Alice Zeppilli
Encyclopedia
Alice Zeppilli was a French opera
tic soprano
of Italian heritage who had an active international singing career from 1901 to 1930. The pinnacle of her career was in the United States where she enjoyed great popularity between 1906 and 1914; particularly in the cities of Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia. She was also popular in Monte Carlo
where she performed frequently from 1904 to 1919 and later worked as a singing teacher after her retirement from the stage. She made only one recording, a phonograph cylinder
for Columbia Records
consisting of the Gavotte from Jules Massenet
's Manon
and Olympia's "Doll aria" from Jacques Offenbach
's The Tales of Hoffmann.
, France
, Zeppilli was the daughter of Italian parents. She was a cousin (mother's side) of the famous singer Luisa Villani (1884–1961). Her father Nicola was an orchestra conductor at the Théâtre du Casino in Monte Carlo. Her father sent her back to his native country of Italy to study opera in Milan
with Elettra Callery-Viviani, who was also the teacher of Claudia Muzio
.
on 25 November 1901 at the age of 16 as Stella in the world premiere of Giacomo Orefice
's Chopin. She sang that role again for her debut at La Fenice
in 1902. In 1903 she had a major success in Venice as the title heroine in Jules Massenet
's Cendrillon
. In 1904 she appeared at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo
as Gilda in Giuseppe Verdi
's Rigoletto
opposite Enrico Caruso as the Duke of Mantua and Roger Bourdin
in the title role. She returned to Monte Carlo periodically during her career, portraying such roles as Inès in Giacomo Meyerbeer
's L'Africaine
(1905), Violetta in Verdi's La traviata
(1910), the title roles in Massenet's Manon
(1915) and Puccini's Madama Butterfly
(1916), both Thalie and Junon in Jean-Philippe Rameau
's Platée
(1917), Maria di Spagna in Filippo Marchetti
's Ruy Blas (1919), and Nannetta in Verdi's Falstaff
(1919) among other roles.
From 1905 to 1907 Zeppilli performed with a touring Italian opera company in Argentina, Egypt, Greece, and Romania. In 1907 she had great success at the Teatro Regio di Parma
as Jebbel in Alberto Franchetti
's Germania
. She also was seen that year in Parma as Anna di Rehberg in Alfredo Catalani
's Loreley
. She made her debut at the Royal Opera House
, Covent Garden in London in 1907 as Musetta in Giacomo Puccini
's La Bohème
, and was also seen that year in London as Bersi in Umberto Giordano
's Andrea Chénier
.
From 1907 to 1910 Zeppilli was a member of Oscar Hammerstein I
's Manhattan Opera Company
in New York City, with whom she made her United States debut as Olympia in The Tales of Hoffmann at the Manhattan Opera House in 1907. She also served concurrently in Hammerstein's sister opera company in Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Opera Company
, from 1908 to 1910. She notably sang the role of Micaela in Georges Bizet
's Carmen
for the opening of the Philadelphia Opera House
in 1908. In 1910 she performed in the American premiere of the opera Jan Blockx
's De Herbergprinses (performed in Italian as La Princesse d'Auberge). Other roles she sang with the Manhattan and Philadelphia opera companies included Irma in Louise
, Marguerite de Valois in Les Huguenots
, both Mimi and Musetta in La boheme
, and Siébel in Faust
.
From 1910 to 1914 Zeppilli was a member of the Chicago Grand Opera Company
which not only performed regularly in Chicago but also in Philadelphia. With the company she notably performed the role of Lygie in the United States premieres of Jean Nouguès
's Quo vadis in 1911, and created the role of Rosaura in the world premiere of Attilio Parelli
's I dispettosi amanti in 1912. Some of the other roles she sang with the company included both Antonia and Olympia in The Tales of Hoffman, Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly
, Gilda, Marguerite de Valois, Marguerite in Faust
, Micaela, Musetta, Nedda in Ruggero Leoncavallo
's Pagliacci
, Ophélie in Ambroise Thomas
' Hamlet
, Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana
, Susanna in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
's The Marriage of Figaro
, Violetta, Zerlina in Don Giovanni
, and the title roles in Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari
's Il segreto di Susanna
, Victor Herbert
's Natoma, and Puccini's Tosca
among others. In 1913 she married Giuseppe Alberghini, a cellist in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
.
In 1909-1910 Zeppilli also performed at the Opéra-Comique
in Paris where she made her debut as the title heroine in Léo Delibes
' Lakmé
, and was also heard as Massenet's Manon. While there she studied singing further with soprano Rose Caron
. In 1914 she again appeared at the Royal Opera House in London as Nannetta, Susanna, Musetta, and Oscar in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera
. In 1917-1918 she was committed to the Teatro Costanzi in Rome where she performed the roles of Alice Ford in Falstaff, Mimì and Cio-Cio-San. In 1919 she was heard at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples.
, Zeppilli and her husband relocated to New York City. At this point her career began to slow down, although she did perform periodically in operas in Italy and the United States up until 1926. She continued to perform in recitals and on vaudeville
and radio in New York City up until 1930. After that, she and her husband devided their time between homes in New York City, Monte Carlo, and Pieve di Cento
. Zeppilli taught singers in both New York and Monte Carlo while her husband continued to work for a variety of orchestras; including playing as a cellist in the Metropolitan Opera
orchestra. Her most famous pupils were soprano Lily Pons
and Broadway actress Doretta Morrow. After her husband's death in 1954, she settled permanently in Pieve di Cento. She died there in 1969. The Teatro Zeppilli in Pieve di Cento is named after her.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
tic soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
of Italian heritage who had an active international singing career from 1901 to 1930. The pinnacle of her career was in the United States where she enjoyed great popularity between 1906 and 1914; particularly in the cities of Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia. She was also popular in Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo is an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco....
where she performed frequently from 1904 to 1919 and later worked as a singing teacher after her retirement from the stage. She made only one recording, a phonograph cylinder
Phonograph cylinder
Phonograph cylinders were the earliest commercial medium for recording and reproducing sound. Commonly known simply as "records" in their era of greatest popularity , these cylinder shaped objects had an audio recording engraved on the outside surface which could be reproduced when the cylinder was...
for Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
consisting of the Gavotte from Jules Massenet
Jules Massenet
Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet was a French composer best known for his operas. His compositions were very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and he ranks as one of the greatest melodists of his era. Soon after his death, Massenet's style went out of fashion, and many of his operas...
's Manon
Manon
Manon is an opéra comique in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, based on the 1731 novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost...
and Olympia's "Doll aria" from Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach was a Prussian-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss, Jr....
's The Tales of Hoffmann.
Early life and education
Born in MentonMenton
Menton is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.Situated on the French Riviera, along the Franco-Italian border, it is nicknamed la perle de la France ....
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Zeppilli was the daughter of Italian parents. She was a cousin (mother's side) of the famous singer Luisa Villani (1884–1961). Her father Nicola was an orchestra conductor at the Théâtre du Casino in Monte Carlo. Her father sent her back to his native country of Italy to study opera in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
with Elettra Callery-Viviani, who was also the teacher of Claudia Muzio
Claudia Muzio
Claudia Muzio was an Italian operatic soprano, whose international career was among the most successful of the early 20th century.-Early years:...
.
Opera career
Zepilli made her professional opera debut in Milan at the Teatro LiricoTeatro Lirico (Milan)
The Teatro Lirico is a theatre in Milan, Italy. In the 19th and early 20th centuries it was particularly notable for opera performances, including the world premieres of Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore and Giordano's Fedora. The theatre, located on Via Rastrelli, closed in 1998...
on 25 November 1901 at the age of 16 as Stella in the world premiere of Giacomo Orefice
Giacomo Orefice
Giacomo Orefice was an Italian composer.He was born in Vicenza. He studied under Busi and Mancinelli at the Liceo Bologna, and later became professor of composition at the Milan Conservatory...
's Chopin. She sang that role again for her debut at La Fenice
La Fenice
Teatro La Fenice is an opera house in Venice, Italy. It is one of the most famous theatres in Europe, the site of many famous operatic premieres. Its name reflects its role in permitting an opera company to "rise from the ashes" despite losing the use of two theatres...
in 1902. In 1903 she had a major success in Venice as the title heroine in Jules Massenet
Jules Massenet
Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet was a French composer best known for his operas. His compositions were very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and he ranks as one of the greatest melodists of his era. Soon after his death, Massenet's style went out of fashion, and many of his operas...
's Cendrillon
Cendrillon
Cendrillon is an opera—described as a "fairy tale"—in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Cain based on Perrault's 1698 version of the Cinderella fairy tale. The scenario was conceived by Massenet and Cain at the Cavendish Hotel while they were in London for the...
. In 1904 she appeared at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo
Opéra de Monte-Carlo
The Opéra de Monte-Carlo is an opera house located in the principality of Monaco.With the lack of cultural diversions available in Monaco in the 1870s, Prince Charles III, along with the Société des Bains de Mer, decided on the construction of an opera house. Initially, it was Charles III's...
as Gilda in Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's Rigoletto
Rigoletto
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
opposite Enrico Caruso as the Duke of Mantua and Roger Bourdin
Roger Bourdin
Roger Bourdin was a French baritone, particularly associated with the French repertory. His career was largely based in France.- Life and career :...
in the title role. She returned to Monte Carlo periodically during her career, portraying such roles as Inès in Giacomo Meyerbeer
Giacomo Meyerbeer
Giacomo Meyerbeer was a noted German opera composer, and the first great exponent of "grand opera." At his peak in the 1830s and 1840s, he was the most famous and successful composer of opera in Europe, yet he is rarely performed today.-Early years:He was born to a Jewish family in Tasdorf , near...
's L'Africaine
L'Africaine
L'africaine is a grand opera, the last work of the composer Giacomo Meyerbeer. The French libretto was written by Eugène Scribe. The opera is about fictitious events in the life of the real historical person Vasco da Gama...
(1905), Violetta in Verdi's La traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
(1910), the title roles in Massenet's Manon
Manon
Manon is an opéra comique in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, based on the 1731 novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost...
(1915) and Puccini's Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...
(1916), both Thalie and Junon in Jean-Philippe Rameau
Jean-Philippe Rameau
Jean-Philippe Rameau was one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the Baroque era. He replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of French opera and is also considered the leading French composer for the harpsichord of his time, alongside François...
's Platée
Platée
Platée is an opera in a prologue and three acts by Jean-Philippe Rameau with a libretto by Adrien-Joseph Le Valois d'Orville. Rameau bought the rights to the libretto Platée ou Junon Jalouse by Jacques Autreau and had d'Orville modify it...
(1917), Maria di Spagna in Filippo Marchetti
Filippo Marchetti
Filippo Marchetti was an Italian opera composer. After studying in Naples, his first opera was "successfully premiered" in Turin in 1856...
's Ruy Blas (1919), and Nannetta in Verdi's Falstaff
Falstaff (opera)
Falstaff is an operatic commedia lirica in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, adapted by Arrigo Boito from Shakespeare's plays The Merry Wives of Windsor and scenes from Henry IV. It was Verdi's last opera, written in the composer's ninth decade, and only the second of his 26 operas to be a comedy...
(1919) among other roles.
From 1905 to 1907 Zeppilli performed with a touring Italian opera company in Argentina, Egypt, Greece, and Romania. In 1907 she had great success at the Teatro Regio di Parma
Teatro Regio di Parma
Teatro Regio di Parma is a famous 19th century opera house and opera company in Parma, Italy. The theatre was originally known as the Teatro Ducale....
as Jebbel in Alberto Franchetti
Alberto Franchetti
Alberto Franchetti was an Italian opera composer.-Biography:Alberto Franchetti was born in Turin, a Jewish nobleman of independent means. He studied first in Venice, then in Dresden under Felix Draeseke, and finally at the Munich Conservatory under Josef Rheinberger. His first major success...
's Germania
Germania (opera)
Germania is an operatic dramma lirico consisting of a prologue, two acts, an intermezzo and an epilogue by Alberto Franchetti to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica...
. She also was seen that year in Parma as Anna di Rehberg in Alfredo Catalani
Alfredo Catalani
Alfredo Catalani was an Italian operatic composer. He is best remembered for his operas Loreley and La Wally...
's Loreley
Loreley (opera)
Loreley is a three-act azione romantica opera by Alfredo Catalani, composed to a libretto by Angelo Zanardini, Giuseppe Depanis, Carlo D'Ormeville and others....
. She made her debut at the Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
, Covent Garden in London in 1907 as Musetta in Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...
's La Bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
, and was also seen that year in London as Bersi in Umberto Giordano
Umberto Giordano
Umberto Menotti Maria Giordano was an Italian composer, mainly of operas.He was born in Foggia in Puglia, southern Italy, and studied under Paolo Serrao at the Conservatoire of Naples...
's Andrea Chénier
Andrea Chénier
Andrea Chénier is a verismo opera in four acts by the composer Umberto Giordano, set to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica. It is based loosely on the life of the French poet, André Chénier , who was executed during the French Revolution....
.
From 1907 to 1910 Zeppilli was a member of Oscar Hammerstein I
Oscar Hammerstein I
Oscar Hammerstein I was a businessman, theater impresario and composer in New York City. His passion for opera led him to open several opera houses, and he rekindled opera's popularity in America...
's Manhattan Opera Company
Manhattan Opera Company
The Manhattan Opera Company was an opera company based in New York City. Active from 1906 until 1910, it was founded by Oscar Hammerstein I.The company began operations in 1906 at the Manhattan Opera House on 34th Street in New York City...
in New York City, with whom she made her United States debut as Olympia in The Tales of Hoffmann at the Manhattan Opera House in 1907. She also served concurrently in Hammerstein's sister opera company in Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Opera Company
Philadelphia Opera Company
The Philadelphia Opera Company was the name of two different American opera companies active during the twentieth century in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The first company was founded by impresario Oscar Hammerstein I in 1908. That company disbanded only two years later as a result of financial...
, from 1908 to 1910. She notably sang the role of Micaela in Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet formally Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, was a French composer, mainly of operas. In a career cut short by his early death, he achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, became one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertory.During a...
's Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
for the opening of the Philadelphia Opera House
Metropolitan Opera House (Philadelphia)
The Metropolitan Opera House is a historic opera house located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at 858 North Broad Street. Built over the course of just a few months in 1908, it was the ninth opera house built by impresario Oscar Hammerstein I. It was initially the home of Hammerstein's Philadelphia...
in 1908. In 1910 she performed in the American premiere of the opera Jan Blockx
Jan Blockx
Jan Blockx was a Belgian composer, pianist and teacher. He was a leader of the Flemish nationalist school in music.-Biography:...
's De Herbergprinses (performed in Italian as La Princesse d'Auberge). Other roles she sang with the Manhattan and Philadelphia opera companies included Irma in Louise
Louise (opera)
Louise is an opera in four acts by Gustave Charpentier to an original French libretto by the composer, with some contributions by Saint-Pol-Roux, a symbolist poet and inspiration of the surrealists....
, Marguerite de Valois in Les Huguenots
Les Huguenots
Les Huguenots is a French opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer, one of the most popular and spectacular examples of the style of grand opera. The opera is in five acts and premiered in Paris in 1836. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and Émile Deschamps....
, both Mimi and Musetta in La boheme
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
, and Siébel in Faust
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
.
From 1910 to 1914 Zeppilli was a member of the Chicago Grand Opera Company
Chicago Grand Opera Company
Two grand opera companies in Chicago have gone by the name Chicago Grand Opera CompanyThe first Chicago Grand Opera Company produced four seasons of opera in Chicago’s Auditorium Theater from the Fall of 1910 through November 1915. It was the first resident Chicago opera company...
which not only performed regularly in Chicago but also in Philadelphia. With the company she notably performed the role of Lygie in the United States premieres of Jean Nouguès
Jean Nouguès
Jean-Charles Nouguès was a French composer of operas.Born in Bordeaux, Nouguès was from a wealthy family, and in his youth he received little formal musical training. His first opera, Le Roi de Papagey, was written when he was only sixteen; after further study in Paris, he composed a second,...
's Quo vadis in 1911, and created the role of Rosaura in the world premiere of Attilio Parelli
Attilio Parelli
Attilio Enrico Paparella, known professionally as Attilio Parelli was an Italian conductor and composer....
's I dispettosi amanti in 1912. Some of the other roles she sang with the company included both Antonia and Olympia in The Tales of Hoffman, Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...
, Gilda, Marguerite de Valois, Marguerite in Faust
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
, Micaela, Musetta, Nedda in Ruggero Leoncavallo
Ruggero Leoncavallo
Ruggero Leoncavallo was an Italian opera composer. His two-act work Pagliacci remains one of the most popular works in the repertory, appearing as number 20 on the Operabase list of the most-performed operas worldwide.-Biography:...
's Pagliacci
Pagliacci
Pagliacci , sometimes incorrectly rendered with a definite article as I Pagliacci, is an opera consisting of a prologue and two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It recounts the tragedy of a jealous husband in a commedia dell'arte troupe...
, Ophélie in Ambroise Thomas
Ambroise Thomas
Charles Louis Ambroise Thomas was a French composer, best known for his operas Mignon and Hamlet and as Director of the Conservatoire de Paris from 1871 till his death.-Biography:"There is good music, there is bad music, and then there is Ambroise Thomas."- Emmanuel Chabrier-Early life...
' Hamlet
Hamlet (opera)
Hamlet is an opéra in five acts by the French composer Ambroise Thomas, with a libretto by Michel Carré and Jules Barbier based on a French adaptation by Alexandre Dumas, père and Paul Meurice of Shakespeare's play Hamlet.- Ophelia mania in Paris:...
, Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana
Cavalleria rusticana
Cavalleria rusticana is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from a play written by Giovanni Verga based on his short story. Considered one of the classic verismo operas, it premiered on May 17, 1890 at the Teatro...
, Susanna in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
's The Marriage of Figaro
The Marriage of Figaro
Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...
, Violetta, Zerlina in Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
, and the title roles in Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari was an Italian composer and teacher. He is best known for his comic operas such as Il segreto di Susanna...
's Il segreto di Susanna
Il segreto di Susanna
Il segreto di Susanna is an intermezzo in one act by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari to an Italian libretto by Enrico Golisciani...
, Victor Herbert
Victor Herbert
Victor August Herbert was an Irish-born, German-raised American composer, cellist and conductor. Although Herbert enjoyed important careers as a cello soloist and conductor, he is best known for composing many successful operettas that premiered on Broadway from the 1890s to World War I...
's Natoma, and Puccini's Tosca
Tosca
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
among others. In 1913 she married Giuseppe Alberghini, a cellist in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1891, the Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival...
.
In 1909-1910 Zeppilli also performed at the Opéra-Comique
Opéra-Comique
The Opéra-Comique is a Parisian opera company, which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with, and for a time took the name of its chief rival the Comédie-Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and was also called the...
in Paris where she made her debut as the title heroine in Léo Delibes
Léo Delibes
Clément Philibert Léo Delibes was a French composer of ballets, operas, and other works for the stage...
' Lakmé
Lakmé
Lakmé is an opera in three acts by Léo Delibes to a French libretto by Edmond Gondinet and Philippe Gille. Delibes wrote the score during 1881–82 with its first performance on 14 April 1883 at the Opéra Comique in Paris. Set in British India in the mid 19th century, Lakmé is based on the 1880 novel...
, and was also heard as Massenet's Manon. While there she studied singing further with soprano Rose Caron
Rose Caron
Rose Caron was a French operatic soprano.Rose Caron was born at Monnerville . She studied at the Paris Conservatoire but was not taken on at the Paris Opera; her husband, an accompanist, encouraged her to take lessons from Marie Sasse who helped her to get engagements at the opera in Brussels...
. In 1914 she again appeared at the Royal Opera House in London as Nannetta, Susanna, Musetta, and Oscar in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera
Un ballo in maschera
Un ballo in maschera , is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi with text by Antonio Somma. The libretto is loosely based on an 1833 play, Gustave III, by French playwright Eugène Scribe who wrote about the historical assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden...
. In 1917-1918 she was committed to the Teatro Costanzi in Rome where she performed the roles of Alice Ford in Falstaff, Mimì and Cio-Cio-San. In 1919 she was heard at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples.
Teacher and later life
After World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Zeppilli and her husband relocated to New York City. At this point her career began to slow down, although she did perform periodically in operas in Italy and the United States up until 1926. She continued to perform in recitals and on vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
and radio in New York City up until 1930. After that, she and her husband devided their time between homes in New York City, Monte Carlo, and Pieve di Cento
Pieve di Cento
Pieve di Cento is a comune in the Province of Bologna in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about 25 km north of Bologna.-External links:*...
. Zeppilli taught singers in both New York and Monte Carlo while her husband continued to work for a variety of orchestras; including playing as a cellist in the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
orchestra. Her most famous pupils were soprano Lily Pons
Lily Pons
Lily Pons was a French-American operatic soprano and actress who had an active career from the late 1920s through the early 1970s. As an opera singer she specialized in the coloratura soprano repertoire and was particularly associated with the title roles in Léo Delibes' Lakmé and Gaetano...
and Broadway actress Doretta Morrow. After her husband's death in 1954, she settled permanently in Pieve di Cento. She died there in 1969. The Teatro Zeppilli in Pieve di Cento is named after her.