(1) German
tenor Heinrich Gudehus
(
Altenhagen: 30 March 1845 - Dresden: 9 Oct 1909)
as Siegfried. Hanns Hanfstaengl, C.A. Teich, Dresden. Jan 1895. He made his début
(1871) as Nadori in Spohr’s Jessonda. From 1880 to 1890 he was engaged at
Dresden, making his début there as Lohengrin. He often appeared at the Bayreuth
Festivals, and his Wagnerian roles were seen at Covent Garden. He
made his New York début (1890) at the Metropolitan Opera as Tannhäuser. After
his Metropolitan Opera engagements his finished his singing career at the Berlin Hofoper.
He retired in 1896.
(2) Marcella Sembrich:
Polish soprano (15 Feb 1858 - 11 Jan 1935): Debut (1877) as Elvira (I
Puritani) in Athens. Dresden Royal Opera, Met, Paris, Milan, Berlin, Vienna,
Stockholm, Brussels. Equally adept with the piano and violin and often
accompanied herself. One of the most famous coloratura sopranos in operatic
history. An Erwin Raupp,
Dresden, photo.
(3) Marie Renard (Graz:
18 Jan 1863 - Graz: 24 Oct 1939 [other dates reported]) as Musetta in Leoncavallo's
Boheme (as it's written on the verso). Studied with Rosa de Ruda in
Berlin and made her debut in Graz (1882) as Azucena. A lowered version of
Rosalinde's Czárdás in Die Fledermaus was written for Renard but
never sung. Adele, Vienna, photograph.
(4) Paula Mark and
Marie Renard, Adele, Dresden, photograph.
(5) Max Alvary as Siegfried - Munich, 1895. July. J.C. Schaarwachter, Berlin.
(6) Rosa Sucher and
Gisela Staudigl.
Cabinet card produced for the Bayreuth Festival. 20 Jul 1891. As Isolde and
Brangane.
German soprano Rosa Sucher
[nee Hasselbeck] (Velburg, Bavaria: 23 Feb 1847 - Eschweiler: 16 Apr 1927).
She first appeared in small roles at the Hofopera in Munich. Her first major
role was at the Kroll Opera (Berlin: 1875) as Agathe (Der
Freischütz). After performances in Leipzig and Hamburg she made her London
debut (1882) as Elsa in Lohengrin. She was first seen in Bayreuth in 1886.
She made her New York début (1895) as Isolde with the Damrosch Opera Company
at the Metropolitan Opera.
Rosa Sucher
made an appearance at the wedding of Count Paul Ernest Boniface de Castellane
of France to Anna Gould, daughter of the late Jay Gould (the “Robber Baron”),
at the 5th Avenue residence of Anna's brother, George Jay Gould. It
was one of the most important marriages of its time, and later one of the ugliest
divorces. After the marriage, the couple settled in France. The Count managed
to quickly infuse a good chunk of Anna's $80,000,000 inheritance into the French
economy before she divorced him on the grounds of infidelity. Sucher, who was
not listed as a guest, sang “Elsa’s Dream” from Lohengrin with a string
orchestra before the bride arrived. Later, “The Ave
Maria was sung by Miss Rosa Sucher, stationed at the foot of the stairs in
the large hall, her rich, melodious voice blending with the strains of the
organ and the cadences of the orchestra added a rare charm to an impressive
and beautiful ceremony.” 4 Mar 1895
(7) Emilio Naudin
(Parma: 23 Oct 1823 - Bologna: 5 May 1890). Italian tenor. He studied in
Milan. Debut (Cremona: 1843) in Pacini's Saffo. at Appeared in
Argentina, Portugal, Spain, Russia, London, Paris. Meyerbeer chose him to
create the role of Vasco de Gama in l'Africaine, along with of Marie
Sasse. He was the first London Don Carols. He retired in 1885. Adele,
Vienna, photograph.
(8) Zélia Trebelli and
Therese Tietjens in Semiramide. An Elliot and Fry photograph.
Zélia Trebelli
[Gloria Caroline Gillebert or Le Bert] (Paris: 1834 - Etretat: 18 Aug 1892),
French mezzo-soprano. She studied with Wartel, and made her debut in
Madrid (1859) as Azucena. She was the first Metropolitan Opera Carmen (1884).
She married the tenor Alessandro Bettini. Note: The name Trebelli is nearly her original name backwards.
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 (Vępres 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.
(9)
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." An Appleton photo.
(10) 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). Image by the London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company.
(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. A Walery photo.
(12) Mathilde Mallinger
[orig. Lichtenegger] (Zagreb: 17 Feb 1847 - Berlin: 19 Apr 1920). Note: Some
sources have her as a Hungarian or Croatian soprano born in Agram on 16 Feb
1847. Debut Munich (1866) as Norma. She created Eva (Meistersinger),
1868. Performed at the Berlin Court Opera (1869-1882), where she was the rival
of Pauline Lucca. The rivalry was so intense that when both of them appeared
together in a performance of Figaro, Lucca was hissed during her
entrance. Lucca broke her contract with this company as a result. After her
retirement she taught singing. One of her pupils was Lotte Lehmann. She was
married to Baron v. Schimmelpfenning (1890). Photo: B. J. Hirsch, Berlin.
As for poor Mdme. Mallinger, the famous rival of Mdme.
Lucca at Berlin, she has been hissed at St. Petersburg, partly because she
bears a German name, partly because she belongs to the German Opera House, but
above all because she is a "Slavonion renegade." Mdme. Mallinger is, in fact,
a "pure Croat" by birth, and a German only by education---that is to say, by
all she has learned….But why did they not hiss Pauline Lucca who was once
photographed side by side with Bismarck? Because … Mdme. Lucca is half Italian
by birth. Brooklyn Eagle 27 Nov 1872.
(13) Austrian bass Emil Scaria
(Graz: 18 Sept 1838
-
Blasewitz, near Dresden: 22 July 1886).
He made his début (1860) in Budapest as Saint-Bris (Les Huguenots).
He made appearances in Dessau, Leipzig, and Dresden. From
1873 until his death Scaria was engaged at the
Vienna Hofoper. While in London performing a Ring Cycle he suffered a mental
breakdown. He continued to sing but in 1886 he again suffered a mental breakdown and soon
after died insane.
(14) English soprano Anna Bishop
[nee Riviere] (London: 9 Jan 1810 - New York: 18 Mar 1884 [stroke]). She was a
piano student at the Royal Academy of Music. In 1831 she married Sir Henry R.
Bishop, a professor of music at the University of Oxford. In 1837 she
abandoned her piano studies in favor of vocal studies. Soon after she made her
first appearances in concert form, with her husband directing. In 1843 she was engaged as prima donna assoluta at the San
Carlos Opera, Naples, where she remained a little over two years. Her husband
passed away during a tour of South America, and upon her return to London in
1858 she married Martin Schultz but kept her stage name. Bishop was an
extraordinary globetrotter for the time (or even today!), giving concerts
wherever she went. Newspapers would often report her worldly whereabouts, and
she even survived a South Pacific shipwreck. Photographer unknown.
[Newspaper
reports on Bishop]
"We had the pleasure of
attending this lady's concert in Utica, on Saturday last, and of having a seat
so near her sweet sounding mouth, as to enable us to identify each particular
one of the ranks of snowy teeth which guard her delightful music box --- and
which --- alas! (according to report) at times bite voraciously into bread and
butter! Good! Who's her dentist?" 2 Aug 1851
"What a curious web is woven
by the double-threaded shuttle (vocal cords), which carries down port and
potatoes, and bring up Casta Diva and Comin' thro' the Rye! "
24 Jul 1851
(15) 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.
Photographer, V. Angerer, Vienna.
(16) The great English baritone
[Sir] Charles Santley (1834-1922). He made his first major opera
appearance (3 Feb 1860) in Wallace's Lurline at Covent Garden. A
special air sung by the Faust character, Valentine, "Avant de quitter
ces lieux" was created by Gounod for Santley. H. J. Whitlock, Birmingham,
photographer.
(17) Zélia Trebelli. Photographer: Elliot and Fry, London.
(18) Zélia Trebelli.
Photographer: Carl Krause, Berlin.
(19) Zélia Trebelli.
(20) Zélia Trebelli.Photographer: Gösta
Florman, Stockholm.
