Opera Singer. The transcendent soprano sfogato, essentially a mezzo with good top notes, of the mid 19th century, she was the creator of several important Bel Canto roles and remains one of the legendary names in operatic history. Born Giuditta Angiola Maria Costanza Negri in the small village of Saronno, she studied in Milan prior to her 1816 debut at that city's Teatro degli Accademici Filodrammatici in the world premiere of Scappa's "Le tre Eleonore". Giuditta traveled to Paris where she appeared at the Theatre Italien in several roles including Donna Elvira from Mozart's "Don Giovanni" and Giuletta of Niccolo Zingarelli's "Giuletta e Romeo" then in 1817 flopped in her London bow at the King's Theatre as Telemachus from Domenico Cimarosa's "Penelope". After also singing two Mozartean roles in the British capital, Despina of "Cosi fan tutte" and Cherubino from "The Marriage of Figaro", she returned to Italy where she further refined her skills and earned particular praise as the title heroine of Rossini's "La Cenerentola". Her status as a major star dates from her 1821 appearances at the Theatre Italien as Desdemona in "Rossini's "Otello"; long associated with Maestro Rossini she was acclaimed in the title roles of his "Tancredi", "Elizabeth, Queen of England", and later "Semiramide" and on June 19, 1825, at the Theatre Italien was to create the part of Corinna in "The Journey to Reims" under the baton of Rossini himself. For the next dozen years Guiditta reigned, along with Maria Malibran, as the prima donna assoluta of Europe, along the way singing the title role for the world premiere of Donizetti's "Anna Bolena" at Milan's Teatro Carcano on December 26, 1830. Also at Teatro Carcano she was Amina for the first performance of Vincenzo Bellini's "La Sonnambula" on March 6, 1831, then at La Scala on December 26th. of that same year she introduced the world to Bellini's Druid Priestess "Norma" with Giulia Grisi as Adalgesia and Allesandro Rolla on the podium. Giuditta officially 'retired' in 1835 but made London appearances in 1837 and was heard in Russia and in Berlin as late as 1841. In later years she was a noted teacher, numbering Adelaide Kemble and Emma Albertazzi among her students. Once when she ventured to London for a benefit concert Miss Kemble asked the great mezzo Pauline Viardot her opinion of Giuditta's voice and Mlle. Viardot famously replied "It is a ruin, but then so is Leonardo's Last Supper". Giuditta lived out her days quietly in the small town of Blevio on the shore of Lake Como and died of a pulmonary infection.