19TH CENTURY OPERA SINGERS

as Eugene Onegin "Eugene Onegin" by Tchaikovsky Mattia Battistini 1856 – 1928 Italian baritone. Battistini dropped out of law school to study singing, first with Emilio Terziani and then with Venceslao Persichini. Battistini worked with conductor Luigi Mancinelli and the composer Augusto Rotoli, and he consulted with baritone Antonio Cotogni, in an effort to refine his technique. Début at the Teatro Argentina, Rome, as Alfonso in “ La favorite” by Donizetti 1878 1883, he undertook his first visit to the Royal Opera House at London's Covent Garden, where he appeared as Riccardo in “ I Puritani “ by Bellini . . Debut at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples in 1886 . From 1892 onwards, Battistini established himself at Russia's two imperial theatres in Saint Petersburg and Moscow: the Mariinsky and the Bolshoi . Returned London Covent Garden for appearances in 1905–1906,He sang at Warsaw, Saint Petersburg, Moscow ,Odessa , Milan, Lisbon, Barcelona, Madrid, Berlin, Vienna, Prague, Budapest and Paris. Principal rôles included Don Carlo “ La forza del destino” Di Luna “ Il trovatore” Rigoletto “, Rigoletto,”, Amonasro “Aïda”, Don Carlo “Ernani” all by Verdi, Gonzales “il Guarany” Gomes, Riccardo “ I Puritani” Bellini, and Ashton “Lucia di Lammermoor” by Donizetti.

as Siegfried and Brunnhilde in "Götterdämmerung" By Wagner Heinrich Vogl 845-1900 German Tenor In 1865 he made his debut at the "Hofoper von München" as Max in Von Weber's "Der Freischütz". After the sudden and too early death of Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld he became his successor in Wagnerian roles both in Munich as throughout Germany. Above all asTristan, the role that Schnorr shortly before his death had created at Munich with his wife Malvina as Isolde. Vogl often performed the role with his wife, the soprano Therese Vogl-Thoma (1845-1921), as Isolde. In 1869 he created at Munich the role of Loge at the première of Wagner's "Das Rheingiold" and in 1870 the role of Siegmund in Wagner's "Die Walküre". In 1876 he repeated the role of Loge in the first performance of the complete cycle of "Der Ring des Nibelungen". Until 1897 he performed with great success at Bayreuth in various Wagnerian roles (Tristan, Siegmund, Parsifal and Siegfried). He made successful international guestappearances at London. Vienna and Russia. In 1890 he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera New York as Lohengrin. In the following New York season he played Tannhäuser, Loge, Siegfried and Tristan. His last performance was on 16 April 1900 in Munich as Canio in "Pagliacci"; 4 days later he suffered a fatal stroke. Therese Vogl 1845-1921 German Soprano Her name was Therese Thoma, was the daughter of a school teacher and received her education by the educator Hauser in Munich. In 1865, she debuted at the Court Theater of Karlsruhe in the role of Casilda in "La Part du Diable" by Auber. A year later in 1866, she followed a call to the Hofoper of Munich. In 1868 she married the famous first tenor of this opera house, Heinrich Vogl (1845-1900). Heinrich and Therese Vogl were regarded as unsurpassed within their artistic generation in these two difficult parts, since they had sung them for the first time in 1869 in Munich. On June 26, 1870 Therese Vogl sang in Munich in the world premiere of the "Walküre" by R. Wagner, while her husband created the part of Siegmund. In 1878 and 1879 she was the Brünnhilde in Munich in the first performances of "Siegfried" and "Götterdämmerung" outside of Bayreuth. In 1881 she was a guest at the Hofoper of Berlin as Elsa in the "Lohengrin". In 1882 she sang the Brünnhilde at the Her Majesty's Theater in the English premiere of the Ring cycle under Anton Seidl. She also took part in the Europa tour with Angelo Neumann's wandering Wagner theater in 1882-83. In 1884 she sang with Heinrich Vogl in the premiere of "Tristan" at the opera in Frankfurt am Main, where she often enjoyed. She also appeared as a guest in Russia. She sang at the Stadttheater (opera house) of Hamburg (1877), at the court theater of Mannheim, Weimar, Wiesbaden and Stuttgart (1887). In 1885 she performed in Munich, together with her husband, in the premiere of the opera "Der faule Hans" by Alexander Ritter, in 1872 in the opera "Theodor Körner" by Wendelin Weissheimer. In 1892, she gave her farewell performance as an Isolde in Munich. She was appointed honorary member of the Munich Opera. In addition to Wagner's repertoire, she was successful in roles such as the Eglantine in "Euryanthe", the title role in "Alceste" by Gluck, the Leonore in the "Fidelio", the Clytemnestra in "Iphigenie in Aulis" and the Agathe in "Freischütz"

Hänsel und Gretel opera by Engelbert Humperdinck Vienna 18/12/1894 Cast Hansel - Marie Renard- 1864-1939 Gretel- Paula Mark- 1869-1956 Dew Fairy- Marie Lederer Peter- Josef Ritter -1859-1911 Gertrud-Luise Kaulich-Lazarich - 1856-1939 Witch- Marie Lehamann -1859-1931 Sandman- Irene Abendroth- 1872-1932 MARIE RENARD (Marie Polzl) (8 January 1864 – 19 October 1939) Austrian Mezzo Soprano Studied voice with Louise Weinlich-Tipka in her native city of Graz and later in Berlin with Rosa de Ruda. She debuted in 1882 in Graz as Azucena in Verdi's "Il trovatore", (1884–1885) she sang at the German Theatre in Prague. PAULA MARK-NEUSSER, 1869 - 1956 Austrian soprano & voice teacher. After studying at the Vienna Conservatory , Paula Mark made her debut as a singer at the Opera in Leipzig in 1890, where she stayed until 1893. In 1893 she was hired to the court opera . After marrying Edmund Neusser , she said goodbye to the stage in 1897 and gave singing lessons from then on. From 1924 to 1950 she had a teaching position for singing at the Academy for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. JOSEF RITTER 1859-1911 German Baritone Sang as a chorister at Sazlburg.Studied at the Mozarteum Salzburg and further study with Herdinger & Schimon at Conservatory in Munich .Operatic debut as Melchthal 'William Tell" at Frankfurt in 1880 .Completed his military service and joined Hamburg City Opera where he remained until 1891 LOUISE KAULICH-LAZARICH 1856 -1939 Austrian Mezzo Soprano Daughter of the composer and bandmaster Josef Kaulich (1827-1901). Education: Studied at the Vienna Conservatory with Mathilde Marchesi di Castrone. Career: Brought in by director Franz Jauner, she began her stage career at the Vienna Court Opera in 1874 (or 1876), and was engaged as a solo singer from 1876 (or 1878). She sang major roles and was one of the busiest artists in the house. In 1906 she said goodbye to the opera stage as Quickly in “Falstaff”, but continued to perform as a concert and oratorio singer until 1911. She achieved her greatest successes as the witch in “Hansel and Gretel” as well as Marthe in “Faust”, as Fides in “Prophet” and as Lucia in “Cavalleria rusticana”. MARIE LEHMANN 1851 – 1931) German Soprano The daughter of the soprano Maria Theresia Löw and the heldentenor Karl August Lehmann, and the sister of Lilli Lehmann. Her mother trained the girls, working in Prague. Lehmann made her stage debut at the Leipzig Opera in 1867 as Ännchen in Weber's Der Freischütz, IRENE ABENDROTH 1872-1932 Polish Soprano Studied Milan with the elder Lamperti and later with in Vienna with Lamperti-Aurelie and Jager-Wilczek Debut Vienna 1889 as Amina "Sonnambula" .She was a member of the comany's in Riga ,Hamburg, Vienna and Dresden.Her roles included Tosca , Sieglinde, Desdemona, Norma, Venus , Lucia and Rosina.

as Don Jose in "Carmen" by Bizet: Riccardo Martin (Hugh Whitfield Martin) (November 18, 1874 – August 11, 1952) American tenor. Studied in Paris with Giovanni Sbriglia, Jean de Reszke and Léon Escalaïs. and later completed his studies with Vincenzo Lombardi in Florence and Beniamino Carelli in Naples. He debuted as Faust in Nantes in 1904. Two years later he made his American debut in New Orleans, singing with the visiting San Carlo Opera. Debut at the Metropolitan Opera on November 20, 1907 in Mefistofele; he created the lead tenor roles in 3 american operas: Walter Damrosch's " Cyrano", Horatio Parker's "Mona", and Frederick Shepherd Converse's" The Pipe of Desire". After leaving the company he appeared with numerous companies throughout America and Europe, and spent three seasons with the Chicago Civic Opera.

Theodor Reichmann as Tell 'William Tell" Rossini THEODOR REICHMANN 15 March 1849 -22 May 1903 German Baritone Studied Berlin and Milan . Debuted 1869 (as Ottokar in "Der Freischütz") in Magdeburg .After engagements in Rotterdam (1870-1871), Cologne (1871/1872), Strasbourg (1872) and Hamburg (1872-1875), belonged to 1875-1883 the Munich Court Theatre on and came on April 5, 1881, as a guest at the Hofoper (René in "Masked ball").Debut on June 4 as Dutchman April 8 , 1889 , and from 1 September 1895 until 22 May 1903 Reichmann was a member of the Court Opera , Roles Dutchman , Hans Sachs , Wotan , Don Juan , Count Almaviva , Amonasro , Escamillo , Rigoletto .Sang regularly at the Bayreuth Festival

as the Angel in "The Demon" by Rubinstein CREATOR Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, on 25 January 1875, Alexandra Pavlovna Krutikova (1851-1919) - (contralto, mezzo-soprano Russian opera and chamber singer . Soloist of the Mariinsky (1872–1876) and Bolshoi (1880–1891) theaters. Honored Artist of the Imperial Theaters (1902). The wife of the singer Bogomir Corsov and the mother of the singer Lyset Corsova. Alexandra Pavlovna Krutikova - the daughter of a hereditary honorary citizen, a native of the Chernihiv province, was brought up in Riga. From an early age showed the ability and love of music. In Riga, she took singing lessons at Heinecke, in Paris she studied with Pierre Francois Vartel, then she entered the St. Petersburg Conservatory in the class of Henriette Nissen-Saloman. A student of the Conservatory, she debuted on January 12, 1872 in the role of Vanya (“Life for the Tsar”) on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater, where she was invited to the place of E. A. Lavrovskaya. On January 28, 1872, she sang the part of Ratmir in the opera Ruslan and Lyudmila. In 1873 she graduated. She was a soloist with the Mariinsky Theater from January 1, 1872 to May 1, 1876. From September 1, 1880 to 1891, was in the troupe of the Moscow Bolshoi Theater. Successfully toured in Sweden, Odessa, Kharkov, Kiev. In 1901, left the scene. She performed about 40 roles rties, including Ortrude in Lohengrin, Zerlina in Don Juan, Ratmir in Ruslan and Lyudmila, Countess in The Queen of Spades, Solokhi in Cherevichki, etc. Olga, the first performer of the party in the opera "Eugene Onegin" by Tchaikovsky at the premiere at the Bolshoi Theater. In 1884 she sang the part of Lyubov in the premiere production of Tchaikovsky's opera "Mazepa". The talent of the singer was highly appreciated by Tchaikovsky, who dedicated her romances “Reconciliation” (op. 25, No. 1, 1874) and “Only You Are Alone” (or. 57, No. 6, 1884).

as The Miller in "Rusalka" by Dargomyzhsky FEODOR IVANOVICH CHALIAPIN (February 13 ,1873 – April 12, 1938) Russian Bass Largely self-taught, he began his career at Tbilisi and the Imperial Opera, St. Petersburg in 1894. He was then invited to sing at the Mamontov Private Opera (1896–1899); his first role there was as Mephistopheles in Gounod's Faust, At Mamontov he also met Sergei Rachmaninoff, who was serving as an assistant conductor there and with whom he remained friends for life. Rachmaninoff taught him much about musicianship, including how to analyze a music score, and insisted that Chaliapin learn not only his own roles but also all the other roles in the operas in which he was slated to appear. With Rachmaninoff he learned the title role of Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, which became his signature character , On the strength of his Mamontov appearances, the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow engaged Chaliapin, where he appeared regularly from 1899 until 1914. During the First World War, Chaliapin also appeared regularly at the Zimin Private Opera in Moscow. In addition, from 1901, Chaliapin began touring in the West, making a sensational debut at La Scala that year as the devil in a production of Boito's Mefistofele, under the baton of one of the 20th century's most dynamic opera conductors, Arturo Toscanini Chaliapin's last stage performance took place at the Monte Carlo Opera in 1937, as Boris. He died the following year of leukemia, aged 65, in Paris, where he was interred

AINO ACKTE (originally Achte) 23 April 1876 – 8 August 1944) Finnish soprano. studied singing under her mother'( mezzo-soprano Emmy Achté (née Strömer) until 1894 when she entered the Paris Conservatory, studying under Edmond Duvernoy and Alfred Girodet. Her debut at the Paris Grand Opera was in 1897 as Margurite in "Faust" by Gounod .In 1904 she was engaged by the New York Metropolitan Opera where she remained until 1906 . In 1911, Ackté, Oskar Merikanto, and Edvard Fazer founded the Kotimainen Ooppera (renamed in 1914 Finnish Opera)and was to act as its director in 1938-39. After parting ways with the National Opera, Ackté organized an international Savonlinna Opera Festival beginning on 3 July 1912;[9] it was held 1912-14, 1916 and 1930.1906. She created the title role of Richard Strauss's " Salome" at its local premieres in Leipzig (1907) and London (1910).She ended her international travels in 1914 and returned to Finland, where she gave her farewell performance in 1920. Her final public performances took place at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in 1930.

PAUL AUMONIER 1872-1944 French Bass He studied singing at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1904 he appeared at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo in G. Verdi’s ‘’Rigoletto’’and ‘’Aida’’. In 1913 he sang at the Opéra de Rouen Haute-Normandie in the premiere of the opera ‘’Graziella’’ by J. Mazellier. In 1919 at the Paris Grand Opéra he appeared in ‘’Samson et Dalila’’ and ‘’Salammbô’’. His repertoire included Max in ‘’Le chalet’’ by A. Adam, Jacob in ‘’Joseph’’ of E. Méhul, Girto in ‘’Le Pré aux clercs’’ by F. Hérold, Marcel in G. Meyerbeer’s ‘’Huguenots’’, Frère Laurent in C. Gounod’s ‘’Roméo et Juliette’’ and Lothario in ‘’Mignon’’ by A. Thomas.

MARGUERITE CARRE (Marguerite Caroline GIRAUD) 1880-1947 French Soprano Studied at the Conservatory in Bordeaux . Joined opera Comique in 1902. She married Albert Carre Director of the Opera Comique . She was the first Pamina and Madama Butterfly at the Opera Comique. She never travelled outside of France .She participated in the first on 23 May 1905, Cherubino (Nina) by Jules Massenet; on 28 December 1906 by Giacomo Puccini Madama Butterfly (Cio-cio-san) [French version of Paul Ferrier]; on 22 May 1908 by Snegourotchka (Snegourotchka) Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's [French version of Pierre Lalo]; October 26, 1911, the secret of Suzanne (Suzanne Countess) of Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari [French version of Kufferath]; on December 30, 1913 life brief (Salud) by Manuel de Falla [French version of Paul Milliet]; June 18, 1923, Pepita Jiménez (Pepita) of Isaac Albéniz

AINO ACKTE (originally Achte) 23 April 1876 – 8 August 1944) Finnish soprano. studied singing under her mother'( mezzo-soprano Emmy Achté (née Strömer) until 1894 when she entered the Paris Conservatory, studying under Edmond Duvernoy and Alfred Girodet. Her debut at the Paris Grand Opera was in 1897 as Margurite in "Faust" by Gounod .In 1904 she was engaged by the New York Metropolitan Opera where she remained until 1906 . In 1911, Ackté, Oskar Merikanto, and Edvard Fazer founded the Kotimainen Ooppera (renamed in 1914 Finnish Opera)and was to act as its director in 1938-39. After parting ways with the National Opera, Ackté organized an international Savonlinna Opera Festival beginning on 3 July 1912;[9] it was held 1912-14, 1916 and 1930.1906. She created the title role of Richard Strauss's " Salome" at its local premieres in Leipzig (1907) and London (1910).She ended her international travels in 1914 and returned to Finland, where she gave her farewell performance in 1920. Her final public performances took place at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in 1930.

PIERRE FRANCOIS VILLARET (1830-1896) French Tenor Debut salle Le Peletier on March 20, 1863 in GUILLAUME TELL (Arnold). Performed LA JUIVE (Eléazar, 1863), LA MUETTE DE PORTICI (Mazianello, 1865), LES HUGUENOTS (Raoul, 1865), the African (Vasco, 1867), ROBERT LE DIABLE (Robert, 1867), the Prophet (John, 1871), LA REINE DE CHYPRE (Gérard, 1877), roles that he sang at the Palais Garnier.

Stella de la Mar 1860 - ???? French Mezzo Debut 1879 at Opera Comique

MARGUERITE VAILLANT- COUTURIER 12 May 1855 - 1 May 1930 French Soprano Studied Paris Conservatory and won 1st prize at the Opera Comique Paris in 1878,Debut in “Mirielle” by Gounod at the La Monnaie Bruxelles At the Monnaie she sang Juliette “Romeo et Juliette” by Gounod , ‘Galathee” by Masse .”l’etoile du Nord” by Meyerbeer. She than sang in Marseille , Nantes and Geneva and then returned to Paris where she sang in the premiere’s of “Le Coeur et la Main” on 19/10/1882 , “La roi de Carreau ‘ by de Lajarte on 26/10/1883 and “Babolin” by Varney 19/3/1884. She then returned to Bruxelles to create Manon and sing Margurite in “Faust” by Gounod and Ophelia in “Hamlet” by Thomas, she then travelled to Buenos Aires and St Petersburg before returning to the Opera Comique making her debut as Carmen in “‘Carmen” by Bizet on 12/6/1888 at the Comique she created Catherine in “L’Esadron volant de la Reine “ by Litloff ,She also sang at The Hague and Toulouse.Sister of Soprano Pauline Vaillant and Aunt of singer Marguerite Carre

Emilia Van der Linden as "Lakme" . She was a soprano and was awarded First Prize at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels in 1901.

Valero as don Jose ' Carmen " by Bizet

Colin as Raol in "Les Huguenots" by Meyerbeer Edouard Adolphe COLIN French tenor December 26, 1840 – January 13, 1872 A student at the Paris Conservatory, he obtained a 1st prize in singing in 1865 and, the following year, a 2nd prize in opera and a second prize in comic opera. He sang at the Paris Opera from 1867 to 1872, He made his debut there on November 6, 1867 in Don Juan (Don Ottavio) , He premiered there on March 9, 1868 Hamlet (Laërte) by Ambroise Thomas; on April 30, 1870 the oratorio La Légende de Sainte Cécile by Julius Benedict. ,He participated in the premiere of Faust (Faust) by Charles Gounod on March 3, 1869.He sang the Huguenots there (Raoul de Nangis, November 25, 1868); Herculaneum (Helios, July 1868); William Tell (Arnold, August 4, 1869); the Mute of Portici (Masaniello, 1870); Robert le Diable (Robert, March 1870).