Bianca Scacciati was unknown to me. However, she was an important dramatic soprano in Italy in the late 1920s to early 1930s. Her voice noted for its power, dark timbre, and intensity suited to the emotional demands of verismo opera. She specialized in heavy, heroic roles requiring vocal stamina and dramatic projection, particularly in the works of composers like Giacomo Puccini and Umberto Giordano. I hope that you enjoy the posting.
Puccini, Turandot, “In questa reggia”
Turandot
In questa reggia, or son mill’anni e mille,
un grido disperato risonò.
E quel grido, traverso stirpe e stirpe
qui nell’anima mia si rifugiò!
Principessa Lou-Ling, ava dolce e serena
che regnavi nel tuo cupo silenzio
in gioia pura, e sfidasti inflessibile e sicura
l’aspro dominio, oggi rivivi in me!
Pure nel tempo che ciascun ricorda,
fu sgomento e terrore e rombo d’armi.
Il regno vinto! E Lou-Ling,
la mia ava, trascinata da un uomo come te,
come te straniero, là nella notte atroce
dove si spense la sua fresca voce!
O Principi, che a lunghe carovane
d’ogni parte del mondo qui venite
a gettar la vostra sorte,
io vendico su voi, su voi quella purezza,
quel grido e quella morte!
Mai nessun m’avrà!
L’orror di che l’uccise vivo nel cuor mi sta!
No, no! Mai nessun m’avrà!
Ah, rinasce in me l’orgoglio di tanta purità!
Straniero! Non tentar la fortuna!
Gli enigmi sono tre, la morte è una!
Calaf
No, no! Gli enigmi sono tre
Una è la vita!
Turandot
No, no!
Gli enigmi sono tre, la morte è una!
Turandot
Gli enigmi sono tre, una è la vita!
Puccini, Turandot, “In this palace”
Turandot
In this palace, a thousand years ago,
a desperate cry resounded.
And that cry, through generations and generations,
took refuge here in my soul!
Princess Lou-Ling, sweet and serene ancestor,
who reigned in your sombre silence
in pure joy, and defied, unyielding and confident,
the harsh dominion, today you live again in me!
Yet in the time that everyone remembers,
there was dismay and terror and the clang of arms.
The kingdom conquered! And Lou-Ling,
my ancestor, dragged away by a man like you,
like you stranger, there in the terrible night
where her fresh voice was silenced!
O Princes, who in long caravans
come here from every part of the world
to cast your lot,
I avenge upon you, upon you that purity,
that cry and that death!
No one will ever have me!
The horror that killed her lives in my heart!
No, no! No one will ever have me!
Ah, the pride of such purity is reborn in me!
Stranger! Do not tempt fate!
There are three riddles, death is one of them!
Calaf
No, no. There are three riddles
One of them is life.
Turandot
No, no!
There are three riddles, one of them is death!
Calaf
There are three riddles, one of them is life!
Giordano, Andrea Chenier, “La Mamma Morta”
La mamma morta m’hanno
alla porta della stanza mia;
Moriva e mi salvava!
poi a notte alta
io con Bersi errava,
quando ad un tratto
un livido bagliore guizza
e rischiara innanzi a’ passi miei
la cupa via!
Guardo!
Bruciava il loco di mia culla!
Cosi fui sola!
E intorno il nulla!
Fame e miseria!
Il bisogno, il periglio!
Caddi malata,
e Bersi, buona e pura,
di sua bellezza ha fatto un mercato,
un contratto per me!
Porto sventura a chi bene mi vuole!
Fu in quel dolore
che a me venne l’amor!
Voce piena d’armonia e dice:
‘Vivi ancora! Io son la vita!
Ne’ miei occhi e il tuo cielo!
Tu non sei sola!
Le lacrime tue io le raccolgo!
Io sto sul tuo cammino e ti sorreggo!
Sorridi e spera! Io son l’amore!
Tutto intorno e sangue e fango?
Io son divino! Io son l’oblio!
Io sono il dio che sovra il mondo
scendo da l’empireo, fa della terra
un ciel! Ah!
Io son l’amore, io son l’amor, l’amor’
Giordano, Andrea Chenier, “They killed my mother”
They killed my mother
At the door of my room;
She died and saved me!
Later, in the dead of night
I was wandering with Bersi
When suddenly
A pale glow flashes
And it lightens ahead of me
The dark street!
I look!
My home was burning!
So I was alone!
And all around me, nothing!
Hunger and misery!
Deprivation, danger!
I fell ill,
And Bersi, so good and pure
Made a market of her beauty
For my sake –
I bring misfortune to all those who loves me!
It was in that grief
That love came to me!
A voice full of harmony and it says:
‘You have to live! I am life itself!
Your heaven is in my eyes
You’re not alone!
I’ll collect all your tears!
I’ll walk with you and support you!
Smile and hope! I am love!
Are you surrounded by blood and mud?
I am divine! I am oblivion!
I’m the God that descends on Earth
From heaven, I turn Earth
Into heaven! Ah!
I’m love, I’m love, love!
Verdi, I lombardi, “Qual voluttà trascorrere”, Act III, scene 2 Trio
Giselda
Qui posa il fianco.
Ahi lassa! Di qual feria
T’hanno offeso i crudi!
Oronte
Giselda! Io manco!
Giselda
Ah, qual mercede orrenda ala mia fè tu dai
Oronte
Io manco!
Giselda
Ah taci, tu sanerai . . .le vesti mie
Già chiusa hab la crudel ferita
Oronte
Invano pietosa a me tu sei
Giselda
Or tu m’ascolta, oh Dio de’ padri miei!
Tu la madre mi togliesti,
M’hai serbata a dì funesti . . .
Sol conforto è al pianto mio questo amor
E il togli a me . . .Tu crudel!
Hermit
Chi acusa Iddio? Questo amor delitto egli è!
Giselda
Qual mi scende al cuor favella?
Oronte
Chi sei tu?
Hermit
Son tal che vita anunciar ti può novella,
Se ti voglio a nostra fè.
Giselda
Dio l’inspira.
Oronte
Oh, sì! Compita, oh Giselda, hai l’opra omai!
Io più volte il desiai . . .uom d’Iddio t’apressa a me!
Hermit
Sorgi! Il ciel non chiami invano,
Le sue glorie egli ti addita ;
L’acque sante del Giordano sien lavacro a te di vita!
Giselda
Oh, non più dinanzi al cielo è delitto
Il nostro amor! Vivi! Ah vivi!
Oronte
Al petto anelo scende insolito vigor!
Qual voluttà trascorrere sento di vena in vena.
Più non mi reggo . . .aitami . . .io ti discerno appena!
Giselda
Deh, non morire, attendimi, o mia perduta spene!
Vissuti insiem ne’ triboli, noi morirem assieme.
Hermit
L’ora fatale ed ultima volga le menti a Dio.
S’avvivi il cor d’um palpito solo celeste a pio.
Oronte
T’accosta! . . .oh nuovo incanto! Bagnami col tuo pianto . . .
In ciel t’attendo . . .affrettati . . .tu lo schiudesti a me.
Giselda
Donna che t’amò tanto puoi tu lasciar nel pianto?
Perchè mi vietan gli angeli il dischiuso a te?
Hermit
Se qui l’amor di pianto ebbe mercè soltanto
Sperate! . . .un dì fra gli angeli di gioia avrà mercè!
Forse otterà mercè!
Verdi, The Lombards, “What pleasure coursing”, Act III, scene 2 Trio
Giselda
Rest your side here
Alas! What wound
have the cruel ones dealt you?
Oronte
Giselda! I am dying!
Giselda
Ah, what a dreadful reward you give me for my faith . . .
Oronte
I am dying!
Giselda
Ah, hush! You will recover. I have already closed your wounds
with my garments.
Oronte
In vain are you compassionate with me.
Giselda
Now you hear me, God of my fathers!
You, my mother has taken from me
The only comfort that I have for my weeping is this love of mine for Oronte . . .
and you take him away from me. You cruel one!
Hermit
Who is accusing God. This love of yours is a crime!
Giselda
What words are these that come down to my heart?
Oronte
Who are you?
Hermit
I am the one who can bring new life
If you convert to our faith.
Giselda
God inspires him.
Oronte
Oh, yes! Giselda you have at last accomplished the task!
I often have wished it. Man of God come close to me!
Hermit
Rise! You do not call heaven in vain
It reveals its glories to you.
May the holy waters of the Jordan be your purifying fountain of life!
Giselda
Our love is no longer a sin
Before heaven! Live! Ah, Live!
Oronte
Unusual vigor descends to my panting breast.
I feel pleasure coursing from vein to vein.
I can stand it no longer . . .help me . . . I can scarcely see you!
Giselda,
Please don’t die, wait for me, oh my lost hope.
Having lived together in tribulation, we will die together.
Hermit
The fatal and last hour
May it turn the minds to God.
Let the heart be animated only by divine and pure beats.
Oronte
Draw near! Oh! new enchantment
Bathe me with your tears.
In heaven I await you . . .hurry . . .you opened it to me.
Giselda
A woman who loved you so can you leave in tears?
Why do angels bar me from the heaven which has been opened to you?
Hermit
If only here on earth the sorrow of love was granted mercy . . .
Have hope! . . .One day among the angels you shall receive the mercy of joy!
Maybe it will obtain mercy!
Bianca Scacciati
July 3, 1894 – October 15, 1948
Scacciati was an Italian dramatic soprano opera singer, recognized for her commanding vocal power and prominence in the verismo tradition of late 19th- and early 20th-century Italian opera. Born in Florence, she trained in Milan under Ernesta Bruschini and debuted professionally in Florence on 1 November 1917 as Marguerite in Charles Gounod’s Faust. Scacciati subsequently performed across major Italian venues, including Rome and Turin, before gaining international acclaim with appearances at London’s Covent Garden in 1925, Chicago, and opera houses in Buenos Aires. Her repertoire favored dramatic roles suited to her robust timbre, such as Turandot in Giacomo Puccini’s opera.
Scacciati made her operatic debut on November 1, 1917, at the Teatro della Pergola in Florence, Italy, in the role of Marguerite in Charles Gounod’s Faust. This performance marked the beginning of her professional career as a dramatic soprano, following training under Ernesta Bruschini in Milan. In the years immediately following her debut, Scacciati rapidly established herself as a prominent figure among Italy’s dramatic sopranos, performing in regional theaters such as Bologna in 1918 and gaining acclaim for her vocal power suited to verismo repertoire. By July 27, 1920, she appeared at the Arena di Verona during one of its early open-air seasons, singing alongside tenor Nazzareno De Angelis in Arrigo Boito’s Mefistofele. These engagements highlighted her early versatility and rising status in Italian opera circles prior to major house appearances.
Scacciati’s engagements at Teatro alla Scala began in late 1926 with the title role in a revival of Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot, shortly after the opera’s world premiere earlier that year, opposite tenor Francesco Merli as Calaf. She reprised Turandot in January 1928 and appeared as Santuzza in Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana in December 1927.
In 1928, Scacciati traveled to Buenos Aires for performances at the Teatro Colón, where she sang the title role in Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida and appeared in other repertory including Il trovatore. These outings marked her only documented forays beyond Europe, with no records of appearances at major North American houses like the Metropolitan Opera or in Central European venues such as Vienna or Paris. Her abroad schedule reflected the era’s challenges for Italian sopranos, prioritizing domestic prestige at La Scala over extensive touring.
In April 1926, during the Roman premiere of Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot at the Teatro Costanzi (later Teatro Reale dell’Opera), Bianca Scacciati, performing the title role, received an invitation from Prime Minister Benito Mussolini to visit Palazzo Venezia for congratulations and to receive a dedicated photograph. She declined the summons, citing the need to prepare for a performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, though the refusal stemmed from her opposition to the emerging fascist regime, rooted in her upbringing in a socialist working-class family in Florence.
This act of defiance prompted informal ostracism from the Teatro Reale dell’Opera, an institution increasingly aligned with fascist cultural policies under Mussolini’s government, limiting her future engagements there and signaling broader professional repercussions in regime-favored venues. In response, Scacciati redirected her efforts to Teatro alla Scala in Milan, where conductor Arturo Toscanini—himself an outspoken anti-fascist—championed her, enabling regular appearances from 1926 to 1932 in roles including Aida, Leonora in La forza del destino, and Norma.
The incident’s long-term consequences included constrained opportunities in major Italian theaters sympathetic to fascism, contributing to a gradual decline in her domestic prominence after the early 1930s, even as she maintained some international tours to South America and performed roles like Tosca in provincial houses. Factors such as her 1930 marriage to conductor Lorenzo Poli and potential vocal shifts amid rising competition from sopranos like Gina Cigna exacerbated this, but the 1926 refusal marked an early causal pivot away from regime-endorsed circuits, preserving her ideological consistency at the expense of career breadth.
Her specialization avoided lighter lyric parts, focusing instead on characters embodying conflict and fate, such as the courtesan in Manon Lescaut
Scacciati retired from the operatic stage in 1942, following a performance of the title role in Puccini’s Tosca at the Teatro Grande in Brescia. She had married the Italian baritone Giulio Poli in 1933, relocating to his hometown of Brescia thereafter, where she resided for the remainder of her life.