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José Maria Mora - Photographer
A Spaniard
born in Cuba in 1849 [or 1846], he found a safe haven in New York during the
Cuban Revolution in 1868. After studying with Sarony, he opened his first studio
in 1870 at 707 Broadway. Mora was noted for his extensive collection of painted
backdrops (over 150), many designed by himself, that hung in his studio. A great
deal of his profit was earned from selling these celebrity images (called
"publics") in theaters, hotels and other establishments all over the world.
Later in his life Mora chose to live as a recluse at the Hotel Breslin in New
York for the last fifteen years of his life. His meals subsisted mainly of
fifteen-cent pies and cakes, and other food given to him by hotel guests, even
though it was said that he had several savings accounts and property in Cuba and
on Long Island. In September of 1926 he was declared incompetent by a sheriff's
jury who based their opinion on his appearance and incoherent talk. Earlier in
the year he had been sent to St. Vincent's Hospital after he had been found
unconscious in his room. When his room was searched it was found to have been
littered with scraps of food, and barely alive in a box were two pigeons. His
bathroom was secured with four padlocks, and the bathtub filled with theatre
programs and newspapers from years ago. Photographs of dead celebrities, and old
theatre clippings decorated his walls and tables. Mora passed away on 18 Oct
1926 (the newspapers reported his age to be eighty) at St. Vincent's Hospital.
His only next of kin were reported to be cousins in Brazil, N.Y., and Cuba, and
a sister who was said to be the wife of the Brazilian Ambassador to Germany in
the days of Bismarck. |
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(1) Etelka Gerster
(with candle): Hungarian dramatic soprano (25 Jun 1855 - 20 Aug
1920). Studied with Marchesi in Vienna. Debut in Venice as Gilda in
Rigoletto (8 Jan 1876). Great successes in Berlin and Budapest. Married
Carlo Gardini. London and NY (Academy of Music) debuts as Amina in
Sonnambula. She was an Adelina Patti rival, and her success caused some
bitter feelings between the two singers. Seen here in Faust.
Mme.
Gerster is a young lady of winning presence. She is about medium height, has
a rich growth of light hair, and features molded in the German culture, and
when she converses her mouth wears a peculiarly charming smile, her blue
eyes sparkle, and her voice is low, but very musical. New York
Times, 4 Nov 1878.
(2-4)
Marie Roze [orig. Hippolyte Ponsin] (2 mar 1846 - 21 Jun 1926): French
soprano. Debut Paris Opéra-Comique (1865) in Herold's Marie. London;
Carl Rosa U.S. tour; First London Manon. Married Mapleson's son, had son
Raymond Roze (1875-1920) who produced opera at Covent Garden. Here are two
Mora images from the same studio session.
(5) Sybil Sanderson:
"Sybil
Sanderson is to sing in Brooklyn [in Manon]. Miss Sanderson ranks with
the very greatest of famous songstresses in grand opera. Undeniably the queen of
American singers, among whom are numbered such artists as Emma Eames, Zelie de
Lussan, and Lucile Hill, she stands in the operatic world second only to Mme.
Melba. To the Eagle reporter who found her in her apartments at the St.
James Hotel yesterday afternoon it became obvious that she is not only a great
artist but also a very beautiful young woman…. Miss Sanderson said:
“I hear that
the Academy of Music is very nice both in its size and in the arrangement of its
stage. It is about two-third as large as the Metropolitan Opera house, is it
not? I am looking forward with a great deal of pleasure to singing Manon
there. Oh, thank you. Do you really think I shall receive a cordial welcome in
Brooklyn? I only hope it will be as flattering as you promise. If it proves as
cordial as that extended to me here I shall be more than pleased. Of course, I
wish to be liked in America and in America’s chief cities, for am I not American
myself despite my long absence on the other side? I have never given up my
nationality and am as proud of it to-day as ever before.
“Now about
Manon, which I shall sing in Brooklyn. I was much surprised and
disappointed about it here. Massenet, the very day I left Paris, assured me that
the entire opera had been re-written and that all the recitative music had been
sent on here. There was to be no speaking dialogue, whatever. On my arrival
here, however, they told me that there was none of that music here. There was no
other alternative. We had to use frequent dialogue, and it injured very much the
artistic value of the opera. I knew all the music, but I could not sing it when
the rest only spoke it. M. Jean de Reszke alone knew the music. In our scenes
the parts were sung entire. As you can see, I was greatly disappointed. Manon
is much better adapted to a house the size of the Academy. It will sound much
better, I am sure, there than it did in the Metropolitan Opera house. It is too
big, too huge. My voice is as large as the usual sopranos, but it is an effort
to fill a building as large as the Metropolitan Opera house. As to the
criticisms that my high notes were shrill Wednesday evening, I will say this: Of
course I realize that my voice is not as full as I should like it, but it is
growing more so every year. When I began singing I had nothing but high notes.
You may remember that I had to take high G in ‘Esclarmonde.’
[Parisians called it her "Eiffel Tower note."]
Well, I sang ‘Esclarmonde’ 100 times, and then I stopped singing in public
altogether for six months. I went to my singing teacher during that time every
day and tried to find my low notes. I am happy of the critics who think I have
found them. But you and the opera goers of Brooklyn will have to judge for
yourselves when I sing over there. After all, you must hear to know. I hope they
will like Manon and --- me.
“No, the
part was not re-written for me. It had been created eight years before I
commenced to sing at all, but in the interim, Massenet had not produced it
because he could not find anyone whom he liked for the part. The character I
take is, as you know, that of a young girl. I am not just sweet 16, but I am
still young enough in face and figure for it, and the author liked my singing.
That is the reason I was selected to re-introduce it.”
20 Jan 1895.
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(6) Emma [Cecelia] Thursby:
Noted American (Brooklyn: 1845 - 1931) concert artist. Studied with Erminia
Rudersdorff and Maurice Strakosch. Her first concert appearance was at the Old
Bushwick Reformed Winter Church, to which her family belonged. Teacher of
Geraldine Farrar. In 1924 she suffered what was likely a stoke that left her
paralyzed on her left side.
(7) Zelda Seguin [nee
Zelda Harrison], American contralto. She received voice lessons in New York from
Anne Childes Seguin, who later became her mother-in-law when Zelda married her
son, Edward S.R. Seguin. Anne Seguin introduced Zelda to Minnie Hauk, who was
instrumental in arranging an opportunity to sing on the stage. She made her
singing debut in concert in Saratoga (1865 at the age of 17). Her opera debut
was in Chicago as Lazarello in Maritana. She also sang at the French
Theatre in Boston, with Caroline Riching's company, Clara Louise Kellogg's
company, the Strakosch company, and Emma Abbott's company. Her longest period
was with Parepa-Rosa's company. She avoided singing outside of her vocal range,
but on occasion she had to fill in when Parepa-Rosa was ill:
"... to
save a performance I sang Arline in The Bohemian Girl without a
rehearsal. In fact, I had never studied the part. I simply remembered it from
having heard it sung so often. Carl Rosa was the musical conductor, and at
rehearsals he would stop Parepa as often as he did any one else. When Parepa
went to London she wanted me to go with her, but I refused. I suppose that if I
had gone I should never have returned. As it turned out, my whole career was
devoted to this country and the singing of opera in English."
26 Jun 1911, New York Times.
About Emma Abbott, Seguin said:
"... I sang
with Emma Abbott, who had a beautiful voice, but certain eccentricities, which
in the end made it impossible for her to sing in New York. The critics were very
severe with her. She had an extremely bad trill. You could throw your hat
between the notes. And she was willing to gratify anybody's request to sing
Nearer, My God, to Thee or Comin' Through the Rye in any opera which
she might happen to be singing." 26
Jun 1911, New York Times.
(8)
Antonio Galassi: Italian baritone (1845 - 1904): Covent Garden 1875
Italian Royal Opera season. Father to Elvira Galassi di Lorenzo (Cesena: 30
Aug 1883 - Mailand: 21 Apr 1954). Galassi was part of Adelina Patti's touring
company along with Mme Fabbri (contralto), Louise Engel (mezzo), Durwald Lely
(tenor), and Franco Navara (bass) [Music Hall: New York: 13 Nov 1893]. Also at
the Music Hall on 21 Feb 1893, Galassi participated in a benefit (Orthopedic
Dispensary and Hospital) concert of Wagner's music. He was not well received:
"The same cannot be said for Signor Galassi, except in one instance when he
lost the pitch on an entrance. In other places he had a firm grip on every
note, and he kept it till his breath was well-nigh spent. His phrasing was
consequently highly original and not lovely." He was seen at Chickering Hall
in New York [2 Feb 1892] giving a concert (with Emil Fischer, Italo Campanini,
Victor Herbert [as a cellist], among others) for the benefit of the basso,
Clemente Bologna who had been sick and disabled for a long time.
(9-10) Emma Nevada
(Alpha, near Nevada
City, CA, 7 Feb 1859 -
Liverpool, 20 Jan 1940), American soprano and mother
of Mignon Nevada. Nevada was a pupil of Marchesi. She made her opera
début (1880) at Her Majesty’s Theatre, London, in La sonnambula, an opera
for which was she particularly known. After performing in Italy and Paris she
returned to the United States in 1884 to perform at the New York Academy of
Music.
Back in England she sang in the first performance of Mackenzie’s
Rose of Sharon (1884), The soprano role was written for her. She
performed often in concerts and a noted feature of them were her many changes of
dress, culminating in the appearance of her wedding dress [she was married to
Dr. Raymond Palmer]. The wedding dress was often spoken of in news reports…
"It was announced that the soprano would wear her famous
white velvet bridal dress at the concert. She wore a white dress, but whether it
was velvet or not will always remain a mystery so far as I am concerned. When
the tenor stepped on it accidentally, however, I noticed that he left the
imprint of his heel on it plainly." Brooklyn Eagle
(11) [Dame]
Emma Albani [orig. Marie Louise Cecilie Emma Lajeunesse] Canadian soprano (1
Nov 1847 - 2 Apr 1930): Debut Messina (1870) as Amina (Sonnambula).
Florence, Malta, great success at Covent Garden. Paris, St. Petersburg, Moscow.
Academy of Music in NY. Married to impresario Ernest Gye and lived in London.
For London she created Elisabeth (Tannhäuser) and Elsa (Lohengrin).
Favorite of Queen Victoria for whom she performed many times.
(12)
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).
(13) Christine
Nilsson as Marguerite in Faust.
(14)
Marie Roze.
(15) Therese
Tietjens [also Tietiens] (1831- 1877): A Mora image of the German soprano
(of Hungarian parents). She made her debut (1848) as Erma in Le Macon in
Hamburg. She was London's first Amelia (un Ballo in Maschera), Marguerite
(Faust), Leonora (La Forza del Destino), Elena (Vêpres
Siciliennes), Mireille, and Medea. On 13 Apr 1858 Tietjens opened the season
at Her Majesty's Theatre in London as Valentin in Huguenots. The Queen,
who was in attendance, said "It was beautiful." Tietjen's appearances were a
great success. By the late 1870s Tietjens, who in her later years often
performed in pain, died of cancer and was buried in London's Kensal Green
Cemetery.
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