Margherita Carosio

Margherita Carosio (7 June 1908 – 10 January 2005) was an Italian operatic soprano. Her voice is preserved in many Parlophone and Ultraphon recordings made before World War II, as well as a memorable series made for HMV in London, beginning in 1946. She was still singing leading roles in her early sixties and was considered one of the leading bel canto sopranos of her day. She was born and died in Genoa.

Carosio was born in Genoa, the daughter of a singing teacher and composer, Natale Carosio, who not only supervised her studies but launched her on a career in public concerts at 14. She once said of her father: "Everything I became I owe to him. I used to say to him: 'I am good wool, but you are an extraordinary weaver.'"

She appeared in public at the extraordinarily young age of 14. In 1924, still only 16, she made her operatic debut in the taxing role of Lucia di Lammermoor at the Teatro Cavour in Novi Ligure. Soon after, she was recommended by soprano Margherita Sheridan to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, to sing the role of Feodor in Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, with Feodor Chaliapin. She, like the rest of the company, sang in Italian, Chaliapin sang in Russian, and the chorus used French. The death scene was recorded live and Carosio's clear tones can easily be discerned. Later she said that working with the great Russian basso made her realise what it meant not just to take on a role but to become it.