Description

LUCREZIA BORI (VALENCIA, SPAIN, 24 DECEMBER, 1887 – NEW YORK, USA, 14 MAY, 1960)

Her real name was Lucrezia Borja Gonzalés de Riancho. Her father was an officer. She first received her education at a monastery school in Spain, then studied piano and music theory at the Valencia Conservatory. Her voice was discovered during a trip to Italy in 1908, and she was trained by the educators Sibella and Melchiorre Vidal in Milan. That same year, she made her debut at the Teatro Adriano in Rome as Micaela in Carmen. The success of this debut led to her being contracted by the Teatro Alla Scala for the following season, where she sang the role of Carolina in Cimarosa’s Il matrimonio segreto (1910). In 1911, she appeared in the premiere of Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier as Octavian, and later that year, she also performed in the premiere of Humperdinck’s Königskinder. Since 1910, she had been a frequent guest at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, where she again performed in the premiere of Königskinder under Toscanini in 1912. On August 14, 1914, at the Teatro Colón, she participated in the premiere of the opera El Sueño de Alma by Carlos López Buchardo. In 1913, she sang the role of Alice Ford in Falstaff and appeared as Violetta in La Traviata at the Verdi commemoration in his birthplace, Busseto.

She also made successful guest appearances in Paris (notably in 1910 with a guest performance of the Metropolitan Opera New York ensemble in Manon Lescaut opposite Enrico Caruso), as well as in Madrid and Barcelona. In 1912, she was engaged by the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where she made her debut in Manon Lescaut alongside Enrico Caruso. In 1914, she performed in the premiere of Montemezzi’s L’amore dei tre re and the following year in the premiere of Leoni’s L’Oracolo. She also guested at the Boston Opera as Cio-Cio-San with sensational success.

Due to illness, she had to retire from the stage from 1915 to 1919. However, after a neck operation, she regained her voice through intensive study. In 1919, she resumed her career at the Monte Carlo Opera, where she sang the roles of Mimì in La Bohème and Zerlina in Don Giovanni. From 1919 to 1936, she was once again one of the great prima donnas of the Metropolitan Opera, opening her second engagement at the house in 1919 as Mimì in La Bohème. During the 1924-1931 seasons, she performed almost every year at the summer opera in Ravinia near Chicago, and during the 1933-1934 season, she also sang at the San Francisco Opera. She retired from the stage in 1936 and became the first woman to join the directorate of the Metropolitan Opera. From 1936 onward, she served as the chair of the Metropolitan Opera Guild.

TRACKLIST

1. Villanella (Sibella) 87328 B25321 Victor, Camden NJ 1921-05-27
2. Don Pasquale (Donizetti) Pronta io son (w. de Luca) 89161 C25297 Victor, Camden NJ 1921-11-02
3. Don Giovanni (Mozart) Vedrai carino 87333 B25145 Victor, Camden NJ 1921-11-23
4. Nozze di Figaro (Mozart) Deh vieni, non tardar 88633 C25146 Victor, Camden NJ 1921-04-07
5. Segreto di Susanna (Wolf-Ferrari) Oh gioia, la nube leggera 88647 C25301 Victor, Camden NJ 1921-11-23
6. Don Pasquale (Donizetti) Vado, corro (w. de Luca) 89162 C25296 Victor, Camden NJ 1921-11-02
7. Snegourotchka (Rimsky-Korsakov) Je connais, je connais ma mère 87356 B26899 Victor, Camden NJ 1922-10-02
8. When love is kind (trad) 87344 B26472 Victor, Camden NJ 1922-05-12
9. Roméo et Juliette (Gounod) Je veux vivre 87351 B26892 Victor, Camden NJ 1922-10-02
10. Bohème (Puccini) Sì, mi chiamano Mimì 88475 C14477 Victor, Camden NJ 1922-09-26
11. Così fan tutte (Mozart) In uomini, in soldati 87346 B26471 Victor, Camden NJ 1922-05-12
12. Lakmé (Delibes) Pourquoi dans les grands bois (87392) B28645 Victor, Camden NJ 1923-10-08
13. Ciribiribin (Pestalozza) (87379) B28643 Victor, Camden NJ 1923-10-08
14. El majo discreto (Granados) 1033 B28626 Victor, Camden NJ 1923-10-08
15. Manon (Massenet) Adieu, notre petite table (87391) B28621 Victor, Camden NJ 1923-10-08
16. Il bacio (Arditi) (87380) B28619 Victor, Camden NJ 1923-10-08
17. Amico Fritz (Mascagni) Non mi resta che il pianto (87372) B28624 Victor, Camden NJ 1923-09-28
18. Amico Fritz (Mascagni) Son pochi fiori (87371) B28622 Victor, Camden NJ 1923-09-28
19. Bohème (Puccini) Quando me’n vo’ 1053 B28620 Victor, Camden NJ 1923-09-28
20. Roméo et Juliette (Gounod) Ange adorable (w. Gigli) (2-034033) C27714 Victor, Camden NJ 1923-03-28
21. Roméo et Juliette (Gounod) Ah! ne fuis pas encore (w. Gigli) 87581 B27715 Victor, Camden NJ 1923-03-28