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Aimé Dupont: First official
photographer of the Metropolitan Opera.
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(1)
Alois Burgstaller: German tenor (1871-1945. He trained at the
Bayreuth School under Julius Kniese and made his stage debut (1894) at the
Bayreuth Festival in a small role. He was particularly noted for his
portrayal of Siegfried. Burgstaller sang the first Parsifal at the
Metropolitan Opera (1903), which drew considerable wrath from Cosima Wagner,
who was trying to gain exclusive protection for the work. As a result,
Burgstaller, as well as Anton van Rooy and conductor Alfred Hertz, were
banned from any further performances at Bayreuth.
(2) American tenor Barron Berthold [also seen as, Berthald]. Castle Square
Company. The Metropolitan English Grand Opera Company. Boston Opera. Damrosch
Opera Company. Abroad in Wagnerian roles.
(3) French soprano, Emma
Calvé (Decazeville, 15 Aug
1858; Millau, 6 Jan 1942). She was a pupil of
Jules Puget, Mathilde Marchesi and Rosina Laborde. She made her début as
Marguerite in Faust at the Théâtre de la Monnaie, Brussels, on 23
September 1881, and three years later appeared in Paris, mainly at the
Opéra-Comique. Massenet wrote two roles for her, the heroines of La
navarraise and of Sapho, and she created the title role in Hahn’s
La carmélite at the Opéra-Comique in 1902. She performed often at
Covent Garden and at the Metropolitan Opera, and was well known for her (many)
performances as Carmen.
(4) Lilli Lehmann (24
Nov 1848 - 17 May 1929): German soprano. Both of her parents (August Lehmann
and Marie Loewe) were singers. Debut Prague 1865, 1st Boy in Zauberflöte.
In first Bayreuth Ring Cycle singing Woglinde, Helmwige, and Woodbird. One of
the Rhinemaidens in the first London Ring. American debut (Metropolitan Opera,
1885) as Carmen. First American Isolde and Götterdämmerung Brünnhilde.
After retiring from the stage she taught. Her pupils included Geraldine Farrar
and Olive Fremstad. Married tenor Paul Kalisch. Sister of soprano Marie
Lehmann. Seen here as Isolde.
(5) Edouard De Reszke
[orig. Edward Mieczyslaw]: Polish bass (22 Dec 1853 - 25 May 1917): Debut
Paris premiere of Aida (1876: Verdi conducting); Created Ruben (Il
figliuol prodigo), Gilberto (Maria Tudor), the King (Elda).
Returned to Poland and was there during war. Lived in poverty in a cellar and
then a cave.
(6) Belgian mezzo-soprano
Jeanne Maubourg (1875 [possibly 1873] - 12 May 1953). She made her stage
debut (1895) at the Théâtre des Galeries in Brussels in the opera Ali Baba.
She joined the Monnaie in 1897 where she appeared in Manon, Les Charmeurs,
La Fille du régiment, La Domino Noir, Les Deux Billets, Les Dragons de Villars,
Lakmé, Mireille, Faust, La Bohème, Roméo et Juliette, Guillaume Tell
and the French version of Die Meistersinger (Maîtres Chanteurs),
and the first Monnaie Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel in 1898. She remained
at the Monnaie until 1907. In 1909 she came to the Metropolitan Opera and
found a home for five seasons in spite of being limited to minor roles in over
200 performances. Sang in the American premiere (1912) of Le Donne Curiose
under Toscanini. Chicago Opera (1915, 1916).
(7)
Albert Alvarez: French
tenor (1861-1933). His early musical training included a position as a
bandmaster in France. He studied with Martini and made his debut (1887) in
Ghent as Faust, a role he reprised for his Paris Opéra debut in 1892. He
created more than ten roles for that house including Mirka in Augusta Holmes's
La Montagne Noire in 1895, Walther (Les Maitres Chantiers de
Nuremberg) in 1897, Manrique (le Trouvére), and Tristan (Tristan
et Isolde) in 1904, and Nicias in the world premiere of Thaïs
(1894).
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(8) Brooklyn born soprano
Susan Strong (3 August 1870 - London: 11 March
1946). In November of 1889, New York State senator,
Demas Strong, was struck by paralysis, one assumes from a stroke. After his
death in November of 1893, his will stipulated that his six sons receive
$2,500 each, while the balance of his estate, estimated between $150,000 and
$300,000 was to be split among his daughters, including the youngest, Susan
Strong. The sons, in an effort to obtain more from the estate, contested the
will, and the recently discovered will of their mother, claiming that their
parents were mentally unfit. To complicate the matters, it was discovered that
all of the children, except for one, agreed to share and share alike the
estate. A year later the various judgments were made and the estate wound up
being shared equally, with the exception of Susan, who received an additional
voluntary contribution from each share. The one daughter who did not enter
into the agreement did not receive any part of the estate.
They are
having Wagner’s operas in English at Covent Garden, London, and among the
sopranos is Susan Strong, daughter of the late Demas Strong of Brooklyn. Here
is what the musical Courier’s correspondent writes about her: “Another
American soprano of whom America has good reason to be proud is Miss Susan
Strong. My readers will be interested to learn that Miss Strong is a native of
Brooklyn, and was educated musically by Francis Korbay, the Hungarian
composer, who last November took up his residence in London, where she
followed to continue her studies. This was Miss Strong’s first appearance
before any public, as she had never sung previously in either concert or
opera, and her success as Sieglinda was, considering this, most extraordinary.
She has a very pleasing dramatic soprano voice, and her histrionic ability is
exceptional.” In my humble opinion, this artist has every quality, and her
performance is a complete one. She has warmth, passion, abandon, delicacy,
power, sentiment and colossal virtuosity. That she occasionally misses a note
does not count for anything. Brooklyn Eagle; 3 Nov 1895
(9) Pol Plançon: French
bass (12 Jun 1854 - 11 Aug 1914): Debut at Lyons (1877) as St. Bris in Les
Huguenots. World premiere of Le Cid. La Scala, Met, London CG,
Brussels, Nice, Paris Opéra. Seen here in Mephistopheles and The
Huguenots.
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