(1) Giovanni Mario [orig. Giovanni Matteo, Cavaliere di Candia] (17 Oct 1810 - 11 Dec 1883): Italian tenor. Debut Paris Opéra (1838) as Robert le Diable. Sang in London from 1839 to 1871 at various theaters. He originally eloped with a ballerina to Paris in 1836. Then he married Grisi in 1844. Sang in the world premiere of Don Pasquale (1843). First London Gennaro, Ernesto, Duke of Mantua, John of Leyden, and Roméo. He was poverty stricken after his retirement. Considered to have had one of the finest voices of the 19th century. Photo by Charles Bergamasco.

(2) French tenor Fernand Francell as Leoni in Francesca da Rimini, a role he created. A Nadar photograph.

(3) Austrian soprano [Marie] Gabrielle Krauss (Vienna: 24 mar 1842 - Paris: 6 Jan 1906). She studied at the Vienna Conservatory with Marchesi. She made her debut in Berlin (1859) as Mathilde in William Tell. Photo by Gaston & Mathieu, Paris.

(4) Adelina Patti: Photo by Leon Crémière, Paris. Identified on the back as Madame de Caux, which dates this CDV pre-1878.

The Patti concert [at the Metropolitan Opera house] last night was attended by a very large audience. There was quite a number of empty boxes, but the rest of the house, especially the galleries, showed no vacant spaces to speak of. [The] absence of what is called the fashionable element was made an occasion for comment beyond the importance of the incident. One person ought to be as good as another at an opera, if he behaves himself, and better too, if he knows and enjoys music more than the other with whom he is brought into comparison. In consequence of the staying away of the customary tenants of the boxes, the music was heard without interruption and there was no display of ill breeding, of the vulgarity of audible talking and of the endeavor to draw notice from the business which brought the people together to the clothes that some of the throng had on. One ruffian who had a box near the main entrance entered it drunk and began to talk out loud just before Patti commenced singing.... the ushers soon induced the man to go home or had him put out of the building. Brooklyn Eagle 13 Dec 1892

(5) Christine Nilsson as the Queen of the Night. A Pierre Petit photo.

(6) Marie Van Zandt (1858 - Cannes: 31 Dec 1919). American soprano. Two birth dates and locations have been attributed to her: Texas: 8 Oct 1861 and New York: 8 Oct 1858. I'll stick to the latter from The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. She was the first Lakmé (Opéra-Comique: 14 Apr 1883), which was specially written for her by Delibes. It was reported that her success in this role caused her jealous Opéra-Comique colleagues to wrongfully accuse her of being drunk on stage. She studied with her mother, Jennie Van Zandt, and in Milan with Lamperti. Her debut was in Turin (1879) as Zerlina. "We have had French opera at the Gaiety Theatre; but it has only served to show the remarkable natural talent of Mlle Van Zandt, whose sole extraordinary qualification is an agile soprano voice with a range that includes E natural in alt. She is supported by a company of striking examples of the defects of the French school of singing, from which she is herself by no means free." Bernard Shaw, Our Corner, July 1885. This is a van Bosch, Paris, image.

(7) Enrico Tamberlik (16 Mar 1820 - 13 Mar 1889): Italian (possibly Romanian) tenor. Debut Rome (Dec 1837) as Arnold. Covent Garden regularly from 1850 to 1864, and again in 1870. NY, Paris, St. Petersburg, Madrid. Created Alvaro in la forza del destino. First London Manrico and Cellini. This is a Mayer-Pierson (Lèopold Ernest Mayer and Pierre Louis Pierson) photograph.

(8) Daniel Auber (1782-1871). He composed over 40 operas including: Le séjour militaire (1813), La bergère châtelaine (1820), Emma, ou La promesse imprudente (1821), Leicester, ou Le château de Kenilworth (1823), La neige ou Le nouvel Eginard (1823), Le concert à la cour (1824), Le maçon (1825), Le timide, ou Le nouveau séducteur (1826), Fiorella (1826), La muette de Portici (1828), La fiancée (1829), Fra Diavolo (1830), Le dieu et la bayadère (1830), Le philre (1831), Le serment, ou Les faux-monnoyeurs (1832), Gustave III (1833), Le cheval de bronze (1835), Actèon (1836), Les chaperons blancs (1836), L'ambas-sadrice (1836), Le domino noir (1837), Le lac des fées (1840), Zanetta (1840), La part du diable (1843), La Sirène (1844), Haydée, ou Le secret (1847), L'enfant prodique (1850), Zerline (1851), Marco Spada (1857), Jenny Bell (1855), Manon Lescaut (1856), La circassienne (1861), La fiancée du Roi de Garbe (1864), Le premier jour de bonheur (1868), Réve d'amour (1869). Photo by Legé & Bergeren.

(9) Angiolina Bosio (Turin: 22 Aug 1830 - St. Petersburg: April 1859). Italian soprano. She studied in Milan and made her debut (1846) there as Lucrezia in I due Foscari. She repeated that role two years later in Paris and then traveled to North America (New York, Philadelphia, and Boston) as part of the Havana Italian opera Company. Two years later she appeared for the first time in Paris, again as Lucrezia, and then went on an extended tour of North America. She made her London début in 1852 at Covent Garden as Adina (L’elisir d’amore). The following year she sang Gilda in the first London performance of Rigoletto. According to the New Grove Dictionary of Opera she was engaged for the 1855–56 winter season in St Petersburg at a salary of 100,000 francs. However, a newspaper story reported her presence at the Grand Opera of Paris in September of 1856, so perhaps her appearance in Russia was a little later than indicated. She died suddenly in Russia at the age of 28. A Mayer & Pierson (Paris) CDV.

Trivia: Bosio drank a glass of orgeat before her performances. Orgeat in its original format was a sweet syrup made with a barley-almond blend. Today, however, it's made with almonds, sugar and rose water.

(10) Jean De Reszke [orig. Jan Mieczyslaw]: Polish tenor (14 Jan 1850 - 3 Apr 1925): Debut as baritone (1874: Turin). Debut as tenor (1879: Madrid) as title role in Robert le Diable. Paris premiere John the Baptist (Hérodiade). World premiere Le Cid. Covent Garden, Met. A Nadar photo.

(11) Vanni Marcoux [orig Jean Èmile Diogène] (12 Jun 1877 - 21 Oct 1962): French bass-baritone. Debut Bayonne 1889 as Frère Laurent. First English Arkel (Pelléas) and later returned to Covent Garden to sing the role of Golaud (1937) in the same opera. Appeared in France, Belgium, Covent Garden, Chicago, Boston. First American Don Quichotte (Massenet), and Colonno in Février's Monna Vanna, which he created in Paris (1909). He had a repertory of 240 roles. Director of the Grand Theatre in Bordeaux after WW II. Photo by Nadar.

(12) French mezzo-soprano Rosine Bloch (Bischheim, Bas-Rhin: 1832 - Nice: 1891) studied music at the Conservatoire de Paris (under the direction of Battaille and Levasseur). She made her debut at the Paris Opéra (13 Nov 1865) as Azucena in Le Trouvère (seen in this image). She sang frequently at the Le Peletier theatre. She created roles in La Fiancée de Corinthe and La Coupe du roi de Thulé. She retired from opera in 1880. A Pierre Petit photo.

(13) Léon Gesse [also seen as Gresse] (1845 - ?): French bass seen here in his Paris Opéra premiere role as Hagen in Reyer's Sigurd (12 Jun 1885). First Paris Opéra Ludovic (Othello), Pere Saval (La Montagne noire), and Pogner (Les Maitres Chanteurs de Nuremberg). A Benque, Paris, photo.

(14) Rose Caron [orig. Meuniez]: French soprano (17 Nov 1857 - 9 Apr 1930): Stage debut Brussels 1883 as Alice (Robert le Diable). At Monnaie she created principal roles in Reyer's Sigurd (1884) and Salammbô (1890); and Godard's Jocelyn (1888). First French Sieglinde and Desdemona. A Benque photo.

(15) Lucy Bertrand Berthet [also as Berthand] (3 May 1866 [also given 15 May 1868] - ?): Belgian soprano. Studied with M. Duvernoy. Debut Paris Opéra (25 Sep 1892) as Ophélie in Hamlet (25 Sep 1892). Sang in Ostend, Ghent, Brussels, Verviers, Opéra-Comique, Lyons, Monte Carlo, and San Francisco. Sang in the first Paris Opéra La Walkyrie. A Benque photo.

(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). A Benque photograph.

Who knew that Madame Nilsson had a temper?

"The fair Nilsson ... was a lady of many virtues, which were offset by the possession of a singularly bad temper. When doing chores in her native Scandinavia this temper was kept under control, but once raised to the dignity of a prima donna, the fair creature felt herself at liberty to kick over music stools and scowl at orchestral leaders, and have tantrums whenever she felt like it." 28 March 1878.

(17) Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868). An abbreviated list of his 39 operas includes: La pietra del paragone (1812), L'occasione fa il ladro (1812), Il Signor Bruschino (1813), Tancredi (1813), L'italiana in Algeri (1813), Aureliano in Palmira (1813), Il turco in Italia (1814), Sigismondo (1814), Il barbiere di Siviglia (1816), Otello (1816), Cenerentola (1817), La gazza ladra (1817), Armida (1817), Mosè in Egitto (1818), La donna del lago (1819), Semiramide (1823), Le siège de Corinthe (1820), and Guillaume Tell (1829). Numa Blanc, Paris, photographer.

(18) Marietta Alboni [orig. Maria Anna Marzia] (6 Mar 1823 - 23 Jun 1894): Italian contralto. Studied with Bertinotti. Worked personally with Rossini to learn his contralto roles. Debut Bologna 1842 as Climene in Pacini's Saffo. Leading contralto at London's CG, and was considered a rival to Jenny Lind. Meyerbeer wrote Page's Aria (Les Huguenots) for her. She sang the baritone role of Carlos in the first Covent Garden Ernani when both Tamburini and Roncini turned it down. Married Count Pepoli. She sang at Rossini's funeral along with Adelina Patti. This is a Mayer-Pierson (Lèopold Ernest Mayer and Pierre Louis Pierson) photograph.

(19) Belgian soprano, Blanche Arral [nee Clara Lardinois] was the youngest of 17 children. She began her career at the Opéra Comique in Paris, where Massenet added a small part to Manon for her. Her personal life was quite interesting, having reportedly befriended such legendary personalities as Harry Houdini, Victor Hugo, Mata Hari, Sarah Bernhardt in addition to noted musicians. Photo, von Bosch of Paris.

(20) Delphine Ugalde [nee Beaucé]: French soprano (3 Dec 1829 - 19 Jul 1910): Trained with Laure Cinti-Damoreau and Moreau-Sainti. Operetta star, also managed the Bouffes-Parisiens. Ladrey of Paris. Debut as Angele in Domino Noir (Auber) She was an extremely popular performer at the Opera-Comique. She retired in 1870 to teach. Among her pupils were her daughter Marguerite Ugalde, and Marie Sass. An E. Ladrey photograph, Paris.

(21) French soprano, Emma Calvé (Decazeville, 15 Aug 1858; Millau, 6 Jan 1942). She was a pupil of Jules Puget, Mathilde Marchesi and Rosina Laborde. She made her début as Marguerite in Faust at the Théâtre de la Monnaie, Brussels, on 23 September 1881, and three years later appeared in Paris, mainly at the Opéra-Comique. Massenet wrote two roles for her, the heroines of La Navarraise and of Sapho, and she created the title role in Hahn’s La carmélite at the Opéra-Comique in 1902. She performed often at Covent Garden and at the Metropolitan Opera, and was well known for her (many) performances as Carmen. A Cautin & Berger, Paris, photograph.

(22) Belgian tenor Eloi Sylva (b. Grammont: 1843 - d. Berlin: 8 Sep 1919). He studied at the Brussels Conservatory, and in Paris with tenor Duprez. He made his debut in Nantes [some sources give his debut in Lyons in 1868]. After appearances in the Hague and Lyons, he made his Paris Opéra debut (15 May 1872) in Robert le Diable. He also appeared in Berlin, St. Petersburg, and the Metropolitan Opera (debut in The Prophet, 27 Nov 1885). A Pierre Petit, Paris, photograph.

Among the passengers who stepped off the steamer City of Rome last evening was a pleasant looking young gentleman somewhat below the middle size, with a fresh rosy face, and a light colored beard, and dressed in a dark gray suit and derby hat. This was the tenor, Eloi Sylva, who, during several years past, has achieved so much success and won so many admirers at the Imperial Theatre, in St. Petersburg, and who will appear for the first time in this country in the Metropolitan Opera House....

[As to the reason why he left St. Petersburg] "They have no Italian opera there this season. The national party is dominant, and everything is Russian there now --- even operatic singing. It is not on account of any race or national prejudice, but they seem to be enthusiastic over the native tongue just now, and one hears Russian and Russian everywhere." New York Times, 19 Sep 1885.

(23) Aïno Ackté: French-trained Finnish soprano (1876-1944). After a series of hits and misses that failed to establish her talents, she finally achieved stardom in the title role of Strauss's Salome, which was for a time the definitive interpretation. She is the sister of Irma Ackté Tervani. A Nadar photograph.

(24) French soprano Marguerite Ugalde (1862-1940), nee Marie Varcollier. She was a popular figure in both opera and operetta, concentrating the early part of her successful career in France. She was seen at the Salle Favart as Marie in La Fille du Régiment (1880). She created the role of Nicklausse in Les Contes d'Hoffmann at the Opéra-Comique in 1881, as well as roles in Bois, and Les Cent Jours. After leaving the Opéra-Comique she sang operetta both in France and in foreign provinces. A Nadar photograph.

(25) Contralto Anna de Belocca [Bellokh] (1854-?) in Fidelio. She appeared at the New York Academy of Music (1976), Philadelphia Academy of Music, and other institutions with the Strakosch Opera Company (1876) and Colonel Mapleson's New York Company (1884).

Mlle. de Belocca was unusually attractive in person, with brown hair, large black eyes, dead-white complexion, and symmetrical form. She was the daughter of M. de Bellokh, a scholar of St. Petersburg and acting Imperial Councillor [sic] of State. Mlle. de Belocca spoke five languages, and because of her aristocratic birth was sought after by the highest circles of society. Famous Singers of To-day and Yesterday by Henry Charles Lahee.