Filippo Pantieri

Roberta Invernizzi, Ensemble Sezione Aurea, Filippo Pantieri – Arias for Anna Renzi the First Opera Diva (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 48:13 minutes | 860 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Brilliant Classics

A homage from one superb Italian soprano to her forebear, the first “opera diva”.

Anna Renzi (c. 1620 – after 1661) was an Italian soprano renowned for her acting ability as well as her voice, who has been described as the first diva in the history of opera. Born in Rome, Anna Renzi was highly popular in Vienna in 1640s and made her debut in 1640 at the Palazzo Pallavicini-Rospigliosi in the presence of Cardinal Richelieu, as Lucinda in Il favorito del principe by the young composer Filiberto Laurenzi, who continued to function as her teacher and/or accompanist in later years. She became the most celebrated and highest-paid singer of the age, and famous composers wrote especially for her. Composers tended to make use of the full extent of Renzi’s voice, which spanned from middle C to high B-flat, and the four surviving non-Monteverdian settings of roles written for her (by Sacrati, Laurenzi, Cesti and Ziani) are characterized by strong dramatic, emotional and stylistic contrasts, designed to show off her uncanny command of vocal and expressive means.
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