Elena Bianchini-Cappelli

Elena Bianchini-Cappelli (1873 – September 19, 1919) was an Italian dramatic soprano opera singer.

Elena Bianchini-Cappelli
Elena Bianchini-Cappelli as "Tosca", from a 1919 publication.
Background information
Born	1873 (1873)
Died	September 19, 1919(1919-09-19) (aged 45–46) Rimini, Italy
Occupation	Opera singer

Elena Bianchini-Cappelli with Enrico Caruso in Cavalleria Rusticana, 1895; from a 1922 publication.

Early life

Elena Bianchini-Cappelli was from Rome.^[1] She studied voice with Guglielmo Vergine in Naples, while he was also teaching Enrico Caruso.^[2]

Career

Elena Bianchini-Cappelli in the role of Brünnhilde in Wagner's Siegfried

She appeared with Caruso in 1895, in Cavalleria Rusticana at Caserta.^[3] The pair also appeared together in Puccini's Manon Lescaut in Cairo in 1895;^[4] the two were only given five days to learn the show before opening night, so Caruso fastened the score to Bianchini-Cappelli's back, limiting her stage movement: "I was helpless to do more than hold as still as possible, serving as a human music rack for my comrade," she recalled. "And what did the rascal do? He was bursting to laugh!"^[3]

In 1899 she was in the cast of Wagner's Siegfried at La Scala.^[5] She was in the cast of Verdi's Un ballo in maschera when it was conducted by Arturo Toscanini at Trento.^[6] She first performed in the United States in 1902, the year she sang "Sylvia" in Zanetto at the Metropolitan Opera House, under the direction of composer Pietro Mascagni.^[7]

In her forties she taught voice in New York City, endorsed by her old friend Caruso.^[2]

Personal life and legacy

Elena Bianchini-Cappelli died in 1919, at her villa in Rimini, aged 46 years. There is a street named for Elena Bianchini-Cappelli in Rimini.^[8]