Sophie Cruvelli, the Meteor. In Search of a Lost Voice

Abstract

The German soprano, Sophie Crüwell or Cruvelli (1826-1907) is generally regarded as one of the greatest Verdi interpreters, together with Teresa Stolz and Erminia Frezzolini. She was widely acclaimed in Milan, London, and especially Paris, yet all that we are left with consists of press reviews that caught her performing her warhorse roles—Norma, Elvira/Doña Sol (Ernani), Valentine (Les Huguenots) and Hélène (Les Vêpres siciliennes). Drawing from the period press, this essay pieces together a description of Cruvelli’s singing, especially in such Parisian venues as the Théâtre-Italien (1851-1854) and the Opéra (1854-1855). She was praised for her beauty, expressive power, and dramatic verve, combined with incredible vocal strength and flexibility, but was also harshly criticized for her delays and contract breaches, including a notorious escape causing an international scandal in 1854. After her early retirement from the theatrical scene (1855) to marry Viscount Vigier (1856), she sang again in public only in fundraising initiatives, and most notably for the French première of Wagner's Lohengrin (Nice, 1881). Cruvelli focused on composition from the 1860s on, penning several mélodies for voice and piano. Her Variations sur une tyrolienne (1861) were printed and form an interesting document of her vocal style.