(1) Giuseppe Verdi: Italian composer (10 Oct 1813 - 27 Jan 1901).

(2) [Dame] Nellie Melba [orig. Helen Mitchell]: Australian soprano (19 May 1861 - 23 Feb 1931). Studied with Marchesi. Debut (1887) at the Brussels Opera as Gilda (Rigoletto). Created title role in Hélène at Monte Carlo. Covent Garden, La Scala, The Met, Paris Opéra, Chicago. Seen here as Rosina.

(3) Aïno Ackté: Finnish soprano (1876 - 1944): Debut as Marguerite in Faust (1897) at the Paris Opéra. The definitive interpreter of Strauss's Salome in London (1910).

(4) Célestine Galli-Marié [orig. Marie de l'Isle]: French mezzo (Nov. 1840 - 22 Sep 1905): Debut Strasbourg 1859. Created Mignon (seen here) (1866) and Carmen (1875). She also created roles in operas by Gevaart, Guiraud, Maillart, Massé and Massenet (Don César de Bazan). Sang primarily in France, Belgium and Italy.

(5) Célestine Galli-Marié.

(6) 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).

(7) Jean-Baptiste Faure: French baritone (15 Jan 1830 - 9 Nov 1914): Debut Paris Opéra-Comique, 1852 in Galathée (Massé). Created Nelusko (L'Africaine), Posa (Don Carlos), Hamlet, and others. Manet painted his portrait twice. Married Opéra-Comique singer, Constance Caroline Lefèbvre. Seen here as Faust.

(8) Adelina Patti: Spanish soprano (19 Feb 1843 - 27 Sep 1919): Was singing concerts at the age of eight. Stage debut at 16 years old as Lucia in NY. Married three times: Marquis de Caux, tenor Nicolini (Ernst Nicholas), and Swedish baron Cederström.

(9) Sigrid Arnoldson: Swedish soprano (1861-1943). This remarkable singer made her debut (1885) as Rosina (Barbiere di Siviglia) in Prague. She had a wide vocal range (three octaves) that could accommodate both the soprano and mezzo roles. She appeared for one season at the Metropolitan Opera (1893-94) where she sang Carmen, Micaëla, Zerlina, Marguerite (Les Huguenots), Cherubino, Nedda, Mignon, and Baucis (Philémon et Baucis). She introduced the role of Sophie (Werther) to New York and London (Drury Lane Theater). As successor to Jenny Lind she was billed as "the new Swedish nightingale." In the early 1900s she was enormously popular in Russia. Toward the end of her career she taught in Vienna and Stockholm. There are many, many postcards out there of Arnoldson that were published in Russia. It is more difficult to find the non-Russian postcards and photographs of this singer.

(10) French soprano Nina Pack (1869-?) studied at the Conservatoire de Paris. She was engaged by the Paris Opéra in 1889 where she was seen as Madeleine (Rigoletto), Valentine (Huguenots), Scazzone (Ascanio), and Hilde (Sigurd). She was Santuzza (Cavalleria Rusticana) and Carmen at the Salle Favart. At the Grand Théâtre in Geneva she was seen as Sieglinde in Die Walküre. She also performed at the Opéra-Comique.

(11) Lina Cavalieri. See the Cavalieri page.

(12) Lina Cavalieri. Italian soprano (Viterbo: 25 Dec 1874 - Florence: 7 Feb 1944, during an allied air raid).

(13) A Lecocq discovery, French soprano Jane Hading [Jeanne-Alfrédine Tréfouret] (1867-?). She was the possessor of a pretty voice and keen stage instincts, which later helped her in her very successful endeavor as an actress. She made her opera debut in Nice and later performed in Phryné at the Opéra-Comique in 1894. After appearances in Rouen and St. Petersburg she joined the Monnaie in 1896-97 where she appeared in La Traviata and Phryné. She was discovered by Lecocq during a performance of Le Grand Mogol at Marseille. During the run of La Jolie Persane, an operetta written for Hading, she married Lecocq's impresario of the Théâtre de la Renaissance. She was also well known for her performance in Chabrier's Une Education Manquée.

Hading superstition: "Jane Hading is particularly afraid of anything with thirteen in it, and would starve rather than be one of a party of thirteen at table." Brooklyn Eagle 8 Jul 1888.

(14) Hatto [Marguerite Jeanne Frère]: French soprano (1879 - ?): Spent most of her long career at the Paris Opéra, Monnaie, Opéra-Comique . Debut Brunhilde (Sigurd). Created several roles for the French houses in: Les Barbares, Cobzar, Mlle de Nantes, Le Roi Arthus, and Le Voile du Bongeur.

(15) Marie Miolan-Carvalho [Caroline Felix] (Marseilles: 31 Dec 1827 - Puys: 10 Jul 1895): French soprano. Studied with Duprez. Debut Brest (1849) as Isabella (Robert le Diable). Paris OC from 1849 to 1855. Théâtre-Lyrique 1856-67, creating the roles of Marguerite (Faust), Baucis, Juliette, and Mireille. London Covent Garden 1859-64 and 1871-72, where she was the first London Dinorah. Berlin, St. Petersburg. Married impresario Léon Carvalho.

(16) French bass Pierre Gailhard [Pedro] [Gaillard] (Toulouse: 1 Aug 1848 - Paris: 12 Oct 1918). He studied at the Conservatory of Paris. He made his debut (1967) at the Opéra-Comique. As of 1872 the rest of his career was centered around the Paris Opéra. Between the two great Parisian houses he appeared in over fifteen world premieres. In 1884 he became the director of the Opéra.

(17) Marie-Josèphe Cabel [Marie-Josephe Dreulette] Belgian soprano (Liege: 31 Jan 1827 - 23 May 1885). She studied voice with Louis-Joseph Cabel, whom she married and soon divorced, but she kept his name throughout her career. She studied at the Paris Conservatory, giving concerts while still studying. She made her debut at the Opéra-Comique and soon after the Monnaie (1850), where she remained for three years. She also performed throughout the French provinces, Belgium, and England. She created the lead in Clapisson's Le Promise (1854). She had a highly successful career but mental illness brought it to an end in 1877. She was confined to a psychiatric institute near Paris.

(18) Frances Alda: New Zealand (raised in Australia) soprano (1879-1952). She was a Marchesi pupil. She made her debut (1904) as Manon at the Opéra-Comique where she was called a "delicious twenty-two year old Australian." She was invited to the Metropolitan Opera in 1908 by the conductor, Arturo Toscanini. She met Toscanini at La Scala during her debut there in the Milan premiere of Charpentier's Louise. She remained at the Metropolitan for twenty-two seasons. A testament to her intelligence, she learned the standard repertory as well as roles in operas seldom heard today, such as Giordano's La Cena delle Beffe, Hadley's Cleopatra's Night, Catalani's Loreley, Herbert's Madeleine and Rabaud's Marouf. It has been said that her long career at the Metropolitan can be attributed, in part, to her marriage to the general manager of that house, Giulio Gatti-Casazza, whom she met in Milan. After twenty-two years of marriage she divorced Gatti-Casazza and subsequently devoted several years to the concert stage.

(19) Adelina Patti.

(20) Example of Reutlinger cabinet card backboard. There were several variations.

(21) Zélie De Lussan: American (Brooklyn) mezzo-soprano (1861 - 18 Dec 1949): Concert debut at 16 in the Academy of Music (NY). Stage debut 1884 in Boston with the Boston Ideal Opera Company, 1885. Great success at Covent Garden (1895 - 1902). She sang Anne in the first American performance of Falstaff (Met Opera: 4 Feb 1895). Married pianist Angelo Fronani. Rare Victor records.

(22) [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.

(23) Sigrid Arnoldson: Swedish soprano (1861-1943) as Manon. This remarkable singer made her debut (1885) as Rosina (Barbiere di Siviglia) in Prague. She had a wide vocal range (three octaves) that could accommodate both the soprano and mezzo roles. She appeared for one season at the Metropolitan Opera (1893-94) where she sang Carmen, Micaëla, Zerlina, Marguerite (Les Huguenots), Cherubino, Nedda, Mignon, and Baucis (Philémon et Baucis). She introduced the role of Sophie (Werther) to New York and London (Drury Lane Theater). As successor to Jenny Lind she was billed as "the new Swedish nightingale." In the early 1900s she was enormously popular in Russia. Toward the end of her career she taught in Vienna and Stockholm.

(24) French soprano, Marguerite Carrere-Xanrof made her Paris debut 24 June 1892 as Marguerite in Faust. She sang there until 1901 in a variety of roles such as Eudoxie (La Juive), Urbain (Huguenots), Berthe (Prophete), Juliette, Stefano (singing Stefano eight years after Juliette), Sieglinde, Helmwigue, Venus, Zerline, Helene (Messidor), and a few other pants roles. She was the first Paris Opera Guerhilde (Walkure). She was married to Leon Xanrof (1867-1953), French playwright and songwriter.

(25) French soprano Jeanne Bourdon. She made her Paris Opéra debut as Brunehilde in Sigurd, 6 Dec 1909.