UNC professor explores the legacy of Madama Europa, the first Jewish opera singer

Jeanne Fischer, a teaching professor in the music department at UNC, is giving a lecture on opera singer Madama Europa that will be accompanied by a recital featuring her music.

The Madama Europa lecture-recital is part of the 2020 North Carolina Historically-Informed Performance Festival with the Mallarmé Chamber Players. It will take place at various venues throughout the Triangle from Jan. 31 to Feb. 28. 

This performance will be held at Person Hall on Feb. 4 at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free.

Fischer has an interest in early music before 1800 and Jewish studies and came across a reference to Europa Rossi, or Madama Europa, in her studies. Europa was the first recorded Jewish opera singer to achieve widespread fame. 

Fischer said that little is known about Europa, likely because of her status as a Jewish woman in the 1600s, but that the difficulty of uncovering her story fascinated her more.

"My stereotype of a Renaissance Jewish woman would not have been that she was singing at the court of the highest prince in the land, so it's been interesting to research all the things we think she was doing,” Fischer said.

Madama Europa was the sister of Salamone Rossi, another well-known composer from the era. Fischer said the music does not particularly sound like opera. 

Instead, it is unique in its genre and will be performed at the recital by herself and two recent UNC graduates, accompanied with historical instruments that would be unfamiliar to many onlookers.

UNC professor Brent Wissick will be playing the viola da gamba. He has taught both viola da gamba and cello at UNC since 1982 and believes he was chosen for the position in part for his knowledge of early instruments. 

Wissick described the viola da gamba as a cross between the guitar family and the violin family that was very important in the Renaissance and early Baroque period. 

“It's played with a bow; you hold it on your legs and it looks to someone who doesn't know better like a cello, but in fact it's tuned more like a guitar or lute," Wissick said. "It's not quite as loud or robust as cello, but it's very good for chamber music.”

Wissick said he is known Fischer since she was an undergraduate, and is honored to be invited to join her in performing an era of music that he has been interested in since he was a college student.

"It's extremely beautiful and interesting music, this whole repertoire that Dr. Fischer's exploring,” Wissick said. “Concerts by women became such an important genre of music-making in late sixteen and seventeenth century Italy. It's an underrepresented genre — not only official women performers but also a Jewish woman as a figure in this period.”

Jacqueline Nappi, a harpsichord and organ continuo instructor at UNC and the Minister of Music at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Durham, will be playing harpsichord in the recital. She said the instrument adds a dynamic element to the performance.

"I think a lot of the music for this performance was meant to be accompanied by a lute or a baroque guitar, and the harpsichord is a totally different instrument,” Nappi said. “Like the baroque guitar or lute, you can play chords, but the harpsichord has a plucky sound which can be much more present than the guitar or lute.”

Recent graduates Shafali Jalota and Anne Sutton will be singing the music along with Fischer. The two both recently graduated from UNC, in 2017 and 2018 respectively.

"We are super proud of all of them,” Wissick said. “They show the best of Carolina in the sense of what is possible in terms of being a musician, and having extraordinary intellectual and cultural backgrounds that give them the mobility to do a lot of things.

Fischer said she is also excited for the group of people involved in the performance, and for the chance to share Madama Europa’s music with attendees.

“I hope it will get another woman's name and story out there,” said Fischer. “I think that's really important, as we continue to tell women’s stories, along with the idea that maybe our stereotypes of life 400 years ago are not always accurate and can be colored by 20th century mentalities.”

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