Gurney established his photo
gallery in New York
(189 Broadway) in 1840. It was one of the first such establishments in the
United States. As one of the few photographers in America
who knew the daguerreotype process, he attracted wealthier clients and
celebrities who were both
curious and amazed by the relatively new invention.
His success attracted the interest of Matthew Brady who, after some pointers
from Gurney, established a rival studio at Fulton Street and Broadway.
Gurney’s own techniques
improved (some of which he pioneered) and advanced as the photographic field
progressed. He branched out into ambrotypes, cartes de visite, stereographs,
mezzographs, cabinets and albumen prints. He moved to a spacious studio at 707
Broadway [J. Gurney & Son] where he had quite an
inventory of props and backdrops that would astonish any visitor.
Later in his career he went
into partnerships, at different times, with C.D. Fredericks (see Other USA
photographers) and his son, Benjamin Gurney.
(1)
Victor Capoul:
French tenor (2 Feb 1839 - 13 Feb 1924): Debut (1861) at the Opéra-Comique in
Le Chalet. Sang mostly in London, Paris, and NY. He lost his entire fortune
to speculation. Bitter, he burned all of the mementos he collected over the
years. Rare recordings on Fonotipia exist. This is a Jeremiah
Gurney & Son cabinet card. See the Stereo Card Images link for close-up views of
Capoul from the same studio session.
(2) Carl Rosa [orig. Karl
Rosa] (Hamburg: 22 Mar 1842 - Paris: 30 Apr 1889):German impresario and
conductor. He was at first a violinist. He met Scottish soprano Euphrosyne
Parepa while on a solo tour and married her. With her he established the Parepa-Rosa
Opera Company, which was later renamed to the Carl Rosa Opera Company.
(3) Giuseppe Del Puente
(Naples: 30 Jan 1841 - Philadelphia: 25 May 1900), Italian baritone. He first
studied with the cello at the Naples Conservatory. He made his debut at Iasi,
Romania. Early in his career he appeared in Naples (at the Teatro San Carlo),
Spain (1870), Rome (1873: Teatro Argentina), London (1873: Drury Lane), Parma
(Teatro Regio) and La Scala (1875). In 1878 he appeared at the New York
Academy of Music (another source has him making an appearance there in 1874).
In 1883 he sang Valentin in Faust in the first ever performance at the
Metropolitan Opera. Del Puente had a son, Joseph, who was also a baritone but
his career was brief.
(4) American actress and singer Genevieve Guerrabella[Ward] (1833/8-1922?) Civil war
debutante studied opera in
Europe as Genevieve Ward. Paris (1859) sang Traviata.
(5) Isabella Hinckley:
American soprano (Albany: 4 Sep 1840 - New York: 5 Jul 1862). Tragically, she
died during childbirth at the height of her career. This Gurney image was taken
at the time of her performances in New York, circa 1861. She was married to
bass, Susini and after her death left him with the care of another young
daughter. In London, Susini would be killed after being run over by a cab.
Appeared at the Academy of Music in NY. Her debut came there on 23, Apr 1861.
The newspaper compared her to Adelina Patti, "Miss Hinckley's voice, besides
being powerful and sympathetic, is of great compass ... her execution, though
neat and sometimes elegant, has at the same time that degree of precision about
it which shows that, unlike Patti, she has not the art to conceal art. Her voice
is not as flexible as Patti's, though in volume of tone it is superior." During
an Academy performance of The Barber of Seville (5 Deb 1861), she sang
The Star-Spangled Banner during the Lesson Scene. Abraham Lincoln was
present in the audience.
(6) Giuseppina [Josepha]
Medori [nee Wilmot]: (1825 - ?): Belgian soprano. Verdi wanted Medori to
be both his Leonore (il Trovatore) and his Violetta (Traviata)
for the Paris premieres of that work but she did not. She did create the role
of Margherita in Giovanni Pacini's Margherita Pusterla. She has
appeared at the Teatro Colon.
(7) Ilma di Murska: Croatian coloratura soprano, born in 1936; died Munich
14 Jan 1889; pupil of Marchesi in Vienna. She sang at Florence, Pest, Berlin,
Hamburg, London and in America and Australia. She had a brilliant coloratura
voice of wide range, and superb acting ability.
"Ilma di Murska did not die in abject poverty, as the
cable dispatches said. She was living with her sister up to the time of her
death, and this sister was frugal and well to do. The American Art Journal says
that the singer always had a pet --- parrot, dog, or ape --- that she carried
with her wherever she went. Her immense Newfoundland, Pluto, dined with her
every day. A cover was laid for him at her table, and he had learned to eat a
fowl from a plate without dropping meat or bones on the floor or table cloth.
Two parrots, a monkey and an Angora cat were his constant companions, and
frequently their antics and quarrels resulted in enormous hotel bills, which the
prima donna paid without a murmur." 17 Feb 1889
(8) Christine Nilsson
as the Daughter of the Regiment.
(9) Christine Nilsson
[orig. Tornerhjelm] (20 Aug 1843 - 22 Nov 1921): Swedish soprano. She made her
debut (1864) as Violetta in La Traviata at the Théâtre-Lyrique in Paris.
Her operatic credits include the first Ophelia in Thomas's Hamlet (1868),
the first London and New York Mignons, London's first Margherita in Boito's
Mefistofele, and she was Marguerite in Faust in the first ever
performance at the Metropolitan Opera (1883).
(10) Christine Nilsson.
(11) Christine Nilsson.
(12) Euphrosyne Parepa-Rosa
(Edinburgh: 7 May 1836 - London: 21 Jan 1874): Scottish soprano, daughter of
soprano Elizabeth Seguin. Debut at the age of 16 in Malta (1855: Amina: La
sonnambula). Italy, Spain, Portugal. London debut as Elvira in I puritani.
US tours with the Maretzek company. Married Carl Rosa in 1867 and toured USA
and Britain with her husband as the principal soprano (Carl Rosa Opera
Company). This is a younger image of the soprano.
(13) Euphrosyne Parepa-Rosa.
(14) Euphrosyne Parepa-Rosa.
(15) Euphrosyne Parepa-Rosa.
(16) Euphrosyne Parepa-Rosa.
(17) Marietta Piccolomini
and Pasquale Brignoli.
Italian tenor Pasquale Brignoli
(Naples: 1824 - New York: 30 Oct 1884). He came to the United States (1855) with
the Czech impresario, Maurice Strakosch (who was married to Carlotta Patti), who
brought over a number of fine singers. Brignoli made three trips back to Europe;
but this country became his adopted home. Many American newspapers wrote that he
was the finest tenor on stage during his tenure.
Marietta Piccolomini
(15 Mar 1834 - 23 Dec 1899): Italian soprano. Of noble birth, her parents were
horrified that she wanted a career in opera. However, they relented. Her debut
was in Rome (1852) in the operas of Poliuto and Don Bucefalo.
From there she went to Florence (1852) to sing Lucrezia Borgia, which
is commonly and erroneously given as her debut. Scarcely eighteen, the
audience snickered at such a child performing this role. She was the first
Violetta in the English premiere of Traviata, and the first London
interpreter of Luisa Miller. Her Violetta was quite popular throughout Italy
and especially in her home town of Sienna. There is a report that she actually
sang thirty-five successive nightly performances of Violetta. Crowds used to
surround her carriages and hotels. She often gave the proceeds from her
performances to the poor, and gave complimentary performances in London as
well. She retired in 1860 when she married the Marchese Gaetani della Fargia,
although she did sing a benefit concert in 1861 for the sufferers of an
earthquake in central Italy. Physically, she was described as follows:
"She
was agreeable, sprightly, petite, with a vivacious grace of manner perfectly
bewitching. Her figure is slender and extremely elegant; her features are
bright, and capable of expressing the rapid transitions of varying emotion . .
. ." Her voice was "a high soprano, fresh and youthful, but in range perhaps a
little more than two octaves, crisp and flexible, pretty fluent, and rather
sweet than powerful."
(18) Jennie [Vanzini] van
Zandt: American soprano. Van Zandt often sang under the name of Vanzini or
Nanzandt-Vanzini. Her La Scala appearances (1868) were listed under the former
name. She made her stage debut (3 Nov 1864) at the NY Academy of Music as Gilda.
After appearances abroad (including La Scala) she reappeared at the Academy of
Music in 1871. Her reviews were quite good and her voice was described as a
"light soprano of very high range and of great freshness and beauty." She spent
her later years cultivating the voice of her daughter, Marie van Zandt.
