Marietta Alboni worked up her contralto roles under the guidance of Rossini himself, which no other singer of her time could claim. First contralto at Covent Garden, declared rival of Jenny Lind, she sang on both continents, and Meyerbeer wrote for her. In 1863 she broke off her career to nurse her ailing husband. She sang at Rossini's funeral.
The story
Maria Anna Marzia Alboni was born at Città di Castello, in Umbria. A pupil of Bertinotti, she worked her contralto roles directly with Rossini, who trained her himself — a privilege no other singer of her generation could claim.
First contralto at Covent Garden and declared rival of Jenny Lind, she sang on both continents; Meyerbeer wrote an aria into his Huguenots for her. In 1868 she sang at Rossini's funeral beside Adelina Patti.
In 1854 she married Count Achille Pepoli and kept her maiden name for the stage. In 1863 she broke off her career to nurse her husband, struck by a grave mental illness; he died on 10 October 1867. She married again in 1877, to Charles Denis Zieger, a captain of the Garde républicaine.
She died at Ville-d'Avray on 23 June 1894. Three days later the prefect Poubelle delivered her eulogy at Père-Lachaise; the speech would be engraved in full on a bronze plaque fixed to the tomb.
Her will explains that tribute. A hundred thousand francs to the Assistance publique to endow hospice beds reserved for Italians, and ten thousand francs of annual income to give a savings book each year to the best pupils in the twenty arrondissements of Paris. The “Livret Alboni” outlived the singer; her portrait went to the musée Carnavalet.
The grave
The grave is in three parts: Count Pepoli, her first husband, at one end; Alboni-Zieger in the middle; Captain Zieger, the second, at the other. A marble bas-relief depicts a lyre and a palm, and the inscriptions alternate between French and Italian. The rarity is a long bronze plaque on which has been engraved, in full, the speech delivered by the prefect Poubelle at her funeral on 26 June 1894. The main inscription has her born at Città di Castello “on 6 March 1826”; the biographical notices give 1823. The stone and the books contradict each other, and we leave the contradiction in plain view.
On site, do not miss
The long bronze plaque and its funeral oration, to be read in full, then the marble bas-relief with the lyre and the palm.
Visitors' questions
Where is Marietta Alboni's grave?
In Division 66, Avenue Circulaire, first row, in the upper, eastern part of the cemetery. The grave of Adolphe Alphand, creator of Paris's parks, lies in the same division, on Chemin d'Ornano.
Vincenzo BelliniWho was Marietta Alboni?
The greatest contralto of the nineteenth century, trained by Rossini himself, principal contralto at London's Covent Garden and Jenny Lind's rival. Meyerbeer wrote an aria for her in Les Huguenots; she sang at Rossini's funeral in 1868.
François-Adrien BoieldieuWhat does the bronze plaque on her grave carry?
The speech given by Prefect Poubelle at her funeral on 26 June 1894, engraved in full. The grave's inscriptions are in both French and Italian, and a marble bas-relief adds a lyre and a palm branch.
Maria CallasWhat did she leave to Paris?
A hundred thousand francs to the Assistance Publique, for hospice beds set aside for Italians, and an annual endowment funding a savings account for the best pupils across the twenty arrondissements. Her portrait hangs in the Musée Carnavalet.
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