Sophie Johanne Charlotte Crüwell, vicountess Vigier, stage name Sophie Cruvelli (12 March 1826 – 6 November 1907) was a German opera singer. She was a dramatic soprano who had a brief but stellar public career especially in London and Paris in the middle years of the 19th century.Georges Favre, Une grande Cantatrice Niçoise: La Vicomtesse Vigier (Sophie Cruvelli) 1826–1907 (Éditions A. et J. Picard, Paris 1979). She was admired for her vocal powers and as a tragédienne. Both Verdi and Meyerbeer created operatic roles with the intention that she should first perform them.This article uses some information derived from German Wikipedia, where the sources are generally but not specifically attributed.
Origins and training Sophie Crüwell was the daughter of a Protestant Bielefeld familyMost sources say her father was a Protestant minister, but some call hers a 'merchant family': Dagmar Gieseke, Public Archivist of Bielefeld (Stadtarchiv und Landesgeschichtliche Bibliothek), states that Cruvelli's father was a Tabak-fabrikant (see external link). of comfortable means. She showed an early disposition towards music, and she and her sister Marie (later a mezzo-soprano) and her brother (later a baritone) were encouraged and assisted to training by the family.G. T. Ferris, Great Singers Series 2, 'Sophie Cruvelli' (Appelton and Co., New York 1891) Ferris on Cruvelli complete at Gutenberg Sophie and Marie commenced their vocal studies with Louis Spohr in Kassel.Stated in German Wikipedia: source not specified.
In 1844 their mother took the girls to Paris to continue their studies, first with Francesco Piermarini, and then with the distinguished tenor Marco Bordogni.Ferris, Great Singers. Bordogni thought highly of Sophie: it is said that he allowed her to sing only scales and solfeggi which he composed for her, for two whole years. After that time mother Crüwell wanted to remove her, saying that she had learnt scales enough and that if she was going to do nothing else she might as well get married and give it up. Bordogni persuaded mother that she would have a wonderful career, and that she should go on to complete her studies in Milan.Ferris, 'Sophie Cruvelli'. A first public appearance in January 1846 was reported in the musical journal Revue et Gazette Musicale de Paris.
In Milan she first went to audition with the impresario Bartolomeo Merelli, but was so struck with fright that she could not produce any sound at all. After this she resolved to return to Bielefeld: but the (later famous) teacher Francesco Lamperti took the situation in hand, and under his guidance her voice and powers returned and flourished.Charles E. Pearce, Sims Reeves – Fifty Years of Music in England (Stanley Paul, 1924), pp. 160–61 (footnote).
Some sources attribute her debut to Venice at La Fenice, as Odabella in Verdi's Attila. She appeared in that role at Udine on 24 July 1847, and later as Lucrezia in I due Foscari in the same theatre. Later in 1847 she was singing Odabella in Rovigo, and it was there, at the end of that year, that Benjamin Lumley heard and ('struck with the splendid voice, the impulsive dramatic temperament, the spirit, and the captivating person') recruited her for the season of 1848 at Her Majesty's Theatre in London, of which he was the impresario. The family objected that she was too young to face the English public, but Lumley was urged to proceed by the tenor Rubini: 'I tell you plainly, and with deep conviction, that you are making an excellent acquisition. A most beautiful voice – give her good models and a good maestro'. Sophie herself was delighted with the proposals. In the winter of 1847 she made several appearances at La Fenice.Benjamin Lumley, Reminiscences of the Opera (London, Hurst and Blackett 1864), 204–05, 211.
Cruvelli, who was becoming a distinctly striking and beautiful woman, developed a reputation for romantic eccentricity. It was relatedTold by the critic Maurice Halperson, cited in Alan Walker (Ed), Living with Liszt: from the diary of Carl Lachmund, an American pupil of Liszt, 1882–1884 Issue 4 of Franz Liszt studies series: Volume 4 of Dance & Music (2nd Edn, Pendragon Press, 1995), , p. 29 and note 6. that she was one of those young women who followed Franz Liszt 'from city to city, attending his concerts in a front row seat, much to his annoyance. Her prima donna rivals had nicknamed her "Mme. Hinterlist" – meaning both "after Liszt" and "perfidious".' If the depth of her friendship with Liszt was unproven, her relations with the married singer Agardi Metrovich are more directly in evidence.Letter (60) of Helen Blavatsky referring to Metrovich's statement that Cruvelli was his mistress.
London, Milan, Trieste Cruvelli made her London début at Her Majesty's Theatre for Lumley on 19 February 1848 as Elvira in Verdi's Ernani with two other debutants, Signor Cuzzani (a Berlin favourite) as Ernani, Giovanni Belletti as Silva, and the tenor Italo Gardoni, London's young favourite, in the baritone role of the King (for good measure). Cruvelli at first experienced 'sudden and awful nervousness' before the thronged audience, but soon settled and was a decided success.Lumley, Reminiscences, 212–13.
Next she appeared as Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Gardoni, Belletti (as Figaro) and Federico Lablache as Bartolo. There followed (14 March) the British premiere of Attila (in which Cruvelli had already distinguished herself), with Belletti, Gardoni and Cuzzani. If Italy thought the work Verdi's masterpiece, London didn't like it. H. F. Chorley wrote:
So instead, I due Foscari was revived for Cruvelli's appearance with Filippo Coletti. A brief illness delayed her performance of Lucrezia Borgia, but the cast of Gardoni (Gennaro), Luigi Lablache (Alfonso) and the debutante Mlle Schwarz (Orsini) made it worth waiting for. All this occurred before Easter 1848.Lumley, Reminiscences, 212–216. H. F. Chorley at this time said she had 'youth – a presence commanding, if somewhat peculiar – a superb voice, almost three octaves in compass – and a fervour and ambition which it could not then be foreseen would take their after-forms of reckless and perverse eccentricity.'H. F. Chorley, Thirty Years, 24
Jenny Lind was then the London rage, and Cruvelli now appeared as the Countess to Lind's Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, with Lablache, Coletti, Belletti and Bouche, and with Mlle Schwartz as Cherubino. Later that season Cruvelli sang Abigaille in Nabucco. Eugenia Tadolini was also making her debut, but did not maintain the foothold in London which Cruvelli achieved. 'It was difficult, indeed almost impossible, both for Cruvelli and Tadolini to shed their really bright rays, whilst the great planet Jenny Lind was in the ascendant.'Lumley, Reminiscences, 224–25. The whole season culminated in Lind's Farewell.
Cruvelli had a short spell in Bellini's Norma at the Royal Opera House in Berlin, and then sang from November 1848 until March 1849 at the Teatro Grande in Trieste, mainly in Verdi's Attila, Ernani and Macbeth, and in Don Pasquale. At the end of 1849 she sang Odabella in Verdi's Attila as the leading lady at the opening night of La Scala in Milan, and through the ensuing season (1850) made no fewer than sixty appearances there in Attila, Nabucco, Ernani, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Norma and Vincenzo Capecelatro's David Riccio.See German Wikipedia (source not specified): Elizabeth Forbes, Sophie Cruvelli. In the same year she appeared at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa in Verdi's new opera Luisa Miller, and repeated her Ernani, Nabucco, Attila, and Norma.G. Tanasini, R. Iovino & B. Mattion, I paleoscenici della lirica: cronologia dal Falcone al nuovo Carlo Felice (SAGEP, Genova 1993), 479–603. In Milan and Genoa she made a great sensation.
1851–1852: Théâtre-Italien (Paris) and Her Majesty's (London)
When Benjamin Lumley also became impresario of the Paris Théâtre-Italien in 1851, he engaged Cruvelli and the tenor Sims Reeves for both London and Paris. Reeves made his own Paris debut in the winter season in Linda di Chamounix, with Henrietta Sontag,Pearce, Sims Reeves, p. 160. and then went on to partner Cruvelli in her debut there, in April 1851, in Ernani.Pearce, Sims Reeves, 99. This was a sensation, and in Paris she also sang Norma, La Sonnambula, Fidelio and Semiramide.
It was however at Her Majesty's, London on 20 May 1851, that she and Reeves won very great acclaim for their Fidelio, the first of five performances which established her in the public mind as a leading tragédienne: critics compared her with her great predecessors in the role, Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient and Maria Malibran.For a description of her Leonore, see Joseph Bennett, Musical Times January 1900. Gardoni and Calzolari led the Chorus of Prisoners. For this production, musical recitatives were composed by Michael Balfe imitating Beethoven's style, pointing the content of the dialogue with motifs drawn from the principal arias.Wm. Alexander Barrett, Balfe:His Life in Music (Remington & Co, London 1882), 196–197. Most appreciated them, but James William Davison, critic of The Times, was angered because he claimed that Cruvelli had altered the music 'in such a way as to bring it within range of mediocre capabilities.'Jennifer L. Hall-Witt, 'Critics and the elite at the opera' in Cyril Ehrlich, Christina Bashford and Leanne Langley (Eds), Music and British culture, 1785–1914: essays in honour of Cyril Ehrlich (OUP 2000), p. 142. (Quoting The Times, 26 May 1851) Chorley, never an admirer, thought this was the turning-point, where her decline began.'Up to this time there had been some improvement in the arrangement and command of the admirable materials given to the lady by Nature; but henceforward the misuse of them increased so steadily, and with it her exactions and caprices as an artist, that it was a case of relief – not of regret – when she left the stage.' Chorley, Thirty Years Musical Recollections, II, 143. A more detailed criticism is given on pp. 173–74. Then three performances of Norma, in which Cruvelli gave herself free rein, generated much enthusiasm in London. Cruvelli sang at Buckingham Palace on 7 June 1851, and was invited again the following year.'Buckingham Palace Concert Programmes 1837–60', Elizabeth Costa collection, Cup.403.w.6
The London season included the première of Sigismond Thalberg's opera Florinda, which did not survive despite a cast including Cruvelli, Reeves, Calzolari, Coletti and Lablache, and despite a royal visit to the performance. This was the London debut of Sophie's sister Maria Cruvelli, in a contralto role. But Cruvelli's successes continued there with Le nozze di Figaro with Sontag, Fiorentini, Coletti, Ferranti and Lablache, and in Ernani with Sims Reeves.Lumley, Reminiscences, 314–16. Linda di Chamounix was given with both Cruvelli sisters, 'which was less congenial to the wild and passionate nature of the charming Sophie than any of her more tragic parts.'
Michael Balfe's opera Les Quatre fils Aymon based on The Four Sons of Aymon was given, as I quattro fratelli as a benefit for the composer, and was a triumph: 'Cruvelli, aided by Gardoni, Pardini, Coletti, and Massol, secured an effective and spirited execution for the work.'Lumley, Reminiscences, 320. The Her Majesty's concerts took place, including a performance of the trio 'Don't tickle me I pray' with each part triplicated, with sopranos Cruvelli, Sontag and Jenny Duprez, tenors Reeves, Calzolari and Gardoni, bassi Lablache and others.Pearce, Sims Reeves, p. 164. Cruvelli had 'extra' performances of Il barbiere and La Sonnambula (sung during the season by Sontag), and was considered to have been the star of the 1851 season at Her Majesty's.Lumley, Reminiscences, 316–321.