Description

FÉLIA LITVINNE (SAINT PETERSBURG, 11 OCTOBER, 1860 – PARIS, 12 OCTOBER, 1936)

 

 

 

 

Her father was of Russian origin, and her mother was of Canadian descent. At the age of 15, she moved to Paris, where she studied with Mme Barthe-Banderali, Victor Maurel, and the renowned mezzo-soprano Pauline Viardot-Garcia. In 1880, she first performed for a Parisian audience. In 1883, performing under the name Felia Litvinova, she covered for the suddenly indisposed Fides Devries in the role of Maria Boccanegra in Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra at the Théâtre-Italien in Paris. Six months later, she officially debuted at the same theater as Elvira in Verdi’s Ernani.

Her sister, Helene Schuetz, married the famous bass Edouard de Reszke (1853–1917), who helped launch her international career. After guest appearances in Genoa and Barcelona, she embarked on her first concert tour of North America, including New York, with the Mapleson Opera Company in 1885. From 1886 to 1888, she performed at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, and in 1889 she made her debut at the Paris Opera as Valentine in Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots. Her success led to guest performances around the world in cities such as Moscow (1889), St. Petersburg (1890), Rome, and Venice.

From 1890 to 1896, she achieved great triumphs at Teatro alla Scala in Milan. She was honored as a laureate singer by the Russian Tsar and directed several opera productions in Russia. In the 1896–1897 season, she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as Marguerite de Valois in Les Huguenots, appearing in nine roles across 22 performances, including Wagnerian parts she had added to her repertoire.

She became a regular guest at Covent Garden in London from 1889 to 1910. In 1901, she sang Brussels’ first Brünnhilde in Götterdämmerung, and in 1903, she performed Brünnhilde in Brussels’ first complete cycle of Der Ring des Nibelungen. She sang three Wagner roles in Paris premieres: Isolde in Tristan und Isolde at the Théâtre Nouveau in 1899, Brünnhilde in Götterdämmerung at the Théâtre du Château d’Eau in 1902, and Brünnhilde in the first Paris complete Ring cycle at the Paris Opera in 1911. She also performed Kundry in Parsifal in Amsterdam in 1905, despite protests from Bayreuth since the work was still exclusive to the Bayreuth Festival. In 1913, she was Monte Carlo’s first Kundry in Parsifal.

On February 24, 1906, she sang in the world premiere of Camille Saint-Saëns’ opera L’Ancêtre. One of her greatest triumphs came in 1905, when she performed the title role in Gluck’s Armide at the Arena de Béziers. She continued guest appearances worldwide until her retirement from the stage in Paris in 1917. In 1919, she returned to the stage at Vichy. She continued giving concerts and recitals until 1924.

In 1927, she became a professor at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, France, where her students included Germaine Lubin and Nina Koshetz. Her memoirs, titled Ma vie et mon art, were published in 1933 in Paris. She was known for her dramatic soprano voice, which was both powerful and flexible, and her interpretation of Gluck’s Armide remains highly regarded.

 

 

TRACKLIST

 

 

1. Le Sid (Massenet) Pleurez, Mes Yeux G&T 33158X 2275 F
2. Le Sid (Massenet) Pleurez, Mes Yeux G&T 33158 1358 F
3. Les Berceaux (Fauré) G&T 33159 1359 F
4. Les Berceaux (Fauré) G&T 33159X 2256 CS
5. Les Troyens a Carthage (Berlioz) Adieu Pathé 349 2820
6. Lohengrin (Wagner) Einsam in trüben Tagen Fonotipia 39182 XPh 676
7. Noch (Rubinstein) G&T 2319X 2257 CS
8. Noch (Rubinstein) G&T 23196 1362 F
9. Samson et Dalila (Saint-Saëns) Mon coeur s’ouvre a ta voix G&T 33160 1360 F
10. Samson et Dalila (Saint-Saëns) Mon coeur s’ouvre a ta voix G&T 33160X 2254 CS
11. Samson et Dalila (Saint-Saëns) Mon coeur s’ouvre a ta voix Odeon 56219 XP 5022
12. Sapho (Gounod) O ma lyre immortelle Pathé 348 2819
13. Sapho (Gounod) O ma lyre immortelle G&T 033000 2255 CS
14. Tristan und Isolde (Wagner) Mild und Leise G&T 33162 1363 F
15. Tristan und Isolde (Wagner) Mild und leise G&T 33162X 2253 F
16. Trovatore (Verdi) D’amor sull’ali rosee Odeon 56225 XP 5160
17. Trovatore (Verdi) Tacea la notte Odeon 56221 XP 5024