Cossotto was one of the best mezzos of the 20th century. I have given three selections below: two from Verdi, and one from Cilea. This was a great voice, and you can hear the effect that she had on audiences. Her vocal production is especially good, both in its resonant qualities and in its freedom. We don’t get Verdi singers like this today.
Verdi, Aida, Act IV, Scene I, The Judgment Scene,
RAMFIS e
SACERDOTI (nel sotterraneo)
Spirto del nume, sovra noi discendi!
Ne avviva al raggio dell’eterna luce;
Pel labbro nostro tua giustizia apprendi.
AMNERIS
Numi, pietà del mio straziato core…
Egli è innocente, lo salvate, o Numi!
Disperato, tremendo è il mio dolore!
RAMFIS e
SACERDOTI
Spirto del Nume, ecc.
AMNERIS
Oh, chi lo salva? Ohimè! Mi sento morir!
(Radamès tra le guardie attraversa la scena e scende
nel sotterraneo. Amneris, al vederlo, mette un grido.)
RAMFIS (nel sotterraneo)
Radamès, Radamès, Radamès:
Tu rivelasti
Della patria i segreti allo straniero!
Discolpati!
SACERDOTI
Discolpati!
RAMFIS
Egli tace…
TUTTI
Traditor!
AMNERIS
Ah, pietà! Egli è innocente! Numi, pietà!
RAMFIS
Radamès, Radamès, Radamès:
Tu disertasti
Dal campo il dì che precedea la pugna.
Discolpati!
SACERDOTI
Discolpati!
RAMFIS
Egli tace…
TUTTI
Traditor!
AMNERIS
Ah, pietà! Ah, lo salvate! Numi, pietà!
RAMFIS
Radamès, Radamès, Radamès:
Tua fé violasti,
Alla patria spergiuro, al Re, all’onore.
Discolpati!
SACERDOTI
Discolpati!
RAMFIS
Egli tace…
TUTTI
Traditor!
AMNERIS
Ah, pietà! Ah, lo salvate! Numi, pietà!
RAMFIS e SACERDOTI
SACERDOTI
Radamès, è deciso il tuo fato:
Degl’infami la morte tu avrai;
Sotto l’ara del Nume sdegnato
A te vivo fia schiuso l’avel.
AMNERIS
A lui vivo, la tomba! Oh! gl’infami!
Né di sangue son paghi giammai…
E si chiaman ministri del ciel!
RAMFIS e
SACERDOTI
Traditor!
AMNERIS
(investendo i sacerdoti che escono dal sotterraneo)
Sacerdoti: compiste un delitto!
Tigri infami di sangue assetate,
Voi la terra ed i Numi oltraggiate,
Voi punite chi colpa non ha.
RAMFIS e
SACERDOTI
È traditor! morrà!
AMNERIS (a Ramfis)
Sacerdote: quest’uomo che uccidi,
Tu lo sai, da me un giorno fu amato,
L’anatema d’un core straziato
Col suo sangue su te ricadrà!
Voi la terra ed i numi, ecc.
Ah no, non è traditor…pietà, ecc.
RAMFIS e
SACERDOTI
È traditor! morrà!
(Si allontanano lentamente.)
AMNERIS
Empia razza! anatema su voi!
La vendetta del ciel scenderà!
Verdi, Aida, Act IV, Scene I, The Judgment Scene
RAMFIS and
PRIESTS (in the vault)
Spirit of the gods, descend upon us!
Let thy eternal ray enlighten us;
let our lips pronounce thy justice.
AMNERIS
O gods, take pity on my anguished heart!
He is innocent – save him, O gods!
My grief is desperate, overwhelming!
RAMFIS and
PRIESTS
Spirit of the gods, etc.
AMNERIS
Oh, who will save him? I shall die!
(Radamès, surrounded by guards is led into the vault.
Amneris, seeing him, cries out.)
RAMFIS (in the vault)
Radamès! Radamès! Radamès!
You revealed
your country’s secrets to the enemy!
Defend yourself.
PRIESTS
Defend yourself.
RAMFIS
He is silent.
ALL
Traitor!
AMNERIS
Ah, pity! He is innocent! Pity! O gods!
RAMFIS
Radamès! Radamès! Radamès!
You deserted
your command on the eve of battle.
Defend yourself.
PRIESTS
Defend yourself.
RAMFIS
He is silent.
ALL
Traitor!
AMNERIS
Ah, pity! Ah, save him! Pity, O gods!
RAMFIS
Radamès! Radamès! Radamès!
You betrayed
your country, your King, your honor.
Defend yourself.
PRIESTS
Defend yourself.
RAMFIS
He is silent.
ALL
Traitor!
AMNERIS
Ah, pity! Ah, save him! Pity, O gods!
RAMFIS and
PRIESTS
Radamès, your fate is decided;
you shall die a traitor’s death.
Beneath the altar of the offended god,
you, living, shall be entombed.
AMNERIS
Entombed alive! Oh, the villains!
their thirst for blood is never appeased –
yet they call themselves heaven’s ministers!
RAMFIS and
PRIESTS
Traitor!
AMNERIS
(assailing the priests as they come up from the vault)
Priests – you have committed a crime!
Infamous, bloodthirsty beasts –
you outrage the gods and man,
punishing the innocent!
RAMFIS and
PRIESTS
He is a traitor! He shall die.
AMNERIS (to Ramfis)
Priest, this man whom you send to death,
you know well, I once loved.
The curse of a broken heart,
together with his blood, will fall upon you!
You outrage the gods, etc.
Ah, he is no traitor…have mercy, etc.
RAMFIS and
PRIESTS
He is a traitor! He shall die.
(They go out slowly.)
AMNERIS
Impious brood! My curse upon you!
Heaven’s vengeance will strike you!
Cilea, Adriana Lecouvreur, Acerba voluttà (Act II)
PRINCIPESSA
Acerba voluttà, dolce tortura,
lentissima agonia, rapida offesa,
vampa, gelo, tremor, smania, paura,
ad amoroso sen torna l’attesa!
Ogni eco, ogni ombra nella notte incesa
centro la impaziente alma congiura:
Fra dubbiezza e disio tutta sospesa,
l’eternità nell’attimo misura…
Verrà? M’oblia? S’affretta?
O pur si pente?
Ecco, egli giunge!…
No, del fiume é il verso,
misto al sospir d’un arbore dormente.
O vagabonda stella d’Oriente,
non tramontar: sorridi all’universo,
e s’egli non mente, scorta il mio amor!
Cilea, Adriana Lecouvreur, “Bitter pleasure, sweet torture” Act II)
To a loving heart, waiting is bitter pleasure
Sweet torture, drawn out agony,
Swift insult, a burning flame,
An icy tremor, a frenzy of fear!
Every echo, every shadow in this warm night,
Conspires against my impatient spirit.
Torn between doubt and desire,
Every moment seems like an eternity . . .
Will he come? Has he forgot me? Does he hurry?
Or else, is he regretting?
There! He’s coming!
No, it is only the sound of the river, mixed with the rustling of a sleeping tree.
Oh, you wandering star of the East,
Don’t set. Smile upon the universe,
And if he isn’t deceiving me, escort my beloved to me.
Verdi, Don Carlo, “O don fatale” (Act III)
O don fatale, o don crudel
che in suo furor mi fece il ciel!
Tu che ci fai sì vane, altere,
ti maledico, ti maledico,o mia beltà !
Versar, versar sol posso il pianto,
speme non ho, soffrir dovrò!
Il mio delitto è orribil tanto
che cancellar mai nol potrò!
Ti maledico,ti maledico o mia beltà ,
O mia Regina, io t’immolai
al folle error di questo cor.
Solo in un chiostro al mondo omai
dovrò celar il mio dolor!
Ohimè! Ohimè! O mia Regina,
Oh ciel! E Carlo! a morte domani,
gran Dio! a morte andar
Ah, un dì mi resta,
la speme mi arride, ah,
sia benedetto il ciel! Lo salverò!
Un dì mi resta, ah, sia benedetto
il ciel! Ah! lo salverò!
Verdi, Don Carlo, “O terrible gift” (Act III)
O terrible gift, o cruel gift
that an irate heaven made me!
You make us so vain and proud,
I curse you, I curse you, o my beauty!
I can only shed my tears
I’ve no hope,I can only suffer!
My crime is so horrible
that it will never fade!
I curse you, I curse you, o my beauty,
O my Queen, I sacrificed you
to the mad passion of my heart.
Only in a cloister
I can now hide my suffering from the world!
Alas! Alas! O my Queen,
O God! Carlos! tomorrow he will die,
O Heavens! Tomorrow I’ll see him die!
Ah! I’ve one day more,
there is hope, ah,
Heaven be blessed! I’ll save him!
One more day, ah, Heaven be blessed!
I’ll save him!
Fiorenza Cossotto
April 22, 1935 –
Fiorenza Cossotto, a singer considered one of the greatest mezzo-sopranos of the 20th century, was born in Crescentino in Piedmont.
Cossotto was hailed for her interpretations of the major mezzo and contralto roles from mid-19th-century Italian operas, particularly those of Giuseppe Verdi such as Aida, Il trovatore and Don Carlos, but also Gaetano Donizetti, Amilcare Ponchielli, Vincenzo Bellini and the other important composers of the day.
As a girl, Cossotto attended the Turin Academy of Music and studied with Mercedes Llopart. She made her operatic debut in the world premiere of Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites in 1957 at La Scala in Milan. Her part was so small he had only one line to deliver.
Her international debut came at the 1958 Wexford Festival as Giovanna Seymour in Donizetti’s Anna Bolena and she performed at Covent Garden for the first time in 1959 as Neris in Luigi Cherubini’s Médée, with Callas in the title role.
Cossotto began to attract wide acclaim following her 1962 performance of the lead in Donizetti’s La favorita at La Scala. She made her American debut in the same role in 1964 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and as Amneris at the Metropolitan Opera in 1968.
In two stays at the Met, in 1967–68 and 1988–89, Cossotto gave 148 performances.
During her career, she was Adalgisa alongside the Normas of Callas, Joan Sutherland, Montserrat Caballé, Leyla Gencer, Elinor Ross and Elena Souliotis, although she said she drew more satisfaction from singing Amneris in Aida and Azucena in Il trovatore.
Cossotto was married to the Italian bass Ivo Vinco until they divorced after more than 40 years together. They had a son, Roberto.
She celebrated her 70th birthday in 2005 by appearing in Giacomo Puccini’s one-act opera Suor Angelica at the Théâtre Royal in Liège, Belgium. Since retiring as a performer, she has accepted a number of invitations to teach.
She still lives in Crescentino, as does her son and his family. Ivo Vinco died in 2014.