Teresa Berganza
Witty, impertinent, effervescent, passionate: these are adjectives often applied to the personality of the great Spanish mezzo. Teresa Berganza loves life, people and above all - composers. "Mozart is my Messiah", she says, "I want people to think of me as a mystic: I'm not called Teresa for nothing!" But Mozart and Rossini were her main masters. First, she learned style and emotion, and then technique and speed.
Presented at Aix-en-Provence in 1957 in a memorable Cosi Fan Tutte alongside Teresa Stich-Randall and Luigi Alva under the direction of Hans Rosbaud, her career got off to a flying start. The following year she was at La Scala and then at Glyndebourne, Covent Garden, Chicago, Buenos Aires, Paris. She was acclaimed everywhere, for her fresh voice that was so at ease on stage alongside the greatest of the greats, even if she was somewhat looked down upon in London or Vienna, as if she had come from a country of savages. After all, rationing had only just ended in Franco's poor and isolated Spain.
One role followed another, Rosina in the Barber of Seville; Cherubino in the Marriage of Figaro; Octavia in The Coronation of Poppaea, Ruggiero in Alcina. She began to make records. In 1961, she met Ernest Ansermet to record Manuela de Falla's Three-Cornered Hat that he had put on with the Russian Ballet. She befriended the young Claudio Abbado as his career took off. Together, they would share great moments, on stage and on disc. Together they would create famous records whose success has never faded. The Barber of Seville and La Cenerentola (Rossini) in 1972, Carmen (Bizet) in 1977, followed by a memorable production for the Edinburgh festival. This role, which she would sing for the first time when she recorded it, would get under her skin and drive her to distraction, to the point that she would forget all other music. But if Carmen is an absolute vocal reference point, it is also because Berganza has stripped her of all cheap "Hispanic" affectations: she is a noble and proud woman. "Mérimée and Bizet wanted to pay homage to my country with class and dignity", she said.
It was with this same dignity that Teresa Berganza also sang several zarzuelas, that Madrid operetta which is too-often derided outside of its home country, whereas, according to Teresa Berganza, many are worth a thousand Donizetti operas. Barbieri, Chueca, Chapi, Bretón, Giménez, Vives and Torroba are the great composers of zarzuelas.
Teresa Berganza has left us an abundant discography which is still available on the best labels. She was also very engaged in the Spanish repertoire, of which she recorded a lot with her husband the pianist Felix Lavilla. Teresa Berganza has given up the studio, diverting her customary passion to teaching. In 2013 she agreed to undertake a book put together by Olivier Bellamy: Un Monde habité par le chant. In it, she tells the story of her life with sincerity and human warmth.
© FH / Qobuz
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Manuel de Falla: El Sombrero de Tres Picos [The Three Cornered Hat] (1961)
Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet, Teresa Berganza
Classical - Released by Classical Moments on Jan. 1, 1961
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Monteverdi / Vivaldi / Haydn / Rossini: Cantatas
Classical - Released by Claves Records on Jan. 1, 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Arias of the 18th Century (Mono Version)
Teresa Berganza, Royal Opera House Orchestra, Alexander Gibson
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on Jan. 1, 1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Art of Teresa Berganza
Classical - Released by Butterfly Music on Jan. 1, 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Baroque Concert, Antonio Vivaldi, Magnificat Gloria
Teresa Berganza, Lucia Valentina-Terrani, Riccardo Mutti, New Philharmonia Orchestra
Classical - Released by LucasRecords on Oct. 12, 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Puccini: Madama Butterfly
Mirella Freni, Teresa Berganza, José Carreras, Juan Pons, Philharmonia Orchestra, Giuseppe Sinopoli
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Jan. 1, 1974
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rossini: La Cenerentola
Teresa Berganza, Sesto Bruscantini, Mario Rossi, Orchestra di Napoli della Rai
Opera - Released by G.O.P. on Mar. 18, 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Récital (Mono Version)
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on Jan. 1, 1962
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Schumann & Mussorgsky: Songs
Teresa Berganza, Ricardo Requejo
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Claves Records on Jan. 1, 1982
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Spanish and Basque Songs (Stereo Version)
Classical - Released by BNF Collection on Jan. 1, 1959
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Rossini: L'Italiana in Algeri
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan. 1, 1964
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Alcina
Dame Joan Sutherland, Teresa Berganza, Monica Sinclair
Opera - Released by Past Classics on Jan. 1, 1962
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Luna (Canciones, Romanzas Y Danzas)
José Maria Cano, Teresa Berganza, Plácido Domingo, Aïnhoa Arteta, Renée Fleming, London Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Universal Music Spain S.L. on Dec. 21, 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Teresa Berganza: Recital de Canciones
Operettas - Released by Meta - Vocación Musical on Jan. 1, 1962
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Spanish and Basque Folk Songs
World - Released by Isis on Jan. 1, 1959
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Teresa Berganza: An Evening of Song (Schwetzinger Festspiele Edition, 1985)
Teresa Berganza, Juan Antonio Alvarez Parejo
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by SWR Classic on May 25, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rossini - L'Italiana in Algeri
Teresa Berganza, Mario Petri, Nino Sanzogno, Orchestra di Milano della Rai
Opera - Released by G.O.P. on Jan. 1, 1964
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Un concierto de "Género Chico" - Teresa Berganza
English Chamber Orchestra, Teresa Berganza
Operettas - Released by Piros - Send on Jan. 1, 1975
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Airs du XVIIIe siècle (Stereo Version)
Teresa Berganza, Royal Opera House Orchestra, Alexander Gibson
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on Jan. 1, 1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Un Concierto de Zarzuela
Operettas - Released by DiscMedi S.A. on Sep. 8, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo