Co-stars & Rivals: A N N A G I R Ò Born: Mantua, c1710Died: after 1747Voice: contralt

Co-stars & Rivals: A N N A G I R Ò Born: Mantua, c1710Died: after 1747Voice: contraltoPersonality:  Anna Girò is known above all for her professional association with Antonio Vivaldi -  a relationship suspected, at the time, of carrying over into their private lives, although modern research suggests the opposite. Anna’s father was a wig-maker of French extraction. The singer’s actual name was Teseire – Italianized to Tessieri – whereas Giro was a sobriquet her father had used. About 1722 she went to Venice to study singing, living with an elder half-sister, Paolina, who acted as her chaperone. She made her operatic début in Treviso in autumn 1723; her first appearance on the Venetian stage was in Albinoni’s Laodice (autumn 1724). Giro sang in over 50 operatic productions. She started, in her early teens, with minor travesty roles, then graduated to seconda donna and soon also to prima donna roles. Vivaldi, for whom she sang (nearly always as prima donna) in over 30 productions from 1726 to 1739, appears to have been her principal mentor. He once declared, with evident exaggeration, that he could not put on an opera without her, but she was well able to operate independently of him, as she proved during his transalpine tour of 1729 - 31 (when Giro was performing alongside Farinelli in Broschi’s Ezio and Porpora’s Poro)  and again after his death in 1741.   Her very successful career lasted until 1748, when, after singing in Piacenza at Carnival, she married a widowed count from that city, Antonio Maria Zanardi Landi, and retired honourably from the stage.One fact: The amendments to the libretto of Zeno’s Griselda that Vivaldi instructed Goldoni to make in 1735 were designed to hide her defects and promote her strengths.One quote: She was not pretty, but she had charms, a very slim waist, beautiful eyes, lovely hair, a charming mouth, and a small voice, but a great deal of acting ability. (Carlo Goldoni)One hit:  Svena, uccidi, abbatti, atterra  (Bajazet) -- source link

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