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{{Short description|Spanish opera singer (1808–1836)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Maria Malibran
| image = Maria Malibran by Henri Decaisne.jpg
| caption = ''[[Maria Malibran as Desdemona]]'' by [[Henri Decaisne]], 1830
| birth_name = María Felicitas García Sitches
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1808|03|24|df=y}}
| birth_place = Paris, France
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1836|09|23|1808|03|24|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Manchester]], England
| occupation = Opera singer
}}
'''Maria Felicia Malibran''' ({{IPA|es|maˈɾia feˈliθja maˈliβɾan}}; 24 March 1808 – 23 September 1836)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Maria Malibran {{!}} Spanish opera singer {{!}} Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Maria-Malibran|access-date=2021-12-11|website=www.britannica.com|language=en}}</ref> was a Spanish singer who commonly sang both [[contralto]] and [[soprano]] parts, and was one of the best-known opera singers of the 19th century. Malibran was known for her stormy personality and dramatic intensity, becoming a legendary figure after her death in [[Manchester]], England, at age 28. Contemporary accounts of her voice describe its range, power and flexibility as extraordinary.

==Early life==
{{More citations needed section|date=November 2022}}
'''María Felicitas García Sitches''' was born into a famous Spanish musical family in Paris. Her mother was [[Joaquina Sitches]], an actress and operatic singer. Her father [[Manuel del Pópulo Vicente García|Manuel García]] was a celebrated [[tenor]] much admired by [[Gioacchino Rossini|Rossini]], having created the role of Count Almaviva in his ''[[The Barber of Seville]]''. García was also a composer and an influential vocal instructor, and he was her first voice teacher. He was described as inflexible and tyrannical; the lessons he gave his daughter became constant quarrels between two powerful egos.

===Career===
[[File:Charles-Auguste de Bériot by Charles Baugniet 1838.jpg|thumb|Malibran's lover, Belgian violinist [[Charles Auguste de Bériot]], next to her bust at the [[Royal Conservatory of Brussels]] portrayed in an 1838 lithograph; Malibran had died two years earlier.]]
[[File:La Malibran en Desdémone - François Bouchot.JPG|thumb|''[[La Malibran]] as Desdemona'', [[François Bouchot]], circa 1830, [[Louvre]]]]
Malibran first appeared on stage in [[Naples]] with her father in [[Ferdinando Paër]]'s ''Agnese'', when she was eight years old. When she was 17, she was a singer in the choir of the King's Theatre in [[London]]. When prima donna [[Giuditta Pasta]] became indisposed, García suggested that his daughter take over in the role of Rosina in ''[[The Barber of Seville]]''. The audience loved the young singer, and she continued to sing this role until the end of the season.

When the season closed, García immediately took his operatic troupe to New York. The troupe consisted primarily of the members of his family: Maria, her brother, [[Manuel Patricio Rodríguez García|Manuel]], and their mother, [[Joaquina Sitches]], also called "la Briones". Maria's younger sister, [[Pauline Viardot|Pauline]], who would later become a famous singer in her own right under the name of [[Pauline Viardot]], was then only four years old.

This was the first time that Italian opera was performed in New York City. Over a period of nine months, Maria sang the lead roles in eight operas, two of which were written by her father. In New York, she met and hastily married a banker, Francois Eugene Malibran, who was 28 years her senior. It is thought that her father forced Maria to marry him in return for the banker's promise to give Manuel García 100,000 francs. However, according to other accounts, she married simply to escape her tyrannical father. A few months after the wedding, her husband declared bankruptcy, and Maria was forced to support him through her performances. After a year, she left Malibran and returned to Europe.

In Europe, Malibran sang the title role at the premiere of Donizetti's ''[[Maria Stuarda]]''. The opera was based on Schiller's play ''[[Mary Stuart (Schiller play)|Mary Stuart]]'', and as it portrayed [[Mary, Queen of Scots]] in a sympathetic light, censors demanded textual amendments, which Malibran often ignored. The Library of the [[Royal Conservatory of Brussels]] conserves a series of interesting coloured costume projects<ref>Maria Malibran, ''La Réforme du Théâtre'', (Library of the [[Royal Conservatory of Brussels]], B-Bc, Maria Malibran fund, FC-2-MM-073).</ref> for this play, created by Malibran, revealing her unsuspected drawing talent.

[[File:Maria Malibran.jpg|thumb|Malibran depicted in a {{Circa|1834}} portrait]]
Malibran became romantically involved with the Belgian violinist [[Charles Auguste de Bériot]]. The pair lived together as a [[common-law marriage|common-law]] couple for six years and a child was born to them in 1833 (the piano pedagogue [[Charles-Wilfrid de Bériot]]), before Maria obtained an [[annulment]] of her marriage to Malibran. [[Felix Mendelssohn]] wrote an [[aria]] accompanied by a solo violin especially for the couple. Malibran sang at the [[Paris Opera]] among other major opera houses. In Paris, she met and performed with [[Michael William Balfe|Michael Balfe]].

===Last years===
In 1834, Malibran moved to England and began to perform in London and Europe. In Venice, she performed Bellini's ''[[La sonnambula]]'' on 8 April 1835, where she donated her performance to the dilapidated Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo, inspiring its restoration. It was renamed [[Teatro Malibran]] and she was hailed and venerated as its patroness. In late May 1836, she starred in ''[[The Maid of Artois]]'', written for her by Balfe. Earlier that year she had returned to Milan to sing the title role in the premiere of Vaccai's ''[[Giovanna Gray]]''. On 5 July 1836, she was out horse riding together with [[Lord William Lennox]] when she [[List of horse accidents|fell from her horse]] and suffered injuries from which she never recovered.<ref>Teresa Radomski, [http://www.harmonicorde.com/Radomski%20Australian%20Voice.pdf "Manuel García (1805–1906): A bicentenary reflection"], ''Australian Voice'', Vol. 11, 2005, pp. 25–41. Accessed 28 August 2010</ref><ref>{{cite journal | date = Oct 2018 | title = Acute-on-chronic subdural hematoma: the death of the famous XIX century soprano Maria Malibran – a study of the sources | url = | journal = Neurological Science | volume = 39 | issue = 10| pages = 1819–1821 | doi = 10.1007/s10072-018-3494-z | pmid = 29987434  | last1 = Mainardi | first1 = F | last2 = Zanchin | first2 = G | last3 = Paladin | first3 = F | last4 = Maggioni | first4 = F}}</ref> She refused to see a physician and continued to perform. In September 1836 she was in [[Manchester]] participating in a music festival at the [[Manchester Cathedral|collegiate church]] and Theatre Royal on Fountain Street. She collapsed on stage while performing encores at the theatre, but insisted on performing in the church the following morning and died after a week of agony, attended by her private physician. Her body was temporarily buried in the church after a public funeral before being moved to a mausoleum in [[Laeken Cemetery]], near Brussels in Belgium.<ref>Shanks, p. 14.</ref> The Library of The Royal Conservatory of Brussels conserves, amongst others, the death mask, the poignant four-page funerary report of Dr. Belluomini as well as the authorisation of the Manchester ecclesiastical authority to have Malibran's body transferred to Brussels (Maria Malibran fund, B-Bc; FC-2-MM-006 sq.).

==Roles and vocal style==
[[File:App0067.jpg|thumb|{{center|Malibran's Hotel, Brussels,1899 – a town hall today}}]]

Malibran is most closely associated with the operas of Rossini. The composer extolled her virtues:
<blockquote>Ah! That wonderful creature! With her disconcerting musical genius she surpassed all who sought to emulate her, and with her superior mind, her breadth of knowledge and unimaginable fieriness of temperament she outshone all other women I have known....<ref>Giachino Rossini, in Bartoli 2007, p. 8</ref></blockquote>

Among other operas, she sang the title role in his ''[[Tancredi]]'' and in ''[[Otello (Rossini)|Otello]]'', in which it appears that she sang both the roles of Desdemona and of Otello.<ref name=MALI>Letter from Carlo Severini to Éduard Robert (Co-Director of the Théâtre-Italien), 1829: "She will do three jobs for us...", in Bartoli, ''Maria'', p. 10</ref> Other appearances included those in ''[[Il turco in Italia]]'', ''[[La Cenerentola]]'', and ''[[Semiramide]]'' (both Arsace and the title role).<ref name=MALI/>

She also sang in Meyerbeer's ''[[Il crociato in Egitto]]'' in Paris in September 1825, an opera which Rossini, as director of the Théâtre-Italien, introduced to the French capital and "which launched Meyerbeer's European reputation".<ref>Servadio 2003, ({{p.|127}})</ref> Malibran enjoyed great success in Bellini's operas ''[[Norma (opera)|Norma]]'', ''[[La sonnambula]]'' and ''[[I Capuleti e i Montecchi]]'' (as Romeo). She also sang the Romeo role in two other then-famous operas: ''[[Giulietta e Romeo]]'' by Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli and ''[[Giulietta e Romeo (Vaccai)|Giulietta e Romeo]]'' by Vaccai. Bellini wrote a new version of his ''[[I puritani]]'' to adapt it to her mezzo-soprano voice and even promised to write a new opera especially for her, but he died before he was able to do so.

Malibran's [[tessitura]] (comfortable [[vocal range]]) was remarkably wide, from E♭ below middle C to high C and D,<ref>Merlin, ''Memoires and Letters of Mme Malibran'', Philadelphia, Carey and Hart, 1840</ref> which allowed her easily to sing roles for contralto as well as high soprano. Her contemporaries admired Malibran's emotional intensity on stage. Rossini, Donizetti, [[Frédéric Chopin|Chopin]], Mendelssohn and [[Franz Liszt|Liszt]] were among her fans. The painter [[Eugène Delacroix]] however, accused her of lacking refinement and class and of trying to "appeal to the masses who have no artistic taste." Describing her voice and technique, French critic [[Castil-Blaze]] wrote, "Malibran's voice was vibrant, full of brightness and vigor. Without ever losing her flattering timbre, this velvet tone that has given her so much seduction in tender and passionate arias. [...] Vivacity, accuracy, ascending chromatics runs, [[arpeggio]]s, vocal lines dazzling with strength, grace or coquetry, she possessed all that the art can acquire."<ref>Saint Bris</ref>

'''Notable roles:'''
* Isoline in Balfe's ''[[The Maid of Artois]]''.
* The title role in Beethoven's ''[[Fidelio]]''.
* Romeo in Bellini's ''[[I Capuleti e i Montecchi]]''.
* Imogene in Bellini's ''[[Il Pirata]]''.
* Lisa and Amina in Bellini's ''[[La Sonnambula]]''.
* The title role in Bellini's ''[[Norma (opera)|Norma]]''.
* The Princess of Navarre in Boieldieu's ''[[Jean de Paris (Boieldieu)|John of Paris]]''.
* The Student in Chélard's ''[[The Student of Jena]]''.
* Fidalma in Cimarosa's ''[[Il Matrimonio Segreto]]''.
* Adelia in Coccia's ''[[La figlia dell'arciere]]''.
* Adina in Donizetti's ''[[L'Elisir d'Amore]]''.
* The title role in Donizetti's ''[[Maria Stuarda]]''.
* The title role in Halévy's ''[[Clari]]''.
* Alma and Felicia in Meyerbeer's ''[[Il crociato in Egitto]]''.
* Zerlina in Mozart's ''[[Don Giovanni]]'', opposite her father [[Manuel García (tenor)|Manuel García I]] as the title role, her mother [[Joaquina Sitches]] as Donna Elvira, and her brother [[Manuel García (baritone)|Manuel García II]] as Leporello.
* Susanna in Mozart's ''The Marriage of Figaro''. 
* The title role in Pacini's ''[[Irene (opera)|Irene]]''.
* The title role in Persiani's ''[[Ines de Castro]]''.
* Amelia in Rossi's ''[[Amelia, ovvero Otto anni di costanza]]''.
* Rosina in Rossini's ''[[The Barber of Seville]]''. 
* Fiorilla in Rossini's ''[[Il Turco in Italia]]''.
* The title role in Rossini's ''[[La Cenerentola]]''. 
* Ninetta in Rossini's ''[[La Gazza Ladra]]''.
* Desdemona in Rossini's ''[[Otello (Rossini)|Otello]]''.
* The title role in Rossini's ''Otello'', opposite [[Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient]] as Desdemona. 
* Arsace and the title role in Rossini's ''[[Semiramide]]''. 
* The title role in Rossini's ''[[Tancredi]]''.
* The title role in Vaccaj's ''[[Giovanna Grey]]''.
* Romeo in Vaccaj's ''[[Giulietta e Romeo]]''.

==Legacy==
[[Image:Maria Malibran a la façana del Teatre Principal de Barcelona.jpg|thumb|{{center|Malibran in the façade of Teatre Principal, Barcelona (1847)}}]]
[[File:Malibran by Vassalli.jpg|thumb|{{center|Malibran (date unknown) in Cecilia Bartoli, ''Maria'' 2007}}]]

=== Teatro Malibran ===
She is the patroness of [[Teatro Malibran]] in Venice, where her cameo hangs above the stage.

=== Maria Malibran fund ===
The Library of the [[Royal Conservatory of Brussels]] possesses an important collection of scores, documents and objects from the diva, assembled in the [[Maria Malibran fund]].

===Film===
Several films depict the life of Maria Malibran:
*''[[Maria Malibran (film)|Maria Malibran]]'' (1943) directed by Italian director Guido Brignone and starring Moldovan-born Austrian soprano and actress [[Maria Cebotari]].<ref name="IMDB">[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035038/ IMDb page on the film]</ref>
*''[[La Malibran]]'' (1944) directed by French director [[Sacha Guitry]] starring Géori Boué, celebrated singer of the [[Opéra de Paris]].<ref name="IMDB"/>
*''[[Malibran's Song]]'' (1951) a Spanish film directed by [[Luis Escobar Kirkpatrick]]
*''The Death of Maria Malibran'' (1972) directed by German filmmaker [[Werner Schroeter]]. It starred [[Candy Darling]].<ref name="IMDB"/>

===In other media===
In 1982, soprano [[Joan Sutherland]] did a recital tour called "Malibran" in order to revive Malibran's memory, singing pages from the singer's favourites in Venice.<ref>{{YouTube|iOZv6ic5qHQ|Sutherland}}</ref>

The mezzo-soprano [[Cecilia Bartoli]] dedicated her 2007 album ''Maria'' to the music composed for Malibran and her most famous roles, as well as an extensive tour and DVD concert dedicated to La Malibran. In 2008 Decca released a recording Bellini's ''La Sonnambula'' with Cecilia Bartoli in the lead role using many cadenzas that la Malibran herself used and which restored the tessitura of the role to the high mezzo-soprano range (as [[Giuditta Pasta]] and Maria Malibran had sung it). In 2013 Decca did it again with Bellini's ''Norma'', casting Bartoli as the title role and [[Sumi Jo]] as Adalgisa.

[[Letitia Elizabeth Landon]] includes a poetic tribute, in miniature, in The English Bijou Almanack, 1837.
{{wikisource|Poems of Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.) in The English Bijou Almanacks, 1836-1839/Madame Malibran|'Madame Malibran',<br>a poem by L. E. L}}

She appears as a character in a poem by [[William McGonagall]].<ref>{{cite web|last=McGonagall|first=William|title=Little Pierre's Song|date=12 September 2011 |url=http://www.mcgonagall-online.org.uk/gems/little-pierres-song}}</ref>

[[Mark Twain]]'s daughter [[Susy Clemens]], dying of [[spinal meningitis]], wrote a final delirious prose poem addressed to Malibran, whom she regarded as a kind of patron saint: "Tell her to say God bless the shadows as I bless the light."<ref>Ron Powers, ''Mark Twain''. Simon and Schuster, 2005.</ref>

==Genealogy==
{{Family tree of Manuel García}}

==References==
'''Notes'''
{{reflist|30em}}

'''Cited sources'''
*Ashbrook, William (1982), ''Donizetti and His Operas'', Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|052123526X}}   {{ISBN|0-521-23526-X}}
*Bartoli, Cecilia (2007), "Genius, Scandal and Death: Maria – Singer and Diva", in ''Maria''. Decca Music Group, with accompanying CD and DVD.
*Merlin, Countess de, (1840) ''Memoirs and letters of madame Malibran, Vol 2''. Philadelphia: Carey and Hart.
*Riggs, Geoffrey S. (2009), ''The Assoluta Voice in Opera, 1797 to 1847''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co Inc. {{ISBN|9780786440771}} {{ISBN|0-7864-1401-4}}
*Saint Bris, Gonzague (2009), ''La Malibran'', Belfond. {{ISBN|978-2-7144-4542-1}}
*Servadio, Gaia (2003), ''Rossini'', New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2003. {{ISBN|0-7867-1195-7}}
*Shanks, Andrew (2010), ''Manchester Cathedral: The Old Church of the World's First Great Industrial City'', Scala Publishers. {{ISBN|978-1-85759-658-8}}

'''Other sources'''

*Bushnell, Howard (1980), ''Maria Malibran: A Biography of the Singer'', Pennsylvania State University Press. {{ISBN|0271002220}} {{ISBN|0-271-00222-0}}
*[[April FitzLyon|FitzLyon, April]] (1987), ''Maria Malibran: Diva of the Romantic Age'', London: Souvenir Press Ltd. {{ISBN|0285650300}} {{ISBN|0-285-65030-0}}
*Languine, Clément (1911), ''La Malibran'', Paris
*Nathan, I. (1846), ''Life of Mme. Maria Malibran''. London
* [[Arthur Pougin|Pougin, Arthur]] (1911 & 2010), ''Maria Malibran, Histoire d'une Cantatrice''. Paris:  1911; English trans., London, 1911. Kessinger Publishing, US, 2010 {{ISBN|9781160188388}} (print on demand)

==External links==
{{commons}}
*[http://www.victorianoperanorthwest.org/ Information about Malibran's performance] in ''[[The Maid of Artois]]'', one of her last roles
* [https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=00636 Musical Manuscripts Collection] at the [[Harry Ransom Center]]
* {{IMSLP|id=Malibrán, María}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Malibran, Maria}}
[[Category:1808 births]]
[[Category:1836 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century French women opera singers]]
[[Category:Spanish mezzo-sopranos]]
[[Category:19th-century Spanish opera singers]]
[[Category:Deaths by horse-riding accident in England]]
[[Category:Burials at Laeken Cemetery]]
[[Category:19th-century Spanish classical composers]]
[[Category:19th-century Spanish women composers]]
[[Category:19th-century women composers]]