Maria Malibrán (1808-1836) Spain
- andreachamizoalber
- Aug 31, 2025
- 1 min read
She was one of the most famous opera singers of the 19th century. Malibrán was known for her stormy personality and dramatic intensity, becoming a legendary figure after her death at age 28. Contemporary accounts describe her voice as having extraordinary range, power, and flexibility.
Here is her work Rataplán with a link to download the score.
Maria was the sister of Pauline Viardot (a composer who also appears on this blog). Maria first appeared on stage at age 6, singing with her mother and father in Ferdinando Paër's play Agnese.
Here comes La Bayadère and the link to download the score.
Maria's father received 100,000 francs from Eugene Malibran, a much older French banker who wanted to marry Maria. In other words, he sold her to him. As a result, the relationship between Maria and her father became very tense (and how could it not?). An anecdote tells of a performance of Otello, in which the father, who was also acting, brutally threatened Maria with a dagger that wasn't a prop, but very sharp and real. Maria exclaimed, "Papa, Papa, for the love of God, don't kill me!" The audience, who didn't understand Maria's anguished exclamation in Spanish, thought it was a fine dramatic expression in Italian and burst into applause.
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Finally, there is Il mattino with its link to download the score.
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