Gemma Bosini

Gemma Bosini (1890 – 2 February 1982) was an Italian operatic soprano who had an active international performance career from 1909–1930. She is especially associated with the role of Alice Ford in Giuseppe Verdi's Falstaff, a role which she performed more than 400 times on stage during her career. She is also remembered for being the first soprano to record the role of Mimi in Giacomo Puccini's La boheme in 1917. She also made complete recordings of Gounod's Faust and Lehar's The Merry Widow. After retiring from performance in 1930, she devoted herself to teaching singing and managing the career of her husband, baritone Mariano Stabile.

Born in Milan, Bosini studied singing in her native city with Salvatore Pessina. She made her professional opera debut in 1909 as Mimi in Giacomo Puccini's La boheme at the Politaema Marengo in Novi Ligure. Later that year she toured to Quito, Ecuador where she was heard as Mimi at the Teatro Sucre. She sang Mimi several more times during her career, including performances at the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari (1911), the Teatro Rendano in Cosenza (1912), the Politeama Rossini in Tunis (1913), the Teatro Biondo in Palermo (1914), the Teatro Apollo in Bologna (1917), the Politeama Chiarella in Turin (1918), and the Liceu in Barcelona (1919). In 1917 she became the first person to record the role of Mimi, singing the role on disc with the Orchestra and Chorus of La Scala under conductor Carlo Sabajno.

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