Tecla Vigna

Tecla Vigna was born at Savigliano in northern Italy, and studied music at the Conservatory of Milan, where she earned her diploma in 1879.[1] She trained with voice teacher Francesco Lamperti.[2]

Vigna, a contralto, performed roles in opera in several Italy cities[3] before being recruited by pianist Albino Gorno to the faculty of the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music in 1882.[4] Vigna wrote a text, 90 Daily Vocal Exercises (1894), published while she was teaching at the conservatory. After years of contentious disagreements with the school's administration,[5] she resigned from the college in 1906,[6] and soon she was teaching at her own school.[7][8] Her vocal method was described as "distinctly Italian, and distinctly modern, and dramatic in the very best sense of the term."[1] Her students gave well-reviewed recitals and were active in the Euterpe Society of Cincinnati.[9][4]

Vigna became an American citizen in 1920.[10] In ill health, she closed her school and retired in 1925,[11][12] and moved back to Milan, where she died in 1927.[13] In 1932, one of her American students visited her grave in Milan, and left a bouquet of gardenias in tribute.[14]