(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.
(2) Minnie Hauk [orig.
Mignon Hauck] American soprano (26 Nov 1851 - 6 Feb 1929): Debut Brooklyn 1866
as Amina. London CG, Paris, Brussels, Moscow, Berlin. First American Juliette
(which she sang the day before her 16th birthday), Carmen (seen here), and Manon.
Appeared one season at the Met and then organized her own opera company. She
retired at the height of her career to live with her husband at Wagner's villa
at Triebschen. Lost her fortune during WW I and was thereafter supported through
donations from American opera lovers.
(3) 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.
(4) Sofia Scalchi:
Italian mezzo-soprano (29 Nov 1850 - 22 Aug 1922): Debut Mantua 1866 as Ulrica.
London CG (1868 - 1890). Toured US with Mapleson company. She was Siebel at
the opening of the Metropolitan Opera (1883). First American Mistress Quickly,
La Cieca, and Emilia. Great volume and range, and command of coloratura. Said
to have four (perhaps uneven) registers.
(5) Theodore Wachtel (Hamburg:
1823 - Berlin: 1893 ), German tenor. Son of a son of a stable keeper in
Hamburg. His first opera engagements (1854) were in Germany. In 1862 he made
an unsuccessful debut in London as Edgardo in Lucia. However, he had a
tremendous high "c", which he used to his advantage as Chapelou in Adam's
Le Postillon de Longumeau. On 18 Sep 1871 Wachtel made his American debut
at the Stadt Theatre, New York as Chapelou. He sang the role over 1200 times,
accumulating a fortune. Headed the Wachtel Grand Opera Company.
Herr
Wachtel made his first appearance in Philadelphia on the 29th as Manrico in "Trovatore,"
in the presence of one of the largest audiences ever assembled within the
walls of the Academy of Music. The usually icy coldness of a Philadelphia
audience was quickly melted by the warmth and strength and brilliancy of
Wachtel's vocal organ, as well as the singer's acting. In a word, Wachtel has
made a genuine hit in a city where even Nilsson feared to undergo the ordeal
of an operatic appearance. Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 4 Jan 1872.
(6) 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.
It will be remembered that in California Misses Annie
Louise Cary and Clara Louise Kellogg waged deadly war for a while, and the
circumambient air was full of the smoke of battle. After counting the dead and
wounded, the combatants declared the fight a draw, and Manager Strakosch hit
upon the ingenious device of acquiring still another prima donna to make peace
between the others. Mlle. Roze, who in private is Mrs. Mapleson, seems to have
thrown oil upon the flames instead of pouring it in bulk upon troubled waters,
and hence the renewal of the strife in a triangular form…. In order to show
that his three prime donne live together in delightful harmony, he mentions in
the most studiously accidental way that Mr. Mapleson, “whose youth entitles
him to an excitable temper,” flung all his wife’s clothes out of her dressing
room. Whether this was to protect the other prime donne from being impelled to
a breach of the peace by being outdressed by Mlle Roze, or whether it is the
custom in Mr. Strakosch’s company for the three ladies to finish their robbing
in the corridors he curiously omits to mention. Brooklyn Eagle;
Mar 28, 1878;
(7) Emma Thursby -
American soprano (1845 - 1931): Noted American concert singer. Vocal teacher
of Geraldine Farrar.
(8)
Austrian soprano AmalieMaterna (St Georgen:
1844 - Vienna: 1918). She made her début in 1865 at Graz
and then appeared in operetta at the Carltheater, Vienna.
She first appeared at the Vienna Hofoper in 1869 (as
Sélika in L’Africaine), and remained a
member of the company for almost thirty years. She had a large and powerful
voice which was ideal for Brünnhilde. She appeared in
Bayreuth as Kundry in the first ever performance of Parsifal (1882).
Her Metropolitan Opera debut came in 1885 as Elisabeth in Tannhäuser,
the role in which she gave her final performance in Vienna (1894).
(9) Ernest Nicolini (23
Feb 1834 - 19 Jan 1898): French tenor. Debut Paris (Opéra-Comique) in Halévy's
Mousquetaires de la Reine. First London Lohengrin, Pery (Gomes's Il
Guarany), and Radamès. He performed frequently with and was married to
Adelina Patti (1886).
(10)
German (later naturalized American)
impresario Oscar Hammerstein
(1846-1919) immigrated to the United States and amassed a considerable fortune
by inventing a cigar-making machine. He built several theaters and opera
houses, most notably the Manhattan Opera House which he established in 1906.
Using his fortune to hire talented singers, he briefly gave the Metropolitan
Opera serious competition, exhibiting an innovative repertory with fine
singers. However, financial problems eventually forced him to sell his
interests to the Metropolitan. The Metropolitan, feeling the sting of having
another local opera house operate successfully, required Hammerstein to agree
that he would not produce opera in the United States for a decade.
(11) 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.
(12) Italian baritone Georgio Ronconi
(1810-?).
[Philadelphia Academy of Music]
Ronconi, as opera-goers the world over know, is the best
Figaro at present on the stage. This reputation is conceded to him wherever he
has essayed the part, and his success last evening fully confirmed his right
to be considered the interpreter of the unique creation of the immortal
Rossini. 8 Feb 1868 - The Musical World.
Tuesday was in every sense of the expression a gala
night at the Royal Italian Opera, for the accomplished Adelina Patti made her
entreé in the Barbiere with the most incomparable of Figaros yet
remaining --- Georgio Ronconi. To criticize such a performance as that of
Tuesday would be little else than impertinent. It may suffice, therefore, to
say that as Patti was singing her very best and playing with as much sparkling
animation as ever, so Ronconi was even more ridiculously droll than on former
occasions. 23 Jun 1866. Boston. Dwight's Journal of Music.
(14) Max Alvary [orig
Maximilian Achenbach] (3 May 1856 - 7 Nov 1898): German tenor, son of painter
Andreas Achenbach. Debut Weimar (1879) Alessandro Stradella. American debut
(1885) Metropolitan Opera as Don Jose opposite Lilli Lehmann also making her
American debut. First U.S. Loge, Siegfried, and Adolar. Sang in first Covent
Garden Ring under Mahler 1892. Forced to retire from the stage in 1897
due to illness.
(14) Andreas Dippel:
German tenor/impresario (30 Nov 1866 - 12 May 1932): Debut Bremen (1887:
Lionel in Martha). Had over 150 roles.
(15) Carlotta Patti
(1835-1889). Soprano Carlotta Patti was the older sister of Adelina Patti. She
made her debut (1861) in New York. Because of physical disabilities and
personal preferences she quickly gave up the opera but enjoyed a successful
concert career from 1863 to 1878. Patti married Ernest de Munck, a cellist, in
1879 and taught singing in Paris after her retirement.
(16) 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).
