Madama Europa was the nickname of Europa Rossi (
fl. 1600), an opera singer, the first Jewish opera singer to achieve widespread fame outside of the Jewish community.[1][2]
She was the sister of the Jewish violinist and composer
Salamone Rossi who is known to have been employed at
Mantua from 1587 to 1628.[3]
She probably took her name from appearances in the mythical role of
Europa in an intermezzo before 1600 at the court of the
Dukes of Mantua.[4]
^Don Harran, "Madama Europa, Jewish singer in late Renaissance Mantua", in Festa musicologica: essays in honor of George J. Buelow ed.
Thomas J. Mathiesen Benito V. Rivera, George J. Buelow, 1995 p197
^Eduard Birnbaum, Judith Cohen, Jewish musicians at the court of the Mantuan dukes (1542-1628) (1978) "However, Newman points out that the name "Madama Europa" is listed already before 1600 among the salaried employees of the Mantuan court; he therefore assumes that Rossi's sister had already appeared as "Europa" in an earlier Intermezzo".
^Shlomo Simonsohn, History of the Jews in the Duchy of Mantua (1977)
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