The lyrico-spinto soprano Maria Caniglia (1905-1979) was born and studied in Naples, making her début in Turin in 1930 as Chrysothemis in Elektra. The same year she appeared at the Teatro alla Scala as Maria in Pizzetti’s Lo straniero, a house where she would sing regularly until 1943 and again from 1948-1951.

Her international career took flight in 1935 when she sang Alice in Falstaff under Toscanini at the Salzburg Festival. Caniglia appeared at Covent Garden in 1937, 1939 and again in 1950 with the visiting La Scala Company. She visited Buenos Aires in 1937 and her single season at the Metropolitan in New York was during 1938-39. She also created a variety of rôles including Respighi’s Lucrezia in Milan in 1937.

She retired during the late 1950s. Never the most finished or polished of performers she always conveyed a dramatic excitement and commitment to her interpretations. Caniglia appeared in a single film Il vento mi a cantato una canzone in 1947. She recorded Tosca, Un ballo in maschera and Aida with Gigli. She was married to the Italian composer Pino Donati (1907-1975).