Fedora Barbieri established her reputation in Europe as a masterly interpreter of the Italian repertory at its most demanding.
===========================================================
FEDORA BARBIERI,A MEZZOCELEBRATED FOR VERDI ROLES, DIES AT 82

New York Times
By Wolfgang Saxon
March 7, 2003

Fedora Barbieri, a dramatic mezzo-soprano celebrated for Verdi interpretations that were extensively preserved on records and film, died on Tuesday in Florence, Italy. She was 82.

Gifted with a large, opulent voice, Miss Barbieri was of the same generation of opera stars as Cesare Siepi, Giuseppe di Stefano, Boris Christoff and Jussi Bjorling. A favorite with European audiences from the 1940's on, she later won acclaim in New York, particularly for her appearances as Azucena in "Il Trovatore," Amneris in "Aida," Adalgisa in Bellini's "Norma," and in the Verdi Requiem.

Her 1950 New York debut itself entered opera history, coming on the night Rudolf Bing first faced his audience as the general manager of the Metropolitan Opera. He opened an era with a boldly ambitious revival of "Don Carlo," in which Miss Barbieri sang the role of Princess Eboli.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service had turned Bing's entire inaugural season into a cliffhanger days before the curtain rose on it. Acting under the 1950 Internal Security Act, it confined shiploads of arriving aliens on Ellis Island on the grounds that they could be threats to the United States; Miss Barbieri, Christoff and Zinka Milanov were among them.

Miss Barbieri's offense was attending school in Fascist wartime Italy, a circumstance that she stated in her visa application. She and the other soloists were freed just in time for the show to go on.

Miss Barbieri, Mr. Bjorling (in the title role) and Mr. Siepi, making his debut as Philip II, appeared in what Olin Downes of The New York Times described as an occasion that revealed afresh "the melodic opulence and dramatic power of Verdi's genius." Miss Barbieri, he said, was a "superb mezzo from Italy, with a kindling dramatic temperament."

Fedora Barbieri was born in Trieste, Italy, and as a girl she helped out in her parents' shop. Intrigued by her casual singing, a customer suggested that she study voice formally.

She made her professional debut in 1940 as Fidalma in Cimarosa's "Matrimonio Segreto." She sang her first Azucena the next night and repeated Fidalma the night after that, a feat that quickly established her reputation in Europe as a masterly interpreter of the Italian repertory at its most demanding.

She sang in Rome, made her debut at La Scala in 1943, sang in South America and went to London with La Scala in 1950. She made an immediate impression at Covent Garden, singing Mistress Quickly in "Falstaff," and giving one of her stirring performances in the Requiem.

She remained a regular at La Scala and sang at the Metropolitan primarily in the 1950's and 60's. Of her many Verdi roles, she favored Eboli in her earlier years, but later leaned toward the lower registers of Azucena and Amneris. She finally found Mistress Quickly best attuned to her voice. Her repertory included 109 roles.

Miss Barbieri married Luigi Barlozzetti, a music director, who managed her career. He died about a decade ago. She is survived by sons Ugo and Franco, both of Florence.

Miss Barbieri paid a final visit to New York in the fall. On Nov. 2 she sang a brief a cappella solo at the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation gala at Alice Tully Hall. She also conducted master classes at the Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music, and sat for an interview at the Mayflower Hotel with Stefan Zucker, the director of the Bel Canto Society, a nonprofit marketer of vintage opera videos.

Fedora Barbieri, a Mezzo Celebrated for Verdi Roles, Dies at 82
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/07/obituaries/07BARB.html