Marietta Gazzaniga
Marietta Gazzaniga (1824 – 2 January 1884) was an Italian operatic soprano. Gazzaniga was born in Voghera and studied singing with Alberto Mazzucato in Milan. Her debut season was in 1840 in Voghera where she sang Jane Seymour in Donizetti's "Anna Bolena" and Romeo in Bellini's "I Capuleti e i Montecchi". She sang the title role in the premiere of Verdi's "Luisa Miller" at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples in 1849, and a year later she sang Lina in the premiere of Verdi's "Stiffelio" in Trieste. Starting in 1851 she began singing at  La Scala. In 1852 she sang Gilda in Verdi's "Rigoletto" in Bergamo. The production was considered a failure, and this was blamed on Gazzaniga's performance. Being quite irritated at the time, Verdi claimed that he had also disliked her performances in the premieres of "Luisa Miller" and "Stiffelio". That same year she also performed in Bologna, singing the title role in Bellini's "Norma" and Paolina in Donizetti's "Poliuto". Later she went on tour to both North and Central America. On her first such tour, which began in 1857, her husband, Count Malaspina, died of smallpox on  the boat to Havana. On a subsequent tour to New York (1866–1867) a critic praised her voice as having "greater purity and less vehement forcing of tone". She continued touring each year in the Americas until 1870. Near the end of her career she sang mezzo-soprano roles. For example, she relinquished the role of Leonora in Verdi's "Il trovatore" and sang Azucena instead. She died in Milan.