Licia Albanese

Licia Albanese, born in Bari on 22 July 1913, was an Italian-born soprano who built much of her career in the United States. She is associated with the lyric and spinto repertoire and, above all, with Puccini's heroines, in which she is regarded as a benchmark.

She trained with Giuseppina Baldassare-Tedeschi and began her career at the Teatro Lirico in Milan. In 1934 she stood in at short notice for an indisposed Butterfly during the second half of the performance, an episode that marked her bond with that opera. She made her official debut in Parma in 1935 and at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1940. Over her career she sang more than a thousand performances in 48 roles, ranging from Mozart to the Italian repertoire.

Her technical command and emotional intensity are particularly noted, as is her participation as Violetta and Mimì in the NBC broadcasts conducted by Toscanini. Among her most representative recordings are excerpts of her tragic Butterfly and her Mimì of 1938 in a complete recording of La bohème at La Scala.

After leaving the Metropolitan she took part in the movement to save its former home and never sang at Lincoln Center again. In her final years she devoted herself mainly to teaching.