User:AllanVLacki/"Santa Biondo"

Santa Biondo
This is a biography of Miss Santa Biondo. She was an American opera star between 1927 and 1938.

Santa Biondo Immigrates to America.

Immigration records at http://www.ellisisland.org indicate that a 15 year old girl, Santa Biondo, came to America with her father Mauro, her mother Giuseppa, her sister Angela, and her brother Mauro Jr. on October 2, 1907. They left Melchiorre Biondo behind in San Mauro Castelverde in Sicily. And when they came to the United States, they were received by Santa's older brother, Domenico Biondo, who was already living at 106 Wallace Street, New Haven, Connecticut.

Three years later, in 1910, the United States Census shows this same family living in New Haven at the same address. The census record shows that Santa was 18 years old and working in a tailor's shop.

Appointment to the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York.

We next hear about Santa Biondo in a news story printed by The Hartford Courant newspaper on May 12, 1929 as she was preparing for her debut with the Metropolitan Opera Company ("Met") in Manhattan, New York. The article indicates that she came to America twenty years before, lived in New Haven with her parents, sister and two brothers, and had married a man named Salvatore Mazullo.

Encouraged by her brother in-law, Santa was tutored by professional opera teachers in New Haven and New York, including Enrico Rosati, whose other famous students include Beniamino Gigli and Mario Lanza. Santa began her professional career in 1927, when she went on tour with the San Carlo Opera Company and the American Opera Company. In 1929, her audition with Arturo Toscanini gave her a staring role with the Met. A copy of her Met employment contract indicates that her starting pay was $75 a week - a nice sum in those days - with a year-by-year renewal provision through 1933.

The author of The Hartford Courant article described Santa's voice as a "lyric-dramatic soprano, lyric for its 'facility of emission' and dramatic for its power and fullness of expression. It is a rare and much sought after combination." Santa sang in Italian, French and English.

Santa sang for the Met from November 23, 1929 to March 26, 1932 in 31 different performances. After her debut as Nedda in "Pagliacci", Santa sang in a number of other operas for the Met, including "Cavalleria Rusticana", "La Bohème", "Iris", "Peter Ibbetson", and "La Notte di Zoraima", in which she performed a duet with Rosa Ponselle. Santa Biondo's repertoire appears at:

http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/history/

Santa Biondo Disappears.

During the Great Depression, opera companies were hit financially, and both Santa and the Met fell on hard times. In December 1931, Santa lost $19,000 in the stock market, and she disappeared from New York, leaving three suicide notes behind. Detectives launched a manhunt, and the search for Santa Biondo was reported in newspapers all across the United States. One article, published in The Coshocton Tribune, claimed that the New York Police Department dredged the lake in Central Park, looking for her body. But contrary to her notes, she did not attempt suicide. Instead, she went into seclusion outside of the city.

With the aid of friends and family, Santa snapped out of it and went back to work. When newspapers asked her why she left, she offered conflicting explanations, but it was clear that she was depressed about her financial situation. And although she didn't say it, she may have been aware that her career at the Metropolitan Opera Company was drawing to a close. She performed her last engagement at the Met just three months later, in March 1932.

It is also interesting to note that, at this point, she was still married to Salvatore Mazullo, but they had been apart for three years. Santa lived at the Plaza Hotel Annex, in New York City, while Salvatore Mazullo continued to live in New Haven.

Career Continues After the Met.

By September 1932, Santa Biondo was back on stage, singing in the title role in "Aïda" at Bryant Park for the Puccini Grand Opera Company. And the very next month, she sang in the role of Musetta in "La Bohème" at the New Amsterdam Theatre for the San Carlo Opera Company. Santa continued to sing for the San Carlo Opera Company, Hippodrome National Opera Company, and the Franz Philipp Opera Company from 1932 through 1937. Her retinue included "La Traviata", "Faust", "Manon Lescaut" (title role), "Pagliacci", and "Tosca" (title role, 1937).

These were no small concerts. The New York Times states that, in 1934, she sang in the role of Mimi in "La Bohème" for a throng of 5,000 at a Hippodrome National Opera Company event. And in 1934, she sang for 5,200 as Tosca, again for the Hippodrome National Opera Company.

The June 14, 1936 issue of The New York Times states that she also performed with the Cincinnati Opera at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden with other opera singers such as Rosemarie Brancato, Anna Leskaya, Jean Pengelly, Norma Richter, and others.

Santa Biondo continued to perform until February 1938, but there isn't any mention of her career after that. Apparently, she retired from singing at the professional level around that time.

Outside the Opera Houses.

At the height of her career, Santa Biondo performed at least one radio broadcast. The September 22, 1929 edition of the Atlanta Constitution newspaper announced, "Santa Biondo, soprano with the Metropolitan Opera Company, will be the featured artist with an orchestra under the direction of Josef Pasternack in the broadcast of the Atwater Kent concert on the N.B.C. coast-to-coast system tonight at 7:15 o'clock."

In January 1930, she sang at a duet with Beniamino Gigli in an "Artistic Morning" recital at the Plaza Hotel in New York. And in April 1934, she sang as the Angel in the initial performance of Pietro Yon's "Triumph of Saint Patrick" at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York, for the archbishop. In December 1934, she sang for the Italian Ambassador, Augusto Rosso, in Newark, New Jersey, at the Shubert Theater, with other Italian-American performers.

Santa Biondo Genealogy.

Are Santa Biondo the opera star, and Santa Biondo the young immigrant girl from San Mauro Castelverde, the same person? The answer is yes.

Newspapers throughout the country reported on Santa's career and provide a wealth of information. For example, The Hartford Courant article confirms that Santa emigrated to the United States from Palermo when she was a young girl. San Mauro Castelverde is located in the Palermo region of Sicily. The article also states that that she was raised in New Haven, Connecticut with two brothers and a sister. The Coshocton Tribune stated that Santa's father was named Mauro Biondo. All of this information is consistent with facts that appear at www.ellisisland.org and the 1910 United States Census.

But there is an exception: While the immigration records and census records indicate that Santa Biondo was approximately 36 years old in 1929, the newspaper articles indicate that she was only 26 - ten years younger. The newspapers were corroborated by Santa's sister in-law, Mary Biondo, who wrote that Santa was born on January 10, 1903. Is the disparity real, an error, or a bit of vanity on the part of a diva?

Santa's nephew, who is also named Mauro Biondo, provided a clue in 2007. In correspondence with the author, Mauro stated that Santa died on February 15, 1989 in Stamford, Connecticut. Having remarried, the name on her death certificate was Santa Giordano. The author looked up this record on the United States Social Security Death Index (SSDI), and found a perfect match. The SSDI states that Santa Biondo was born on December 3, 1892. This date ties to the immigration and census records, not the newspaper accounts. In other words, Santa Biondo, the opera star, had her roots in San Mauro Castelverde, Sicily.

To make sure, Dr. Giovanni Nicolosi, a councilman in San Mauro Castelverde, looked up the birth records for Santa Biondo and her siblings. Although the records are over 100 years old, they remain on file in the town hall in San Mauro Castelverde. Santa's birth date appears as December 3, 1892 - the same date that appears in the US Social Security records. And her siblings' birth dates also match. So, we have been able to trace Santa Biondo's genealogy on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

Author's Personal Notes.

My mother's maiden name was Jennie Biondo, and many years ago, she told me that one of her cousins was a professional opera singer. In 2008, my mom's sister, Dorothy Biondo Meissner, confirmed that story. Like the Biondos of New Haven, my Biondo grandparents came from San Mauro Castelverde in Sicily around the same time as Santa Biondo and her family. And so, it's natural that I should be interested in Santa Biondo, the opera star.

Incidentally, Giovanni Nicolosi was able to determine that Santa Biondo and my grandfather, Giovanni Biondo, were born on the same street, Via Serra, in San Mauro Castelverde. Via Serra is only one block long. They were born only three years apart, and so they certainly knew each other.

Unfortunately, we can find no recordings of Santa Biondo's voice. Do you have any additional information about Santa Biondo? If so, please contact me. My email address is redbat01@verizon.net My name is Allan Lacki.

Acknowledgements.

The authori is deeply grateful for the assistance provided to me by Santa Biondo's nephew, Mauro Biondo, John Pennino of the Metropolitan Opera Archives, and Councilman Giovanni Nicolosi of San Mauro Castelverde, Sicily.

Sources:

"Opera in Philadelphia Performance Chronology 1925 - 1949," compiled by Frank Hamilton. Copyright 2006.http://FrankHamilton.org.

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Category: Operatic sopranos Category: Opera singers