Marianne Sessi
{{Short description|Italian soprano and composer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}Marianne Sessi Natorp (died 10 March 1847){{Cite book |last=Wier |first=Albert E. |title=The Macmillan Encyclopedia of Music and Musicians |publisher=Macmillan|year=1938 |location=New York |pages=1721 |language=English}} was an Italian soprano and canzonetta composer.{{Cite book |last=Cohen |first=Aaron I. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5VsYAAAAIAAJ&q=strantz+louise |title=International Encyclopedia of Women Composers |date=1987 |publisher=Books & Music (USA) |isbn=978-0-9617485-2-4 |pages=634}} Her birth date is listed as 1770,{{Cite web |last=Albrecht |first=Carol |date=2008 |title=Music in Public Life Viennese Reports from the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung, 1798–1804 |url=https://etd.ohiolink.edu/apexprod/rws_etd/send_file/send?accession=kent1207754056&disposition=inline |page=141 and others}} 1771,{{Cite book |last=Stewart-Green |first=Miriam |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/6815939 |title=Women composers : a checklist of works for the solo voice |date=1980 |publisher=G. K. Hall |isbn=0-8161-8498-4 |location=Boston, Massachusetts|oclc=6815939}} 1773,{{Cite book|title=Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815–1950|date=1976|chapter=Natorp, Maria Anna (Marianne) Freifrau von; geb. Sessi (1773–1847), Sängerin und Komponistin|pages=38–39|author=U. Harten|chapter-url=https://www.biographien.ac.at/oebl/oebl_N/Natorp_Maria-Anna_1773_1847.xml|access-date=2022-07-23|doi=10.1553/0x0028358e|language=de}} or 1776{{Cite book |last=Stern |first=Susan |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/3844725 |title=Women Composers: A Handbook |date=1978 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=0-8108-1138-3 |location=Metuchen, New Jersey|oclc=3844725}} in various sources. She was best known as a member of the musical Sessi dynasty{{Cite web|title=Sessi-Natorp, Marianna|url=https://www.weber-gesamtausgabe.de/en/A001815.html|date=6 January 2022|access-date=22 July 2022|publisher=Carl-Maria-von-Weber-Gesamtausgabe|language=de}} and a renowned operatic soprano who performed and composed as Marianne or Marianna Sessi. She toured internationally throughout Europe, and was awarded a gold medal by the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence.
Life
Sessi was born in Rome to Franziska Lepri and Giovanni Sessi, who were both singers, as were Sessi's four younger sisters Imperatrice, Anna-Maria, Victoria, and Carolina. Sessi studied voice with her father and debuted at the Italian Opera in Vienna during the 1792–93 season. She performed at the Teatro La Fenice opening on 16 May 1792 in Venice, and then sang at court theatre in Vienna in 1793. In 1794, she married Franz Joseph Edler von Natorp, who became a baron in 1801. She stopped performing in 1796, but returned to the stage in 1805 after the couple divorced, singing in operas by Domenico Cimarosa, Simon Mayr, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Giovanni Paisiello, Antonio Salieri, and Niccolò Zingarelli. In 1807, the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence awarded Sessi a gold medal.{{Cite book |last=Mendel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6ZjfSHY_rbkC&dq=marianna+sessi+natorp&pg=PA239 |title=Musikalisches Konversationslexikon: eine Encyklopedie der gesammten musikalischen Wissenschaften für Gebildete aller Stände |date=1880 |language=de}} She toured internationally, singing throughout eastern and western Europe, Russia, and Scandinavia from 1817 through until 1836.
Sessi stopped performing in 1836 and worked as a singing teacher at the Berlin Royal Opera, ultimately moving to Vienna where she lived with her sister Anna-Maria until her death.{{Cite book|last1=Kutsch|first1=Karl-Josef|author1-link=Karl-Josef Kutsch|last2=Riemens|first2=Leo|author2-link=Leo Riemens|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dsfq_5dFeL0C&dq=marianna+sessi+natorp&pg=PA4365|chapter=Sessi, Marianne|title=Großes Sängerlexikon|page=4365|date=2012-02-22 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-598-44088-5 |language=de}}
Compositions
Sessi was best known as a singer, but she also composed canzonettas which were published by Breitkopf & Hartel.{{Cite book |last=Fétis |first=François-Joseph|author-link=François-Joseph Fétis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3QcJAAAAQAAJ&dq=marianna+sessi+natorp&pg=PA22 |title=Biographie universelle des musiciens et bibliographie générale de la musique |date=1867 |publisher=Firmin Didot |language=fr}} Her vocal compositions include:
- "Amare un Infedele Veder si Abandonare"
- "Di Puri Affeti Miei"
- "E Dunque Vero"
- "Ecce Quel Fiero Instante"
- "Nasce Nel Vago Aprile Porporea Rosa"
- Nocturne (two voices and piano)
- "Non t’Accostar a l’Urna"
- "Placido Zeffiretto"
- "Sempre piu t’Amo"
- "Stanco di Pascolar le Pecorelle"
- Ten Canzonettes
- Three Canzonettes
References
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Category:Italian women composers