Romilda Pantaleoni is associated with her roles of La Gioconda and Margherita in what opera
Romilda Pantaleoni Romilda Pantaleoni (1847 – 20 May 1917) was an Italian soprano who had a prolific opera career in Italy during the 1870s and 1880s. She sang a wide repertoire that encompassed bel canto roles, Italian and French grand opera, verismo operas, and the German operas of Richard Wagner. She became particularly associated with the roles of Margherita in Boito's "Mefistofele" and the title role in Ponchielli's "La Gioconda"; two roles which she performed in opera houses throughout Italy. She is best remembered today for originating the roles of Desdemona in Giuseppe Verdi's "Otello" (1887) and Tigrana in Giacomo Puccini's "Edgar" (1889). Universally admired for her acting skills as well as her singing abilities, Pantaleoni was compared by several critics to the great Italian stage actress Eleonora Duse.
Gaetano Martinelli Gaetano Martinelli (? – 1802) was an Italian librettist active in the court theatres of Charles Eugene, Duke of Württemberg from 1766 to 1769 and in Lisbon as the court poet to Joseph I of Portugal and his daughter Maria I from 1769 until his death in 1802. He was one of a group of reforming Italian librettists which also included Calzabigi, Verazi, and Migliavacca, who moved away from the traditional Metastasian plot structures that had dominated opera during the first half of the 18th century. The majority of his early libretti were for comic ("opera buffa") or semi-comic ("dramma giocoso") operas.