Pasta's voice began to decline. She began to sing fewer operatic roles and more concerts, doing a recital tour in 1840-41 of Eastern Europe, singing in Berlin, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Vienna, and Warsaw.
In 1844, Pasta retired from singing altogether. She and her husband moved back to their home in Como. In 1847, her husband passed away and she moved to a smaller home. She spent her remaining years between Como, Milan, and in visiting her daughter's family in Genoa. She died suddenly from a viral infection in the town of Blevio on April 1, 1865.
- Physical Description
- Extent: 3.14 linear feet (15 boxes)
- Type of Resource
- Text
- Identifiers
- Other local Identifier: JOB 16-01
- MSS Unit ID: 181275
- NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b19068801
- Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): 23ed5c40-f9fb-0138-c443-0242ac110002
