Nationality French Years active 1947–1970 | Name Freda Betti Role Singer | |
Full Name Frederique Therese Augusta Betti Occupation Mezzo-soprano opera singer, singing teacher Last album Scotto: Violettes imperiales (Mono Version) | ||
Cd4048 audran gilette de narbonne 1957 paris wmv
Freda Betti (26 February 1924 – 13 November 1979), whose birth name was Frédérique Thérèse Augusta Betti, was a French mezzo-soprano singer whose career was mainly confined to France. She left a range of recordings representative of her repertoire.
Contents
- Cd4048 audran gilette de narbonne 1957 paris wmv
- Freda Betti et Ken Neate Carmen Duo final Philips 77 118 L
- Biography
- Personal life
- Repertory
- TV appearances
- References
Freda Betti et Ken Neate Carmen Duo final Philips 77 118 L
Biography
Freda Betti was born at 52 rue des Ponchettes in the district of Vieux-Nice in a modest family : her father was a house painter and her mother a fishmonger. His paternal family originates from the region of Emilia-Romagna in Italy : his grandfather was born in Parma and he immigrated to Nice with his wife and children in 1893.
She studied music and especially singing at the Conservatory of Nice with Édouard Rouard, where she obtained a Premier Prix de Chant in 1943. She made her debut at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo in 1947 as Siébel in Faust by Charles Gounod. She appeared frequently with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France of the RTF in the early 1950s, before entering the troupe of the Opéra-Comique in the 1960s. She sang the title role in particular of Carmen by Georges Bizet which she sang more than 150 times, and her repertoire also included Fricka, Brangaene, Dulcinée in Don Quichotte and Suzuki.
Betti sang on major national stages (Nantes, Nice, Strasbourg, Toulouse) and European (Monte-Carlo, La Scala), as well as in numerous opera festivals, including Aix-en-Provence, Avignon, Bayreuth.
Betti recorded for Philips and EMI. Among published recordings she took part in were The Snow Maiden (Bobilicka), Démophon, Tosca (shepherd boy) and Philippine (Isabelle). In 1958 she recorded excerpts from Carmen with Ken Neate, Gabriel Bacquier and Andréa Guiot on Philips P 77118 L.
She also participated in the original production of L'Opéra d'Aran by Gilbert Bécaud, in 1962, at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.
In the 1970s she was a vocal teacher at the Conservatory of Monaco.
Freda Betti died at her home in Nice in 1979, at the age of 55, and is buried in the family vault "Famille Betti" with her husband and his parents in the Cimetière du Château ("Carré de l'O.N.U").
Personal life
Freda Betti was married on 29 October 1949 in Levallois-Perret to René Clermont (1919–1976); the best man was her brother Henri Betti. The couple had two children and Henri Betti was the godfather of the first child.
Freda Betti was the great grandaunt of the footballer Alexy Bosetti, but has no family relationship with Priscilla Betti.
Repertory
Her list of roles include: