Historic Opera

THE ROSE COMPANY

The Rose Company was a major postcard producer. Among the postcards they produced were two beautiful 3-image sets --- one of opera personalities and one of actors. They were published in 1906-07 and made with gold edges and quality heavy stock, the heavest stock I've ever seen in postcards. The opera cards can be distinguished from the actor cards by the inclusion of bars of music in the center of the card. Both sets have autograph facsimiles. These cards are difficult to find and command a high price. I've seen very, very few of the opera postcards on eBay, and those that I've seen haven't been in good condition.

only search HistoricOpera

French bass Marcel Journet (1867-1933) is shown here in Le Prophète and Carmen. An accomplished singer and actor, he was admired throughout his career, which spanned more than four decades. He sang in the world premiere of Boito's Nerone. His American premieres included Salome, Parsifal, and De Lara's Messaline. His versatility was in evidence by his mastery of over 60 roles in the French repertory, 27 Italian roles, and all of the principal Wagner basso roles. Copyright 1906.

Alessandro Bonci (Cesena, Italy: 2 Feb 1870 - Viserba, Italy: 10 Aug 1940), Italian tenor. He made his stage debut (1896) at Parma as Fenton in Falstaff. He appeared all over the world, including the first ever performance at the Manhattan Opera in NY (Arturo, 1906). He was specifically hired by Hammerstein to counteract the performances of Caruso at the Metropolitan Opera. However, after one season there he jumped ship in favor of the Met. He appeared at the Met from 1907 - 1910. There is a theater named after him in his birth town of Cesena, Italy.

Emma Eames [Story]: American (born in Shanghai) soprano (13 Aug 1865 - 13 Jun 1952): Debut Paris 1889 (Juliette, chosen by Gounod). Created Colombe (Ascanio), title role in De la Nux's Zaire. Seen here as Aida and Tosca.

Adolf Muhlmann. Seen here as Gunther and the Flying Dutchman.

Arturo Vigna. Vigna was a conductor at the Metropolitan Opera. He conducted the first Metropolitan Opera performance of Madama Butterfly on 11 Feb 1907, with Farrar, Homer, Caruso and Scotti.

Swedish-American [mezzo] soprano Olive Fremstad (1871-1951). She sang the title role in Salome in the scandalous U.S. premiere of that work at the Metropolitan Opera in 1907. It was subsequently banned from the repertory and did not reappear at that house until 1934. Seen here as Venus and Carmen.

Johanna Gadski [Emilia Agnes]: German soprano (15 Jun 1872 - 22 Feb 1932): Debut Berlin (Kroll Opera) 1889 as Undine. Damrosch Company, London CG, Met. Left America when her husband was deported for his German connections. Bayreuth, Munich. Seen here as 'Brunhilde' and Aida.

Bohemian, later American, contralto Ernestine Schumann-Heink (1861-1936). Her concert debut took place in Graz at the age of fifteen in a performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Only two years later she made her operatic debut as Azucena (Il Trovatore) at the Dresden Royal Opera. In 1926, to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of her singing debut in Graz, she performed to a packed house at Carnegie Hall. Seen here as Waltraute and Erda.

American contralto Josephine Jacoby (1875-1948) spent the majority of her operatic career at the Metropolitan Opera (1903-08), making only occasional operetta and concert appearances thereafter. She was one of the unfortunate Metropolitan singers who was on tour in San Francisco during the great earthquake and fire of 1906. Unlike some of her companions, she was able to return to her Palace Hotel room long enough to gather her jewelry and dress more fully; however, she only managed to slip her feet into Frasquita's gold slippers, which she wore only hours before in a performance of Carmen. Seen here as Stephano and Siebel.

Helen Mapleson. The passage here is from Meistersinger. She had a small operatic career. Among her performances was an 1902 appearance (as Leuconöe) in Messaline at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia with the Metropolitan Opera company.

American mezzo-soprano Marie Mattfeld began her singing career in 1897 with the Damrosch-Ellis Opera Company which boasted a roster consisting of Nordica, Melba, Bispham, Gadski, Campanari, Fischer and Kraus. In 1901 she joined the Metropolitan Opera. She specialized in supporting roles, singing with some of the greatest singers of that era. She logged nearly 900 performances during her twenty-two seasons there. Mattfeld is shown here as Hänsel which she performed 76 times, and the Shepherd in Tannhäuser, which she sang only 4 times. Her most performed role, which was vocally unlike either of these, was that of Turridu's mother, Lucia, in Cavalleria Rusticana. Copyright 1907.

[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. Appearances at Covent Garden, La Scala, The Met, Paris Opéra, Chicago. Seen here as Marguerite and Violetta.

Pol Plançon: French bass (12 Jun 1854 - 11 Aug 1914): Debut at Lyons (1877) as St. Bris in Les Huguenots. World premiere of Le Cid. La Scala, Met, London CG, Brussels, Nice, Paris Opéra. Seen here in Mephistopheles and The Huguenots.

German tenor Albert Reiss (1870-1940) was an actor before he turned to music. His voice was discovered by Bernhard Pollini and Ernestine Schumann-Heink. He was an admired buffo tenor who was seen at the Metropolitan Opera for eighteen seasons (1901-1919), where he was the Broommaker in the world premiere of Königskinder (28 Dec 1910). Those who are inclined to believe that all witches should be female should note that Reiss played the Witch in Hänsel und Gretel thirty times at the Metropolitan! Reiss logged over 1,000 performances at the Metropolitan, and his career there might have been extended had he not had a petty backstage argument with management. Seen here as David and Mime.

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. Seen here in The Daughter of the Regiment and as Mimi.

Marion Weed. American (Rochester, NY) [mezzo] soprano. She studied with Lilli Lehmann. She was principally a Wagnerian singer, performing in Bayreuth, Hamburg, and Cologne before making her debut (28 Nov 1903) as Brünnhilde at the Met. She was also Gertrude in the first Met performance of Hänsel und Gretel (25 Nov 1905). Seen here as Kundry.