Born in 1935, Mirella
Freni made her professional debut at
the young age of twenty on February
3rd 1955 as Micaela in her
native town of Modena. The following
five years saw a spell in the Italian
provinces, marriage to the conductor
Leone Magiera, the birth of their daughter
and a season with the Netherlands Opera.
The operatic experiences and coaching
by her husband were the foundations
of the career that was to follow. This
certainly continued into 2002 when she
learned Russian to sing Joan in Tchaikovsky’s
Maid of Orleans at the Teatro Regio
in Turin. Doubtless her second husband,
the Russian speaking Bulgarian bass
Niclai Ghiaurov, who died in 2004, assisted
the preparation for those performances.
Freni’s international
career started in 1960 when she appeared
as Glyndebourne as Zerlina. Covent Garden
followed in 1961 and La Scala in 1963,
where she was Mimi in the renowned Karajan-Zefirelli
production that was filmed and is now
available on DVD. Freni moved quickly
to Violetta under Karajan at La Scala
in 1964 and had her first set-back.
She recovered well from that disaster
and with her ‘calling card’ Mimi conquered
the Met the following year. She returned
to La Traviata under Giulini at Covent
Garden in 1967 with greater success.
Although the work was not to remain
in her repertoire she made a recording
of it under the expert Verdian Lamberto
Gardelli. Arts Music have recently
issued this. I found her interpretation
of Violetta to be wholly convincing
particularly in acts 2 and 3 where depth
and colour of voice and sheer characterisation
are so important. Her Teneste la promessa
and Addio del passato (tr. 12) are full
of agony and passion although her coloratura
in É strano!…. Sempra libera
(tr. 11) is rather more correct than
thrown off with brio.
Having been the Mimi
and Zerlina of the 1960s, the queen
of the light lyric roles, Freni moved
to what she considered to be the heavier
end of her fach. The first venture was
Desdemona under Karajan at Salzburg
in 1970. When the great maestro first
broached the subject, Freni asked for,
and got, a year to consider. She was
a resounding success. This should not
have been a surprise because her voice
was heavy enough as she regularly showed
in her interpretation of Mimi. But its
not only weight of voice that matters,
colour and cover of the tone are of
equal importance. In the 1970s Freni’s
repertoire extended in the theatre and
on record and this recording of the
Puccini and Verdi arias and duets catches
her very much at her vocal peak.
The title of the disc
is a little misleading as the contents
include a number of duets with the tenor
Franco Bonisolli. As I noted in my review
of La Traviata, he is more ardent than
sensitive as a singer and he does not
have the ideal weight of voice required
for Otello (tr. 13). Nonetheless his
contribution makes the content of this
disc a little different than the run-of-the-mill
recital disc. Not that any disc including
Freni in fine voice is likely to be
run-of-the-mill. What made her the Mimi
of her generation can be heard in Si,
mi chiamano Mimi (tr. 5). The colour,
phrasing and support for the voice are
outstanding as is her understanding
of the part as she conveys Mimi’s fragility
and then growing confidence in the duet
O soave fanciulla that follows (tr.
6). Her voice is of ideal weight and
colour in the two excerpts from Manon
Lescaut (trs. 3 and 4). This is a role
of which she made two studio recordings.
She also recorded Butterfly and Lauretta
in Gianni Schicchi, roles she never
sang on stage. Her Un bel di vedremo
here (tr. 7) matches her interpretation
for Karajan on the complete recording
(Decca). Although renowned earlier for
her ability to sound girlish without
loss of colour I find her O mio babbino
caro (tr. 1) a little mature whilst
her Liu is less naïve and fully
conveys all the agony of knowledge and
sacrifice (trs. 9 and 10).
The Hamburg recordings
are rather reverberant whilst the La
Traviata is more ideal. The booklet
has a brief essay on the contents and
Freni’s career in English, German, French
and Italian. This disc is an ideal complement
to EMI’s ‘The
Very Best of Mirella Freni’ and
the issue devoted to her in Decca’s
‘Grandi Voci’ series. I recommend it
as thoroughly enjoyable and a memento
of a great singer at her peak.
Robert J Farr
Mirella Freni (soprano) 
