Andre Adolphe-Eugene Disderi: French photographer (1819 - 1889): He started off as
a daguerreotypist in Brest as well as a photographer in Nimes. He opened a
studio in 1854 and in that year he patented the carte-de-visite photograph. This
new carte format became immensely popular and rapidly became a growing industry.
He became the favorite photographer of Napoleon III's court. By 1861 Disdéri was
reported to be the richest photographer in the world. In addition to his French
accolades, he was appointed court photographer in England, Spain, and Russia. He
opened an additional studio in London. However, by the 1860s there was a decline
in the popularity in the 1860s. Disdéri left Paris and opened portrait studios
in Nice in the 1880s. Despite the wealth he attained, Disdéri died in a
poorhouse.
(1) Eugène Caron (1834(5) - 1903): French
baritone. Debut (22 Sep 1862) as Count de Luna (seen here) in Il Trouvère at
the Le Peletier. At the Palais Garnier he created Enguerrand in La Reine
Berth, Thomas in La Vierge, and Maîitre Jean in Jeanne d'Arc.
He retired in 1886.
(2) Caroline Duprez [ Mme. Vandeu Heuvel ]
(Florence: 10 Apr 1832 - Pau [also given as Paris]: 17 Apr 1875): French
soprano, daughter of Gilbert-Louis Duprez (who outlived his daughter by 21
years).
Supposedly her father said, “Never, no, never, during my life, shall my
child become an artist like ourselves. We pay too dearly for our temporary
triumphs.” She sang with her father
in London and Paris. She made her debut at the Théâtre Italien in Paris in La Somnambula (1850). In Brussels
(1851) she helped produce the world premiere of her father's opera,
Joanita. At the Opéra-Comique she created the role of Angela in Marco
Spada (21 Dec 1852). She also appeared in Lyon (1856-58), the Garnier
Palace in 1860, Bordeaux, London, St. Petersburg, Théâtre Italien, and the
Théâtre-Lyrique in Paris.
She had a daughter,
Simmonne Vanden Heuvel who inherited her mother’s gifts.
A Disderi photo.
(3) Louis Guéymard (17 Aug 1822 - Jul
1880): French tenor. Debut Lyons (1845). Leading tenor at the Paris Opéra
until 1868. Created Arrigo (Vêpres siciliennes), Jonas (Prophète)
and Assad (La Reine de Saba). Married to Belgian soprano Pauline
Lauters-Guéymard.
(4) Pauline Lauters-Guéymard (Brussels: 1 Dec 1834 - ):
Belgian soprano/mezzo. She had a career equal to or greater to that of her
husband, Louis Guéymard. She made her debut (7 Oct 1854) under her first
husband's name, Deligne. Guéymard was involved in a number of premieres. She
appeared in Massé's La Mule de Pedro (Gilda: 1863), and La Coupe du
roi de Thulé (Myrrha), David's Herculanum (Lelia: 1859), Bellini's
Roméo et Juliette (Juliette: 1859), Poniatowski's Pierre de
Medicis (Laura: 1860), Gounod's La Reine de Saba (la Reine: 1862),
Mermet's Roland à Roncevaux (Alde: 1864), Verdi's Don Carlos (Eboli:
11 Mar 1867), and Thomas's Hamlet (1868).
(5) Louis Guéymard.
(6) Prosper Mérimée (28 Sep 1803 - 23 Sep
1870): French author. Operas developed from his works include: Le
Périchole, Matteo Falcone, La Vénus d'Ille, Colomba, Carmen, La Dame de
Pique, La Chambre bleu, Donna Urraca, Ines Mendo, and L'Occasion.
(7) Enrico Tamberlik (Rome: 16 Mar
1820 - Paris: 13 Mar 1889): Italian (given as Romanian as well) tenor. Debut
Rome (Dec 1837) as Arnold. Covent Garden regularly from 1950 to 1864, and
again in 1870. NY, Paris, St. Petersburg, Madrid. Created Alvaro in la
forza del destino. First London Manrico and Cellini.
(8) Jean-Baptiste
Faure (Moulins: 15 Jan 1830 - Paris: 9 Nov 1914): French baritone whose
first musical experiences were gained by pumping the organ at Notre-Dame in
Paris for a few francs and free piano lessons. He entered the Conservatoire in
1843 and subsequently became a member of several choruses, but when his voice
changed he was forced to find other means of income. As his voice grew, he
played with the Odéon orchestra. He returned to the Conservatoire to train his
voice and emerged a star. His operatic debut was in 1852 as Pygmalion in
Massé's Galathée
at the Opéra-Comique. At the Comique he created Hoël in Meyerbeer's Le
pardon de Ploërmel (1859). He was invited to the Paris Opéra where he made
his debut (14 Oct 1861) as Julien in Pierre de
Médicis (by Prince Poinatowski). There, he
created several roles: Nelusko in L'Africaine, Pédro in the short-lived
La Mule de Pédro
(Massé: 1863), the marquis de Posa in Verdi's Don Carlos (1867), the
title role in Thomas' Hamlet (1868), and Charles VII in Mermet's
Jeanne d'Arc (1876). He was well known for his stylish singing and superb
acting. Seen here as Figaro.
(9) Rosina Penco (Naples: Apr 1823
-Tuscany, Italy: 2 Nov 1894): Italian soprano. Leonore in the world premiere
of Verdi's Il Trovatore (19 Apr 1853). Possibly seen here in that premiere
role.
(10) Marietta Alboni [orig. Maria
Anna Marzia] (6 Mar 1823 - 23 Jun 1894): Italian contralto. Studied with
Bertinotti. Worked personally with Rossini to learn his contralto roles. Debut
Bologna 1842 as Climene in Pacini's Saffo. Leading contralto at
London's Covent Garden and was considered a rival to Jenny Lind. Meyerbeer wrote Page's
Aria (Les Huguenots) for her. She sang the baritone role of Carlos in
the first Covent Garden Ernani when both Tamburini and Roncini turned
it down. Sang at Rossini's funeral along with Adelina Patti.
"One of the greatest artists of
the lyric stage has just passed away. The French press says that the era of
such singers as Alboni is over. Alboni, it is true, had the most incomparable
voice both as to extension of register as well as sweetness. Of the famous
trio, Malibran, Alboni and Viardot, the latter only is still among the living.
Since she retired from the stage Alboni lived in Paris. She was one of the few
singers who knew when to retire and fatigue her auditors by remaining on the
stage when her voice was gone and she also is one of the few who knew how to
amass and keep a fortune. She lived in opulence, having her own private
mansion in Cour la Reine and her country seat in Vill d’Avray.
"From her youth up Alboni’s
greatest enemy was corpulency [sic]. At the beginning of her career, when she
sang the part of the page in “Lucrezia Borgia,” she was already possessed of
too much avoirdupois; and her flesh has been steadily increasing until, as an
American girl expressed it, when she saw her at her home, where she sang for
the last time, she was a sight. It was rarely that she and her husband
consented to go into society, but when they did they were at once recognized
as two immense waddlers able only to make very short steps by means of canes.
In the later years, whenever Alboni consented to sing, she always did it
sitting in the widest chair that could be procured for her, or in the one at
her home, which had been made on purpose to contain her immense weight and
corpulence.
"Marietta Alboni was born in 1824
in a small Italian town. When still in her teens her parents, seeing that she
was gifted with a superb voice, had it trained with the utmost care. Rossini,
who was then the director of the Bologne conservatory, heard her, predicted
her glorious future and superintended her studies for several years. The young
singer made her debut in La Scala, and meeting with brilliant success she was
afterward engaged for the principal cities of Italy, Austria, Russia and
Germany. In 1847 she sang in Covent Garden while Jennie Lind was singing in
the Queen’s Theater, and both cantatrices rivaled with each other in applause
and in drawing crowded halls. In the fall of 1847 she sang in a series of
concerts for the first time in Paris, and some time after she made her debut
at the Theatre Italien in Rossini’s “Cenerentola,” her greatest success. After
a season at the Grand Opera Alboni accepted brilliant engagements for North
and South America, where, no doubt, many of my readers had the pleasure
hearing her.
"After her marriage to the Count
Pepoli she sang only when she was offered great sums of money or for charity’s
sake, and on the death of her first husband she expressed her intention of
retiring entirely from the stage. In 1892, however, she created the contralto
part in “Il Matrimonio Segreto.” In 1877 Mme. Alboni married an officer of la
Garde Republicaine, Charles Zieger. She then retired from the stage forever.
Her voice, however, had lost nothing of its sweetness and its extent, and on
certain anniversaries she loved to invite her friends and for them sing some
of her favorite airs." --- Emma Bullet 12 July 1894
(11) Giovanni Mario [orig. Giovanni
Matteo, Cavaliere di Candia] (17 Oct 1810 - 11 Dec 1883): Italian tenor. Debut
Paris Opéra (1838) Robert le Diable. Sang in London from 1839 to 1871 at
various theaters. He originally eloped with a ballerina to Paris in 1836. Then
he married Giulia Grisi in 1844. Sang in the world premiere of Don Pasquale
(1843). First London Gennaro, Ernesto, Duke of Mantua, John of Leyden, and
Roméo. He was poverty stricken after his retirement. Considered to have had
one of the finest voices of the 19th century.
(12) Giulia Grisi (1811 - 1869),
Italian soprano. She toured the United States in 1854 with Giuseppe Mario,
whom she married in 1856. Roles were written for her by Bellini, in I
Puritani, and by Donizetti, in Don Pasquale. Her first teacher was
her sister, Giuditta Grisi, 1805–40, a mezzo-soprano, who married and
retired in 1834. Giulia was married to Giovanni Mario.
"Grisi has often told me the story of her debut. How, when
hardly fourteen years old, she sang the part of Emma in the "Zelmira" at
Bologna. It was at an hour's notice. There was no one to be found to replace
the singer who had suddenly been taken ill. Giulia, to the surprise of all her family, offered to
relieve the manager from his embarrassment: was accepted and acquitted herself
admirably. So satisfied was the Impresario with her success, that he gave her
an engagement for all the season. From Bologna Grisi went to Florence, and
thence to Milan in 1831. On every occasion the same "good luck" attended her
until her first appearance in London in 1834, when, strange to say, the young
debutante was but coldly received. She had previously sung in Paris with great
success, when Laporte had heard and engaged her." 12 Sep 1867
Grisi and Mario were reportedly on the
receiving end of a negative claque in Madrid:
"Madame Grisi lately met with a very
unfriendly reception in Madrid, from what cause we are not informed. A Madrid
letter (no date) in the Independence Belge says that at the performance
of Norma 50 or 60 persons hired for the purpose, and placed in little groups
in the upper galleries, greeted her with groans and noises of all kinds, which
completely drowned the voices of Madame Grisi and Mario. The uproar was at its
height at the commencement of the duet in the second act. Potatoes were then
thrown from the upper galleries, falling at the feet of Madame Grisi, and
rebounding into the pit. The public in the boxes and other parts of the house
rose indignantly to protest against such an outrage, but Madame Grisi
withdrew, her face bathed in tears. Mario attempted for some seconds to brave
the storm, but was obliged to leave the stage. One of the employees of the
theatre came forward to announce that the performance would not be continued,
Madame Grisi having fainted away, overcome with emotion." 8
Nov 1859
(13) Italian soprano Carlotta Marchisio
[Turin: 8 Dec 1835 - 28 Jun 1872] as Semiramis in Rossini’s Semiramide.
She was a student of Luigi Fabbrica in Turin. There are source disagreements
about her debut. One source has her debut in Venice, another has her debut in
Madrid [1856] with her sister, as Norma and Adalgise respectively (the sisters
often sang together). She appeared in all the leading Italian cities, as well
as St. Petersburg, London, and Paris [1860]. Rossini wrote his Petite Messe
Solennelle [1864] for her and her sister, contralto Barbara Marchisio
[Turin: 6 Dec 1833 - Mira: 19 Apr 1919].
(14) Pauline Lucca
(Vienna: 25 Apr 1841 - Vienna: 28 Feb 1908): Austrian soprano. Debut (Olomouc,
1859) as Elvira in Ernani. Engaged in Berlin, studied roles there under
Meyerbeer. First London Selika. Toured USA 1872-74. Vienna soprano 1874-1889.
(15)
French bass, Eugène Charles Antoine Crosti
(Paris: 31 Oct 1833-?). He studied under Bataille. Sang at the
Impérial Théâtre de l'Opéra-Comique
(1857-1868), Bordeaux (1869-1877), After his retirement he became a professor
at the Conservatoire. He also translated Italian works (La Boheme;
Pagliacci) into French.
(16) Viardot-Garcia, Pauline (18 Jul 1821 -
18 May 1910): French mezzo-soprano of Spanish birth. Daughter of Manuel
Garcia, and the younger sister of Maria Malibran. Studied singing with her
mother and brother, and piano with Liszt, among others. Debut (concert form)
Brussels (13 Dec 1833). Stage debut London (Her Majesty's) (May 1839) as
Rossini's Desdemona. Married Louis Viardot, manager of Théàtre-Italien in
Paris. Created Fidès in Le Prophète (1849). Created the title role in
Gounod's Sapho. First London Azucena. Sang throughout Germany;
London, Paris. Viardot-Garcia also was known for writing poetry, plays and
operettas. Her pupils included Désirée Artôt, Marianne Brandt, Organi, and
Teresa Arkel. Seen here in Orfeo.
(17) Viardot-Garcia, Pauline.
Same photo session as above, different pose.
(18) Gilbert-Louis Duprez
(Paris: 6 Dec 1806 - Paris: 23 Sep 1896), French dramatic tenor. He studied at
the Conservatoire in Paris under Alexandre Choron. He made his stage debut at
the Odéon (1825). His early days met with little success so he went to Italy
in 1828 to further his studies. After success in Italy he returned to Paris
(1837) triumphantly with a secure high C as Arnold in Guillaume Tell.
He was quite popular for several years until his voice began to waiver. As a
result, Gustave Roger was instead chosen by Meyerbeer to create the role of
Jean de Leyde in Le
Prophete. After he retired from the stage he devoted himself to teaching.
His most noted pupil was Caroline Carvalho who created Gounod's Juliette and
Marguerite. A Disderi photo.
(19) French composer,
Charles Gounod (18 Jun 1818 - 18 Oct 1893). Composer of the operas
Sapho, Faust, Philemon et Baucis, La colombe, La reine de Saba, Mireille, La
nonne sanglante, Le medecin malgre lui, Romeo et Juliette, Conq-Mars,
Polyeucte, Le tribut de Zamora, and Maitre Pierre (incomplete). A
Disderi photo.
