Opera Singer. A leading dramatic soprano of the 1930s and 1940s, she is remembered for interpreting the title role of Puccini's "Tosca". Though little or nothing is recorded of her early life and education, it is known that she made her 1925 operatic bow at Novara as Leonora of Verdi's "Il Trovatore". Sara gradually built her career around such roles as Amelia of Verdi's "Un Ballo en Maschera, Nedda in Leoncavallo's "I Pagliacci", Elvira from Verdi's "Ernani", Maddalena of Umberto Giordano's "Andrea Chenier", Mimi from Puccini's "La Boheme", and Santuzza in Pietro Mascagni's "Cavalleria Rusticana", though throughout her time before the public Tosca was her undoubted signature piece. She was to perform all over Europe, spending seven years with the company of La Scala Milano and another seven in Amsterdam, before retiring in the late 1940s. Sara lived out her days at Casa di Riposo di Musisti, a Milan home for retired opera singers that was founded and endowed by Maestro Verdi. There she became the central character in Daniel Schmid's 1984 film "Il Bacio di Tosca" ("Tosca's Kiss"), a sometimes poignant look at life in the Casa. The piece showed Sara to be a bit frail, needing a cane, but still mentally sharp and in remarkably good voice. Much of her recorded legacy, including excerpts from "Tosca", has been preserved. Some sources list her birth year as 1897; the later date given above fits with the legend that she made her debut at 19, but if the earlier be true she would be neither the first nor the last lady from the world of opera to be of arbitrary age.
Opera Singer. A leading dramatic soprano of the 1930s and 1940s, she is remembered for interpreting the title role of Puccini's "Tosca". Though little or nothing is recorded of her early life and education, it is known that she made her 1925 operatic bow at Novara as Leonora of Verdi's "Il Trovatore". Sara gradually built her career around such roles as Amelia of Verdi's "Un Ballo en Maschera, Nedda in Leoncavallo's "I Pagliacci", Elvira from Verdi's "Ernani", Maddalena of Umberto Giordano's "Andrea Chenier", Mimi from Puccini's "La Boheme", and Santuzza in Pietro Mascagni's "Cavalleria Rusticana", though throughout her time before the public Tosca was her undoubted signature piece. She was to perform all over Europe, spending seven years with the company of La Scala Milano and another seven in Amsterdam, before retiring in the late 1940s. Sara lived out her days at Casa di Riposo di Musisti, a Milan home for retired opera singers that was founded and endowed by Maestro Verdi. There she became the central character in Daniel Schmid's 1984 film "Il Bacio di Tosca" ("Tosca's Kiss"), a sometimes poignant look at life in the Casa. The piece showed Sara to be a bit frail, needing a cane, but still mentally sharp and in remarkably good voice. Much of her recorded legacy, including excerpts from "Tosca", has been preserved. Some sources list her birth year as 1897; the later date given above fits with the legend that she made her debut at 19, but if the earlier be true she would be neither the first nor the last lady from the world of opera to be of arbitrary age.
Bio by: Bob Hufford
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