Uploaded July 2018 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Soprano Frida RICCI (1863-????)
Suicidio
La Gioconda (Ponchielli)
With special thanks to Paul Charosh for bringing this singer to our attention, providing the photograph of the disc and sound file, to Tim Brooks for making the fine transfer, and to Chris Goddard for the research on Frida Ricci's career.
From La Stampa in Milan, January 23, 1951 (similar to an AP dispatch), Marchesa Frida Ricci, at age 88-89,, is described as the oldest and the dean of the singers living at the "House of Rest for Aging Singers" founded by Verdi. The article continues: She sang Aida and La Gioconda in English in Canada and Missouri; in French she sang La Traviata in Paris; and she was the first interpreter in Milan of the 'L'arlesiana' by Cilea. Caruso was the lead tenor and she the lead soprano. In 1899 she travelled from Italy to Punta Arenas in Chile to open the new opera house.
From what we can see right now, in American newspapers, Frida Ricci appears once as early as 1901 in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in "La Giocanda" (announcement only); several times in February & March of 1902 in The Boston Globe and The Boston Post.; once in July 1902 in the New York Tribune; twice in October 1902 in the Allentown Morning Call; once in October 1902 in the Philadelphia Inquirer, then nothing until the 1950 AP dispatch from Milan published in at least a dozen US newspapers. Most of the 1902 references are in passing only, mentioning her appearances with little or no biographical data, though the Boston Globe of Thursday, February 6, 1902 (page 11): "The new soprano, Mlle. Frida Ricci, who will appear next Monday in "Lucia" at the Bijou, is a Florentine by birth. She has appeared in Rome, Milan, Palermo, Trieste and other European cities, and has just returned from a successful tour of South America." Three days later, on the eve of her Boston debut, the Globe describes her as "a petite brunette, of magnetic stage presence, and her voice is said to be of exceptional range and purity." The article closes with: "She will be a member of Maurice Grau's company next season" though this would appear to not have come to fruition. Two days later, Tuesday, February 11, 1902, the Globe gave a lengthy glowing review of her performance. In the American newspaper press we do not see her mentioned again for nearly a half-century in 1951 when she is a resident of the Verdi home for retired singers in Milan. Thus far we are not finding references to her in newspapers of the United Kingdom.
She made ten 9" recordings for Zonophone "before June 1903":
See Discography of American Historical Recordings
https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/talent/detail/142567/Ricci_Frida_vocalist_soprano_vocal
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Soprano Frida RICCI (1863-????)
Suicidio
La Gioconda (Ponchielli)
With special thanks to Paul Charosh for bringing this singer to our attention, providing the photograph of the disc and sound file, to Tim Brooks for making the fine transfer, and to Chris Goddard for the research on Frida Ricci's career.
From La Stampa in Milan, January 23, 1951 (similar to an AP dispatch), Marchesa Frida Ricci, at age 88-89,, is described as the oldest and the dean of the singers living at the "House of Rest for Aging Singers" founded by Verdi. The article continues: She sang Aida and La Gioconda in English in Canada and Missouri; in French she sang La Traviata in Paris; and she was the first interpreter in Milan of the 'L'arlesiana' by Cilea. Caruso was the lead tenor and she the lead soprano. In 1899 she travelled from Italy to Punta Arenas in Chile to open the new opera house.
From what we can see right now, in American newspapers, Frida Ricci appears once as early as 1901 in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in "La Giocanda" (announcement only); several times in February & March of 1902 in The Boston Globe and The Boston Post.; once in July 1902 in the New York Tribune; twice in October 1902 in the Allentown Morning Call; once in October 1902 in the Philadelphia Inquirer, then nothing until the 1950 AP dispatch from Milan published in at least a dozen US newspapers. Most of the 1902 references are in passing only, mentioning her appearances with little or no biographical data, though the Boston Globe of Thursday, February 6, 1902 (page 11): "The new soprano, Mlle. Frida Ricci, who will appear next Monday in "Lucia" at the Bijou, is a Florentine by birth. She has appeared in Rome, Milan, Palermo, Trieste and other European cities, and has just returned from a successful tour of South America." Three days later, on the eve of her Boston debut, the Globe describes her as "a petite brunette, of magnetic stage presence, and her voice is said to be of exceptional range and purity." The article closes with: "She will be a member of Maurice Grau's company next season" though this would appear to not have come to fruition. Two days later, Tuesday, February 11, 1902, the Globe gave a lengthy glowing review of her performance. In the American newspaper press we do not see her mentioned again for nearly a half-century in 1951 when she is a resident of the Verdi home for retired singers in Milan. Thus far we are not finding references to her in newspapers of the United Kingdom.
She made ten 9" recordings for Zonophone "before June 1903":
See Discography of American Historical Recordings
https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/talent/detail/142567/Ricci_Frida_vocalist_soprano_vocal
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