Freda Betti


Freda Betti, whose birth name was Frédérique Thérèse Augusta Betti, was a French mezzo-soprano singer whose career was mainly confined to France. She left a range of recordings representative of her repertoire.

Early life and education

Freda Betti was born at 52 rue des Ponchettes in the old town in Nice into a modest family: her father was a house painter and her mother a fishmonger. Her paternal family originated from the region of Emilia-Romagna in Italy: her grandfather was born in Parma and he emigrated to Nice with his wife and children in 1893. She studied music and especially singing at the Conservatory of Nice with Édouard Rouard, where she obtained a Premier Prix de Chant in 1943.

Career

She made her debut at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo in 1947 as Siébel in Faust by Charles Gounod. She appeared frequently with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France of the RTF in the early 1950s, before entering the troupe of the Opéra-Comique in the 1960s. She sang the title role of Carmen more than 150 times and recorded, and her repertoire also included Fricka, Brangaene, Dulcinée in Don Quichotte and Suzuki.
Betti sang on major national stages and European, as well as in numerous opera festivals, including Aix-en-Provence, Avignon, Bayreuth. Betti recorded for Philips and EMI. Among published recordings she took part in were The Snow Maiden, Démophon, Tosca and Philippine. In 1958 she recorded excerpts from Carmen with Ken Neate, Gabriel Bacquier and Andréa Guiot on Philips P 77118 L.
She participated in the original production of L'Opéra d'Aran by Gilbert Bécaud, in 1962, at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. Betti sang the title role of La Périchole on French Culture radio in 1964. In the 1970s she was a vocal teacher at the Conservatory of Monaco.

Personal life

Betti was married on 29 October 1949 in Levallois-Perret to René Clermont. The couple had two children. She was the sister of Henri Betti and the great great-aunt of Alexy Bosetti.

Death

Freda Betti died at her home in Nice in 1979, at the age of 55, and was buried in the family vault "Famille Betti" with her husband and his parents in the Cimetière du Château.

Repertoire

List of roles, including recordings: