CULTURA commemorates 140 years since the death of El Ruiseñor Mexicano
140 years after her death in Mazatlán, Sinaloa on August 30th, 1883, the figure and artistic significance of Ángela Peralta was remembered during a conference in the gallery that has the her name.
Before dozens of attendees interested in the life and work of María de los Ángeles Manuela Tranquilina Cirila Efrena Peralta y Castera, her actual name, the Chronicler of the City, Enrique Vega Ayala affirmed that Ángela Peralta continues to be the most important Soprano that Mexico has offered, recognized worldwide as one of the greatest sopranos in history.
She was not from Mazatlan, but she is now, and we must recognize her value in national life since achieving the fame and recognition that she achieved was a great feat in the 19th century, affirmed maestro Enrique Vega.
Few historical events have for Mazatlecans, the importance of the commemoration of the death of “El Ruiseñor Mexicano”; her artistic name was given to the old Rubio Theater, the city choir bears her name and in the past the orfeones and artistic schools were baptized with her name, at least two streets, the cemetary where her remains originally rested, a school and a tourist viewpoint have been named in her honor.
In the talk, Vega Ayala spoke about her childhood, the artist’s indigenous roots, her vocal abilities demonstrated since childhood, her time at the National Conservatory of Music in Mexico City, her debut in 1860, the 15 years at the National Theater of Mexico, in the role of Eleonora from Verdi’s Trovador.
Her beginnings in Europe
A year after her debut in Mexico, her parents got support to take her to Europe and in Rome and Milan she perfected her composition and singing studies and shortly before her 17th birthday she made her debut at the Teatro de la Scala in Milan in the lead role of Lucia of Lammermoor.
She returned to the American continent in 1865 to appear in New York and in various cities in the United States, in Havana and in South America.
At that time, opera was a highly appreciated art in Mexico because it allowed viewers to travel to remote regions, imagine exotic places, enjoy stories of kings and famous people, and learn about tragic love stories. It was like television and people valued talent. artistry of the singer through applause, ovations, showers of flowers and apotheotic receptions.
Politics and The Nightingale
In Mexico, the myth of Ángela Peralta was built in the midst of the dispute between the Empire and the Republic. Upon her return, the Soprano was received with apotheosis, especially in the country’s capital. In her first performance in a scene from La Sonámbula, “Miss Peralta appeared graciously dressed, forming the colors of the Mexican flag, green, white and red on the petticoat of her suit.” The tricolor outfit was an emotional blow for her reunion with the Mexican public, since it was said that the singer had personified “the Homeland” on stage.
The Mazatlan historian said that there is no record that Maximilian invited her to Mexico, however, in 1866 the Emperor granted her the nobility title of “Cantarina de Cámara” of the Mexican Empire and sent her a diamond bracelet as a gift as a symbol of pride and prestige.
The juaristas [followers of Benito Juarez] criticized Peralta for having accepted her courtly title. Ignacio Manuel Altamirano publicly reproached her gesture by writing that “all the freshness of the laurels that Ángela Peralta had brought from Europe, sadly, shamefully withered before the acceptance of that appointment by a mocking and disgraceful court.”
Marriage
In April 1866 Ángela Peralta married her first cousin Eugenio Castera, who was in charge of founding the singer’s company. A year later she left for the US and Europe, some say that she went into self-exile hurt by the bad publicity that she began to circulate about her alleged ties to the Empire. She returned to Mexico in 1871 and again triumphed. The Mexican public was reunited with her most beloved artist. In 1873 and 1875, she returned to the great stages of the world with her own opera company, her promoter was Julián Montiel y Duarte.
In 1877, on her definitive return to Mexico, Ángela Peralta’s presentations no longer achieved the success of previous tours. The Mexican Nightingale began to face an adverse and difficult fate. She had to deal with diabetes and blindness, she was separated from her family and her husband who had been hospitalized for dementia and passed away.
Criticism for the alleged “moral decadence” of Peralta haunted her, opinions were harsh and cruel towards the singer, whom they described as a bad daughter, a bad wife and an ordinary woman, as they said an affair had began before she became a widow, with her agent and theater manager Julián Montiel y Duarte.
The reception in Mazatlan
Peralta arrived in Mazatlán on August 22nd, 1833, aboard the ship Newbern. It cannot be assured that she was received tremendously as it is said, to the extent that a group of Mazatlecos unhooked the mules to pull the carriage through the streets of the port as the maestro painted it, Antonio Lopez Saenz. There is also no evidence that the famous Soprano sang before the Mazatlan public, but it can be affirmed that the company rehearsed at the Rubio Theater, and there are journalistic notes that narrate that she managed to direct a rehearsal and sang there, because the director had fallen ill and he had to replace him.
Marriage and death
There are records of the marriage and death of Ángela Peralta that support what happened. Between the marriage bond and her death in the Iturbide hotel (today the Municipal Center for the Arts), on August 30th, 1883, 45 minutes elapsed, the marriage certificate was not signed by the bride. From journalistic notes it is known that Manuel Lemas, the flutist of the company, held the artist’s head during her marriage to “help” her to move her affirmatively when the judge required her acceptance of getting married.
The havoc in the Italian Company
There is no record of how many members of the Italian company arrived in Mazatlán, but 16 died in the port due to Yellow Fever, among them Ángela Peralta, and it is said that the four soldiers who transferred the remains of the Diva to Pantheon No. 2; Those who buried her also died and in 1937 those who exhumed her remains were infected and died.
Apparently the singer had three graves. The original one in Mazatlán where she was buried for around 50 years and that she had been empty since 1937; one that her widower ordered to build in Mexico City in 1904 and finally the Rotunda of Illustrious Persons. She was the first woman buried in that place.
