Baltimore Opera Company

Study Guide

I Puritani
The Puritans

Malibran's Death

Daniel Vasquez

In April 1836, Maria insisted on riding the wildest steed in the stable during a hunting party. The beast was rougher than she predicted, and soon enough it was galloping out of control. Knowing that her only means of escape was ejection, Maria leapt towards a tree branch, but her foot was hopelessly caught in the stirrup. She was dragged for several miles before her friends found her, badly injured and barely conscious. In typical fashion, Maria kept the truth of her injuries from everyone around her and continued to perform as her condition worsened. Bouts of elation were followed by a striking depression, so that she was found accompanying herself at the piano in the most lively fashion, only to suddenly stop and stare blankly into space. Even her closest friends, used to her odd behavior, found this alarming.

Soon after, she was scheduled to sing a benefit concert in London with the mezzo-soprano Maria Caradori-Allan. During rehearsals of a duet from Mercadante's Andronico, both singers agreed on the particular deviations with which they would embellish their parts. However, when the performance took flight, Caradori-Allan opted to deliver a more ornate and challenging version, perhaps to surprise Malibran and establish superiority. Never one to back down from a challenge, Malibran imitated Caradori-Allan's line to perfection and then further raised the bar by interpolating a trill on the high C for an interminable length of time. The audience was beside itself and demanded an encore. Backstage, Malibran confided with the conductor, George Smart, that if she did it again it would kill her. Smart, an understanding man, told her to forget about the encore, and that he would address the audience. "No," she replied, "I will sing it again, and annihilate her." The audience was treated to the same superhuman display of vocal prowess. Following the ovations, an unconscious Malibran was carried back to her hotel room. She died eight days later.

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