Description

ROSALIA CHALIA (SOPRANO) (HAVANA, CUBA, 17 NOVEMBER, 1864 – HAVANA, CUBA, 16 NOVEMBER, 1948)

 

 

 

 

Her real name was Rosalia Herrera del Castillo. She studied singing under Sbriglia in Paris and Coronaro in Milan. In 1894, she joined the Hinrichs Opera Company. She made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1898 as Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana, though her appearances were limited. Following this, she toured with the Damrosch-Ellis Opera Company and spent 14 years performing at the Opera House in Mexico City.

From 1900 to 1908, she traveled extensively throughout Cuba, Mexico, Central America, and Venezuela. Her last performance in Venezuela was in 1916. Afterward, she settled in New York, where she focused on supporting the careers of young Spanish and South American singers. In 1947, she returned to her country of birth, Cuba.

 

 

 

EUGENIA MANTELLI (MEZZO-SOPRANO) (FLORENCE, ITALY 1860 – LISBON, PORTUGAL 3 MARCH 1926)

 

 

 

 

She studied at the Milan Conservatory and made her debut in 1883 at the Teatro San Carlo in Lisbon as Urbain in Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots. That same year, she appeared in Treviso as Kaled in Massenet’s Le Roi de Lahore. Her career took off with successful tours alongside the legendary Spanish tenor Julián Gayarre, performing in Germany, Italy, and South America.

In 1889, she performed opposite Mattia Battistini in Buenos Aires. By 1894, she was in Moscow with Francesco Tamagno. The following year, she sang at Covent Garden in London as Brünnhilde in Die Walküre (in French).

From 1894 to 1900, she was a member of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where she made her debut as Amneris in Aida. Her roles there included Azucena in Il Trovatore, Emilia in Otello, Ortrud in Lohengrin, Maddalena in Rigoletto, Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana, Fides in Le prophète, Leonora in La Favorita, Nancy in Martha, the Queen in Hamlet, Queen Guinevere in Herman Bemberg’s Elaine (première, 1894), and Dalila in Samson et Dalila.

In 1902, she appeared at the Manhattan Opera House in New York in the title role of Mascagni’s Zanetto. She was re-engaged by the Metropolitan Opera for the 1902-1903 season, and in the 1903-1904 season, she toured the USA with her own opera troupe. During the 1904-1905 season, she performed in operetta in New York.

After 1905, she settled in Lisbon, where she appeared at the Teatro Politeama in Genoa as Carmen in 1908. Her last stage appearance was in Lisbon in 1910. She made recordings for Bettini cylinders in 1899 and later for USA Zonophone between 1905 and 1907.

 

 

 

GIUSEPPE CAMPANARI (BARITONE) (VENICE, 17 NOVEMBER, 1855 – MILAN, 31 MAY, 1927)

 

 

 

 

He was an Italian-born operatic baritone and cellist. He later became an American citizen. Campanari performed initially as a cellist at Milan’s La Scala and on tour in other parts of  Europe, but he later emigrated to the United States, where he played first solo cello for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and was subsequently appointed professor of cello at the New England Conservatory of Music inBoston. He resigned from both positions to devote himself to singing, which he had studied as a second ‘instrument’ for years, becoming a major opera star with the Metropolitan Opera. In addition, he appeared at most of the major opera houses in Europe, including several seasons spent at the Royal Opera in London’s Covent Garden, and participated in concert tours with the great sopranos Nordica, Sembrich, Melba and Eames. Giuseppe Campanari was born in Venice in 1855 and was hailed as a cello virtuoso by the age of nine. He toured Europe with his brother Leandro, giving concerts in the larger European cities. At the age of seventeen he was appointed first solo cellist at La Scala in Milan under conductor Alberto Mazzucato. During his career as a cellist, he appeared frequently in chamber music concerts with leading artistes such as Joachim, Wieniawski and Saint-Saսns At the same time, vocal art attracted him greatly and he studied voice on the side. His first attempt as an opera singer was in Un ballo in maschera at the Teatro Dal Verme in Milan in 1880. After singing in the leading Italian cities, he went to Spain. According to Imdb, his wife was named Mary but this information is questionable. Campanari was invited to the United States by the management of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and arrived in 1884, again taking the position of first solo cellist under conductor Wilhelm Gericke. In 1888 he became one of the original members of the Adamowski String Quartet which was led by violinist Timothee Adamowski. He first sang Valentine in Faust with the Emma Juch Opera Company when their baritone, Alonzo Stoddard, fell ill, but it was not mentioned in the papers so nothing became of it. He continued to play cello but didn’t sing professionally for two years. Finally, after the prominent conductor Arthur Nikisch gave him an opening in Louisville, Kentucky, he started to receive more engagements. Campanari made his official operatic debut as Tonio in I Pagliacci with Hinrichs’ Opera Company in New York City on 15 June 1893, being the first singer to perform the role in the United States. His New York Metropolitan Opera debut came on 30 November 1894, when he sang the role of the Count di Luna in Il trovatore with the great heroic tenor Tamagno as Manrico. In 1895, he had his first notable success singing Ford in the first American production of Falstaff, with Victor Maurel in the title role. He also sang the Met’s first Marcello in La Boheme (1900) and their first Papageno in Die Zauberflute (1902–1903) which was performed in Italian. Campanari remained with the Met until 1912. He gave more than 200 performances during his career there. After his retirement from serious music, he briefly dabbled in vaudeville but found the two-show-a-day schedule too gruelling at his age. He then taught voice in New York and later in Milan where his daughter Marina achieved success as a soprano. He died in Milan in 1927 at the age of 71. Campanari made a number of acoustic recordings prior to World War I. His first recording session was with the Columbia label in 1903. Despite the early date of his discs, they are remarkable for their clarity, and they display the warmth and agility of his fine, steady, well-trained voice to good effect.

 

 

 

FRANCES SAVILLE (SOPRANO) (SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, 6 JANUARY, 1862 – BELMONT, CALIFORNIA, 8 NOVEMBER, 1935)

 

 

 

 

She had a noted turn-of-the-century career in both America and Europe. Born Fanny Martina Simonsen to an operatic family, she was raised in Australia from an early age and taught to sing by her mother. Taking the name “Saville” from a brief early marriage to her father’s secretary, she first sang in public at an 1882 presentation of Michael Balfe’s “Satanella” then in the late 1880s had a busy recital career in Sydney and Melbourne before departing for Paris to study with mezzo soprano Mathilde Marchesi; Fanny made her ‘formal’ operatic debut on September 8, 1892, at La Monnaie, Brussels, as the tragic title heroine of Charles Gounod’s “Romeo et Juliette”. She soon took-on the role of Marguerite from the same composer’s “Faust” and then appeared in Russia, Berlin, and Warsaw, along the way enhancing her repertoire with Violetta of Verdi’s “La Traviata” and the doomed title lead of Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor”. Fanny added two of Verdi’s ‘heavyweight’ parts, Leonora in “Il Trovatore” and Desdemona from “Otello”, which she sang in Monte Carlo opposite Tamagno, to her list before returning to America for her November 18, 1895, Metropolitan Opera debut as Juliette. While in New York her assignments included Violetta, Micaela in Georges Bizet’s “Carmen”, Elsa of Wagner’s “Lohengrin”, Zerlina from Mozart’s “Don Giovanni”, the lead heroine of Jules Massenet’s “Manon”, Gutrune from Wagner’s “Gotterdammerung” and Alice Ford of Verdi’s “Falstaff”; begining in 1898 Fanny was a regular at the Vienna Court Opera (then, Hofoper) where she became a favorite of music director Gustav Mahler. For awhile she divided her time between New York and Vienna but by 1903 she was rich and retired to Vienna after giving her final performance on May 9th. in Prague as Violetta. Forced from Austria by the onset of World War I she lived in Australia for a time before relocating to Northern California where ill health relegated her to a nursing facility in her final years.

 

 

 

GASTON MOISSON (TENOR)

 

 

 

 

About this tenor, it’s impossible to find information. He made a few records for Bettini in 1900-1901.

 

 

 

VITTORIO GIRARDI (BASS)

 

 

 

  

He made his debut in Italy. In 1897, he traveled to the USA, where he appeared at the Opera House in San Francisco in Faust, La Favorita, and Un Ballo in Maschera.

 

 

 

JEAN (ARTHUR) RIDDEZ (BARITONE) (LILLE, 14 MARCH, 1875 – MONTREAL, 2 SEPTEMBER, 1939)

 

 

 

 

He studied singing at the conservatoire of his hometown Lille until 1897, then continued his studies at the Paris Conservatoire from 1897 to 1900. In 1900, he was engaged by the Grand Opéra in Paris and made his debut there as Rigoletto in Verdi’s Rigoletto. He remained active at this opera house until 1910, performing a variety of roles. From 1908 to 1910, he took on tenor roles such as Faust and Lohengrin but later returned to his baritone repertoire.

After guest performances in French theaters, he traveled to the USA and sang at the Boston Opera House during the 1911-12 season, performing roles including Pelléas in Pelléas et Mélisande, Athanaël in Massenet’s Thaïs, Escamillo in Carmen, Lescaut in Puccini’s Manon Lescaut, and Scarpia in Tosca. He also performed with the Montreal Opera Company, appearing in Massenet’s Hérodiade and Le Jongleur de Notre-Dame.

Returning to France, he spent five seasons at the Opera House of Lyon and later worked as a pedagogue at the conservatoire there. In 1920, he appeared again in Montreal as Athanaël in Thaïs and continued to teach in Montreal until the end of his career. His daughter, Juanita Riddez, was a renowned dramatic soprano.

 

 

ROBERTO VANNI (TENOR) (MILAN, 21 AUGUST, 1861 – ? 25 SEPTEMBER, 1941)

 

 

 

 

 

He probably made his debut in 1885 at the Teatro Comunale in Ferrara as Macduff in Macbeth. From 1889 to 1891, he appeared as a guest in Montevideo, performing in operas such as Aida, L’Africaine, Mefistofele, Rigoletto, and Fra Diavolo. In 1893, he sang at the Teatro Doria in Buenos Aires, where he performed in Ruy Blas, Faust, Falstaff, and Pagliacci.

He toured with Henry Abbey’s Italian Grand Opera Company, which included notable artists such as Patti and Tamagno, during the 1889-90 season. At the Metropolitan Opera, he had a seven-season tenure, making his debut as the Fisherman in William Tell on November 21, 1894. His final season at the Met was 1902-03, where he appeared sixty-eight times. His roles during this season included Roderigo in the opening-night Otello, and Vogelgesang in Die Meistersinger (April 25, 1903, in Pittsburgh). Other roles that season included the Sergeant in Barbiere di Siviglia, the Messenger in Aida, Gaston in La Traviata, Borsa in Rigoletto, a Peasant and a Herald in Le Prophète, Alcindoro and Parpignol in La Bohème, De Cossé in Huguenots, Remendado in Carmen, Don Riccardo in Ernani, a Servant in Ballo in Maschera, a Priest in The Magic Flute, the Notary in Don Pasquale, and Ruiz in Trovatore. He was paid $40 per week, totaling $880 for the season.

 

 

 

ALBERTO DE BASSINI (BARITONE) (FIRENZE 1847 – MILAN ?)

 

 

 

 

He was the son of the renowned Italian baritone Achille De Bassini (1819-81), who performed in the premieres of Verdi’s Luisa Miller in 1849 and La forza del destino in 1862 at St. Petersburg. His mother was the celebrated soprano Rita Gabussi (1816-91). Trained by his father, he made his debut in 1870 at Venice in Donizetti’s Belisario, performing alongside his father. In 1881, he appeared at the Teatro Paganini in Genoa and at the Teatro Malibran in Venice as Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia. By 1883, he was performing at the Teatro Carcano in Milan. In 1890, he made his second debut as a baritone at the Teatro Filodramatico in Milan. His career as a baritone was not particularly successful in Italy, so in 1898 he emigrated to North America. There, he performed with various opera societies, focusing primarily on French repertoire, and later worked as a song pedagogue in New York.

 

 

 

GINA CIAPARELLI-VIAFORA (SOPRANO) (NOVARA, 1 JANUARY, 1881 – NEW YORK, 1 JANUARY, 1936)

 

 

 

 

She studied at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome with M. Falchi and began her career in Italy under her birth name, Gina Ciaparelli. Her debut likely took place in 1894 at the Teatro Nuova Fenice in Osimo. In 1907, she moved to the USA and, after marrying conductor Viafora, began performing on stage as Gina Viafora. In 1910, she appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as Mimi in La Bohème, alongside Enrico Caruso as Rodolfo. Later, she established a singing school in New York.

 

 

 

PAUL AUMONIER (BASS) (PARIS, 7 JULY, 1872 – PARIS, MAY 24, 1944)

 

 

 

 

He studied singing at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1904, he appeared at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo in Verdi’s Rigoletto and Aida. In 1913, he sang at the Opéra de Rouen Haute-Normandie in the premiere of Graziella by J. Mazellier. In 1919, he performed at the Paris Grand Opéra in Samson et Dalila and Salammbô. His repertoire included Max in A. Adam’s Le Chalet, Jacob in E. Méhul’s Joseph, Girto in F. Hérold’s Le Pré aux clercs, Marcel in G. Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots, Frère Laurent in C. Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, and Lothario in A. Thomas’s Mignon.

 

 

 

PHOEBE “FEBEA” STRAKOSCH (SOPRANO) (STOCKHOLM, DECEMBER 18, 1868 – DORSET HOTEL, NEW YORK,  NOVEMBER 7, 1952)

 

 

 

 

Phoebe (Febea) Strakosch was described in The Maitland Weekly Mercury (New South Wales, Australia), June 20, 1896, p. 12:

A NEW SOPRANO. Le Petit Niçois gives an interesting account of a new soprano, Mlle. Febea Strakosch, who seems to have made a phenomenal success at the Nice Opera House. The young singer, who was born at Stockholm but was educated in France, is the daughter of Ferdinand Strakosch, at one time the director of Italian opera in Pans, and the niece of the more famous Maurice Strakosch, who married Amalia Patti and first introduced her sister, Adelina Patti, to the musical world. After preparatory lessons fiom her aunt, Carlotta Patti, Mlle. Strakosch was placed for some years under the care of Giovanni Sbriglia, the great teacher of Paris, and she has since made successes at Buda-Pesth, Trieste, Turin, and Nice. The voice is a brilliant soprano of fine quality . . . Mademoiselle Strakosch is a cousin of Mr. Alexander, of West Maitland, himself noted in the musical world as a violinist.

Febea is mentioned in the Sydney Morning Herald of October 17, 1903, page 7: Mlle. Febea Strakosch, who has been singing during the Italian season at Covent Garden this year, has recently been presented to the Queen at Windsor Castle, where she sang Elizabeth’s Prayer from “Tannhauser.” The young soprano was born at Copenhagen, and was accordingly able to speak to the Queen in Danish. Mlle. Strakosch might visit Australia, as she has near relatives both in Melbourne and in Sydney. Miss Grace Alexander, of Mosman’s, one of the “first violins” of the Amateur Orchestral Society, is her first cousin, and Mr. H. Walter Barnett, now In London, but at one time head of Falk’s here, is also a cousin. Mlle. Strakosch is the daughter of the American entrepreneur Ferdinand Strakosch, whose brother, Maurlce, married Amalia Patti, sister of Adelina, whom he taught, and all of whose early concert and operatic tours he directed. Febea Strakosch, whose debut was at Genoa four years ago, In now singing at the Theatre de la Monnaie, Brussels.

 

 

 

MARCELLA SEMBRICH (FEB. 15, 1858, WIŚNIEWCZYK, GALICIA, AUSTRIA-HUNGARY [NOW IN UKRAINE] — JAN. 11, 1935, NEW YORK, N.Y., U.S.)

 

 

 

 

She was born Prakseda Marcelina Kochanska in Wisniewczyk, Galicia. Sembrich was her mother’s family name. Her musical talent showed very early and was encouraged by her father, Kasimir Kochański, who was a well-known violinist. At the age of four she began her training in piano, at six in violin, and at twelve she became a student at the Lemberg Conservatory (Lwów). Her piano teacher there was the pianist Wilhelm Stengel (1846-1917), whom she married in 1877. Although she had reached artistic maturity as a piano virtuoso as well as a violinist, on the advice of Franz Liszt she started a career as a singer and in 1875 became a student of Viktor von Rokitansky and Richard Löwy in Vienna, later of Francesco Lamperti and his son Giovanni Battista Lamperti in Milan. In 1877 she made her debut at the Athens Opera as Elvira in “I Puritani” by V. Bellini. From 1878 to 1880 she was a member of the Dresden Court Opera. In 1880 she went to London, where she had great success in the following five years and again in 1895. She celebrated her greatest triumphs in London as Lucia di Lammermoor, as Marguerite de Valois in “Les Huguenots” and as Amina in “La Sonnambula”. Since 1878 she had her residence in Dresden and Berlin, later in Nice and Lausanne; she went to a worldwide concert and guest performance. She performed as a celebrated guest in St. Petersburg (1880-1882) and Moscow (1881, 1882), at the Teatro Real Madrid (1882, 1884-1885), at the Teatro San Carlo in Lisbon (1885), at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels ( 1887), at the operas of Budapest (1887) and Monte Carlo (1893-1894). In 1884 she had sensational success in the concert hall in Paris, and in 1897 on a US tour. Her lived in Paris and Milan, in Berlin and Vienna, in Stockholm and Brussels. She was in a court concert in front of the Russian Tsar Alexander III in 1894. She sang songs by F. Chopin in St. Petersburg, he promised her that she would never forget Poland. Johann Strauss wrote a new version of his Spring Voices waltz for coloratura soprano for her. From 1887 to 1891 she was a guest at the Frankfurt Opera House year after year, where she was extremely popular. After she had sung in the opening season of the New York Metropolitan Opera in 1883 (she made her debut as Lucia di Lammermoor in the 2nd performance that took place there at all), She was called back to this opera house in 1898 and remained its celebrated prima donna until she left the stage in 1909. In 1884, at the end of the season at the Metropolitan Opera, she sang a few arias from her repertoire in a Sunday Night Concert, then played two movements from a violin concerto by Bériot and some piano studies by F. Chopin. In 1905 she created the role of Rosalinde in the first performance of “Fledermaus”, and in 1903 the role of Elvira in G. Verdi’s “Ernani”, and she sang many other roles, including Mimi in “La Bohème” (which Puccini described as “unsurpassed”) and with the greatest success in 1900 the Queen of the Night in “Zauberflöte”. She has sung a total of 25 roles in 253 performances at the Metropolitan Opera (in their New York house) (plus 185 performances as part of the ensemble’s annual US tour). On February 6, 1909, she said goodbye to the audience of the Metropolitan Opera in a gala performance. In 1907 she sang the title role in F. Lehár’s “Lustiger Witwe” at the New Amsterdam Theater in New York. In 1909 she undertook a major concert and guest tour through European countries and appeared again at the court operas in Berlin and Vienna. Probably her last stage role was in 1909, when she sang the role of Rosina in “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” at the Warsaw Opera. In 1911 she gave one last recital in Vienna. Then she worked as a singing teacher in Berlin and later in Lausanne. After the death of her husband in 1917, she limited herself entirely to her educational work. Since 1924 she was director of the vocal department at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia; she also teaches at the Juilliard Music School in New York. Her many students included Dusolina Giannini, Alma Gluck, Hulda Lashanska and Queena Mario. Marcella Sembrich is one of the most important coloratura sopranos of all time; the precision and brilliance of her coloratura, the stylistic certainty of her performance and the richness of nuances in her expression deserve the greatest admiration even on the record. Lit. HG Owen: “A Recollection of Marcella Sembrich” (Boston & New York 1940, 1950).

 

 

 

LEVASSEUR CORIN

 

 

 

 

About this soprano, it’s difficult to find information. She made a few records for Bettini (1900/1901).

 

 

 

TRACKLIST

 

 

1. Eugenia Mantelli Ugonotti (Meyerbeer) Vaga donna illustre e cara 2
2. Febea Strakosch Somebody has my heart (Spaulding) 7
3. Febea Strakosch The sweetest story ever told (Stults) 4
4. Frances Saville Rigoletto (Verdi) Caro nome 1
5. Gaston Moisson Les Pêcheurs de Perles (Bizet) Au fond du temple with Gustave Corin
6. Gaston Moisson Rigoletto (Verdi) Qu’une belle
7. Gina Ciaparelli-Viafora Forza del Destino (Verdi) Ah! per sempre 22
8. Gina Ciaparelli-Viafora Martha (Flotow) Il suo sguardo e dolce incanto
9. Giuseppe Campanari Carmen (Bizet) Toreador song 1
10. Jean Riddez Charles VI (Halevy) C’est grand’ pitié
11. Jean Riddez Hamlet (Thomas) O vin dissipe la tristesse
12. Jean Riddez Henri VIII (Saint-Saens) Qui donc commande
13. Paul Aumonier La Damnation de Faust (Berlioz) Sérénade de Méphistophélès
14. Paul Aumonier Les Huguenots (Meyerbeer) Bénédiction des poignards
15. Paul Aumonier La Favorite (Donizetti) Redoutez la fureur
16. Paul Aumonier Adieu – Rondel de l’adieu (Tosti)
17. Roberto Vanni Otello (Verdi) Esultate & Sante memorie 1
18. Rosalia Chalia Barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini) Dunque io son with Alberto De Bassini 7
19. Marcella Sembrich Frühlingsstimmen (Voci di Primavera) op. 410, Valzer (Johann Strauss II)
20. Levasseur Corin Faust (Gounod) Air des bijoux