Giulia Grisi made her debut at seventeen in Rossini and was at once noticed by Bellini, who entrusted her with the creation of Adalgisa in his Norma. Arriving in Paris in 1832, she reigned for thirty years over the stages of the two capitals. A duel, in which her husband wounded a lord in the wrist, multiplied her popularity instead of harming it. Her stone bears a name that is not her own.
The story
Giulia Grisi, a soprano, was born in Milan in 1811 into a family of musicians — her aunt Giuseppina Grassini was a singer and briefly Napoleon's mistress, her sister Giuditta a mezzo-soprano, her cousin Carlotta a ballerina. She made her début at seventeen in Bologna in a work by Rossini; Bellini and Rossini noticed her at once.
It was in Milan that she created the part of Adalgisa in Bellini's Norma. Arriving in Paris in 1832, she triumphed there in Sémiramis, then reigned for thirty years over the stages of Paris and London, beside the greatest voices of her time.
In 1838 her husband, the comte de Melcy, found a letter written to her by the young Lord Castlereagh, the future Marquess of Londonderry, challenged the Englishman to a duel and wounded him in the wrist. The scandal, far from harming her, multiplied her popularity: when she reappeared soon afterwards in Parisina — whose heroine is accused of adultery — the house gave her an ovation.
Married to the comte de Melcy, with no divorce possible, she lived from 1841 with the tenor Mario de Candia, her partner on stage, and bore him six daughters. She died in Berlin in 1869. Her grave, in Division 26, chemin Molière et La Fontaine, carries the one name she never held in law: Juliette de Candia.
On site, do not miss
A name that is not hers on the stone: one has to know that Juliette de Candia was La Grisi.
Visitors' questions
Where is Giulia Grisi's grave?
In Division 26 of Père-Lachaise, chemin Molière et La Fontaine, first row. It is hard to identify: the inscription carries not her stage name but her second husband's — “Juliette de Candia”.
Alphonse Daudet, Division 26Which role did Bellini write for Giulia Grisi?
Adalgisa, in Norma, which she created in Milan in 1831, when she was twenty. Rossini and Bellini had been following her since her Bologna debut in 1828; she became one of the major voices of romantic bel canto.
Vincenzo BelliniWhy does her grave not carry her name?
Because she appears there under her companion's name. Still the wife of the comte de Melcy, with no divorce possible, Giulia Grisi lived from 1841 with the tenor Giovanni Matteo de Candia, known as Mario, her partner on stage: the stone reads “Juliette de Candia”, the name she never held in law.
Manuel GarcíaDid Grisi come from a family of performers?
Entirely. Her aunt Giuseppina Grassini was a celebrated singer and briefly Napoleon's mistress, her sister Giuditta a noted mezzo-soprano, and her cousin Carlotta Grisi the ballerina who created Giselle.
Hélène Andrianoff, the dancerAudio guide to Père Lachaise: the best unusual guided tour!
Discover the secrets of the most astonishing tombs
the audio guidefrom€6.99