(1)
Enrico Caruso: Italian tenor (27 Feb 1873 - 2 Aug 1921): Debut Naples 16 Nov
1894 as Morelli (L'amico Francesco). Created Maurizio (Adriana
Lecouvreur), Loris (Fedora), Dick Johnson (Fanciulla del West).
What can one say?
(2) Enrico Caruso as
Canio in Pagliacci.
(3) Enrico Caruso as
Canio in Pagliacci.
(4) One of the finest operatic
performers and interpreters of Russian opera was the bass Feodor Chaliapin
(1874 - 1938). His ability to alter his physical appearance, combined with his
powerful singing and skillful acting, brought his characterizations to life. His
formal debut (1890) occurred in Ufa with the Semyonov-Smarsky Company. He was
Stolnik in Stanislaw Moniuszko's Halka.
(5) Mezzo-soprano Chaleyeva
as Amneris in Aida, which she performed often in Kiev. She had a large
and very beautiful voice.
(6) Marguerite Carré
[orig. Marguerite Giraud]: French soprano (16 Aug 1880 - 26 Dec 1947): Debut Nantes as Mimi
1899. Her father was the theater director in Nantes. She married/divorced/remarried
the director of Paris Opéra-Comique, Albert Carré. She created 15 roles at the Opéra-Comique.
First Paris Cio-Cio-San, Snegurochka, and Salud (La vida breve).
(7) Madame Charles Cahier
[orig. Sarah-Jane Layton Walker] : American contralto (6 Jan 1870 - 15 Apr 1951):
Studied with Jean De Reszke. Vienna Opera, Met. Also known as Mrs. Morris Black.
Seen here as Waltraute.
[Note] "Sadie's"
family can be easily traced through the U.S. census. Her father, I. N. Walker
was a realtor and assessor in Nashville, TN. He was married to Anna Layton.
Together they had five children by 1880: Lizzie, Evaline (Lena), Sarah (Sadie),
Layton, and Percy.
(8)
Emma Calvé [orig. Rosa Noémie Emma
Calvet de Roquer]: French soprano (15 Aug 1858 - 6 Jan 1942): Studied with
Marchesi and others. Debut Monnaie 1882 as Marguerite. Created Suzel (L'amico
Fritz), Anita (La Navarraise), and Massenet's Sapho. First
Covent Garden Santuzza, Suzel, Amy Robsart, and Salome (Hérodiade).
Well known Carmen.
(9) Florencio Constantino (Bilbao: 1869 -
Mexico City: 19 Nov 1919): Spanish tenor. He had a brilliant voice that was pure
in tone. Though his voice was not as large as Caruso's it was said to have been
as beautiful. His promising career was sadly marred by constant courtroom
battles, including his own lawsuit that he pressed against the Columbia
Phonograph Company for allegedly issuing his records under a different artist's
name (not an uncommon practice). His last appearances were in Los Angeles around
1915, after which he traveled to Mexico City where he died, destitute and
penniless.
(10)
Florencio Constantino.
(11) Mercedes Capsir:
Spanish soprano (Barcelona: 20 Jul 1895 - Suzzara: 13 Mar 1969): Supposedly born
in the same house (11 years later) as Maria Barrientos. Debut (1914) as Gilda at
the Teatro Liceo. World premiere of Il Re (1929: La Scala). She sang at
La Scala from 1924 to 1934. Never sang in the U.S.. Composed music. Very large
coloratura voice. She was famous for her Gilda, Lucia, Rosina and Violetta.
(12) Emma Carelli: Italian
soprano (12 May 1877 - 17 Aug 1928): Studied with father, composer Beniamino
Carelli. Debut Altamura 1895 in Mercadante's Vestale. First Italian
Tatyana. Managed Rome Opera. Made her last appearance in 1914 as Iris. Died in
a automobile accident. Seen here as Lorenza.
(13) Rose Caron
[orig. Meuniez]: French soprano (17 Nov 1857 - 9 Apr 1930): Stage debut
Brussels 1883 as Alice (Robert le Diable). At Monnaie created
Brunehilde in Reyer's Sigurd (1884) as well as his Salammbô
(1890), and Godard's Jocelyn (1888). First French Sieglinde and
Desdemona.
Rose Caron, who created the part of
Desdemona [in France], has no more voice to speak of. She is sung out, but
while her voice was going she was gradually becoming a consummate actress.
She was learning to portray characters with expressions of her soul and her
tragic mien, stature, poses and manner of play to thrill her audience much
more than her voice did when it was in the plenitude of its beauty and
strength. Emma Bullet. Brooklyn Eagle, 4 Nov 1894
(14) Austrian soprano (of
Russian birth) Maria Cebotari (Kishineu: 10/23 Feb 1910 - Vienna: 9
Jun 1949). She sang in a traveling company before more serious vocal
training. Her debut (1931) was in Dresden as Mimi. She remained with that
company until 1936. She performed in Berlin from 1934-44; Vienna 1946-49.
She also performed at Covent Garden with a traveling Dresden Company. She
created Aminta in Die schweigsame Frau (1935), and Lucile in
Dantons Tod (1947).
(15) Australian
mezzo-soprano Ada Crossley (1874-1929) was a great favorite of Queen
Victoria, for whom she sang five command performances. She had a soothing,
dark-timbred voice. She never appeared on the stage in an opera.
(16) Marthe Anthelmine Chenal: French
soprano (24 Aug 1881 – 29 Jan 1947): She nearly gave up pursuing an opera
career after a series of discouraging events. Officials from the Paris
Conservatory thought little of her talent, and after a few French provincial
theaters turned her away she was prevailed upon to accept singing engagements
at music halls and at the Moulin-Rouge. However, after further studies with
Martini, in 1905 she was engaged at the Paris Opéra as the French Brunehilde
in Reyer's Sigurd. Chenal quieted the critics and became immensely
popular at the Opéra, the Opéra-Comique, the Gaîté-Lyrique, and the Monte
Carlo Opera. She was involved in the premieres of several, ultimately obscure
operas, including Le Miracle (1910), Icare (1911), La forêt
sacree (1916), Graziella (1916), Jeanne d'Arc (1917), and
Intermède
(1919). Chenal was noted for her fine stage presence and acting, and her
generous spirit.
(17) French tenor Edmond Clément (Paris: 1867 - 23 Feb 1928) in La Flute
enchantée.
He made his debut (29 Nov 1889) at the Opéra-Comique in Gounod's Mireille (as
Vincent). He sang in several world premieres, including Breaneau's
L'attaque du moulin, Massenet's
Thérèse, and Saint-Saëns's Phryné.
He also appeared in the first Paris performances of Madama Butterfly
and Falstaff and the first Don Juan at the Opéra-Comique. In 1909 he
traveled to the United States for a series of appearances, including two
season (1909-11) at the Metropolitan Opera. In 1912 he was part of the Boston
Opera Company, where he was commended for his sensitive portrayal of Don José
in Carmen. Clément was last heard at the age of sixty in a concert
performance, with very little diminution of quality in his vocal control.
Edmond Clement was the
Werther [Metropolitan Opera], whose voice is a
tenor of refined if not of luscious quality, though it became unsteady at
times when he forced it; his diction is excellent, and his action showed
dramatic intelligence and a finished style. New York Times,
17 Nov 1909.
(18)
Danish tenor Peter Cornelius (1865 - 1934) as Tannhäuser. He made his
debut (1892) as a baritone in Copenhagen. His tenor debut (1899) was in that
same city as the Steersman in Der Fliegende
Holländer. In 1906 he appeared in Bayreuth and
was heralded for his German Interpretations. From 1907 through 1914 he made
many appearances to mixed reviews at Covent Garden.
(19) American soprano Vera Courtenay. She
studied with Marchesi in Paris. She was groomed by Massenet for the first
performance of Manon (in French) at the Kroll's Opera House in Berlin
(24 Apr 1902). Within two months she reprised this success at the Opéra-Comique.
In her one season at the Metropolitan Opera (1909-10), she appeared in four
concert performances singing arias from Lakmé,
Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Mireille, Manon, and La Traviata. She
appeared as Musetta (with Caruso), and Nedda while on tour that season with
the company. Postmarked in 1904.
(20) American soprano MarcellaCraft
(1880-1959) studied under Charles R. Adams in Boston and F. Mottino in Milan.
She made her German debut (1905) in Elberfeld as Marguerite in Faust
(seen here). After several other appearances throughout Germany she settled in
Munich in 1909 where she remained until the outbreak of World War I. She was
personally chosen by Richard Strauss to perform his reworked Salome in
Munich on 21 Dec 1910. She was one of the best known American singers in
Germany during her day. In 1919, Musical America reviewed a Traviata
in which Craft participated: "... just why a place has not been accorded her
at the Met has always been difficult to comprehend, it being generally
understood that her gifts entitled her to it, and after attending her
impersonation of the ill-fated Violetta that matter becomes only more
inexplicable." After her retirement she settled in Riverside, CA., where she
was a vocal coach.
