Leyla Gencer

Leyla Gencer as Antonina in Gaetano Donizetti's Belisario at La Fenice in 1969.

Leyla Gencer, or Ayşe Leyla Çeyrekgil (October 10, 1928 – May 10, 2008) was a world-renowned Turkish operatic soprano.

Known as "La Diva Turca" (The Turkish Diva) and "La Regina" (The Queen) in the opera world, Gencer was a notable bel canto soprano who spent most of her career in Italy, from the early 1950s through the mid-1980s, and had a repertoire encompassing more than seventy roles. She made very few commercial recordings; however, numerous bootleg recordings of her performances exist. In particular, Gencer was associated with the heroines of Donizetti.

Biography

Leyla Gencer was born in Istanbul as the daughter of a Turkish father and Polish mother. Her mother, Lexanda Angela Minakovska (who later converted to Islam and chose the name Atiye after her husband's death), was the member of a Polish Catholic family of the Lithuanian aristocracy; while her father, Hasanzade İbrahim Bey (who later adopted the surname Çeyrekgil following the Surname Law of 1934) was a wealthy businessman who descended from a Turkish family of the Sunni Muslim faith, from the city of Safranbolu.

Gencer lost her father at a very young age. She grew up in the Çubuklu district of Istanbul, on the Anatolian side of the Bosporus, and began to study singing at the Istanbul Conservatory; but dropped out to study privately in Ankara with her teacher, the Italian soprano Giannina Arangi-Lombardi. She sang in the chorus of the Turkish State Theater until she made her operatic debut in Ankara in 1950 as Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana. During the next few years, she became well-known in Turkey and sang frequently at functions for the Turkish government.

In 1953, Gencer made her Italian debut at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples as Santuzza. She returned to Naples the following year for performances of Madama Butterfly and Eugene Onegin. In 1957, she made her debut at La Scala in Milan as Mme. Lidoine in the world premiere of Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites. She went on to appear regularly at La Scala, performing nineteen roles between 1957 and 1983, including Leonora in La forza del destino, Elisabetta in Don Carlos, Aïda, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Norma, Ottavia in L'incoronazione di Poppea, and Alceste. At La Scala, she also appeared as the First Woman of Canterbury in the world premiere of Pizzetti's L'assassinio nella cattedrale in 1958.

In 1960 Gencer visited with concert programme USSR, where she performed in Moscow and in Baku.

In 1962, Gencer made her debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Elisabetta di Valois and as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni. She made her U.S. debut at the San Francisco Opera in 1956 as Francesca in Francesca da Rimini. She sang at other American opera houses as well, but never sang at the Metropolitan Opera, though there had been discussions for her to sing Tosca there in 1956.

Chopin's 'Lyric Compositions' she performed in Paris with Nikita Magaloff, her Liszt-Bartok performance in La Scala and her concert regarding 'the operas about Turks' within the Venice Carnival at La Fenice Theatre, show her innovative character as an opera singer. In 1985, Gencer retired from the operatic stage with a performance of Gnecco's La Prova di un'opera seria at La Fenice. She continued to appear in concerts until 1992. As of 2007, she was still active, and had recently been appointed by La Scala's music director Riccardo Muti to run its school for young artists.

Throughout her career, Gencer was known primarily as a Donizetti interpreter. Among her best-known Donizetti performances are Belisario, Poliuto, Anna Bolena, Lucrezia Borgia, Maria Stuarda, and Caterina Cornaro. Her most acclaimed and best-known performance, though, was Roberto Devereux, which she sang in Naples in 1964.

In addition to the bel canto roles for which she is best known, Gencer's repertory also included works by such composers as Prokofiev, Mozart, and Puccini. She appeared in many rarely performed operas, including Smareglia's La Falena, Rossini's Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra, Spontini's Agnese di Hohenstaufen, Pacini's Saffo, and Gluck's Alceste.

Gencer achieved an international career in a short time and performed with renowned Italian maestros such as; Gui, Serafin, Gavazzeni and Muti. She contributed to the improvement of the 'Donizetti Renaissance' with her great performances of Donizetti's forgotten operas.

Gencer's repertoire consists of 72 roles including works from composers such as; Monteverdi, Gluck, Mozart to neo-classical period; from Cherubini, Spontini, Johann Simon Mayr and the romantic period to Puccini, Prokofiev, Britten, Poulenc, Menotti and Rocca; from a lyric soprano varying to dramatic colorature.

In 1982, Gencer dedicated herself for education of young opera artists. She worked as a didactic art director of As.Li.Co. of Milan between 1983-88 and was appointed by Maestro Riccardo Muti to run La Scala's School for Young Artists between 1997-1998. Gencer was the artistic director of the academy for opera artists formed in Teatro alla Scala where she taught opera interpretation.

Gencer performed leading roles in many famous operas and she is known as the 'last diva of the 20th century'. She achieved her strong presence in the opera world, not only by the variety of her repertoire, but also with the dramatic nuances that she attributed to the roles she performed. Being a good researcher and a teacher, she reintroduced many forgotten works of the romantic period to the opera stages. In 1996 she had a spectacular appearance in Jan Schmidt-Garre's film Opera Fanatic.

Gencer died on May 10, 2008 in Milan, Italy. Following the funeral service in San Babila Church and subsequently cremation in Milan, her ashes were brought to Istanbul and consigned to the waters of the Bosphorus on May 16, 2008 according to her wish.

Obituaries

• The Independent Leyla Gencer: Operatic soprano idolised in Italy
• The Guardian A Turkish soprano of great dramatic power, she excelled in a wide range of Italian opera
• Telegraph Imperious soprano known as the Turkish Diva who made a glittering career at La Scala.
• Times Turkish operatic soprano who excelled in bel canto and Verdi roles
• The New York Times Leyla Gencer, Turkish-Born Soprano and a Popular Star of La Scala, Dies
• Los Angeles Times Turkish soprano thrived in Italy
• International Herald Tribune Leyla Gencer
• Boston Herald Soprano Leyla Gencer, known as La Diva Turca, dies in Milan
• The Boston Globe Leyla Gencer; Turkish soprano made mark on Italian stage
• Denver Post Turkish soprano Gencer, who performed at La Scala, dies
• BBC Turkish soprano Leyla Gencer dies
• Turkish Daily News Turkish opera diva Leyla Gencer dies

Discography

• Bellini: Norma / 1966, de Fabritiis, Gencer, Cossotto, et al.
• Bellini: Norma / 1965, Gavazzeni, Gencer, Simionato, et al.
• Bellini: Beatrice di Tenda1964 / Gui, Gencer, Zanasi, et al.
• Bellini: I Puritani 1961 / Quadri, Gencer, Raimondi, et al.
• Pacini: Saffo 1967 / Gencer, Del Bianco, Mattiucci
• Cherubini: Medea 1968/ Gencer, Bottion, et al.
• Mayr: Medea in Corinto 1976/ Ferro, Gencer, Johns
• Gluck: Alceste 1967/ Gui, Gencer, Picchi
• Chopin: Polish Songs; Liszt / Leyla Gencer, Nikita Magaloff
• Donizetti: Anna Bolena 1958/ Gavazzeni, Gencer, Simionato, et al.
• Donizetti: Anna Bolena 1965/ Gavazzeni, Gencer, Cava, et al.
• Donizetti: Caterina Cornaro 1972 / Cillario, Gencer, Aragall
• Donizetti: Les Martyrs / 1975 Camozzo, Gencer, Bruson, et al.
• Donizetti: Les Martyrs / 1978 Gelmetti, Gencer, Bruson, et al.
• Donizetti: Lucrezia Borgia / 1970 Gracis, Gencer, Raimondi et al.
• Donizetti: Lucrezia Borgia / 1966 Franci, Gencer, Aragall, Petri et al.
• Donizetti: Maria Stuarda / 1967 Molinari-Pradelli, Gencer, Verret, Tagliavini et al.
• Donizetti: Messa di Requiem / Gavazzeni, Teatro La Fenice
• Donizetti: Roberto Devereux 1964 / Gencer, Cappuccilli, et al.
• Donizetti: Belisario 1969 / Gavazzeni, Gencer, Taddei et al.
• Mozart: Don Giovanni 1960/ Molinari-Pradelli, Gencer, Petri, Bruscantini, Stich-Randall et al.
• Mozart: Don Giovanni 1962/ Solti, Gencer, Jurinac, Freni
• Ponchielli: La Gioconda 1971 / de Fabritiis, Gencer, Raimondi
• Zandonai: Francesca da Rimini 1961 / Capuana, Gencer, Cioni et al.
• Rossini: Elisabetta, Regina d'Inghilterra 1971/ Sanzogno, Gencer, Grilli
• Verdi: I due Foscari" 1957/ Serafin, Gencer, Guelfi
• Verdi: Battaglia di Legnano 1959/ Gencer, Limarilli
• Verdi: Rigoletto 1961/ Quadri, Gencer, McNeil, Raimondi
• Verdi: Gerusalemme 1963/ Gavazzeni, Gencer, Aragall, Guelfi
• Verdi: I Vespri Siciliani 1965/ Gavazzeni, Gencer, et al.
• Verdi: Macbeth 1960/ Gui, Gencer, Taddei, Picchi et al.
• Verdi: Macbeth 1968/ Gavazzeni, Gencer, Guelfi, Corradi, et al.
• Verdi: Attila 1972/ Silipigni, Gencer, Hines
• Verdi: Ernani 1972/ Gavazzeni, Gencer, Bergonzi
• Verdi: Simon Boccanegra 1961/ Gavazzeni, Gobbi, Gencer
• Verdi: Trovatore 1957/Previtali, Gencer, Del Monaco, Barbieri, Bastianini
• Verdi: Un ballo in maschera 1961/ Gencer, Bergonzi
• Verdi: Aida 1966/ Capuana, Gencer, Bergonzi, Cossotto
• Verdi: La Forza del Destino 1957/ Serafin, Gencer, Di Stefano
• Verdi: La Forza del Destino 1965/ Molinari Pradelli, Gencer, Bergonzi

See also

• Turkish State Opera and Ballet

External links

• Leyla Gencer biography, performance chronology, discography and videography
• Leyla Gencer Voice Competition
• Biography with photo gallery
• Bel Canto Society page with Interview and photos
• Tribute of the Teatro alla Scala to Leyla Gencer
• Leyla Gencer in an excerpt from Anna Bolena (1978).
• Leyla Gencer Commemorative Coin (Lira)

References

• Reisman Arnold, Post-Ottoman Turkey: Classical Music and Opera (Charleston, SC: BookSurge Publishing. 2009)