Therese Tietjens and Zélia Trebelli by Elliott & Fry

Therese Tietjens (1831-1877); German soprano.
In 1848 she made her debut at the Stadttheater von Hamburg as Irma in Auber’s “Le maçon”. From 1850/53 she was engaged at the Opernhaus von Frankfurt a.M. Here she sang at the première of Lortzing’s “Die Opernprobe” in 1851. From 1853/59 she was engaged at the Wiener Hofoper. In 1858 she made a guest appearance in London at Her Majesty’s Theatre and from 1859 until her death she lived and performed in London ( also at the Drury Lane Theatre and Covent Garden). She sang at several English premières of international well known opera’s: as Medea in Cherubini’s eponymous opera (1865), as Elena in “I vespri Siciliani” (1859), as Amalia in “Un ballo in maschera” (1861), as Leonore in “La forza del destino” (1867), as Marguerite in “Faust” (1863), as Frau Fluth in “Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor” (1864) and as Mireille in the eponymous opera by Gounod (1864). In 1875/76 she made a very successful tour in the USA. She was also a highly esteemed oratorio and concert singer. She also appeared at Royal Court concerts for Queen Victoria, who was very fond of her. In 1877 she died of cancer at the age of 46. Her last performance was Lucrezia Borgia; during the performance she collapsed and she died two months later.


Zélia Trebelli, born Gloria Caroline Le Bert (1838-1892); French mezzo-soprano.
She made her debut in 1859 in Madrid as Azucena in “Il Trovatore”. In 1860-1861 she performed in Germany, mainly at the “Berliner Hofoper”. In the years thereafter she had engagements in France (Théâtre-Italien) and in England (Drury Lane Theatre and Covent Garden). She made guest appearances at the Stockholm Opera (1875-1880), at the “Hofoper Wien” (1877-1878), at Berlin, Prag, Düsseldorf, Basel, Budapest, Brussels, Amsterdam and Rome. She made also several tours in the U.S.A. She retired from the stage in 1888. For some years she was married to the tenor Alessandro Bettini (1821-1898).


On the photo Therese Tietjens is seen as Semiramide and Zelia Trebelli as Arsace in Rossini's opera "Semiramide".