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The Lady in Tosca's Kiss
The Story of a Coloratura Soprano
Who is Della Benning?
![Schmid, D. (Director). (1984). Tosca’s Kiss [Motion Picture]. USA: Icarus Films.](http://img1.wsimg.com/isteam/ip/e32b98fb-5f0a-40a8-9d23-1e6405fed9ea/Manacchini%20and%20Benning_Tosca_s%20Kiss_75%20aspect%20.png/:/cr=t:0%25,l:0%25,w:100%25,h:100%25/rs=w:600,h:300,cg:true)
Tosca's Kiss
If you've found yourself at this site, then most likely you've probably just finished watching Tosca's Kiss, a documentary about Casa di Riposto per Muscisti--a retirement home for opera singers and musicians in Milan--and its residents. The film follows a select few residents in its coverage, but you were probably amused by the husband and wife couple, where the wife struggles to find air time next to her ebullient and chatty husband. According to the movie credits, this couple is Giuseppe Manacchini and Della Benning. Giuseppe certainly steals the show, well documenting his entire career while she manages to squeeze in a few words about the operas she enjoyed singing. So we know she's also an opera singer, and if you listen carefully, Giuseppe references that he married an "American from Wisconsin." I was intrigued. I set about to learn more about her, and much to my dismay, I coudn't find much on the interwebs. So I put my genealogical know-how to good use. And here's what I found.
Humble Beginnings
Della, born in 1903, growing up on a farm in St. Martin's, Wisconsin, which sits somewhere between Racine and Milwaukee. After graduating Racine-Kenosha Rural Normal School in 1921, she went on to pursue a degree at Milwaukee State Teachers College. She spent the next few years as a school teacher at Union Grove, Col Heg, and Hales Corner. She was an ambitious teacher and spent her vacations at Northwestern studying elocution. Her instructors there were so impressed she was offered a teaching position in Portland, Oregon. It was around this time, and it's not clear how or why, that she discovered "quite by accident, that she had a voice," according to her mother, Josephine. So around 1925 she set off for New York City to study under maestro Arthur Vita.
![Della Benning, 1932. Album Manacchini [CC BY-SA 4.0]](http://img1.wsimg.com/isteam/ip/e32b98fb-5f0a-40a8-9d23-1e6405fed9ea/Photo_Della_Benning_WikiMedia_Commons.jpg/:/cr=t:0%25,l:0%25,w:100%25,h:84.75%25/rs=w:600,h:300,cg:true)
Off to Italy
Around 1930, after 5 years training in NYC, she was off to study at the Royal Theatre of Rome under maestro Messina, and it was here that she received her auditions for her shot at the big time. She made her operatic debut on May 4, 1932 at Teatro Vittorio Emanuele in Turin. She went by the stage name of Della Benni. Her debut performances in Turin included "La Forza Del Destino" and as Santuzza in "Cavelleria." Another source noted that her debut in Turin included 4 performances in "Il Trovatore." After that, she performed with the Chicago Civic Opera in Modena, Cuneo, and Rimini. From 1933-34 she was recruited by the Fascist regime to be part of the Carro di Tespi Lirici. More on that here. She was borrowed from the Carro during that time to do a few performances of "Tosca" under Maestro Padovani in Taranto. She also managed to get permission from her Italian contracts to perform in Chicago for the Bellini Centennary. In December of 1934, she made her American debut as Norma at the Chicago Civic Opera. By November of 1935, she's back at Teatro Emanuele in Turin for a production of "Il Trovatore" with her future husband, Giuseppe Manacchini. This is the last known performance I can find on record. But the search continues. (Photo left: "Della Benning" by Unknown, Album Manacchini, CC BY-SA 4.0.)
Giuseppe Manacchini
Giuseppe Manacchini, born in Crevalcore in 1902, had a successful 30-year career as a baritone in the world of opera, and most likely met Della in May 1932 during her debut in Turin. He performed alongside her as noted in one of the reviews. According to Italian Wikipedia, he and Della wed in 1937, although the source document it provides makes no such proclamation. But this is all I have to go on for now. Since Giuseppe is a bit more well-documented, we can figure out Della's whereabouts based on his own. In 1937 and 1938, he was on contracts in Rome and Milan respectively, and through the remainder of that decade, also spent some time with the Carro di Tespi Lirici. In the early 1940s, during the war, he spent lots of time in South America, doing long performance tours in Venezuela and Brazil. By the late 40s, he was touring Portugal and Spain. We know Della was with him in South America because ship records show that she visited the U.S. from Brazil during that same time. It's unclear whether Della continued singing after 1940, but she stayed with Manacchini through the end of his career in 1959, and they retired to the Casa around 1967. (Photo left: "Baritono G Manacchini in 1929" by Unknown, Album di Manacchini. CC BY-SA 4.0.)
Life at Casa Verdi
And so here we end up where I started on this journey--back at the Casa that I saw in the 1984 documentary. From 1967 onward, I can't begin to speculate what life was like for Della and Giuseppe in this sprawling palazzo. Seems like a nice place to retire to me. Ultimately, Giuseppe died in 1990. I'm not sure if Della left the Casa because she no longer qualified to stay, or if she wanted to be back with her family in the U.S. Perhaps it was a combination of both. Della died July 23, 1993 while staying with her nephew in Skokie, IL. (Photo right: "Casa di Riposo Giuseppe Verdi" by Paolobon140. CC BY-SA 3.0.)