The Record of Singing - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Record of Singing is a compilation of classical-music singing from the first half of the 20th century, the era of the 78-rpm record.

It was issued on LP

LP album

The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...

(with accompanying books) by EMI

EMI

The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...

, successor to the British company His Master's Voice (better known as HMV) — perhaps the leading organization in the early history of audio recording.

The project was accompanied initially by two illustrated books, containing singers' biographies and appraisals, which were published in London, by Duckworth, in the late 1970s. It covers the period running from circa 1900, when the earliest recordings were made, through until the early 1950s, when the last 78-rpm records were produced. Singers are divided into groups arranged according to national 'schools' and fach or voice type

Voice type

A voice type is a particular kind of human singing voice perceived as having certain identifying qualities or characteristics. Voice classification is the process by which human voices are evaluated and are thereby designated into voice types...

. In practice, this means that there are separate Italian, German, French, Anglo-American and East European classifications.

Rather than concentrating on famous singers whose recordings are widely available elsewhere, The Record of Singing includes a large number of lesser-known artists in order to give a broad picture of the contemporary operatic world. Vocal artists of such lasting renown as Enrico Caruso, Nellie Melba

Nellie Melba

Dame Nellie Melba GBE , born Helen "Nellie" Porter Mitchell, was an Australian operatic soprano. She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian Era and the early 20th century...

, Titta Ruffo

Titta Ruffo

Titta Ruffo , born as Ruffo Titta Cafiero, was an Italian opera star who had a major international singing career. Known as the "Voce del leone" , he was greatly admired, even by rival baritones, such as Giuseppe De Luca, who said of Ruffo: "His was not a voice, it was a miracle" Titta Ruffo (9...

, Feodor Chaliapin

Feodor Chaliapin

Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin was a Russian opera singer. The possessor of a large and expressive bass voice, he enjoyed an important international career at major opera houses and is often credited with establishing the tradition of naturalistic acting in his chosen art form.During the first phase...

, Kirsten Flagstad

Kirsten Flagstad

Kirsten Målfrid Flagstad was a Norwegian opera singer and a highly regarded Wagnerian soprano...

, Rosa Ponselle

Rosa Ponselle

Rosa Ponselle , was an American operatic soprano with a large, opulent voice. She sang mainly at the New York Metropolitan Opera and is generally considered by music critics to have been one of the greatest sopranos of the past 100 years.-Early life:She was born Rosa Ponzillo on January 22, 1897,...

and Maria Callas

Maria Callas

Maria Callas was an American-born Greek soprano and one of the most renowned opera singers of the 20th century. She combined an impressive bel canto technique, a wide-ranging voice and great dramatic gifts...

are thus represented but by only a few recordings in each case. Nonetheless, no such compilation can ever be exhaustive in scope, and the project has been criticised from time to time since its initial release for overlooking a few important singers who, while largely forgotten today, were highly talented performers that once enjoyed substantial careers and made records of enduring artistic merit.

Origins

The original idea for the series came from the collector Vivian Liff, who chose the recordings used in the first two volumes, almost all of which came from the Stuart-Liff Collection, as well as the photographs of the singers which were published in the books that accompanied volumes 1 and 2 of the project. Michael Scott

Michael Scott (artistic director)

Michael Scott is the founder of the London Opera Society. In his role as the society's sole artistic director, he brought to London Marilyn Horne, Joan Sutherland, and Boris Christoff. He was also responsible for introducing Sherrill Milnes, Ruggero Raimondi, and Montserrat Caballe...

was asked to write these two books. They contained brief singers' biographies, too and featured a critical (sometimes controversial) commentary (see below) about their accomplishments, are gleaned from certain discs they had made. Bryan Crimp of EMI was responsible for the transfers of the original recorded material on to LP. Keith Hardwick, however, was responsible for the transfers, etc, on the final two volumes of the survey (which were not accompanied by books).

Publication on LPs

EMI

first released the collection on vinyl

Gramophone record

A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...

long playing records (LPs).

Volume 1 first appeared in 1977, with a second edition in 1982 including corrections to the pitch of many of the recordings. The supplement also appeared around 1982. Volume 2 was published in 1979. Volume 3 and Volume 4 were released around 1984 and 1989 respectively.

The complete set was on 47 discs. Volumes 1, 2 and 3 each occupied 13, with Volume 4 having 8 discs. The original intention was apparently to produce 12 LPs per volume; but the selection of singers included in Volume 1 proved controversial, and an extra record (entitled a 'Supplement') was added to partly correct oversights. Volumes 2 and 3 were then assigned 13 records each.

Compact discs

Volume 4 was republished on seven compact disc

Compact Disc

The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

s (CD) by EMI Classics under the title The Record of Singing Volume Four in 1991. This was not apparently a commercial success and the firm did not proceed to reissue the first three volumes in the same format.

Volume 3, however, was subsequently republished in 1999 on 10 CDs by Testament under the title The EMI Record of Singing Volume Three: 1926-1939. This was still available through retail outlets (as of 2010).

Two related sets, each containing 10 CDs, were issued by EMI Classics in 2009. The Record of Singing, 1899-1952: The Very Best of Vols. 1-4 consists of selections previously released in the original four volumes of LPs. The Record of Singing, Vol. 5: 1953-2007 - From the LP to the Digital Era is a new compilation which brings the series up to the present day. It has been criticised, however, for not being properly representative of non-EMI artists.

MP3 Download

Volume 2 is available as MP3 download on several internet platforms. The original LPs are now spread over 13 parts. Each part comes with an individual cover, resembling the original cover picture, but varying in color.

Documentation

The collection was published with extensive documentation, including the numbers of the original recordings and full biographies of the singers.

The first two volumes were accompanied by books by Michael Scott

Michael Scott (artistic director)

:

The Record of Singing to 1914, London, Duckworth, 1977 ISBN 978-0-7156-1030-5

The Record of Singing Volume Two: 1914-1925, London, Duckworth, 1979

They were republished in paperback by Northeastern University Press in 1993, ISBN 978-1-55553-163-8

(The books are still widely available from second hand book sellers.)

The Record of Singing Volume 1 (1899-1919)

The Castrato Voice: Alessandro Moreschi

Alessandro Moreschi

Alessandro Moreschi was the most famous castrato singer of the late 19th century, and the only castrato of the classic bel canto tradition to make solo sound recordings.-Life:...

The Old School: Adelina Patti

Adelina Patti

Adelina Patti was a highly acclaimed 19th-century opera singer, earning huge fees at the height of her career in the music capitals of Europe and America. She first sang in public as a child in 1851 and gave her last performance before an audience in 1914...

, Emma Albani

Emma Albani

Dame Emma Albani DBE was a leading soprano of the 19th century and early 20th century, and the first Canadian singer to become an international star. Her repertoire focused on the operas of Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini and Wagner...

, Marcella Sembrich

Marcella Sembrich

Marcella Sembrich was the stage name of the Polish coloratura soprano, Prakseda Marcelina Kochańska...

Melba and the Marchesi Pupils: Nellie Melba

Nellie Melba

Dame Nellie Melba GBE , born Helen "Nellie" Porter Mitchell, was an Australian operatic soprano. She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian Era and the early 20th century...

, Sigrid Arnoldson

Sigrid Arnoldson

Sigrid Arnoldson was a Swedish opera singer with an active international career at the end of the 19th century and into the 20th. Possessing a fine coloratura soprano voice with a range of three octaves, music critics believed she was Jenny Lind's successor and dubbed her "the new Swedish...

, Emma Eames

Emma Eames

Emma Eames was an American soprano renowned for the beauty of her voice. She sang major lyric and lyric-dramatic roles in opera and had an important career in New York, London and Paris during the last decade of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century.-Early life:The daughter of...

, Lilian Blauvelt, Suzanne Adams

Suzanne Adams

Suzanne Adams was an American lyric coloratura soprano. Known for her agile and pure voice, Adams first became well known in France before establishing herself as one of the Metropolitan Opera's leading sopranos at the beginning of the twentieth century.-Biography:Adams was born in Cambridge,...

, Ellen Beach Yaw

Ellen Beach Yaw

Ellen Beach Yaw was an American coloratura soprano, best known for her concert singing career. She had an extraordinary vocal range and could produce unusually high notes. Known as "Lark Ellen" or "The California Nightingale," she was reportedly the only known soprano of her era who could sing...

, Blanche Marchesi

Blanche Marchesi

Blanche Marchesi was a French mezzo-soprano and voice teacher best known for her interpretations of the works of Richard Wagner...

English-speaking singers

Dramatic sopranos: Agnes Nicholls

Agnes Nicholls

Agnes Nicholls was one of the greatest English sopranos of the 20th century, both in the concert hall and on the operatic stage....

, Lillian Nordica

Lillian Nordica

Lillian Nordica was an American opera singer who had a major stage career in Europe and her native country....

, Olive Fremstad

Olive Fremstad

Olive Fremstad was the stage name of Anna Olivia Rundquist, a celebrated Swedish-American opera diva who sang in both the mezzo-soprano and soprano ranges. -Background:...

, Geraldine Farrar

Geraldine Farrar

Geraldine Farrar was an American soprano opera singer and film actress, noted for her beauty, acting ability, and "the intimate timbre of her voice." She had a large following among young women, who were nicknamed "Gerry-flappers".- Early life and opera career :Farrar was born in Melrose,...

, Susan Strong, Zélie de Lussan

Zélie de Lussan

Zélie de Lussan was an American opera singer of French descent who was successful in her native country but made most of her career in England. The wide range of her voice allowed her to sing both mezzo-soprano and soprano roles. Among de Lussan's most famous roles was the title role in Georges...

Contraltos: Louise Homer

Louise Homer

Louise Homer was an American operatic contralto who had an active international career in concert halls and opera houses from 1895 until her retirement in 1932. After a brief stint as a vaudeville entertainer in New England, she made her professional opera debut in France in 1898...

, Louise Kirkby Lunn

Louise Kirkby Lunn

Louise Kirkby Lunn was an English contralto. Sometimes classified as a mezzo-soprano, she was a leading English-born singer of the first two decades of the 20th century, earning praise for her performances in concert, oratorio and opera.-Training:Kirkby Lunn had her early vocal training in her...

, Clara Butt

Clara Butt

Dame Clara Ellen Butt DBE , sometimes called Clara Butt-Rumford after her marriage, was an English contralto with a remarkably imposing voice and a surprisingly agile singing technique. Her main career was as a recitalist and concert singer.-Early life and career:Clara Butt was born in Southwick,...

Tenors: Edward Lloyd

Edward Lloyd (tenor)

Edward Lloyd was a British tenor singer who excelled in concert and oratorio performance, and was recognised as a legitimate successor of John Sims Reeves as the foremost tenor exponent of that genre during the last quarter of the nineteenth century.- Early training in choral tradition :Edward...

, Ben Davies, Dan Beddoe, Evan Williams

Baritones and basses: Charles Santley

Charles Santley

Sir Charles Santley was an English-born opera and oratorio star with a bravuraFrom the Italian verb bravare, to show off. A florid, ostentatious style or a passage of music requiring technical skill technique who became the most eminent English baritone and male concert singer of the Victorian era...

, George Henschel

George Henschel

Sir George Henschel , was a British baritone, pianist, conductor, and composer of German birth....

, Harry Plunket Greene

Harry Plunket Greene

Harry Plunket Greene was an Irish baritone singer who was most famous in the formal concert and oratorio repertoire. He made a great contribution to British musical life also by writing and lecturing upon his art, and in the field of competitions and examinations...

, Robert Watkin-Mills, Andrew Black, David Bispham

David Bispham

David Scull Bispham was the first American–born operatic baritone to win an international reputation.- Early life and family:...

, Emilio de Gogorza

Emilio de Gogorza

Emilio Eduardo de Gogorza was an American baritone of Spanish parentage.He was born in Brooklyn, New York, but brought up and trained musically in Spain. He returned to the USA in his early 20s. He sang in many languages, including French, Italian and English, as well as Spanish...

, Clarence Whitehill

Clarence Whitehill

Clarence Whitehill was a leading American bass-baritone. He sang on both sides of the Atlantic and is best remembered for his association with the music dramas of Richard Wagner....

The French

Tenors: Émile Scaremberg, Charles Dalmorès

Charles Dalmorès

Charles Dalmorès was a French tenor. He enjoyed an international operatic career, singing to public and critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic during the first two decades of the 20th century.-Biography:...

, Lucien Muratore

Lucien Muratore

Lucien Muratore was a French actor and operatic tenor, particularly associated with the French repertory.- Life and career :...

, Charles Rousselière

Lyric tenors: Victor Capoul

Victor Capoul

Joseph Victor Amédée Capoul, born in Toulouse on 27 February 1839 and died in Pujaudran on 18 February 1924, was a French operatic tenor with a lyric voice and a graceful singing style.-Career:Victor Capoul began his studies in Toulouse...

, Edmond Clément

Edmond Clément

Edmond Clément was a French lyric tenor who earned an international reputation due to the polished artistry of his singing....

, Adolphe Maréchal

Adolphe Maréchal

Adolphe Maréchal was a Belgian tenor whose career in the French and Italian repertoire took him to France and England.-Life and career:...

, Albert Vaguet

High Cs and Heroic Voices: Léon Escalais

Léon Escalais

Léon Escalaïs was a prominent Gallic tenor, particularly associated with French and Italian heroic roles...

, Agustarello Affré

Agustarello Affré

Agustarello Affré was a French operatic tenor. He possessed a powerful and firm voice which garnered him the nickname the "French Tamagno" in comparison to the great Italian tenor. He was one of the leading operatic tenors in Paris from 1890-1911. He spent the last years of his career singing and...

, Georges Imbart de la Tour, Albert Alvarez

Baritones: Jean Lasalle, Victor Maurel

Victor Maurel

Victor Maurel was a French operatic baritone who enjoyed an international reputation as a great singing-actor.-Biography:...

, Maurice Renaud

Maurice Renaud

Maurice Renaud , was a cultured French operatic baritone. He enjoyed an international reputation for the superlative quality of his singing and the brilliance of his acting.-Early years:...

, Henri Albers, Jean Noté

Jean Noté

Jean-Baptiste Noté was a Belgian operatic baritone. He graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Ghent in 1884 with first prizes in singing and lyrical declamation. He made his professional opera debut in 1885 at the Opéra de Lille as Lord Enrico Ashton in Gaetano Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor...

, Léon Melchissédec

Léon Melchissédec

Léon Melchissédec was a French baritone who enjoyed a long career in the French capital across a broad range of operatic genres, and later made some recordings and also taught at the Paris Conservatoire.-Life and Career:He played second violin in the Théâtre de Saint-Étienne before coming to Paris...

, Lucien Fugère

Lucien Fugère

Lucien Fugère was a French baritone, particularly associated with the French repertory and Mozart roles, he enjoyed an exceptionally long career, singing into his 80s.- Life and career :...

, Gabriel Soulacroix

Gabriel Soulacroix

Gabriel-Valentin Soulacroix was a French operatic baritone...

, Jean Périer

Jean Périer

Jean Périer was a French operatic baritone and actor. Although he sang principally within the operetta repertoire, Périer did portray a number of opera roles; mostly within operas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Giacomo Puccini...

, Charles Gilibert

Basses: Pol Plançon

Pol Plançon

Pol-Henri Plançon was a distinguished French operatic bass . He was one of the most acclaimed singers active during the 1880s, 1890s and early 20th century—a period often referred to as the "Golden Age of Opera".In addition to being among the earliest international opera stars to have made...

, Edouard de Reszke

Edouard de Reszke

Édouard de Reszke, originally Edward, was a Polish bass from Warsaw. Born with an impressive natural voice and equipped with compelling histrionic skills, he became one of the most illustrious opera singers active in Europe and America during the late-Victorian Era.-Career:Édouard de Reszke was...

, Pedro Gailhard, Jean-François Delmas, Juste Nivette, Hippolyte Belhomme

Dramatic Sopranos: Emma Calvé

Emma Calvé

Emma Calvé, born Rosa Emma Calvet , was a French operatic soprano.Calvé was probably the most famous French female opera singer of the Belle Époque. Hers was an international career, and she sang regularly and to considerable acclaim at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, and the Royal Opera...

, Félia Litvinne

Félia Litvinne

Félia Litvinne was a Russian-born, French-based dramatic soprano. She was particularly associated with Wagnerian roles, although she also sang a wide range of parts by other opera composers....

, Aino Ackté

Aino Ackté

Aino Ackté was a Finnish soprano. She was the first international star of the Finnish opera scene after Alma Fohström, and a groundbreaker for the domestic field....

, Mary Garden

Mary Garden

Mary Garden , was a Scottish operatic soprano with a substantial career in France and America in the first third of the 20th century...

Lyric sopranos: Julia Guiraudon, Marguerite Carré, Lucette Korsoff, Lise Landouzy, Alice Verlet

Alice Verlet

Alice Verlet was a Belgian-born operatic coloratura soprano active primarily in France. She sang principal roles at the operas in Lyon, Nice, and Monte Carlo; at His Majesty's Theater in London; at La Monnaie in Brussels; and at the Paris Opéra and Opéra-Comique...

, Blanche Arral

Blanche Arral

Blanche Arral was a Belgian coloratura soprano. Born Clara Lardinois, she studied under Mathilde Graumann Marchesi in Paris. She debuted in a small part in the 1884 world premiere of Jules Massenet's Manon. Arral performed in various opera houses in Brussels, Paris and St. Petersburg before moving...

Contraltos: Blanche Deschamps-Jéhin

Blanche Deschamps-Jéhin

Blanche Deschamps-Jéhin was a French operatic contralto who had a prolific career in France from 1879-1905. She possessed a rich-toned and flexible voice that had a wide vocal range...

, Marie Delna, Jeanne Gerville-Réache

Jeanne Gerville-Réache

Jeanne Gerville-Réache was a French operatic contralto from the Belle Époque. She possessed a remarkably beautiful voice, an excellent singing technique, and wide vocal range which enabled her to perform several roles traditionally associated with mezzo-sopranos in addition to contralto parts...

The Emergence of Verismo

'La Gloria d'Italia': Mattia Battistini

Mattia Battistini

Mattia Battistini was an Italian operatic baritone. He became internationally famous due to the beauty of his voice and the virtuosity of his singing technique, and he earned the sobriquet "King of Baritones".-Early life:...

, Antonio Cotogni

Antonio Cotogni

Antonio Cotogni was an Italian baritone of the first magnitude. Regarded internationally as being one of the greatest male opera singers of the 19th century, he was particularly admired by the composer Giuseppe Verdi...

, Giuseppe Kaschmann, Francesco D'Andrade, Antonio Magini-Coletti, Giuseppe Pacini, Mario Ancona

Mario Ancona

Mario Ancona , was a leading Italian baritone and master of bel canto singing. He appeared at some of the most important opera houses in Europe and America during what is commonly referred to as the "Golden Age of Opera".-Career:Ancona was born into a middle-class Jewish family at Livorno, Tuscany,...

Scotti, de Luca and Pini-Corsi: Antonio Scotti

Antonio Scotti

Antonio Scotti was an Italian baritone. He was a principal artist of the New York Metropolitan Opera for more than 33 seasons, but also sang with great success at London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and Milan's La Scala.-Life:Antonio Scotti was born in Naples, Italy...

, Giuseppe De Luca

Giuseppe de Luca

Giuseppe De Luca , was a famous Italian baritone who achieved his greatest triumphs at the New York Metropolitan Opera...

, Antonio Pini-Corsi

Antonio Pini-Corsi

Antonio Pini-Corsi was an Italian operatic baritone of international renown. He possessed a ripe-toned voice of great flexibility and displayed tremendous skill at patter singing...

Verismo triumphant: Eugenio Giraldoni, Mario Sammarco

Mario Sammarco

Mario Sammarco was an Italian operatic baritone noted for his histrionic ability.-Biography:...

, Pasquale Amato

Pasquale Amato

Pasquale Amato was an outstanding Italian operatic baritone. Amato enjoyed an international reputation but attained the peak of his fame in New York City, where he sang with the Metropolitan Opera from 1908 until 1921....

, Titta Ruffo

Titta Ruffo

The basso: Francesco Navarini, Goivanni Gravina, Andres de Segurola, Adamo Didur

Adamo Didur

Adamo Didur was a top-class Polish operatic bass vocalist. He sang extensively in opera in Europe and appeared at New York's Metropolitan Opera from 1908 to 1932.-Career:...

Tradition and the Italian tenor: Francesco Marconi

Francesco Marconi

Francesco Marconi was an operatic tenor from Rome who enjoyed an important international career. In 1924, a reputable biographical dictionary of musicians called him 'one of the most renowned and esteemed singers of the last 50 years'...

, Fernando Valero, Fernando De Lucia

Fernando De Lucia

Fernando De Lucia was an Italian opera tenor and singing teacher who enjoyed an international career....

, Francesco Vignas, Florencio Constantino

Florencio Constantino

Florencio Constantino was a Spanish operatic tenor.-Biography:He was born as Florencio Constantineau on April 9, 1869 in Bilbao, Spain. He moved to Argentina in 1889. He had a nervous breakdown and died on November 19, 1919 in Mexico City.-External links:...

Lyric tenors: Alessandro Bonci

Alessandro Bonci

Alessandro Bonci was an Italian lyric tenor known internationally for his association with the bel canto repertoire. He sang at many famous theatres, including New York's Metropolitan Opera, Milan's La Scala and London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.-Career:A native of Cesena, Romagna, Bonci...

, Giuseppe Anselmi

Giuseppe Anselmi

Giuseppe Anselmi was an Italian operatic tenor. He became famous throughout Europe during the first decade of the 20th century for his stylish performances of lyric roles. He never sang in the United States....

, Aristodemo Giorgini, Edoardo Garbin

Dramatic tenors: Francesco Tamagno

Francesco Tamagno

Francesco Tamagno was an operatic tenor from Italy who sang with enormous success throughout Europe and America. On 5 February 1887, he cemented his place in musical history by creating the role of Otello in Giuseppe Verdi's masterpiece of the same name...

, Giovanni de Negri, Giuseppe Borgatti, Fiorello Giraud, Amadeo Bassi, Giovanni Zenatello

Giovanni Zenatello

Giovanni Zenatello was an Italian opera singer. Born in Verona, he enjoyed an international career as a dramatic tenor of the first rank. Otello became his most famous operatic role but he sang a wide repertoire. In 1904, he created the part of Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly.-Career:Zenatello...

, Antonio Paoli, Enrico Caruso

Sopranos 'B.C.': Ines de Frate, Elena Teodorini, Fanny Torresella, Medea Mei-Figner

Nikolay and Medea Figner

Nikolay Figner , lyric tenor, and Medea Figner , mezzo-soprano, later soprano, were a renowned husband-and-wife team of opera singers active in Russia between 1889 and 1904. Medea was Italian-born but she became competely Russianized after marrying Nikolay...

, Olimpia Boronat

Olimpia Boronat

Olimpia Boronat was an Italian operatic coloratura soprano, noted for her performances of the soprano roles in the bel canto repertory.Boronat was born in Genoa, and made her debut either there or in Naples during 1885...

, Ada Adini

Ada Adini

Ada Adini was an American operatic soprano who had an active international career from 1876 up into the first decade of the 20th century. She possessed a large, expressive voice which enabled her to sing a broad range of roles that extended from the coloratura soprano repertoire to dramatic...

After Cavalleria: Gemma Bellincioni

Gemma Bellincioni

Gemma Bellincioni was an Italian soprano and one of the best-known opera singers of the late 19th century. She had a particular affinity with the verismo repertoire and was renowned more for her charismatic acting than for the quality of her voice.-Her career:Matilda Cesira was Bellincioni's real...

, Angelica Pandolfini, Emma Carelli, Cesira Ferrani, Lina Cavalieri

Lina Cavalieri

Lina Cavalieri was an Italian operatic soprano and diseuse known for her grace and beauty.-Biography:...

, Rosina Storchio

Rosina Storchio

Rosina Storchio was an important Italian lyric soprano who starred in the world premieres of operas by Puccini, Leoncavallo, Mascagni and Giordano...

, Salomea Krusceniski, Teresa Arkel, Amelia Pinto, Janina Korolewicz-Wayda

Four dramatic sopranos: Maria de Macchi, Eugenia Burzio

Eugenia Burzio

Eugenia Burzio was an Italian operatic soprano known for her vibrant voice and passionate style of singing.She was particularly prominent in the verismo repertoire, creating the role of Delia Terzaghi in Ruggero Leoncavallo's Goffredo Mameli as well as singing Minnie in the Italian premiere of...

, Giannina Russ

Giannina Russ

Giannina Russ was an Italian operatic soprano, particularly associated with the Italian repertory.-Life and career:Russ studied piano and voice at the Milan Music Conservatory with Leoni....

, Celestina Boninsegna

Celestina Boninsegna

Celestina Boninsegna was an Italian operatic soprano, known for her interpretations of the heroines in Verdi's operas. Although particularly eminent in Verdi's works, she sang a wide repertoire during her 25-year career, including Rosaura in the world premiere of Mascagni's Le maschere...

Tetrazzini and some 'coloraturas': Luisa Tetrazzini

Luisa Tetrazzini

Luisa Tetrazzini was an Italian coloratura soprano of great international fame.Tetrazzini's voice was remarkable for its phenomenal flexibility, thrust, steadiness and thrilling tone...

, Regina Pacini, Josefina Huguet, Maria Galvany

Maria Galvany

Maria Galvany or María Galvany was a Spanish coloratura soprano notable for her showy, virtuoso singing technique. Her career, however, ended in obscurity.-Her biography and operatic engagements:...

Italian contraltos: Guerrina Fabbri, Eugenia Mantelli

Eugenia Mantelli

Eugenia Mantelli was an Italian opera singer who had a prolific career in Europe, the United States, and South America from the 1880s through the early part of the twentieth century...

, Armida Paris-Pettinella, Maria Gay

Maria Gay

Maria Gay was a Catalan opera singer, a mezzo-soprano born as Maria de Lourdes Lucia Antonia Pichot Gironés. She has sometimes been referred to as Maria Gay Zenatello.-Biography:...

Wagner and the German Style

The instrumental example: Irene Abendroth, Margarethe Siems

Margarethe Siems

Margarethe Siems was a German operatic soprano and voice teacher. A Kammersängerin of the Dresden State Opera, between 1909 and 1912 Siems created leading roles in three operas by Richard Strauss: Chrysothemis in Elektra, the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier, and Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf...

, Erika Wedekind, Hermine Bosetti

Hermine Bosetti

Hermine Bosetti née von Flick , was a German coloratura soprano.Bosetti sang her debut in Wiesbaden as "Ännchen" in Der Freischütz. In 1900 she was a member of the Vienna State Opera and from 1901 until 1924 she was a star singer with the Bavarian State Opera...

, Marie Gutheil-Schoder

Marie Gutheil-Schoder

Marie Gutheil-Schoder was one of the most important German sopranos of her day.Born Marie Schoder, in 1899 she married Gustav Gutheil, with whom she lived until his death in 1914....

, Hedwig Francillo-Kaufmann, Gertrude Forstel, Frieda Hempel

Frieda Hempel

Frieda Hempel was a German soprano singer in operatic and concert work who had an international career in Europe and the United States.-Biography:...

, Selma Kurz

Selma Kurz

Selma Kurz was an Austrian operatic soprano known for her brilliant coloratura technique.-Background:...

Lilli Lehmann: Lilli Lehmann

Lilli Lehmann

Lilli Lehmann, born Elisabeth Maria Lehmann, later Elisabeth Maria Lehmann-Kalisch was a German operatic soprano of phenomenal versatility...

Sopranos of the Bayreuth school: Sophie Sedlmair, Pelagie Greef-Andriessen, Hatharina Senger-Bettaque, Ellen Gulbranson

Ellen Gulbranson

Ellen Gulbranson was a Swedish operatic soprano with a strong, dramatic voice best suited to the works of Richard Wagner. She was a leading figure among the second generation of Bayreuth singers and her voice is preserved on a few acoustic recordings that she made for Edison Records and Pathé...

, Thila Plaichinger, Anna Bahr-Mildenburg, Katharine Fleischer-Edel, Felice Kaschowska, Lucie Weidt

Gadski and Destinn: Johanna Gadski

Johanna Gadski

Johanna Gadski was a German soprano blessed with a secure, powerful, ringing voice, fine musicianship and an excellent technique. These attributes enabled her to enjoy a top-flight career in New York City and London, performing heavy dramatic roles in the German and Italian repertoires.-Life &...

, Emmy Destinn

Emmy Destinn

Emmy Destinn was a Czech operatic soprano with a strong and soaring lyric-dramatic voice. She had a career both in Europe and at the New York Metropolitan Opera.- Biography :...

Contraltos: Marianne Brandt, Ernestine Schumann-Heink

Ernestine Schumann-Heink

Ernestine Schumann-Heink was a celebrated Austrian, later American, operatic contralto, noted for the size, beauty, tonal richness, flexibility and wide range of her voice.- Early life:...

, Rosa Olitzka, Edyth Walker

Edyth Walker

Edyth Walker was an American opera singer who had an active international career from the 1890s through the 1910s. She began her career performing roles from the mezzo-soprano repertory, but later successfully added several soprano parts to her repertoire as well...

, Margarete Matzenauer

Margarete Matzenauer

Margaret Matzenauer was a mezzo-soprano singer with an opulent timbre and a wide range to her voice...

Heldentenors: Hermann Winkelmann, Erik Schmedes

Erik Schmedes

Erik Anton Julius Schmedes was an operatic tenor, particularly known for his roles in operas by Richard Wagner. He was the brother-in-law of Vaslav Nijinsky....

, Ernest van Dyck

Ernest van Dyck

Ernest van Dyck was a Belgian dramatic tenor who was closely identified with the Wagnerian repertoire.A native of Antwerp, van Dyck studied both law and journalism before deciding to become an opera singer...

, Andreas Dippel

Andreas Dippel

Andreas Dippel was a German-born operatic tenor and impressario who from 1908 to 1910 was the joint manager of the New York Metropolitan Opera.-Biography:...

, Heinrich Knote

Heinrich Knote

Heinrich Knote was an outstanding German dramatic tenor with an international reputation.Born in Munich, he studied in that Bavarian city with Emmanuel Kirschner before joining the Munich Opera in 1892, debuting in Lortzing's Der Waffenschmied...

, Karel Burian

Karel Burian

Karel Burian was a renowned Czech operatic tenor who had an active international career spanning the 1890s to the 1920s. A Heldentenor, Burian earned acclaim in Europe and America for his powerful performances of the heaviest Wagnerian roles...

, Alfred von Bary, Wilhelm Herold, Jacques Urlus

Jacques Urlus

Jacques Urlus , was a Dutch dramatic tenor. He sang to great critical acclaim at major opera houses on both sides of the Atlantic, and his recordings of the music of Richard Wagner are considered to be among the finest ever made.-Biography:Jacques Urlus was born to music-loving Dutch parents in the...

, Leo Slezak

Leo Slezak

Leo Slezak was a world-famous Moravian tenor. He was associated in particular with German opera as well as the title role in Verdi's Otello.- Beginnings :...

, Karl Jörn,

Lieder singers: Gustav Walter, Felix Senius

Baritones and basses: Karl Scheidemantel

Karl Scheidemantel

Karl Scheidemantel was a baritone singer, and later an opera director.-Life and career:...

, Baptist Hoffmann, Anton van Rooy

Anton van Rooy

Anton van Rooy was a Dutch bass-baritone. He had a voice of enormous proportions and is most remembered for his association with the music dramas of Richard Wagner, especially the Ring Cycle, The Mastersingers of Nuremberg and Parsifal.Born in Rotterdam, van Rooy studied with the famous voice...

, Theodor Bertram, Leon Rains, Leopold Demuth, Wilhelm Hesch

Singers of Imperial Russia

Sopranos and contraltos: Natalia Yuzhina, Antonina Nezhdanova

Antonina Nezhdanova

Antonina Vasilievna Nezhdanova was a Russian lyric-coloratura soprano. An outstanding opera singer, she represented the Russian vocal school at its best....

, Marie Michailova, Alma Fohrström, Nina Friede, Eugenia Zbujeva, Anastasia Vialtzeva

Tenors, baritones and basses: Nikolay Figner

Nikolay and Medea Figner

, Ivan Erschov, Leonid Sobinov

Leonid Sobinov

Leonid Vitalyevich Sobinov , was an acclaimed Imperial Russian operatic tenor. His fame continued unabated into the Soviet era, and he was made a People's Artist of the RSFSR in 1923...

, Andrei Labinsky, Alexander Davidov, Ivan Altchevsky, Tadeusz Leliva, Joachim Tartakov, Nicholai Shevelev, Waclav Brzezinski, Lev Sibiriakov, Vladimir Kastorsky, Feodor Chaliapin

Feodor Chaliapin

Supplement

Félia Litvinne

Félia Litvinne was a Russian-born, French-based dramatic soprano. She was particularly associated with Wagnerian roles, although she also sang a wide range of parts by other opera composers....

, Georgette Bréjean-Silver, Léon Lafitte, Méyriane Héglon, Gemma Bellincioni

Gemma Bellincioni

, Elisa Bruno, Alice Cucini

Alice Cucini

Alice Cucini was an Italian contralto who had a prolific opera career in Europe and South America between 1891 and 1915. She was particularly associated with the role of Dalila in Camille Saint-Saëns's Samson et Dalila, which she sang in numerous houses internationally...

, Mario Gilion, Francesco Maria Bonini

Francesco Maria Bonini

Francesco Maria Bonini was an Italian baritone who had a major international opera career from 1896 through 1927. He was one of the first wave of musicians to be recorded, having made a number of recordings with Fonotipia Records in Milan in 1905-1906.Born in Naples, Bonini studied singing with...

, Giuseppe De Luca

Giuseppe de Luca

Giuseppe De Luca , was a famous Italian baritone who achieved his greatest triumphs at the New York Metropolitan Opera...

, Enrico Nani, Vittorio Arimondi, Oreste Luppi, Nazzareno De Angelis

Nazzareno De Angelis

Nazzareno De Angelis was an Italian operatic bass, particularly associated with Verdi, Rossini and Wagner roles.-Career:...

, Elise Elizza, Marie Dietrich, Minnie Nast

Minnie Nast

Minnie Nast was a German soprano. She was born in Karlsruhe and studied at the Karlsruhe Conservatory, making her début at Aachen in 1897....

, Marie Götze, Wilhelm Grüning, John Forsell

Revolution and Russian Songs

Chaliapin: Feodor Chaliapin

Feodor Chaliapin

(1873–1938), George Baklanov (1880–1938), Alexander Bragin (1881–1955), Ivan Grizounov (1897–1919), Ivan Ivantzov (c.1880-?)

Smirnov: Dimitri Smirnov

Dmitri Alexeievich Smirnov

Dmitri Alexeyevich Smirnov was a leading Russian operatic tenor with a lyric voice and a bravura singing technique.-Biography:...

(1881–1944)

Kouznetsova to Koshetz: Maria Kouznetsova

Maria Kuznetsova

Maria Nikolayevna Kuznetsova , was a famous 20th century Russian opera singer and dancer.Prior to the Revolution, Kuznetsova was one of the most celebrated opera singers in Imperial Russia, having worked with Richard Strauss, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Jules Massenet. She was frequently paired...

(1880–1966), Marianne Tcherkasskaya (1884–1919), Nina Koshetz

Nina Koshetz

Nina Koshetz ; December 30, 1891 - May 14, 1965) was a Ukrainian, later American, soprano opera and recital singer.Her father, a famous opera singer Pavel Koshetz , committed suicide. She was then 12 years....

(1894–1965)

Two 'Coloraturas': Lydia Lipkowska

Lydia Lipkowska

Lydia Lipkowska was a Russian operatic soprano. Born in Babino, she was trained at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. She was committed to the Mariinsky Theatre from 1906–1908 and again from 1911–1913. She was a member of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City from 1909 -1911...

(1880–1955), Eugenia Bronskaya (1882–1953)

Contraltos: Elisaveta Petrenko (1880–1951), Vera Petrova-Zvanceva (1875–1944), Klavdia Tugarinova (1877-?)

The French Tradition in Decline

Franz, Ansseau and Fontaine: Paul Franz (1876–1950), Fernand Ansseau (1890–1972), Charles Fontaine (1878-?)

A Quintet of Lyric Tenors: David Devriès

David Devriès

David Devriès was a French operatic lyric tenor noted for his light, heady tone, and polished phrasing...

(1881–1936), Fernand Francell (1886–1966), Charles Friant

Charles Friant

Auguste Charles Paul Friant , was a French tenor.Friant was born in the Montmartre district of Paris. His father was a principal ballet dancer, and his grandfather a professor of ballet at the Paris Opéra. While a boy, Charles Friant sang in the opera chorus, and appeared in the premiere of ...

(1890–1947), Louis Cazette (1887–1922), René Lapelletrie (1884-?)

Baritones of the Opéra: Dinh Gilly

Dinh Gilly

Dinh Gilly was a French-Algerian operatic baritone and teacher.-Biography:He studied in Toulouse, Rome and at the Paris Conservatoire, where he won a premier prix in 1902. That same year he made his debut at the Paris Opera as Silvio in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci...

(1877–1940), Louis Lestelly (1877–1936)

Journet and the Basses: Marcel Journet

Marcel Journet

Marcel Journet , was a French, bass, operatic singer. He enjoyed a prominent career in England, France and Italy, and appeared at the foremost American opera houses in New York City and Chicago....

(1867–1933), Hector Dufranne

Hector Dufranne

Hector Dufranne was a Belgian operatic bass-baritone who enjoyed a long career that took him to opera houses throughout Europe and the United States for more than four decades...

(1870–1951), Paul Payan (1878–1959)

Singing Actors: Vanni Marcoux

Vanni Marcoux

Jean-Émile Diogène Marcoux was a French operatic bass-baritone, known professionally as Vanni Marcoux . He was particularly associated with the French and Italian repertories...

(1877–1962), Jean Aquistapace (1888–1952), Alfred Maguenat (c. 1880-?), Armand Crabbé

Armand Crabbé

Armand Crabbé was a Belgian operatic baritone. In 1904 he made his professional opera debut at La Monnaie as the Nightwatchman in Richard Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. He was a leading performer at the Royal Opera House in London from 1906-1914 and again in 1937...

(1883–1947)

Contraltos: Suzanne Brohly (1882–1943), Marie Charbonnel (1880-?), Jacqueline Royer (1884-?)

Five International Sopranos: Marie-Louise Edvina (1880–1948), Marthe Chenal

Marthe Chenal

Marthe Chenal was a French operatic soprano who had an active singing career between 1905 and 1923. Although she made a number of appearances with opera companies throughout the French provinces and on the international stage, her career was mainly centered at the Palais Garnier and the...

(1881–1947), Geneviève Vix

Geneviève Vix

Geneviève Vix née Brouwer was a French soprano. She was a descendant of the Dutch painter Adriaen Brouwer.-Life and career:...

(1879–1939), Yvonne Gall

Yvonne Gall

Yvonne Gall was a famous French operatic soprano.Gall was born and died in Paris. She trained at the Conservatoire de Paris and made her debut in 1908 at the Paris Opéra under André Messager as Woglinde in the Paris premiere of Götterdämmerung...

(1885–1972), Fanny Heldy

Fanny Heldy

Fanny Heldy was a lyric soprano opera singer.Born Marguerite Virginie Emma Clémentine Deceuninck in Ath , Hainaut, Belgium. she graduated from the Liége Conservatoire. Heldy made her professional debut as a substitute in the premiere of Ivan the Terrible, by Raoul Gunsbourg...

(1888–1973)

Lyric Sopranos at the Opéra-Comique: Marguerite Merentie (1880-?), Aline Vallandri (1878–1952), Zina Brozia (1880-?)

A Trio of Concert Singers: Gabrielle Ritter-Ciampi

Gabrielle Ritter-Ciampi

Gabrielle Ritter-Ciampi Gabrielle Ritter-Ciampi Gabrielle Ritter-Ciampi (born in Paris November 2, 1886 - died July 18, 1974, was a French operatic soprano.Initially trained to be a pianist by her uncle Theodore Ritter, at age 16 she started to receive singing lessons from her parents; her Italian...

(1986-1974), Berthe Auguez de Montalant (1868-?), Georgette Leblanc-Maeterlinck

Georgette Leblanc

Georgette Leblanc was a French operatic soprano, actress, author, and the sister of novelist Maurice Leblanc. She became particularly associated with the works of Jules Massenet and was an admired interpreter of the title role in Bizet's Carmen...

(1860–1941)

The Heyday of Verismo

The Duse of Song: Claudia Muzio

Claudia Muzio

Claudia Muzio was an Italian operatic soprano, whose international career was among the most successful of the early 20th century.-Early years:...

(1889–1936)

Raisa and some Dramatic Sopranos: Rosa Raisa

Rosa Raisa

Rosa Raisa was a Polish-born, Italian-trained, dramatic operatic soprano. In 1926 she created the role of Turandot at La Scala, Milan.-Career:...

(1892–1963), Elena Ruszkowska (1878–1948), Maria Labia

Maria Labia

Maria Labia was an Italian operatic soprano who was particularly associated with roles of the verisimo repertoire.-Career:...

(1880–1953), Adelina Agostinelli (1880–1954), Ester Mazzoleni (1882-?)

Verismo Sopranos: Tina Poli-Randaccio (1887–1956), Carmen Melis

Carmen Melis

Carmen Melis was an Italian operatic soprano who had a major international career during the first four decades of the 20th century. She was known, above all, as a verismo soprano, and was one of the most interesting singing actresses of the early 20th century...

(1885–1967), Juanita Caracciolo (1890–1924), Gilda dalla Rizza

Gilda dalla Rizza

Gilda Dalla Rizza was an important Italian soprano. Born in Verona, she made her operatic debut in Bologna in 1912, as Charlotte in Werther. Especially acclaimed in the verismo repertory, she was regarded as being Giacomo Puccini's favorite soprano, creating Magda in his La rondine...

(1882–1975)

Galli-Curci and the 'Coloraturas': Amelita Galli-Curci

Amelita Galli-Curci

Amelita Galli-Curci was an Italian operatic soprano. She was one of the best-known coloratura singers of the early 20th century with her gramophone records selling in large numbers.-Early life:...

(1882–1963), Maria Barrientos

Maria Barrientos

Maria Barrientos was a Spanish opera singer, a light coloratura soprano, one of the most eminent sopranos of her time.- Life and career :...

(1883-I946), Graziella Pareto

Graziella Pareto

Graziella Pareto was a Spanish soprano leggiero, one of the leading sopranos of the inter-war years. She is considered one of the great coloratura sopranos of the "Spanish School" of the early 20th century, alongside Maria Barrientos, Maria Galvany and Mercedes Capsir.-Life and career:Pareto was...

(1889–1975), Elvira de Hidalgo

Elvira de Hidalgo

Elvira de Hidalgo was a prominent Spanish coloratura soprano, who later became a pedagogue...

(1892–1980), Lucrezia Bori

Lucrezia Bori

Lucrezia Bori was a Spanish operatic singer, a lyric soprano.-Biography:Lucrezia Bori was born in Valencia, Spain. Her real name was Lucrecia Borja y González de Riancho and her family were reputed to be descended from the Borgias.Her voice had a unique timbre and transparent quality unlike any...

(1887–1960)

Italian Contraltos: Gabriella Besanzoni (1890–1962), Fanny Anitua

Fanny Anitùa

Fanny Anitúa was a renowned Mexican contralto opera singer.-History:Anitùa initially studied singing in her native city, moving afterward to Mexico City, and later to Rome. She debuted at Teatro Nazionale in Rome in 1910, singing the role of Orfeo from the eponymous Christoph Willibald Gluck opera...

(1887–1968), Luisa Bertana (1898–1933)

Lyric Tenors: Tito Schipa

Tito Schipa

Tito Schipa was an Italian tenor. He is considered one of the finest tenori di grazia in operatic history...

(1889–1965), Fernando Carpi (1876–1959),

Tradition and the Italian Tenor: Beniamino Gigli

Beniamino Gigli

Beniamino Gigli was an Italian opera singer. The most famous tenor of his generation, he was renowned internationally for the great beauty of his voice and the soundness of his vocal technique. Music critics sometimes took him to task, however, for what was perceived to be the over-emotionalism...

(1890–1957), Hipólito Lázaro

Hipólito Lázaro

Hipólito Lázaro was a Spanish/Catalan opera singer. Lázaro was born in Barcelona, Spain....

(1887–1974), Miguel Fleta

Miguel Fleta

Miguel Burró Fleta was a Spanish operatic tenor....

(1893–1938), Giulio Crimi

Giulio Crimi

Giulio Crimi was an Italian operatic tenor.Crimi was born in Paternò, Italy. He studied in Catania with Adernò and made his debut in Palermo, as Manrico in Il trovatore, in 1910, later appearing in Treviso as Hagenbach in La Wally...

(1885–1939), Ulysses Lappas (1881–1971)

Four Dramatic Tenors: Bernardo de Muro

Bernardo de Muro

Bernardo De Muro was an international operatic tenor from Sardinia.-Biography:Bernardino De Muro was born on November 3, 1881 in Tempio Pausania, Sardinia to Antonio Maria and Jeanne-Marie Demuro. His father was a small landowner. Bernardo’s formal education ceased at primary school...

(1881–1955), Edoardo Ferrari-Fontana (1878–1936), Icilio Calleja (1882–1941), Giovanni Martinelli

Giovanni Martinelli

Giovanni Martinelli was a celebrated Italian operatic tenor. He was particularly associated with the Italian lyric-dramatic repertory, although he performed French operatic roles to great acclaim as well...

(1885–1969)

Principal Baritones: Giuseppe De Luca

Giuseppe de Luca

Giuseppe De Luca , was a famous Italian baritone who achieved his greatest triumphs at the New York Metropolitan Opera...

(1870–1950), Riccardo Stracciari

Riccardo Stracciari

Riccardo Stracciari was a leading Italian baritone. His repertoire consisted mainly of Italian operatic works, with Rossini's Figaro and Verdi's Rigoletto becoming his signature roles during a long and distinguished career which stretched from 1899 to 1944.- Life and career :Born near Bologna,...

(1875–1955), Domenico Viglione-Borchese (1877–1957), Renato Zanelli

Renato Zanelli

Renato Zanelli was a Chilean operatic baritone and later tenor, particularly associated with heroic Italian and German roles, notably Verdi's Otello.-Life and career:...

(1892–1935), Emilio Sagi-Barba (1875–1949)

Mardones: José Mardones (1869–1939)

Singers from the English-Speaking World

Alda and Mason: Frances Alda

Frances Alda

Frances Alda was a New Zealand-born, Australian-raised operatic soprano. She achieved fame during the first three decades of the 20th century due to her outstanding singing voice, fine technique and colourful personality—and frequent onstage partnerships at the New York Metropolitan Opera with the...

(1883–1952), Edith Mason

Edith Mason

Edith Mason was an American soprano.She studied in Boston, Philadelphia, and Paris. She made her debut on January 27, 1912, as Nedda in Pagliacci with the Boston Opera Company. During the next three years, she sang in Europe at Nice, Marseilles, and Paris...

(1893–1973)

American Concert Sopranos: Alma Gluck

Alma Gluck

Alma Gluck was a Romanian-born American soprano, one of the world's most famous female singers at the peak of her career .-Life and career:...

(1884-I938), Hulda Lashanska (1893–1974), Anna Case

Anna Case

Anna Case was an American soprano. She recorded with Thomas Alva Edison, who used her voice extensively in "tone tests" of whether a live audience could tell the difference between the actual singer and a recording...

(1889–1984), Éva Gauthier

Éva Gauthier

Éva Gauthier was a Canadian mezzo-soprano and voice teacher. She performed and popularised songs by contemporary composers throughout her career and sang in the American premieres of several works by Erik Satie, Maurice Ravel and Igor Stravinsky, including the title role in the latter's...

(1885–1958)

American Lyric Sopranos: Anna Fitziu

Anna Fitziu

Anna Fitziu was an American soprano who had a prolific international opera career during the early part of the 20th century. Her signature roles included Fiora in L'amore dei tre re, Mimi in La Boheme, Nedda in Pagliacci, and the title roles in Isabeau, Madama Butterfly, and Tosca...

(1888–1967), Carolina White (1886–1961), Lucille Marcel (1887–1921), Julia Heinrich (1880–1919), Marguerite Namara

Marguerite Namara

Marguerite Namara was a classically trained American lyric soprano whose varied career included serious opera, Broadway musicals, film and theater roles, and vocal recitals, and who counted among her lifelong circle of friends and acquaintances many of the leading artistic figures of the first...

(1888–1977)

Gramophone Singers: Eleanor Jones-Hudson (1874–1946), Ruth Vincent

Ruth Vincent

Ruth Vincent was an English opera singer and actress, best remembered for her performances in soprano roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in the 1890s and her roles in the West End during the first decade of the 20th century, particularly her role as Sophia in Tom...

(1877–1955), Lucy Isabelle Marsh (1878–1956), Olive Kline (1885–1976)

A Quartet of 'Coloraturas': Evelyn Scotney

Evelyn Scotney

Evelyn Scotney was an Australian coloratura soprano of great renown in the period from 1913 to the late 1920s. Her range extended to E in altissimo. In her time she was considered by some to be the world's greatest soprano. She was compared very favourably with Amelita Galli-Curci, Luisa...

(1886–1967), Mabel Garrison

Mabel Garrison

Mabel Garrison , was an American soprano from Baltimore, Maryland who sang at the Metropolitan Opera from 1914-1921.-References:...

(1886–1963), Florence Macbeth

Florence Macbeth

Florence MacBeth , was an American operatic soprano.-Biography:She has sung in opera abroad and with the Chicago Opera, as well as in the Mozart operas given by the Society of American Musicians in New York in 1918. She was one of the organizers of the Los Angeles Opera Guild.-External links:* at...

(1891–1966), Luella Paikin (1900-?)

English Lyric Sopranos: Maud Perceval Allen (1880–1955), Rosina Buckman (1880–1948)

Miura and Bryhn-Langard: Tamaki Miura

Tamaki Miura

was a Japanese opera singer famous for her performances as Cio-Cio-San in Puccini's Madama Butterfly.Miura made her operatic debut in Tokyo in 1911 and the same year went to Europe to perform and study...

(1884–1946), Borghild Bryhn-Langard (1883–1939)

Ponselle and Easton: Rosa Ponselle

Rosa Ponselle

(1897-?), Florence Easton

Florence Easton

Florence Easton was a popular English dramatic soprano in the early 20th century. She was one of the most versatile singers of all time. She sang more than 100 parts, covering a wide range of styles and periods, from Mozart, Meyerbeer, Gounod, Verdi, Wagner, Puccini, Strauss, Schreker and Krenek...

(1882–1955)

Contraltos: Carmen Hill (1883-?), Leila Megane (1891–1960), Carolina Lazzari (1891–1946), Edna Thornton (1875–1958), Sophie Braslau

Sophie Braslau

Sophie Braslau was a contralto prominent in United States opera, starting with her debut in New York's Metropolitan Opera in 1913 when she was just 21 years of age....

(1902–1935), Eleonora de Cisneros

Eleonora de Cisneros

Countess Eleonora de Cisneros was an American operatic mezzo-sopranoBorn in New York City nee Eleanora Broadfoot, she studied singing under Mme. Murio Celli in New York, and made her début at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1899. In the following year she was married to Count François G. de...

(1878–1934)

A Quartet of American Tenors: Riccardo Martin

Riccardo Martin

Riccardo Martin was an American tenor.Born Hugh Whitfield Martin in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, Martin was granted an endowment which allowed him, in 1901, to go to Paris to study with Giovanni Sbriglia and Jean de Reszke; he later completed his studies with Vincenzo Lombardi in Florence and Beniamino...

(1874–1952), Orville Harrold

Orville Harrold

Orville Harrold was an American operatic tenor and musical theatre actor. He began his career in 1906 as a performer in operettas in New York City, and was also seen during his early career in cabaret, musical theatre, and vaudeville performances...

(1878–1933), Charles Hackett

Charles Hackett

Charles Hackett was an American tenor.-Life and career:Hackett studied first at the New England Conservatory in Boston with Arthur J. Hubbard, and later with Vincenzo Lombardi in Florence...

(1887–1941), Mario Chamlee

Mario Chamlee

Mario Chamlee was the lyric tenor who replaced Enrico Caruso at the Metropolitan Opera. His birth name was Archer Cholmondeley...

(1892–1966)

A British Born Trio: Edward Johnson

Edward Johnson (tenor)

Edward Patrick Johnson CBE was a Canadian operatic tenor who was billed outside North America as Edoardo Di Giovanni, and became director of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.- Early life :...

(1878–1959) (actually born in Canada), Alfred Piccaver

Alfred Piccaver

Alfred Piccaver was a British-American operatic tenor. He was particularly noted for his performances as Rodolfo in Giacomo Puccini's La bohème and other popular mainstream operatic roles.-Early years:...

(1883–1958), Joseph Hislop

Joseph Hislop

Joseph Hislop was a lyric tenor who appeared in opera and oratorio and gave concerts around the world....

(1884–1977)

High Cs and Heroic Voices: John O'Sullivan (1878–1948), Frank Mullings (1881–1953)

The Ballad and Oratorio Tradition: John Coates

John Coates (tenor)

John Coates was a leading English tenor, who sang in opera and oratorio and on the concert platform. His repertoire ranged from Bach and Purcell to contemporary works, and embraced the major heldentenor roles in Richard Wagner's operas...

(1865–1941), Gervase Elwes (1866–1921), Walter Hyde (1875–1951), Paul Reimers (1877–1942)

McCormack: John McCormack (1884–1945)

Baritones and Basses: Reinald Werrenrath (1883–1953), Peter Dawson (1882–1961), Horace Stevens (1876–1954), Malcolm McEachern

Malcolm McEachern

Walter Malcom Neil McEachern was a noted Australian bass singer who enjoyed a successful career in the United Kingdom, both as a concert soloist and as one half of the comic musical duo Flotsam and Jetsam....

(1883–1945)

The German Style in Evolution

Lyric Sopranos: Eva von der Osten

Eva von der Osten

Eva Helga Bertha von der Osten was a German soprano. She was born in Helgoland, the daughter of actor Emil von der Osten and Rosa von der Osten-Hildebrandt ....

(1881–1936), Luise Perard-Petzl (1884–1936), Zinaida Jurjevskaya (1896–1925), Elisabeth Rethberg

Elisabeth Rethberg

The German soprano Elisabeth Rethberg was an opera singer of international repute active from the period of the First World War through to the early 1940s. Some hailed her as the greatest soprano of her day...

(1894–1976), Grete Stückgold

Grete Stückgold

-Biography:She was born in 1895. She married Gustav Schützendorf.Her debut at the Metropolitan Opera was on November 2, 1927 the role of Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. In 1929 she created the lead in Paul Hindemith's opera Neues vom Tage. She died in 1977.-External links:* at the...

(1895–1977)

Lyric-Dramatic Sopranos: Elsa Bland (1880–1935), Lily Hafgren-Dinkela (1884–1965), Barbara Kemp (1881–1959), Charlotte von Seebök (1886–1952)

Dramatic Sopranos: Melanie Kurt

Melanie Kurt

Melanie Kurt was an Austrian opera singer .- Life and career :Melanie Kurt first studied to become a pianist in her native City of Vienna before starting to take singing lessons. Later she went to Berlin, where Marie Lehmann, sister of the great soprano Lilli Lehmann, became her teacher...

(1880–1941), Berta Morena (1878–1952), Helene Wildbrunn (1882–1972), Gertrude Bindernagel (1894–1932), Gertrude Kappel (1884–1971), Frida Leider

Frida Leider

Frida Leider was a German opera singer.Leider was one of the most important dramatic sopranos of the 20th century. Her most famous roles were Wagner's Isolde and Brünnhilde, Beethoven's Fidelio, Mozart's Donna Anna, and Verdi's Aida and Leonora...

(1888–1975)

Schumann: Elisabeth Schumann

Elisabeth Schumann

Elisabeth Schumann was a German lyric soprano who sang in opera, operetta, oratorio, and lieder. She left a substantial legacy of recordings.-Career:...

(1888–1952), Berta Kiurina (1881–1933), Lola Artôt de Padilla

Lola Artôt de Padilla

Lola Artôt de Padilla was a French-Spanish soprano, renowned in Germany, where she mainly sang.-Biography:...

(1880–1933), Claire Dux

Claire Dux

Claire Dux was an operatic and concert soprano with a successful career in continental Europe, England, and the United States.-Early life:...

(1885–1967), Vera Schwarz (1884–1964), Maria Ivogün

Maria Ivogün

Maria Ivogün was a distinguished soprano singer of Hungarian origin. She was especially an outstanding interpreter of the works of Mozart: her recording of the aria of the Queen of the Night became legendary.- Biography and artistic career :Maria Ivogün was born Ilse Kempner...

(1891–1987)

Jeritza and Lehmann: Maria Jeritza

Maria Jeritza

Maria Jeritza , born Marie Jedličková, was a celebrated Moravian soprano singer, long associated with the Vienna State Opera and the Metropolitan Opera...

(1887–1982), Lotte Lehmann

Lotte Lehmann

Charlotte "Lotte" Lehmann was a German soprano who was especially associated with German repertory. She gave memorable performances in the operas of Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Ludwig van Beethoven, Puccini, Mozart and Massenet. The Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier was considered her greatest...

(1888–1976)

Five Contraltos: Margarethe Arndt-Ober

Margarethe Arndt-Ober

Margarethe Arndt-Ober was an American opera singer of German descent who had an active international career during the first half of the twentieth century. A highly skilled contralto, Ober enjoyed a particularly long and fruitful association with the Berlin State Opera from 1907 to 1944...

(1885–1971), Ottilie Metzger (1878–1943), Ankar Horvat (1888- c.1921), Sabine Kalter

Sabine Kalter

Sabine Kalter was a Polish operatic mezzo-soprano. She made her professional opera debut at the Vienna Volksoper in 1911. From 1915-1935 she was a leading artist at the Hamburg State Opera. She was then committed to the Royal Opera House in London from 1935-1939...

(1889–1957), Emmi Leisner 1885-1958)

The Great Lieder Singers: Elena Gerhardt

Elena Gerhardt

Elena Gerhardt was a German mezzo-soprano singer associated with the singing of German classical lieder, of which she was considered one of the great interpreters...

(1883–1961), Julia Culp

Julia Culp

Julia Bertha Culp , the "Dutch nightingale", was an internationally celebrated mezzo-soprano in the years 1901–1919....

(1880–1970)

Baritones: Julius von Raatz-Brockmann (1870–1944), Friedrich Broderson (1873–1926), Heinrich Rehkemper

Heinrich Rehkemper

Heinrich Rehkemper was a German baritone singer whose repertoire was in opera and Lieder, and whose career was principally in Germany between the First and Second World War...

(1894–1949), Hans Duhan (1890–1971), Hermann Weil (1876–1949), Cornelis Bronsgeest (1878–1957), Joseph Groenen (1885–1959), Joseph Schwarz (1880–1926)

Basses: Michael Bohnen

Michael Bohnen

Franz Michael Bohnen was a German bass baritone opera singer and actor.-Life:Michael Bohnen was born in Cologne. He trained in opera singing at the Hochschule für Musik Köln and with a private tutor, making his debut in 1910 at the Stadttheater Düsseldorf. In 1912 he appeared at the Hoftheater...

(1887–1965), Paul Bender (1875–1947), Richard Mayr

Richard Mayr

Richard Mayr was an Austrian operatic bass-baritone who was particularly admired for his performances in works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss...

(1877–1935), Walter Soomier (1878–1955), Carl Braun (1886–1960), Alexander Kipnis

Alexander Kipnis

Alexander Kipnis , was a Ukrainian-born operatic bass of great artistry and vocal endowment.Having initially established his artistic reputation in Europe, Kipnis became an American citizen in 1931, following his marriage to an American...

(1891–1978)

Tauber and the Lyric Tenors: Richard Tauber

Richard Tauber

Richard Tauber was an Austrian tenor acclaimed as one of the greatest singers of the 20th century. Some critics commented that "his heart felt every word he sang".-Early life:...

(1891–1948), Alexander Kirchner (1876–1948), Johannes Sembach (1881–1944), Herman Jadlowker

Herman Jadlowker

Herman Jadlowker was a leading Latvian-born tenor of Russian nationality who enjoyed an important international career during the first quarter of the 20th century....

(1877–1953)

East European Tenors: Ottokar Marak (1872–1939), Icnacy Dygas (1881–1955), Joseph Mann (1883–1921), Tino Pattiera

Tino Pattiera

Tino Pattiera was a Croatian tenor, born in Cavtat in 27 June 1890 and died 24 April 1966. Prior to taking up the repertory for which he became famous, he was notable in operetta....

(1890–1966)

Heldentenors: Richard Schubert (1885–1969), Walter Kirchhoff (1879–1951), Lauritz Melchior

Lauritz Melchior

Lauritz Melchior was a Danish and later American opera singer. He was the pre-eminent Wagnerian tenor of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, and has since come to be considered the quintessence of his voice type.-Biography:...

(1890–1973)

The German School

Lauritz Melchior

, Max Lorenz, Franz Völker

Franz Völker

Franz Völker was a dramatic tenor who enjoyed a major European career...

, Helge Rosvaenge

Helge Rosvaenge

Helge Rosvaenge , Helge Anton Rosenvinge Hansen, was a famous Danish operatic tenor whose career was centred on Germany and Austria, before, during and after World War II....

, Torsten Ralf

Torsten Ralf

Torsten Ralf , was a Swedish operatic tenor, particularly associated with Wagner and Strauss roles, one of the leading dramatic tenors of the inter-war period....

, Richard Tauber

Richard Tauber

Richard Tauber was an Austrian tenor acclaimed as one of the greatest singers of the 20th century. Some critics commented that "his heart felt every word he sang".-Early life:...

, Marcel Wittrisch

Marcel Wittrisch

Marcel Wittrisch was a popular German operatic tenor.Wittrisch was born in Belgium to a German family, and subsequently studied in Munich, Leipzig and Milan. His career began in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt in 1925 in a production of Hans Heiling by Marschner at the Halle Opera House...

, Herbert Ernst Groh

Herbert Ernst Groh

Herbert Ernst Groh was a popular Swiss tenor.Groh was born in Lucerne and subsequently studied in Zurich and Milan. One of his teachers was Carl Beines, who also taught Richard Tauber....

, Joseph Schmidt, Julius Patzak

Julius Patzak

Julius Patzak was an Austrian tenor distinguished in operatic and concert work. He was particularly noted in Mozart, Beethoven and in early 20th century German repertoire.-Biography:...

, Karl Erb

Karl Erb

Karl Erb was a German tenor vocalist who made his career first in opera and then in oratorio and lieder recital. He excelled in all these genres, and before 1920 gave classic performances of key roles in modern works, and created lead roles in those of Hans Pfitzner...

, Leo Slezak

Leo Slezak

Leo Slezak was a world-famous Moravian tenor. He was associated in particular with German opera as well as the title role in Verdi's Otello.- Beginnings :...

, Gerhard Hüsch

Gerhard Hüsch

Gerhard Heinrich Wilhelm Fritz Hüsch was one of the most important German singers of modern times. A lyric baritone, he specialized in Lieder but also sang, to a lesser extent, German and Italian opera.-Career:...

, Heinrich Schlusnus

Heinrich Schlusnus

Heinrich Schlusnus was Germany's foremost lyric baritone of the period between World War I and World War II. He sang opera and lieder with equal distinction.-Career:...

, Herbert Janssen

Herbert Janssen

Herbert Janssen was a leading German operatic baritone who had an international career in Europe and the United States.- Biography :...

, Willi Domgraf-Fassbaender

Willi Domgraf-Fassbaender

Willi Domgraf-Fassbaender was a German operatic baritone, particularly associated with Mozart and Verdi roles...

, Karl Hammes, Rudolf Bocklemann, Friedrich Schorr

Friedrich Schorr

Friedrich Schorr , was a renowned Austrian-Hungarian bass-baritone opera singer of Jewish origin. He later became a naturalized American....

, Hans-Hermann Nissen

Hans-Hermann Nissen

Hans-Hermann Nissen was a German operatic bass-baritone, particularly associated with Wagner roles, one of the leading Wotan and Hans Sachs of the inter-war period....

, Alfred Jerger, Leo Schützendorf, Wilhelm Strienz, Ivar F. Andresen

Ivar F. Andresen

Ivar Frithiof Andresen , was a Norwegian opera singer who pursued a successful international career in Europe and the United States....

, Alexander Kipnis

Alexander Kipnis

Sigrid Onégin

Sigrid Onégin was a Franco-German operatic contralto who enjoyed a major international career prior to World War II . She was born in Stockholm, Sweden to a German father and a French mother....

, Karin Branzell

Karin Branzell

Karin Branzell was a Swedish operatic contralto , who had a prominent career at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, and in Europe. Her very wide range enabled her to sing both contralto roles and the occasional soprano role...

, Kerstin Thorborg

Kerstin Thorborg

Kerstin Thorborg Born in Venjan, Sweden, the contralto Kerstin Thorborg was one of the best dramatic Wagnerian singers in the two decades between 1930 and 1950. She made her debut in 1924 singing the difficult role of Ortrud. Eight years later, the famed conductor Bruno Walter engaged her for the...

, Maria Olczewska, Margarete Klose

Margarete Klose

Margarete Klose, , was a German operatic mezzo-soprano. Her 'official' year of birth was 1902.- Life :...

, Rosette Anday, Marta Fuchs

Marta Fuchs

Marta Fuchs was a German operatic soprano.She was born in Stuttgart. In 1923 she had her first concert, and from 1928 she made her operatic debut in Aachen. In 1930 she switched to the Staatsoper in Dresden...

, Elena Gerhardt

Elena Gerhardt

Elena Gerhardt was a German mezzo-soprano singer associated with the singing of German classical lieder, of which she was considered one of the great interpreters...

, Lula Mysz-Gmeiner, Jo Vincent, Ria Ginster, Ursula van Diemen, Elisabeth Schumann

Elisabeth Schumann

Elisabeth Schumann was a German lyric soprano who sang in opera, operetta, oratorio, and lieder. She left a substantial legacy of recordings.-Career:...

, Lotte Schöne, Fritzi Jokl, Adele Kern, Miliza Korjus

Miliza Korjus

Miliza Elizabeth Korjus was an Estonian coloratura soprano opera singer, who later appeared in Hollywood films.-Early life:...

, Erna Berger

Erna Berger

Erna Berger , was a prominent German coloratura lyric soprano. She is most famous for her Queen of the Night and her Konstanze....

, Emmy Bettendorf, Felicie Huni-Mihacsek

Felicie Huni-Mihacsek

Felicie Hüni-Mihacsek was an Hungarian operatic soprano, largely based in Germany, one of the greatest Mozart singer of the inter-war period....

, Margherita Perras, Luise Helletsgruber, Meta Seinemeyer

Meta Seinemeyer

Meta Seinemeyer was a German opera star with an exceptionally fine spinto soprano voice....

, Margarete Teschemacher

Margarete Teschemacher

Margarete Teschemacher was a German operatic soprano, particularly associated with the German repertory, although she sang a wide range of roles. She possessed a warm lyrico-dramatic voice and a good stage presence.- Life :...

, Delia Reinhardt, Tiana Lemnitz

Tiana Lemnitz

Tiana Lemnitz was a German operatic soprano with a beautiful lyric voice. Her major operatic career took place between the two world wars .-Life and career:...

, Maria Cebotari

Maria Cebotari

Maria Cebotari was a celebrated Moldavian soprano and actress born in Bessarabia, Russian Empire , who made her career in Germany & Austria.-Biography:...

, Elisabeth Rethberg

Elisabeth Rethberg

, Rose Pauly, Göta Ljungberg

Göta Ljungberg

Göta Ljungberg was a major Swedish Wagnerian soprano of the 1920s who sang throughout American and Europe and left an important recorded legacy.-Biography:...

, Lotte Lehmann

Lotte Lehmann

, Maria Müller

Maria Müller

Maria Müller was a Czech-Austrian operatic soprano.Müller was born in Terezín, Bohemia. She studied in Vienna with Erik Schmedes, and debuted in Linz in 1919 as Elsa in Lohengrin...

, Maria Nemeth

Maria Nemeth

Maria Nemeth was an Hungarian soprano, particularly associated with the Italian repertory, one of the leading dramatic sopranos of the inter-war period.-Life and career:Nemeth was born in Körmend...

, Elisabeth Ohms, Nanny Larsén-Todsen

Nanny Larsén-Todsen

Nanny Larsén-Todsen was a Swedish soprano, renowned for her performances in works by Richard Wagner and counted as one of the most notable Wagner-singers of the 20th-century. She was particularly popular at the Bayreuth Festival as Brunnhilde and Isolde...

, Frida Leider

Frida Leider

, Kirsten Flagstad

Kirsten Flagstad

Kirsten Målfrid Flagstad was a Norwegian opera singer and a highly regarded Wagnerian soprano...

The Italian School

Conchita Supervía

Conchita Supervia

Conchita Supervía was a highly popular Spanish mezzo-soprano singer who appeared in opera in Europe and America and also gave recitals....

, Gianna Pederzini

Gianna Pederzini

Gianna Pederzini was an Italian mezzo-soprano.Pederzini studied in Naples with Fernando de Lucia, and made her stage debut in Messina, as Preziosilla, in 1923...

, Irene Minghini-Cattaneo, Ebe Stignani

Ebe Stignani

Ebe Stignani was an Italian opera singer, who was pre-eminent in the dramatic mezzo-soprano roles of the Italian repertoire during a stage career of more than thirty years.-Career:...

, Florica Christoforeanu, Pia Tassinari

Pia Tassinari

Pia Tassinari was an Italian soprano and later mezzo-soprano, particularly associated with the Italian and French repertories....

, Giannina Arangi-Lombardi

Giannina Arangi-Lombardi

Giannina Arangi-Lombardi was a prominent spinto soprano, particularly associated with the Italian operatic repertory....

, Bianca Scacciati, Dusolina Giannini

Dusolina Giannini

Dusolina Giannini was an Italian-American soprano, particularly associated with the Italian repertory....

, Maria Caniglia

Maria Caniglia

Maria Caniglia was one of the leading Italian dramatic sopranos of the 1930s and 1940s.- Life and career :...

, Lina Bruna Rasa

Lina Bruna Rasa

Lina Bruna Rasa was an Italian operatic soprano. She was particularly noted for her performances in the verismo repertoire and was a favourite of Pietro Mascagni who considered her the ideal Santuzza...

, Gina Cigna

Gina Cigna

Gina Cigna was a French-Italian opera singer, one of the leading dramatic soprano of the inter-war period.- Biography :...

, Iva Pacetti

Iva Pacetti

Iva Pacetti was an Italian operatic soprano who had an active international career from 1920-1947. Trained in Florence and Milan, she made her professional opera debut in her native city at the age of 21 as the title heroine in Giuseppe Verdi's Aida at the Teatro Metastasio...

, Margaret Sheridan

Margaret Sheridan

Margaret Elizabeth Sheridan was an American actress of the early 1950s, and protégée of director Howard Hawks. The raven-haired beauty is best remembered for her role as Nikki Nickolson opposite Kenneth Tobey in the 1951 science fiction classic The Thing from Another World.-Career:She was born in...

, Rosetta Pampanini

Rosetta Pampanini

Rosetta Pampanini was an Italian soprano, particularly associated with Puccini roles, especially Madama Butterfly....

, Claudia Muzio

Claudia Muzio

Claudia Muzio was an Italian operatic soprano, whose international career was among the most successful of the early 20th century.-Early years:...

, Hina Spani

Hina Spani

Hina Spani was an Argentine soprano. Her real name was Higinia Tuñón and she enjoyed a major opera career centred on Italy during the 1920s and '30s.- Overview :...

, Maria Farneti, Maria Zamboni

Maria Zamboni

Maria Zamboni was an Italian operatic soprano who had a prolific career in Italy and South America between 1921 and 1936. Admired for her vivid character portrayals and expressive singing, Zamboni was a popular and frequent performer at both La Scala and the Teatro Costanzi...

, Mafalda Favero

Mafalda Favero

Mafalda Favero was an Italian operatic soprano.Mafalda Favero was born in Portomaggiore, near Ferrara. When she was 17, she started studying with Alessandro Vezzani at the Conservatory in Bologna and attracted the notice of Franco Alfano...

, Licia Albanese

Licia Albanese

Licia Albanese is an Italian-born American operatic soprano. Noted especially for her portrayals of the lyric heroines of Verdi and Puccini, Albanese was a leading artist with the Metropolitan Opera of New York from 1940 to 1966...

, Magda Olivero

Magda Olivero

Magda Olivero is a soprano of the verismo-school of singing. She was born in Saluzzo, Italy. Olivero made her operatic debut in 1932 on Turin radio in Cattozzo’s oratorio I misteri dolorosi. She performed widely and increasingly successfully until 1941, when she married and retired from performing...

, Bidú Sayão

Bidu Sayão

Bidú Sayão was a Brazilian opera soprano. One of Brazil's most famous musicians, Sayão was a leading artist of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City from 1937 to 1952.-Life and career:...

, Conchita Badía

Conchita Badía

Concepción Badía de Agustí was a Spanish soprano and pianist. Admired for her spontaneity, expressiveness, and clear diction, she was considered one the greatest interpreters of 20th century Spanish and Latin American art song...

, Adelaide Saraceni, Mercedes Capsir

Mercedes Capsir

Mercedes Capsir was a Catalan Spanish opera singer, a high coloratura soprano, particularly associated with light Italian roles, such as Lucia and Gilda.- Life and career :...

, Toti Dal Monte

Toti Dal Monte

Antonietta Meneghel , better known by her stage name Toti Dal Monte, was a celebrated Italian operatic soprano with a sweet and limpid lyric voice. She was a favourite artist of the celebrated conductor Arturo Toscanini...

, Lina Pagliughi

Lina Pagliughi

Lina Pagliughi was an Italian-American opera singer. Based in Italy for the majority of her career, she made a number of recordings and established herself as one of the world's finest lyric coloratura sopranos of the 1930s and '40s.-Career:Pagliughi was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Italian...

Ezio Pinza

Ezio Pinza was an Italian basso opera singer with a rich, smooth and sonorous voice. He spent 22 seasons at New York's Metropolitan Opera, appearing in more than 750 performances of 50 operas...

, Tancredi Pasero

Tancredi Pasero

Tancredi Pasero was an Italian bass who enjoyed a long and distinguished singing career in his native country and abroad.-Career & recordings:...

, Nazzareno De Angelis

Nazzareno De Angelis

Nazzareno De Angelis was an Italian operatic bass, particularly associated with Verdi, Rossini and Wagner roles.-Career:...

, Salvatore Baccaloni

Salvatore Baccaloni

Salvatore Baccaloni was an Italian operatic bass, often regarded as the greatest buffo artist of the 20th century.- Life and career :Baccaloni was born in Rome...

, Afro Poli

Afro Poli

Afro Poli was an Italian operatic baritone, particularly associated with the Italian repertory.-Life and career:...

, Mariano Stabile

Mariano Stabile

Mariano Stabile was an Italian baritone, particularly associated with the Italian repertory, especially the role of Falstaff.- Career :...

, Mario Basiola, Apollo Granforte

Apollo Granforte

Apollo Granforte was an Italian opera singer and one of the leading baritones active during the inter-war period of the 20th century.-Life and career:...

, Cesare Formichi

Cesare Formichi

Cesare Formichi was a prominent Italian operatic baritone, particularly associated with the Italian repertory....

, Carlo Galeffi

Carlo Galeffi

Carlo Galeffi was a leading Italian baritone, particularly associated with the operatic works of Giuseppe Verdi and the various verismo composers.- Life and career :...

, Benvenuto Franci, Giovanni Inghilleri, Carlo Tagliabue

Carlo Tagliabue

Carlo Tagliabue was an Italian baritone.After studies with Leopoldo Gennai and Annibale Guidotti he made his debut in Lodi, Lombardy, in Loreley and Aida. His debuts in Genoa , Torino, La Scala , Rome , and Naples were all in Tristan und Isolde...

, Riccardo Stracciari

Riccardo Stracciari

, Dino Borgioli

Dino Borgioli

Dino Borgioli was an Italian lyric tenor. Praised by critics for his musicianship, he was particularly associated with roles in operas composed by Mozart, Rossini, and Donizetti....

, Enzo de Muro Lomanto

Enzo de Muro Lomanto

Enzo de Muro Lomanto was an Italian operatic tenor, particularly associated with the lyric repertory....

, Tito Schipa

Tito Schipa

Tito Schipa was an Italian tenor. He is considered one of the finest tenori di grazia in operatic history...

, Tino Folgar

Tino Folgar

Tino Folgar was a Spanish operatic tenor, primarily active in Spain and Italy.Born Juventino Folgar Ascaso in Barcelona, on January 25, 1892, he studied in his native city with Esteban Pasqual and made his stage debut at the Liceu as Rodolfo in La bohème, in 1922...

, Luigi Fort, Alessandro Ziliani, Galliano Masini

Galliano Masini

Galliano Masini was a leading Italian operatic tenor, particularly associated with the spinto roles of the Italian repertory.Masini was born in Livorno in humble circumstances...

, Francesco Merli

Francesco Merli

Francesco Merli was an Italian opera singer, particularly associated with heavy roles such as Otello, Canio and Calaf. He ranks as one of the finest dramatic tenors of the inter-war period....

, Renato Zanelli

Renato Zanelli

Renato Zanelli was a Chilean operatic baritone and later tenor, particularly associated with heroic Italian and German roles, notably Verdi's Otello.-Life and career:...

, Beniamino Gigli

Beniamino Gigli

, Jussi Björling

Jussi Björling

Johan Jonatan "Jussi" Björling was a Swedish tenor. One of the leading operatic singers of the 20th Century, Björling appeared frequently at the Royal Opera House in London, La Scala in Milan, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York City as well as at other major European opera...

, Antonio Cortis

Antonio Cortis

Antonio Cortis was a Spanish tenor with an outstanding voice. He was acclaimed by audiences on both sides of the Atlantic for his exciting performances of Italian operatic works, especially those by Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini and the verismo composers.- Career :Cortis was born at sea but his...

, Giacomo Lauri-Volpi

Giacomo Lauri-Volpi

Giacomo Lauri-Volpi was an Italian tenor with a lyric-dramatic voice of exceptional range and technical facility. He performed throughout Europe and the Americas in a top-class career that spanned 40 years....

, Aureliano Pertile

Aureliano Pertile

Aureliano Pertile was an Italian lyric-dramatic tenor. He is considered to have been one of the most exciting operatic artists of the inter-war period, and one of the most important tenors of the entire 20th century.- Life and career :Pertile was born in Montagnana, Northern Italy, 18 days after...

The French School

Lily Pons

Lily Pons was a French-American operatic soprano and actress who had an active career from the late 1920s through the early 1970s. As an opera singer she specialized in the coloratura soprano repertoire and was particularly associated with the title roles in Léo Delibes' Lakmé and Gaetano...

, Leila Ben Sedira, Emma Luart

Emma Luart

Emma Luart was a Belgian operatic soprano. A graduate of the Brussels Conservatory, she made her official stage début at The Hague in 1914. She was committed to La Monnaie in Brussels from 1918-1922 where she excelled in lyric soprano roles like Louise, Mélisande, and Manon...

, Germaine Feraldy, Eidé Norena, Ninon Vallin

Ninon Vallin

Ninon Vallin was a French soprano who achieved considerable popularity in opera, operetta and classical song recitals during an international career which lasted for more than four decades. [Note: Vallin's birthday is sometimes given as September 7 or September 9.]-Career:Ninon Vallin was born...

, Povla Frijsh

Povla Frijsh

Povla Frijsh was a Danish classical soprano and voice teacher. She mainly sang in concerts and recitals; although she did make a few opera appearances at the Paris Opera and the Royal Danish Theatre...

, Jane Bathori

Jane Bathori

Jane Bathori was a French opera singer. Born in Paris, France, she was famous on the operatic stage and important in the development of contemporary French music....

, Madeleine Grey

Madeleine Grey

Madeleine Grey was a French classical singer whose voice is usually described as soprano but which also encompassed a mezzo-soprano repertoire.-Early life:...

, Germaine Martinelli, Suzanne Cesbron-Viseur, Suzanne Balguerie, Germaine Lubin

Germaine Lubin

Germaine Lubin was a French dramatic soprano best known for her association with the music of Richard Wagner...

, Germaine Cernay

Germaine Cernay

Germaine Cernay, born Germaine Pointu Le Havre 28 April 1900, died Paris, 1943 was a French alto who was active both in the opera house and on the concert platform.-Life and career:...

, Claire Croiza

Claire Croiza

Claire Croiza was a French mezzo-soprano and an influential teacher of singers.-Career:Claire Croiza was born in Paris, the daughter of an expatriate American father and an Italian mother, and as a child she excelled at piano and singing...

, Alice Raveau

Georges Thill

Georges Thill

Georges Thill was a French opera singer, often considered to be his country's greatest lyric-dramatic tenor...

, René Maison

René Maison

René Maison was a prominent Belgian operatic tenor, particularly associated with heroic roles of the French, Italian and German repertories.-Career:...

, José Luccioni

José Luccioni

José Luccioni was a French operatic tenor of Corsican origin. He possessed one of the best dramatic voices of the 1930s and 1940s....

, César Vezzani

César Vezzani

César Vezzani was a French/Corsican operatic tenor who became a leading exponent of French grand opera through several decades. -Career:...

, René Verdière, Gaston Micheletti, Miguel Villabella, André d'Arkor, Giuseppe Lugo, Joseph Rogatchewsky, Jean Planel, Charles Panzéra

Charles Panzéra

Charles [Auguste Louis] Panzéra was a Swiss operatic and concert baritone.-Overview:Panzéra's studies at the Paris Conservatory under the tuition of Amédée-Louis Hettich were interrupted by his volunteering into the French Army during World War I...

, Pierre Bernac

Pierre Bernac

Pierre Bernac was a French baritone.Born Pierre Bertin in Paris on January 12, 1899, he studied with Reinhold von Wahrlich in Salzburg. he came to music relatively late and gave his first recital in 1921....

, Martial Singher

Martial Singher

Martial Singher was a French baritone opera singer born in Oloron-Sainte-Marie, Pyrénées-Atlantiques.Initially singing only as a hobby, he was encouraged by then French education minister Édouard Herriot to pursue singing professionally...

, Roger Bourdin

Roger Bourdin

Roger Bourdin was a French baritone, particularly associated with the French repertory. His career was largely based in France.- Life and career :...

, Arthur Endrèz, Robert Couzinou, André Balbon, Lucien Fugère

Lucien Fugère

Lucien Fugère was a French baritone, particularly associated with the French repertory and Mozart roles, he enjoyed an exceptionally long career, singing into his 80s.- Life and career :...

, Vanni Marcoux

Vanni Marcoux

Jean-Émile Diogène Marcoux was a French operatic bass-baritone, known professionally as Vanni Marcoux . He was particularly associated with the French and Italian repertories...

, Yvonne Printemps

Yvonne Printemps

Yvonne Printemps was a French singer and actress.-Biography:Born Yvonne Wigniolle, she made her debut at the age of 12 in a revue at La Cigale in Paris. She was dancing at the Folies Bergère at age 13...

, Reynaldo Hahn

Reynaldo Hahn

Reynaldo Hahn was a Venezuelan, naturalised French, composer, conductor, music critic and diarist. Best known as a composer of songs, he wrote in the French classical tradition of the mélodie....

The Anglo-American School

Lawrence Tibbett

Lawrence Mervil Tibbett was a great American opera singer and recording artist who also performed as a film actor and radio personality. A baritone, he sang with the New York Metropolitan Opera company more than 600 times from 1923 to 1950...

, John Charles Thomas

John Charles Thomas

John Charles Thomas was a popular American opera, operetta and concert baritone.-Birth, schooling and stage debut:...

, Dennis Noble

Dennis Noble

Dennis Noble was a noted British baritone and teacher. He appeared in opera, oratorio, musical comedy and song, from the First World War through to the late 1950s. He was renowned for his enunciation and diction, and for the metallic timbre of his voice...

, John Brownlee

John Brownlee (baritone)

John Donald Mackenzie Brownlee was an Australian operatic baritone.-Biography:John Brownlee was born in Geelong, Victoria. As a boy, he became a junior naval cadet in the Royal Australian Navy, serving during World War I. Following service, he studied accounting...

, Harold Williams

Harold Williams (baritone)

Harold John Williams MBE was a leading Australian baritone and music teacher. Born in Sydney, he enjoyed a long and successful career in England and his native country, performing in opera, oratorio and concerts and giving radio broadcasts.-Early years:Williams was born on 3 September 1893 at...

, Peter Dawson, John McCormack, Roland Hayes

Roland Hayes

Roland Hayes was a lyric tenor and is considered the first African American male concert artist to receive wide international acclaim as well as at home...

, Charles Kullman

Charles Kullman

Charles Kullman , originally Charles Kullmann, was an American tenor who enjoyed a wide-ranging career, both in Europe and America.- Life and career :...

, Heddle Nash

Heddle Nash

William Heddle Nash was an English lyric tenor who appeared in opera and oratorio in the middle decades of the twentieth century. He also made numerous recordings that are still available on CD reissues....

, Thomas Burke, Richard Crooks

Richard Crooks

Richard Alexander Crooks was an American tenor and a leading singer at the New York Metropolitan Opera.-Biography:He was born on June 26, 1900 in Trenton, New Jersey...

, Walter Widdop

Walter Widdop

Walter Widdop was a British operatic tenor who is best remembered for his Wagnerian performances. His repertoire also encompassed works by Verdi, Leoncavallo, Handel and Bach.-Career:...

, Norman Allin

Norman Allin

Norman Allin was a British bass singer of the early and mid twentieth century, and later a teacher of voice...

Marguerite d'Alvarez

Marguerite d'Alvarez was an English contralto.Born in Liverpool, d'Alvarez studied in Brussels, and made her debut in Rouen, singing Delilah. She made her first American appearances with the Manhattan Opera in 1909 as Fidès in Giacomo Meyerbeer's Le prophète...

, Madame Charles Cahier, Muriel Brunskill

Muriel Brunskill

Muriel Brunskill was an English contralto of the mid-twentieth century. Her career included concert, operatic and recital performance from the early 1920s until the 1950s...

, Clara Butt

Clara Butt

, Marian Anderson

Marian Anderson

Marian Anderson was an African-American contralto and one of the most celebrated singers of the twentieth century...

, Susan Metcalfe Casals

Susan Metcalfe Casals

Susan Metcalfe Casals, born Susan S. Metcalfe was an American mezzo-soprano singer active in the early part of the twentieth century, who had a stormy marriage to the cellist Pablo Casals. She was highly respected in Lieder and concert recital.-Origins:Susan Metcalfe was born in Florence, the...

, Grace Moore

Grace Moore

Grace Moore was an American operatic soprano and actress in musical theatre and film. She was nicknamed the "Tennessee Nightingale." Her films helped to popularize opera by bringing it to a larger audience.-Early life:...

, Gladys Swarthout

Gladys Swarthout

Gladys Swarthout was an American mezzo-soprano opera singer.-Career:...

, Ina Souez, Maggie Teyte

Maggie Teyte

Dame Maggie Teyte DBE was an English operatic soprano and interpreter of French art song.-Early years:Margaret Tate was born in Wolverhampton, England, one of ten children of Jacob James Tate, a successful wine and spirit merchant and proprietor of public houses and later lodgings. Her parents...

, Isobel Baillie

Isobel Baillie

Dame Isobel Baillie DBE was a Scottish soprano, popular in opera, oratorio and lieder. She was regarded as one of the 20th century's great oratorio singers.Isobel Baillie was born in Hawick, Scottish Borders, in 1895...

, Dora Labbette

Dora Labbette

Dora Labbette was an English soprano. Her career spanned the concert hall and the opera house. She conspired with Sir Thomas Beecham to appear at the Royal Opera House masquerading as an Italian singer by the name of Lisa Perli...

, Joan Cross

Joan Cross

Joan Cross was an English soprano, closely associated with the operas of Benjamin Britten. She also sang in the Italian and German operatic repertoires. She later became a musical administrator, taking on the direction of the Sadler's Wells Opera Company.-Career:Cross was born in London...

, Florence Easton

Florence Easton

, Rosa Ponselle

Rosa Ponselle

, Marjorie Lawrence

Marjorie Lawrence

Marjorie Florence Lawrence CBE was an Australian soprano, particularly noted as an interpreter of Richard Wagner's operas. She was the first soprano to perform the immolation scene in Götterdämmerung by riding her horse into the flames as Wagner had intended. She was afflicted by polio from 1941...

, Eva Turner

Eva Turner

Dame Eva Turner DBE was an English dramatic soprano with an international reputation. Her strong, steady and well-trained voice was renowned for its clarion power in Italian and German operatic roles.-Career:...

, Florence Austral

Florence Austral

Florence Austral was an Australian operatic soprano renowned for her interpretation of the most demanding Wagnerian female roles, although she never gained the opportunity to appear at the Bayreuth Festival or the New York Metropolitan Opera.She was born Florence Mary Wilson, but adopted the...

The East European/Slavic School

Jarmila Novotná

Jarmila Novotná was a celebrated Czech soprano and actress and, from 1940 to 1956, a star of the Metropolitan Opera.-Early career:...

, Nathalie Vechor, Ada Nordenova, Maria Kurenko, Xenia Belmas, Ada Sari

Ada Sari

Ada Sari was a Polish opera singer, actress, and educator. One of the leading coloratura sopranos of her generation, she possessed a large, resonant voice with a clear timbre. Her career took her to the stages of the best opera houses and concert halls in Europe during the first half of the 20th...

, Oda Slobodskaya

Oda Slobodskaya

Oda Slobodskaya 1888 - 1970 was a Russian born soprano who later became a British citizen.Her biographer, Maurice Leonard quotes Slobodskaya as having been born on 28 November 1888 in Vilno near the Polish border...

, Maria Krasová, Maria Basilides, Mark Reizen

Mark Reizen

Mark Osipovich Reizen, also Reisen or Reyzen — died November 25, 1992 Moscow, Russia) was a leading Soviet opera singer with a beautiful and expansive bass voice.-Life and career:...

, Feodor Chaliapin

Feodor Chaliapin

, Imry Palló, Vladimir Rosing

Vladimir Rosing

Vladimir Sergeyevich Rosing , aka Val Rosing, was a Russian-born operatic tenor and stage director who spent most of his professional career in England and the United States...

, Sergei Lemeshev

Sergei Lemeshev

Sergei Yakovlevich Lemeshev was one of the most well-known and beloved Russian operatic lyric tenors.-Early Life and Career:Lemeshev was born into a peasant family, and his father wanted him to become a cobbler. In 1914, he left a parish school and was sent to be trained to make shoes in St...

The Anglo-American School

Margaret Ritchie, Gwen Catley

Gwen Catley

Gwen Catley was an English coloratura soprano who sang in opera, concert and revues. She often sang on radio and television, and made numerous recordings of songs and arias, mostly in English...

, Dorothy Kirsten

Dorothy Kirsten

Dorothy Kirsten was an American operatic soprano.-Biography:...

, Florence Quartararo, Elsie Houston

Elsie Houston

Elsie Houston was a Brazilian singer.Elsie Houston was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1902. She was the descendent of confederados, southern plantation owners that had come to Brazil after the American Civil War...

, Eleanor Steber

Eleanor Steber

Eleanor Steber was an American operatic soprano. Steber is noted as one of the first major opera stars to have achieved the highest success with training and a career based in the United States.-Biography:...

, Maggie Teyte

Maggie Teyte

, Dorothy Maynor

Dorothy Maynor

Dorothy Maynor was an American soprano, concert singer, and the founder of the Harlem School of the Arts.-Early life:...

, Joan Hammond

Joan Hammond

Dame Joan Hilda Hood Hammond, DBE, CMG was an Australian operatic soprano, singing coach and champion golfer.- Early life :...

, Astrid Varnay

Astrid Varnay

Ibolyka Astrid Maria Varnay was an American dramatic soprano of Hungarian heritage and Swedish birth, who did most of her work in the United States and Germany. She was one of the best-known Wagnerian heroic sopranos of her generation...

, Helen Traubel

Helen Traubel

Helen Francesca Traubel was an American opera and concert singer. A dramatic soprano, she was best known for her Wagnerian roles, especially those of Brünnhilde and Isolde. Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, she began her career as a concert singer and went on to sing at the Metropolitan...

, Rose Bampton

Rose Bampton

Rose Bampton was a celebrated American opera singer who had an active international career during the 1930s and 1940s. She began her professional career performing mostly minor roles from the mezzo-soprano repertoire in 1929 but later switched to singing primarily leading soprano roles in 1937...

, Blanche Thebom

Blanche Thebom

Blanche Thebom was an American operatic mezzo-soprano, voice teacher, and opera director. She was part of the first wave of American opera singers that had highly successful international careers. In her own country she had a long association with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City which...

, Jennie Tourel

Jennie Tourel

Jennie Tourel was a Russian-American operatic mezzo-soprano, known for her work in both opera and recital performances....

, Flora Nielsen, Gladys Ripley

Gladys Ripley

-Early life:She was born in Forest Gate, Essex, the daughter of Alfred and Amy Ripley, and was educated at St. Edmund Roman Catholic School, East Ham, and at Clark's Business College.- Career :...

, Kathleen Ferrier

Kathleen Ferrier

Kathleen Mary Ferrier CBE was an English contralto who achieved an international reputation as a stage, concert and recording artist, with a repertoire extending from folksong and popular ballads to the classical works of Bach, Brahms, Mahler and Elgar...

, David Lloyd

David Lloyd (tenor)

David George Lloyd was a Welsh singer. Lloyd, a tenor, was noted for being one of the first Welsh solo singers to seek a broader audience beyond Wales, in the concert halls and recording studios of England, mainland Europe, and North America.During his lifetime, Lloyd was renowned in opera,...

, Webster Booth

Webster Booth

Leslie Webster Booth , better known by his stage name, Webster Booth, was a British tenor. He is largely remembered today as the duettist partner of Anne Ziegler, but he was also one of the finest British tenors of his generation and was a distinguished oratorio soloist.He was a chorister at...

, Peter Pears

Peter Pears

Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears CBE was an English tenor who was knighted in 1978. His career was closely associated with the composer Edward Benjamin Britten....

, Jan Peerce

Jan Peerce

Jan Peerce was an American operatic tenor. Peerce was an accomplished performer on the operatic and Broadway concert stages, in solo recitals, and as a recording artist. He is the father of film director Larry Peerce....

, Walter Midgley

Walter Midgley

Walter Midgley was an English operatic tenor who sang leading roles at the Royal Opera House and elsewhere from the 1930s to the 1950s....

, James Johnston, Richard Tucker

Richard Tucker

Richard Tucker was an American operatic tenor.-Early life:Tucker was born Rivn Ticker in Brooklyn, New York, into a family of Romanian immigrants from Bessarabia. His father, Shmul Ticker, and mother Fanya-Tsipa Ticker had already adopted the surname "Tucker" by the time their son entered first...

, Alfred Deller

Alfred Deller

Alfred George Deller CBE , was an English singer and one of the main figures in popularizing the return of the countertenor voice in Renaissance and Baroque music during the 20th Century....

, Robert Irwin, Frederick Fuller, Igor Gorin

Igor Gorin

Igor Gorin was an Austrian baritone and music teacher.-Early life:Gorin was born Ignatz Greenberg on October 26, 1904, in the small village of Grodek in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His father, Sholom Greenberg, was a rabbi and a Talmudist who taught religion in Grodek and in the neighboring...

, Mack Harrell

Mack Harrell

Mack Harrell was an American baritone who was regarded as one of the greatest concert singers of his generation....

, Leonard Warren

Leonard Warren

Leonard Warren was a famous American opera singer. A baritone, he was a leading artist for many years with the Metropolitan Opera in New York.-Biography:...

, Robert Merrill

Robert Merrill

Robert Merrill was an American operatic baritone.-Early life:Merrill was born Moishe Miller, later known as Morris Miller, in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York, to tailor Abraham Miller, originally Milstein, and his wife Lillian, née Balaban, immigrants from Warsaw, Poland.His mother...

, Norman Walker

Norman Walker (bass)

Norman Walker was an English bass singer, distinguished for his work in both opera and oratorio.- Early development :...

, George London, Oscar Natzka

Oscar Natzka

-Early life:Born as Franz Oscar Natzke at Wharepuhunga, North Island, New Zealand, he was the son of August Natzke , who had emigrated to New Zealand and settled in Otorohanga, and Emma Carter Natzke, of Christchurch, New Zealand, who was a singer.As a boy, the young Natzke worked...

The French School

Mado Robin

Madeleine Marie Robin, known as Mado Robin , was a French coloratura soprano.She was born in Yzeures-sur-Creuse, Touraine, where she owned the Château Les Vallées. A star of television and radio in the 1950s, she was well known in France...

, Martha Angelici

Martha Angelici

Martha Angelici , was a French operatic soprano of Corsican origin, particularly associated with the French lyric repertoire....

, Irène Joachim

Irène Joachim

Irène Joachim, born 13 March 1913 in Paris, died 20 April 2001, also in Paris, was a French soprano, and later a vocal teacher.-Early life:Daughter of Herman Joachim and Suzanne Chaigneau, and grand-daughter of the violinist Joseph Joachim, she learnt violin and piano as a child...

, Géori Boué

Géori Boué

Georgette "Géori" Boué is a French soprano, particularly associated with the French repertory, especially Thais. She was born in Toulouse.- Life and career :...

, Ginette Guillamat, Renée Doria

Renée Doria

Renée Doria is a French opera singer, one of the leading lyric coloratura soprano of her era in France.- Biography :...

, Victoria de los Ángeles

Victoria de los Ángeles

Victoria de los Ángeles was a Spanish Catalan operatic soprano and recitalist whose career began in the early 1940s and reached its height in the years from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s. Her obituary in The Times noted that she must be counted “among the finest singers of the second half...

, Suzanne Danco

Suzanne Danco

Suzanne Danco , was a celebrated Belgian soprano and mezzo-soprano.-Career:Suzanne Danco was born in Brussels and grew up in a Flemish background although French was her native language...

, Suzanne Juyol

Suzanne Juyol

Suzanne Juyol was a French opera singer, the leading dramatic soprano of her era in France.Suzanne Juyol studied at the Paris Conservatory, and made her professional debut at the Palais Garnier, in 1942, as Margared in Le roi d'Ys, followed by Fauré's Pénélope, Dukas's Ariadne, Marguerite in...

, Irma Kolassi, Solange Michel

Solange Michel

Solange Michel was a French classical mezzo-soprano who sang in concerts, recitals, and operas from the 1930s to the 1970s...

, Hélène Bouvier

Hélène Bouvier

Hélène Bouvier was a French operatic mezzo-soprano, particularly associated with the French repertoire....

, Rita Gorr

Rita Gorr

Rita Gorr , is a Belgian operatic mezzo-soprano. She possessed a large, rich-toned voice and was an intense singing-actress, especially in dramatic roles such as Ortrud and Amneris , two of her greatest roles....

, Hugues Cuénod

Hugues Cuénod

Hugues-Adhémar Cuénod was a Swiss tenor known for his performances in opera, operetta, both traditional and musical theatre, and on the concert stage, where he was particularly known for his light, romantic and expressive interpretation of mélodie...

, Raoul Jobin

Raoul Jobin

Raoul Jobin, was a French-Canadian operatic tenor, particularly associated with the French repertory.- Life and career :...

, Pierre Bernac

Pierre Bernac

, Camille Maurane

Camille Maurane

Camille Maurane, born Camille Moreau , was a French baritone singer. His father was a music teacher and he started singing as a child in the Maîtrise Saint-Evode in Rouen...

, Gérard Souzay

Gérard Souzay

Gérard Souzay was a French baritone singer, regarded as one of the very finest interpreters of mélodie in the generation after Charles Panzéra and Pierre Bernac.-Background and education:...

The German School

Elisabeth Schumann

Elisabeth Schumann was a German lyric soprano who sang in opera, operetta, oratorio, and lieder. She left a substantial legacy of recordings.-Career:...

, Erika Köth

Erika Köth

Erika Köth was a German operatic high coloratura soprano, particularly associated with the roles of Zerbinetta and Zerlina....

, Maria Stader

Maria Stader

Maria Stader was a Hungarian born Swiss lyric soprano, known particularly for her Mozart interpretations.-Biography:...

, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf

Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, DBE was a German-born Austrian/British soprano opera singer and recitalist. She was among the most renowned opera singers of the 20th century, much admired for her performances of Mozart, Schubert, Strauss, and Wolf.-Early life:Olga Maria Elisabeth Friederike...

, Irmgard Seefried

Irmgard Seefried

Irmgard Seefried was a distinguished German soprano who sang opera and lieder.Maria Theresia Irmgard Seefried was born in Köngetried, near Mindelheim, Bavaria, Germany, the daughter of educated Austrian-born parents. She studied at Augsburg University before making her debut in Aachen as the...

, Maria Reining

Maria Reining

Maria Reining was an Austrian soprano and Kammersänger.At first, Reining worked as in a Viennese bank, and didn't commence her signing career until the age of 28, when she started to sing at the Vienna State Opera, mainly in soubrette roles...

, Elisabeth Grümmer

Elisabeth Grümmer

Elisabeth Schilz Grümmer was a German operatic lyric soprano.She was born at Niederjeutz, near Diedenhofen, Alsace-Lorraine to German parents...

, Sena Jurinac

Sena Jurinac

Sena Jurinac Sena (Srebrenka) Jurinac Sena (Srebrenka) Jurinac ([juˈrinats] (24 October 192122 November 2011) was a Bosnian Croat/Austrian operatic soprano.Born in Travnik, Bosnia-Herzegovina, she studied at the Zagreb Academy of Music, and also with Milka Kostrenčić (whose other well-known...

, Ljuba Welitsch

Ljuba Welitsch

Ljuba Welitsch was a celebrated Bulgarian, later Austrian, operatic soprano.She studied singing at Sofia Conservatory with professor Georgi Zlatev-Cherkin. After specializing in Vienna, she first appeared in Sofia in 1936...

, Gré Brouwenstijn

Gré Brouwenstijn

The Dutch lyric-dramatic soprano Gré Brouwenstijn was a famous opera singer whose stage career spanned from the early 1940s to the mid-1970s. She was admired for her warm, radiant voice, her stage presence, her dramatic instincts, and her "Ingrid Bergman" looks...

, Leonie Rysanek

Leonie Rysanek

Leopoldine "Leonie" Rysanek was an Austrian dramatic soprano.-Biography:Rysanek was born in Vienna and made her operatic debut in 1949 in Innsbruck. In 1951 the Bayreuth Festival reopened and the new leader Wieland Wagner asked her to sing Sieglinde...

, Inge Borkh

Inge Borkh

Inge Borkh is a German soprano.Borkh was born Ingeborg Simon in Mannheim, Germany, in 1921. She was initially an actress and had some training in dance, both of which served her well in opera: she became known both for her voice and for her dramatic intensity - the "singing actress" exemplified,...

, Friedel Beckmann, Hilde Konetzni

Hilde Konetzni

Hilde Konetzni was an Austrian operatic soprano, particularly associated with Wagner roles, especially Sieglinde, based largely at the Vienna State Opera....

, Elisabeth Höngen

Elisabeth Höngen

Elisabeth Höngen was a German operatic mezzo-soprano, particularly associated with Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss roles, and with Verdi's Lady Macbeth....

, Hugo Meyer Welfing, Anton Dermota

Anton Dermota

Kammersänger Anton Dermota was a Slovene tenor.He was born in a poor family Born in the Upper Carniolan village of Kropa, in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire . He went to the Ljubljana Conservatory with the intention of studying composition and organ, but in 1934 he received a scholarship...

, Walther Ludwig

Walther Ludwig

Walther Ludwig was a German operatic lyric tenor, particularly associated with Mozart roles and Schubert lieder....

, Julius Patzak

Julius Patzak

Julius Patzak was an Austrian tenor distinguished in operatic and concert work. He was particularly noted in Mozart, Beethoven and in early 20th century German repertoire.-Biography:...

, Peter Anders

Peter Anders (tenor)

Peter Anders was a German operatic tenor who sang a wide range of parts in the German, Italian, and French repertories...

, Rudolf Schock

Rudolf Schock

Rudolf Johann Schock was a German tenor.He sang a wide repertory from operetta to Lohengrin, recording among others opera and lieder, doing television, radio and film work. Slim and handsome, he made many films.His voice fell almost into the heldentenor fach but was smaller and more...

, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau is a retired German lyric baritone and conductor of classical music, one of the most famous lieder performers of the post-war period and "one of the supreme vocal artists of the 20th century"...

, Karl Schmitt-Walter

Karl Schmitt-Walter

Karl Schmitt-Walter was a prominent German opera singer, particularly associated with Mozart and the more lyrical Wagner baritone roles....

, Erich Kunz

Erich Kunz

Erich Kunz was an Austrian operatic bass-baritone, particularly associated with the roles of Papageno and Beckmesser....

, Marko Rothmuller, Paul Schöffler

Paul Schöffler

Paul Schöffler was a German operatic baritone, particularly associated with Mozart, Wagner, Strauss roles....

, Hans Hotter

Hans Hotter

Hans Hotter was a German operatic bass-baritone, admired internationally after World War II for the power, beauty, and intelligence of his singing, especially in Wagner operas. He was extremely tall and his appearance was striking because of his high, narrow face, wide mouth, and big, aquiline nose...

, Ludwig Weber

Ludwig Weber

Ludwig Weber was an Austrian bass.Ludwig Weber was born in Vienna in 1899. He initially planned to pursue a career as a teacher and artist when he discovered his vocal promise and decided to pursue an opera career...

, Josef Herrmann

Josef Herrmann

Josef Herrmann was a German baritone, notable for his performances in the operas of Richard Wagner.He was born in Darmstadt and made his professional debut at Kaiserslautern...

, Theo Herrmann, Gottlob Frick

Gottlob Frick

Gottlob Frick was a German bass who sang in opera. He was known for his wide repertory including Wagner and Mozart roles, as well as those of Nicolai and Lortzing.-Career:...

The Scandinavian School

Kirsten Flagstad

Kirsten Målfrid Flagstad was a Norwegian opera singer and a highly regarded Wagnerian soprano...

, Lorri Lail, Gjurgja Leppée, Aksel Schiøtz

Aksel Schiøtz

Aksel Schiøtz was a Danish tenor who was considered one of Europe's leading Lieder singer of post World War II, and later baritone....

, Stefán Íslandi, Nicolai Gedda

Nicolai Gedda

Nicolai Gedda is a Swedish operatic tenor. Having made some two hundred recordings, Gedda is said to be the most widely recorded tenor in history...

, Jussi Björling

Jussi Björling

, Hugo Hasslo

Hugo Hasslo

Hugo Hasslo was a Swedish operatic baritone.Hasslo studied in Stockholm with Hjaldis Ingebjart and Joseph Hislop and made his debut at the Stockholm Opera, as Guglielmo in Cosi fan tutte, in 1940, where he remained until 1964, quickly establishing himself as first baritone.He was particularly...

, Bernhard Sönnerstedt, Joel Berglund, Kim Borg

Kim Borg

Kim Borg was a Finnish bass, teacher and composer. He had wide-ranging, resonant, warm voice.-Biography:Kim Borg was born in Helsinki...

The Russian and Slavonic Schools

Mascia Predit, Zara Dolukhanova

Zara Dolukhanova

Zara Dolukhanova was an Armenian mezzo-soprano who achieved fame performing on many lauded radio broadcasts of operas and works from the concert repertoire during the 1940s through the 1960s...

, Claudia Novikova, Nadezhda Obukhova

Nadezhda Obukhova

Nadezhda Andreevna Obukhova was a Russian mezzo-soprano. She was awarded the title People’s Artist of the USSR in 1937. Pianist Heinrich Neuhaus said that "he who even once hears her voice, will never forget it...". Asteroid 9914 Obukhova is named for her.- Childhood :Obukhova came from an...

, Georgi Vinogradov, Ivan Zhadan, Georgi Nelepp, Beno Blachut

Beno Blachut

Beno Blachut was a lauded Czech operatic tenor. An icon in his own nation, Blachut drew international acclaim through his many commercial recordings of Czech music. He was an instrumental part of the post-World War II school of Czech opera singers that were responsible for popularizing Czech opera...

, Ivan Kozlovsky

Ivan Kozlovsky

Ivan Semyonovitch Kozlovsky was a Soviet lyric tenor of Ukrainian ethnicity, one of the greatest stars of Soviet opera, as well a producer and director of his own opera company, and longtime teacher at the Moscow Conservatory.-Biography:...

, Pavel Lisitsian

Pavel Lisitsian

Pavel Gerasimovich Lisitsian was a Soviet baritone opera singer who performed in the Bolshoi Opera, Moscow from 1940 until his retirement from stage in 1966....

, Andrei Ivanov, Boris Christoff

Boris Christoff

Boris Christoff was a Bulgarian opera singer...

, Mark Reizen

Mark Reizen

Mark Osipovich Reizen, also Reisen or Reyzen — died November 25, 1992 Moscow, Russia) was a leading Soviet opera singer with a beautiful and expansive bass voice.-Life and career:...

, Boris Gmyrya

Boris Gmyrya

Boris Romanovich Gmyrya was a Soviet basso cantante singer of opera and art song.During World War II, he stayed in Nazi-occupied Poltava where he performed for the Germans. This kind of behavior was considered to be collaboration with enemy by the Soviet authorities, and Gmyrya would be...

, Endre Koréh

The Italian School

Ferruccio Tagliavini

Ferruccio Tagliavini was an Italian operatic tenor mainly active in the 1940s and 1950s...

, Beniamino Gigli

Beniamino Gigli

, Giuseppe Di Stefano

Giuseppe Di Stefano

Giuseppe Di Stefano was an Italian operatic tenor who sang professionally from the late 1940s until the early 1990s. He was known as the "Golden voice" or "The most beautiful voice", as the true successor of Beniamino Gigli...

, Luigi Infantino

Luigi Infantino

Luigi Infantino was an Italian operatic tenor, particularly associated with the lyric Italian and French repertories.Luigi Infantino studied at the Parma Conservatory with Italo Brancucci...

, Giovanni Malipiero

Giovanni Malipiero

Giovanni Malipiero was an operatic tenor who enjoyed a prominent career on stage and on radio in his native Italy during the 1930s and '40s.-Career and recorded legacy:...

, Giacinto Prandelli

Giacinto Prandelli

Giacinto Prandelli was an Italian operatic tenor, particularly associated with the Italian and French repertoires.-Life and career:Born in Lumezzane, Italy, Prandelli sang as a boy in a church choir...

, Mario Del Monaco

Mario del Monaco

Mario Del Monaco was an Italian tenor who is regarded by his admirers as being one of the greatest dramatic tenors of the 20th century....

, Paolo Silveri

Paolo Silveri

Paolo Silveri was an Italian baritone, particularly associated with the Italian repertory, one of the finest Verdi baritones of his time....

, Tito Gobbi

Tito Gobbi

Tito Gobbi was an Italian operatic baritone with an international reputation.-Biography:Tito Gobbi was born in Bassano del Grappa and studied law at the University of Padua before he trained as a singer. Giulio Crimi, a well-known Italian tenor of a previous generation, was Gobbi's teacher in Rome...

, Giuseppe Valdengo

Giuseppe Valdengo

Giuseppe Valdengo was an Italian operatic baritone. Opera News said that, "Although his timbre lacked the innate beauty of some of his baritone contemporaries, Valdengo's performances were invariably satisfying — bold and assured in attack but scrupulously musical."-Biography:Valdengo first...

, Giampiero Malaspina, Gino Bechi

Gino Bechi

Gino Bechi was an Italian operatic baritone, particularly associated with the Italian repertory, especially in Verdi roles.-Life and career:...

, Raffaele Arié

Raffaele Arié

Raffaele Arié was a Bulgarian bass, particularly associated with the Italian and Russian repertories....

, Nicola Rossi-Lemeni

Nicola Rossi-Lemeni

Nicola Rossi Lemeni, , was a basso opera singer of mixed Italian-Russian parentage.Rossi Lemeni was born in Istanbul, Turkey, the son of an Italian colonel and a Russian mother. In his prime he was one of the most respected bassos in Italy...

, Tancredi Pasero

Tancredi Pasero

Tancredi Pasero was an Italian bass who enjoyed a long and distinguished singing career in his native country and abroad.-Career & recordings:...

, Cloe Elmo

Cloe Elmo

Cloë Elmo was an Italian operatic contralto, particularly associated with the Italian repertory.She was born in Lecce and began singing at an early age. By the age of seventeen, she had begun her studies at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome with Edwige Chibaudo, and later with Rinolfi and...

, Giulietta Simionato

Giulietta Simionato

Giulietta Simionato was an Italian mezzo-soprano. Her career spanned from the 1930s until her retirement in 1966.-Life:Born at Forlì, Romagna, she studied in Rovigo and Padua, and made her operatic debut at Montagnana in 1928...

, Fedora Barbieri

Fedora Barbieri

Fedora Barbieri was an Italian mezzo-soprano.Barbieri was born in Trieste. She made her official debut in Florence in 1940, but retired in 1943 because of her marriage. She re-emerged in 1945. She was one of the first performers to investigate and perform in early operas by Monteverdi and Pergolesi...

, Ebe Stignani

Ebe Stignani

Ebe Stignani was an Italian opera singer, who was pre-eminent in the dramatic mezzo-soprano roles of the Italian repertoire during a stage career of more than thirty years.-Career:...

, Alda Noni

Alda Noni

Alda Noni was an Italian soprano leggiero, one of the leading soubrette of the immediate postwar period.Born in Trieste, she first studied voice and piano in her native city, and completed her studies in Vienna...

, Elena Arizmendi, Margherita Carosio

Margherita Carosio

Margherita Carosio was an Italian operatic soprano. She was one of the most remarkable light lyric sopranos of her generation. Her warm, expressive and expertly produced voice is preserved in many Parlophone and Ultraphon recordings made before World War II, as well as a memorable series made for...

, Magda László

Magda László

Magda László was a Hungarian operatic soprano particularly associated with 20th century operas.She studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, and made her debut at the Budapest Opera in 1943, as Elisabeth in Tannhäuser, later singing Amelia in Simon Boccanegra.In 1946, she settled in...

, Alba Anzellotti, Gabriella Gatti

Gabriella Gatti

Gabriella Gatti was an Italian operatic soprano, primarily based in Italy and associated with the Italian repertory.Born Gabriella Pesci in Rome, where she studied voice and piano....

, Renata Tebaldi

Renata Tebaldi

Renata Tebaldi was an Italian lirico-spinto soprano popular in the post-war period...

, Sara Scuderi

Sara Scuderi

Sara Scuderi was an Italian opera singer. She sang widely in Italy and Europe , having had a seven-year contract at La Scala, "where she received high praise for her intepretations of the most well-known operas" .-Biography:Born in Catania, Sicily, Sara Scuderi made her debut at the Teatro Lirico...

, Margherita Grandi

Margherita Grandi

Margherita Grandi was an Australian-born Italian soprano, particularly associated with dramatic Italian roles. She possessed a powerful voice and was a forceful singing-actress in the grand manner.-Life and career:...

, Zinka Milanov

Zinka Milanov

Zinka Milanov was a Croatian-born operatic spinto soprano who had a major career centred on the New York Metropolitan Opera.-Biography:...

, Maria Callas

Maria Callas

Wagner singers of the 1950s and early 1960s

Kirsten Flagstad

Kirsten Målfrid Flagstad was a Norwegian opera singer and a highly regarded Wagnerian soprano...

, Birgit Nilsson

Birgit Nilsson

right|thumb|Nilsson in 1948.Birgit Nilsson was a celebrated Swedish dramatic soprano who specialized in operatic and symphonic works...

, Elisabeth Grümmer

Elisabeth Grümmer

Elisabeth Schilz Grümmer was a German operatic lyric soprano.She was born at Niederjeutz, near Diedenhofen, Alsace-Lorraine to German parents...

, Régine Crespin

Régine Crespin

Régine Crespin was a French singer who had a major international career in opera and on the concert stage between 1950 and 1989. She started her career singing roles in the dramatic soprano and spinto soprano repertoire, drawing particular acclaim singing Wagner and Strauss heroines...

, Rita Gorr

Rita Gorr

, Gottlob Frick

Gottlob Frick

Gottlob Frick was a German bass who sang in opera. He was known for his wide repertory including Wagner and Mozart roles, as well as those of Nicolai and Lortzing.-Career:...

, Ludwig Weber

Ludwig Weber

, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

, Fritz Wunderlich

Fritz Wunderlich

Friedrich "Fritz" Karl Otto Wunderlich was a German lyric tenor, famed for his singing of the Mozart repertory and Italian and German opera and lieder. He died in an accident when he was only 35...

, Astrid Varnay

Astrid Varnay

, Ludwig Suthaus

Ludwig Suthaus

Ludwig Suthaus was a German opera singer , who was born in Cologne and died in West Berlin.- Biography :...

, Martha Mödl

Martha Mödl

Martha Mödl was a German soprano, and later a mezzo-soprano. She specialized in large dramatic roles, most notably Wagnerian roles such as Isolde, Kundry, and Brünnhilde...

, Hans Hotter

Hans Hotter

, Otto Edelmann

Otto Edelmann

Otto Edelmann was an Austrian bass. He was born in Vienna and studied singing in Vienna with Gunnar Graarud. His debut was at Gera as Figaro in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. He later sang the Vienna State Opera, the Edinburgh Festival and the Metropolitan Opera...

, Rudolf Schock

Rudolf Schock

, Ferdinand Frantz

Ferdinand Frantz

Ferdinand Frantz , was a German operatic bass-baritone. He was well known in his time for his performances in the operas of Richard Wagner....

, Josef Greindl

Josef Greindl

Josef Greindl was a German operatic bass.Josef Greindl was born in Munich and studied at the Munich Music Academy with Paul Bender. His opera debut was in 1936, as Hunding in Wagner's Die Walküre in the State Theatre in Krefeld. He is remembered mainly for his performances in Wagner at Bayreuth,...

Sopranos and mezzo-sopranos: 1953–1968

Joan Hammond

Dame Joan Hilda Hood Hammond, DBE, CMG was an Australian operatic soprano, singing coach and champion golfer.- Early life :...

, Joan Sutherland

Joan Sutherland

Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, OM, AC, DBE was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano noted for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s....

, Maria Callas

Maria Callas

, Rita Streich

Rita Streich

Rita Streich , was one of the most admired and recorded sopranos of the post-war period.Rita Streich was born in Barnaul in Russia, and moved to Germany with her parents during her childhood. She grew up bilingual, something that was extremely helpful during her later career...

, Erika Köth

Erika Köth

Erika Köth was a German operatic high coloratura soprano, particularly associated with the roles of Zerbinetta and Zerlina....

, Renate Holm, Elsie Morison

Elsie Morison

Elsie Jean Morison is an Australian soprano.Morison was born in Ballarat, Victoria, and studied at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music from 1943-45...

, Antonietta Stella

Antonietta Stella

Antonietta Stella is an Italian operatic soprano, one of the finest Italian spinto sopranos of the 1950s and 1960s, possessing a beautiful and ample voice, and particularly associated with Verdi and Puccini roles.Stella studied at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, and made her...

, Martha Angelici

Martha Angelici

Martha Angelici , was a French operatic soprano of Corsican origin, particularly associated with the French lyric repertoire....

, Janine Micheau

Janine Micheau

Janine Micheau was a French singer, one of the leading lyric sopranos of her era in France.Janine Micheau was born in Toulouse, and studied voice at the Paris Conservatoire...

, Graziella Sciutti

Graziella Sciutti

Graziella Sciutti was an Italian soprano opera singer and later vocal teacher and opera producer.-Career:Sciutti was born in Turin, Italy. Her parents were musical, her father being an organist; her mother was French...

, Aase Nordmo-Lövberg, Anna Moffo

Anna Moffo

Anna Moffo was an Italian-American opera singer and one of the leading lyric-coloratura sopranos of her generation...

, June Bronhill

June Bronhill

June Bronhill OBE was an internationally acclaimed Australian soprano opera singer.-Biography:She was born June Mary Gough in the inland Australian city of Broken Hill, New South Wales...

, Hilde Gueden

Hilde Gueden

The Austrian soprano Hilde Gueden, or Güden was one of the most appreciated Straussian and Mozartian sopranos of her days...

, Victoria de los Ángeles

Victoria de los Ángeles

, Melitta Muszely, Amy Shuard

Amy Shuard

Amy Shuard CBE was an English operatic soprano renowned in such dramatic roles as Elektra, Turandot and Brünnhilde. She created both title roles in Janáček's Káťa Kabanová and Jenůfa in their respective British premieres. She has been described as "the best English dramatic soprano since Eva...

, Lisa Della Casa

Lisa Della Casa

Lisa Della Casa is a Swiss soprano most admired for her interpretations of major heroines in major operas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Richard Strauss, of German lieder, and for her great beauty. She was dubbed “the most beautiful woman on the operatic stage”...

, Hanny Steffek, Pilar Lorengar

Pilar Lorengar

Lorenza Pilar García Seta was a Spanish soprano who used the professional name Pilar Lorengar. She was best known for her interpretations of opera and the Spanish genre Zarzuela, and as a soprano she was known for her full register, a youthful timbre as well as a distinctive vibrato.Pilar was...

, Andrée Esposito

Andrée Esposito

Andrée Esposito is a French opera singer, a lyric soprano particularly associated with the French repertory and contemporary works.- Biography :...

, Sari Barabas

Sari Barabas

Sari Barabas is a Hungarian operatic soprano, particularly associated with coloratura roles. She was born in Budapest.She planned to be a dancer, but after an injury she turned to singing...

, Lucia Popp

Lucia Popp

Lucia Popp was a notable Slovak operatic soprano. She began her career as a soubrette soprano, and later moved into the light-lyric and lyric coloratura soprano repertoire and then the lighter Richard Strauss and Wagner operas. Her career included performances at Vienna State Opera, the...

, Renata Scotto

Renata Scotto

Renata Scotto is an Italian soprano and opera director.Recognized for her sense of style, musicality and as a remarkable singer-actress, Scotto is considered one of the preeminent singers of her generation, specializing in the bel canto repertoire with excursions into the verismo and Verdi...

, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf

, Mirella Freni

Mirella Freni

Mirella Freni, birth name Mirella Fregni, is an Italian opera soprano whose repertoire includes Verdi, Puccini, Mozart and Tchaikovsky...

, Anneliese Rothenberger

Anneliese Rothenberger

Anneliese Rothenberger was a German operatic soprano who had an active international performance career which spanned from 1943 to 1983...

, Reri Grist

Reri Grist

Reri Grist is an American coloratura soprano, one of the pioneer African-American singers to enjoy a major international career in opera.-Biography:...

, Gwyneth Jones, Christa Ludwig

Christa Ludwig

Christa Ludwig is a retired German mezzo-soprano, distinguished for her performances of opera, Lieder, oratorio and other major religious works like masses and passions, and solos contained in symphonic literature...

Tenors: 1953–1968

Jussi Björling

, Henri Legay

Henri Legay

Henri Legay was a French operatic tenor. He was primarily French-based as his light lyric voice was especially suited to the French operatic repertoire....

, Léopold Simoneau

Léopold Simoneau

Léopold Simoneau, CC, CQ was a French-Canadian lyric tenor, one of the outstanding Mozarteans of his time. In 1959 he became the first recipient of the Calixa-Lavallée Award.-Life and career:...

, Albert Lance

Albert Lance

Albert Lance is a French tenor of Australian origin, based in France from the mid 1950s onwards, where he enjoyed a highly successful career....

, Eugenio Fernandi

Eugenio Fernandi

Eugenio Fernandi was an Italian tenor, particularly associated with lyric and spinto roles.Eugenio Fernandi was born in Pisa and raised in Turin, where he began his vocal studies with Aureliano Pertile. He later entered the opera school at La Scala in Milan and began appearing there in small roles...

, João Gibin, Richard Lewis

Richard Lewis (tenor)

Richard Lewis CBE was a Welsh tenor.Born Thomas Thomas in Manchester to Welsh parents, Lewis began his career as a boy soprano and studied at the Royal Manchester College of Music from 1939 to 1941...

, Charles Craig

Charles Craig (tenor)

Charles James Craig was an English operatic tenor. He was known as one of "the most Italianate of English operatic tenors". From 1957 to 1980 he performed leading tenor roles at London's Royal Opera House and English National Opera...

, Giuseppe Campora

Giuseppe Campora

Giuseppe Campora , was an Italian operatic tenor. Campora was one of the greatest Puccinian tenors of his generation...

, Fritz Wunderlich

Fritz Wunderlich

Friedrich "Fritz" Karl Otto Wunderlich was a German lyric tenor, famed for his singing of the Mozart repertory and Italian and German opera and lieder. He died in an accident when he was only 35...

, Ronald Dowd, Alfredo Kraus

Alfredo Kraus

Alfredo Kraus Trujillo was a distinguished Spanish tenor of partly Austrian descent, particularly known for the artistry he brought to opera's bel canto roles...

, Luigi Alva

Luigi Alva

Luis Ernesto Alva y Talledo, better known as Luigi Alva is a Peruvian operatic tenor, active in the third quarter of the 20th century. He was admired for his purity of tone, the elegance of his phrasing and the clarity of his diction...

, Wilfred Brown

Wilfred Brown

Wilfred Brown was an accomplished English tenor.He was born in Horsham, Sussex and educated at Collyer's School, then at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, and Trinity College of Music. Brown was a lifelong member of the Religious Society of Friends...

, Jess Thomas

Jess Thomas

Jess Thomas was an American operatic tenor, best known for his Wagner singing.-Biography:Jess Floyd Thomas was born in Hot Springs, South Dakota. As a child he took part in various musical activities and later studied psychology at the University of Nebraska and Stanford University. He was...

, Franco Corelli

Franco Corelli

Franco Corelli was a famous Italian tenor who had a major international opera career between 1951 and 1976. Associated in particular with the spinto and dramatic tenor roles of the Italian repertory, he was celebrated universally for his powerhouse voice, electrifying top notes, clear timbre, a...

, Peter Schreier

Peter Schreier

Peter Schreier is a German tenor and conductor.-Early life:Schreier was born in Meissen, Saxony, and spent his first years in the small village of Gauernitz, near Meissen, where his father was a teacher, cantor and organist...

, Nicolai Gedda

Nicolai Gedda

Nicolai Gedda is a Swedish operatic tenor. Having made some two hundred recordings, Gedda is said to be the most widely recorded tenor in history...

, James King

James King (tenor)

James King was widely regarded as the finest American heldentenor of the post-war period.-Biography:Born in Dodge City, Kansas, King studied music at Louisiana State University and earned a master's degree in 1952 from Kansas City University. He started singing as a baritone, but noticed in 1955...

, Luciano Pavarotti

Luciano Pavarotti

right|thumb|Luciano Pavarotti performing at the opening of the Constantine Palace in [[Strelna]], 31 May 2003. The concert was part of the celebrations for the 300th anniversary of [[St...

Baritones and basses: 1955–1967

Tito Gobbi

, Boris Christoff

Boris Christoff

Boris Christoff was a Bulgarian opera singer...

, Rolando Panerai

Rolando Panerai

Rolando Panerai Italian baritone, particularly associated with the Italian repertory, he enjoyed a long and distinguished career in both comic and dramatic roles.Rolando Panerai was born in Campi Bisenzio, near Florence, Italy....

, Nicola Zaccaria

Nicola Zaccaria

Nicola Zaccaria , born Nicholas Angelos Zachariou was a Greek bass.-Career:Born in Piraeus, Zaccaria studied at the Athens Conservatory where he enjoyed his debut in 1949, aged 26. He sang at La Scala in 1953 and his position as a mainstay of the bass operatic repertoire was assured thereafter. He...

, Michel Dens

Michel Dens

Michel Dens was a French baritone, particularly associated with the French repertory, both opera and operetta....

, Eberhard Wächter, Ernest Blanc

Ernest Blanc

Ernest Blanc was a French opera singer, one of the leading baritones of his era in France.Born in Sanary-sur-Mer, Ernest Blanc studied at the Music Conservatory of Toulon with Sabran, from 1946 to 1949. He made his debut in Marseille, as Tonio, in 1950...

, Hermann Prey

Hermann Prey

Hermann Prey was a German lyric baritone. He is most famous for lieder and for light comic baritone roles in opera.-Biography:...

, Nicolai Ghiaurov

Nicolai Ghiaurov

Nicolai Ghiaurov was a Bulgarian opera singer and one of the most famous bass singers of the postwar period. He was admired for his powerful, sumptuous voice, and was particularly associated with roles of Verdi.Ghiaurov married the Italian soprano Mirella Freni in 1978...

, Cornell MacNeil

Cornell MacNeil

Cornell MacNeil , was an American operatic baritone known for his exceptional voice and long career with the Metropolitan Opera, which spanned 642 performances in twenty-six roles. F...

Sopranos: 1969–1988

Martina Arroyo

Martina Arroyo is an operatic soprano of Puerto Rican and African-American descent who had a major international opera career during the 1960s through the 1980s...

, Mady Mesplé

Mady Mesplé

Mady Mesplé is a French opera singer, the leading high coloratura soprano of her generation in France, sometimes heralded as the successor to Mado Robin.-Biography:...

, Elly Ameling

Elly Ameling

Elisabeth Sara "Elly" Ameling is a Dutch soprano.-Career:Ameling was born in Rotterdam. She studied with Bodi Rapp, Jo Bollekamp, Sem Dresden and Jacoba Dresden-Dhont and later French art song with Pierre Bernac...

, Montserrat Caballé

Montserrat Caballé

Montserrat Caballé is a Spanish operatic soprano. Although she sang a wide variety of roles, she is best known as an exponent of the bel canto repertoire, notably the works of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi....

, Helga Dernesch

Helga Dernesch

Helga Dernesch is an Austrian soprano and mezzo soprano. Her career has taken her through four successive phases: from mezzo-soprano to lyric soprano to dramatic soprano and after about 1980 back to mezzo again...

, Gundula Janowitz

Gundula Janowitz

Gundula Janowitz is an Austrian lyric soprano singer of operas, oratorios and concerts. She is one of the most renowned opera singers of the 20th century and was pre-eminent in the 1960s and 1970s.-Career:...

, Edda Moser

Edda Moser

Edda Moser is a German soprano. She was particularly well-known for her interpretations of music by Mozart. Her 1973 recital LP "Virtuoso Arias by W. A...

, Margaret Price

Margaret Price

Dame Margaret Berenice Price, DBE was a Welsh soprano.-Early years:Price was born in Blackwood, Wales. Born with deformed legs, she was operated on at age four and suffered pain in her legs the rest of her life. She often looked after her younger brother John who was born with a mental handicap...

, Beverly Sills

Beverly Sills

Beverly Sills was an American operatic soprano whose peak career was between the 1950s and 1970s. In her prime she was the only real rival to Joan Sutherland as the leading bel canto stylist...

, Galina Vishnevskaya

Galina Vishnevskaya

Galina Pavlovna Vishnevskaya is a Russian soprano opera singer and recitalist who was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1966.-Biography:...

, Heather Harper

Heather Harper

Heather Harper CBE is a Northern Ireland-born British operatic soprano.She was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1930, where she received her early musical training...

, Leontyne Price

Leontyne Price

Mary Violet Leontyne Price is an American soprano. Born and raised in the Deep South, she rose to international acclaim in the 1950s and 1960s, and was one of the first African Americans to become a leading artist at the Metropolitan Opera.One critic characterized Price's voice as "vibrant",...

, Ileana Cotrubas

Ileana Cotrubas

Ileana Cotrubaş is a Romanian opera soprano whose career spanned from the 1960s to the 1980s. She was much admired for her acting skills and facility for singing opera in many different languages.-Biography:...

, Elisabeth Söderström

Elisabeth Söderström

Elisabeth Anna Söderström CBE was a Swedish soprano, who performed both opera and song. She was particularly well known for her recordings of the lead soprano roles in the three Janáček operas Jenůfa, Káťa Kabanová, and The Makropoulos Affair, all of which received Gramophone Awards...

, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Ghena Dimitrova

Ghena Dimitrova

Ghena Dimitrova was a Bulgarian operatic soprano. Her voice was known for its power and extension used in operatic roles such as Turandot in a career spanning four decades.-Early career:...

, Jessye Norman

Jessye Norman

Jessye Norman is an American opera singer. Norman is a well-known contemporary opera singer and recitalist, and is one of the highest paid performers in classical music...

, Edita Gruberova

Edita Gruberová

Edita Gruberová , is a Slovak soprano who is one of the most acclaimed coloraturas of recent decades. She is noted for her great tonal clarity, agility, dramatic interpretation, and ability to sing high notes with great power, which made her an ideal Queen of the Night in her early years...

, Hildegard Behrens

Hildegard Behrens

Hildegard Behrens was a German soprano with a wide repertory including Wagner, Weber, Mozart, Richard Strauss, and Alban Berg roles.-Biography:...

, Luciana Serra

Luciana Serra

Luciana Serra is an Italian soprano.-Debuts:Serra made her international debut in 1966 at the Hungarian State Opera House in Budapest, but did not achieve general acclaim until the late 1970s, when she took on coloratura roles in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor and Bellini's La sonnambula...

Mezzo-sopranos: 1969–1984

Grace Bumbry

Grace Bumbry , an American opera singer, is considered one of the leading mezzo-sopranos of her generation, as well as a major soprano for many years...

, Shirley Verrett

Shirley Verrett

Shirley Verrett was an African-American operatic mezzo-soprano who successfully transitioned into soprano roles i.e. soprano sfogato...

, Yvonne Minton

Yvonne Minton

Yvonne Fay Minton CBE is an Australian opera singer. She is variously billed as a soprano, mezzo-soprano or contralto.Yvonne Minton was born in Sydney, New South Wales. She studied voice on a scholarship at the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music. She won the National Eisteddfod in Canberra,...

, Frederica von Stade

Frederica von Stade

Frederica von Stade is an American mezzo-soprano. Born in Somerville, New Jersey, she acquired the nickname "Flicka" in her childhood. Von Stade attended the Mannes College of Music in New York City. She made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera in 1970 and in 1971 appeared as Cherubino in The...

, Fiorenza Cossotto

Fiorenza Cossotto

Fiorenza Cossotto is an Italian mezzo soprano. She is considered by many to be one of the great mezzo-sopranos of the 20th century.-Life and career:...

, Irina Arkhipova, Elena Obraztsova

Elena Obraztsova

Elena Vasiliyevna Obraztsova is a Russian mezzo-soprano, widely recognised as one of the greatest opera singers of all time, thanks to her outstanding stage presence and the vocal abilities....

, Teresa Berganza

Teresa Berganza

Teresa Berganza, born on March 16, 1935), is a Spanish mezzo-soprano. She is most closely associated with the roles of Rossini, Mozart, and Bizet. She is admired for her technical virtuosity, musical intelligence and beguiling stage presence.- Biography :...

, Tatiana Troyanos

Tatiana Troyanos

Tatiana Troyanos was an American mezzo-soprano of Greek and German descent.-Early life:...

, Agnes Baltsa

Agnes Baltsa

Agnes Baltsa is a leading Greek mezzo-soprano.Baltsa was born in Lefkada. She began playing piano at the age of six, before moving to Athens in 1958 to concentrate on singing...

, Janet Baker

Janet Baker

Dame Janet Abbott Baker, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English mezzo-soprano best known as an opera, concert, and lieder singer.She was particularly closely associated with baroque and early Italian opera and the works of Benjamin Britten...

, Marilyn Horne

Marilyn Horne

Marilyn Horne is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer. She specialized in roles requiring a large sound, beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura passages....

, Ann Murray

Ann Murray

Ann Murray DBE is an Irish mezzo-soprano. She was born on 27 August 1949, in Dublin. She studied with Frederic Cox at the Royal Manchester College of Music and made her stage debut as Alcestis in Christoph Willibald Gluck's Alceste in 1974...

Tenors: 1969–1988

Carlo Bergonzi

Carlo Bergonzi is an Italian operatic tenor. Although he performed and recorded some bel canto and verismo roles, he is above all associated with the operas of Giuseppe Verdi, including a large number of the composer's lesser-known works that he helped revive...

, Jon Vickers

Jon Vickers

Jonathan Stewart Vickers, CC , known professionally as Jon Vickers, is a retired Canadian heldentenor.Born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, he was the sixth in a family of eight children. In 1950, he was awarded a scholarship to study opera at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto...

, René Kollo

René Kollo

René Kollo is a German tenor.-Biography:He was born René Kollodzieyski in Berlin and grew up in Wyk auf Föhr. He attended a photography school in Hamburg, although he had always been interested in music, particularly conducting. He did not begin to perform until the mid-50s...

, Ian Partridge

Ian Partridge

Ian Partridge CBE is a retired English lyric tenor, whose repertoire ranged from Monteverdi, Bach and Handel, the Elizabethan lute songs, German, French and English songs, through to Schoenberg, Weill and Britten, and on to contemporary works. He formed a renowned vocal-piano duo with his sister...

, Donald Smith, Franco Bonisolli

Franco Bonisolli

Franco Bonisolli was an Italian operatic tenor, particularly associated with the Italian repertory, notably as Manrico and Calaf.-Life and career:...

, José Carreras

José Carreras

Josep Maria Carreras i Coll , better known as José Carreras , is a Spanish Catalan tenor particularly known for his performances in the operas of Verdi and Puccini...

, Alain Vanzo

Alain Vanzo

Alain Vanzo was a French opera singer and composer, one of few French tenors of international standing in the postwar era...

, Neil Shicoff

Neil Shicoff

Neil Shicoff is an American Jewish opera singer and cantor known for his lyric tenor singing and his dramatic, emotional acting.- Beginnings :...

Baritones and basses: 1966–1986

John Shirley-Quirk

John Shirley-Quirk CBE is an English bass-baritone.He was born in Liverpool, England, and sang in his high school choir. He played the violin and was awarded a scholarship. While studying chemistry and physics at Liverpool University, he studied voice with Austen Carnegie...

, Piero Cappuccilli

Piero Cappuccilli

Piero Cappuccilli was an Italian operatic baritone, particularly associated with Verdi roles, especiallyMacbeth and Simon Boccanegra; he was renowned for his extraordinary breath control and smooth legato, and is widely regarded as one of the finest Italian baritones of the second half of the 20th...

, Sir Geraint Evans

Geraint Evans

Sir Geraint Llewellyn Evans was a Welsh baritone or bass-baritone noted for operatic roles including Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, and the title roles in Falstaff and Wozzeck...

, Gabriel Bacquier

Gabriel Bacquier

Gabriel Bacquier is a French operatic baritone. One of the leading baritones of the 20th century and particularly associated with the French and Italian repertories, he is considered a fine singing-actor equally at home in dramatic or comic roles.-Life and career:Gabriel Bacquier was born in...

, Gérard Souzay

Gérard Souzay

Gérard Souzay was a French baritone singer, regarded as one of the very finest interpreters of mélodie in the generation after Charles Panzéra and Pierre Bernac.-Background and education:...

, Kurt Moll

Kurt Moll

Kurt Moll is a German operatic bass, now retired.-Biography:Moll was born in Buir, near Cologne, Germany. As a child, he played the cello and hoped to become a great cellist. He also sang in the school choir, and the conductor encouraged him to concentrate on singing...

, Walter Berry, Peter Glossop

Peter Glossop

Peter Glossop was an English baritone who was the only Englishman to have sung Verdi's great tragic baritone roles at La Scala, Milan...

, Ruggero Raimondi

Ruggero Raimondi

Ruggero Raimondi is an Italian bass-baritone opera singer who has also appeared in motion pictures.-Early training and career:Ruggero Raimondi was born in Bologna, Italy, during World War II...

, Sherrill Milnes

Sherrill Milnes

Sherrill Milnes is an American operatic baritone most famous for his Verdi roles. From 1965 until 1997 he was associated with the Metropolitan Opera....

, Martti Talvela

Martti Talvela

Martti Talvela was a Finnish operatic bass.Born in Hiitola, Finland , he studied in Lahti and Stockholm, and made his operatic debut in Helsinki in 1960 as Sparafucile. At , he was the tallest singer of his century. He trained as a boxer in his youth and developed the stamina necessary for the...

, Aage Haugland

Aage Haugland

Aage Haugland was a Danish operatic bass.- Life and career :He was born in Copenhagen and made his professional debut in Oslo in 1968. From 1970 to 1973 he was based in Bremen, and appeared at Den Jyske Opera in Aarhus in 1972...

, José van Dam

José van Dam

Joseph, Baron van Damme , known as José van Dam, is a Belgian bass-baritone.At the age of 17, he entered the Brussels Royal Conservatory and studied with Frederic Anspach. A year later, he graduated with diplomas and first prizes in voice and opera performance...

, Sir Thomas Allen

Sopranos: 1989–2004

June Anderson

June Anderson is a Grammy Award-winning American coloratura soprano. Originally known for bel canto performances of Rossini, Donizetti, and Vincenzo Bellini, she was the first non-Italian ever to win the prestigious Bellini d'Oro prize...

, Barbara Hendricks

Barbara Hendricks

Barbara Hendricks is an African American operatic soprano and concert singer. Hendricks has lived in Europe since 1977, and in Switzerland on Lake Geneva since 1985, She is a citizen of Sweden.-Early life and education:...

, Cheryl Studer

Cheryl Studer

Cheryl Studer is a Grammy Award winning American dramatic soprano who has sung at many of the world's major opera houses. A singer with unusual versatility, Studer has performed more than eighty roles ranging from the dramatic repertoire to roles more commonly associated with lyric sopranos and...

, Katia Ricciarelli

Katia Ricciarelli

-Biography:Born at Rovigo, Veneto, to a very poor family, she struggled during her younger years when she studied music.She studied at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice, won several vocal competitions in 1968, and made her professional debut as Mimì in La bohème in Mantua in 1969,...

, Dagmar Schellenberger

Dagmar Schellenberger

Dagmar Schellenberger is a German operatic soprano with a large repertoire ranging from Bach to Wagner. She sings Blanche on the critically acclaimed DVD of the La Scala production of Francis Poulenc's opera Dialogues des Carmélites.- External links :*...

, Karita Mattila

Karita Mattila

Karita Marjatta Mattila is a leading opera soprano. She was born in Somero, Finland.Mattila appears regularly in the major opera houses worldwide, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House in London, Théâtre du Châtelet, Opéra Bastille, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco...

, Solveig Kringelborn, Ruth Ann Swenson

Ruth Ann Swenson

Ruth Ann Swenson is an American soprano who is renowned for her brilliance in coloratura roles.Born in Bronxville, New York and raised in Commack, New York on Long Island, Swenson studied at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia and briefly at Hartt College of Music in West Hartford, Connecticut...

, Dame Felicity Lott, Christine Brewer

Christine Brewer

Christine Brewer is an American soprano. She grew up in the Mississippi River town of Grand Tower, Illinois. She attended McKendree University in Lebanon, Illinois and concentrated on music education. She was a music teacher for several years before embarking on a professional music performing...

, Jane Eaglen

Jane Eaglen

Jane Eaglen is an English dramatic soprano particularly known for her interpretations of the works of Richard Wagner and the title roles in Bellini's Norma and Puccini's Turandot.-Background:...

Mezzo-sopranos: 1988–2001

Brigitte Fassbaender

Brigitte Fassbaender , is a mezzo-soprano opera singer, a stage director and since 1997 Intendant of the Tiroler Landestheater in Innsbruck, Austria...

, Anne Sofie von Otter, Waltraud Meier

Waltraud Meier

Waltraud Meier is a Grammy Award–winning German dramatic soprano and mezzo-soprano singer. She is particularly known for her Wagnerian roles as Kundry, Isolde, Ortrud, Venus and Sieglinde, but has also had success in the French and Italian repertoire appearing as Eboli, Amneris, Carmen and Santuzza...

, Hera Lind, Michelle DeYoung

Michelle DeYoung

Michelle DeYoung is an American classical vocalist who has an active international career performing in operas and concerts. Raised in Colorado and California, DeYoung is a graduate of the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artists Development Program...

, Bernarda Fink

Bernarda Fink

Bernarda Fink Inzko is an Argentinian mezzo-soprano. Born in Buenos Aires to Slovene parents, Bernarda Fink studied at the "Instituto Superior de Arte del Teatro Colón" in Buenos Aires. She won First Prize at the Nuevas Voces Líricas competition in 1985 and moved to Europe...

, Katarina Karnéus, Lorraine Hunt-Lieberson

Tenors: 1989–2001

John Aler

John Aler is an American lyric tenor who performs in concerts, recitals, and operas. He is particularly known for his interpretations of the works of Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, and Handel....

, Placido Domingo

Plácido Domingo

Plácido Domingo KBE , born José Plácido Domingo Embil, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range...

, Chris Merritt

Chris Merritt

Chris Merritt is an opera singer. He studied piano, singing, dance and drama at Oklahoma City University where he made his first stage appearance in Jacques Offenbach's Les contes d'Hoffmann in a university production. At age 21, he was accepted into the summer season Apprentice Program for...

, Ben Heppner

Ben Heppner

Ben Heppner, CC is a Canadian tenor, specializing in opera and other classical works for voice.Heppner was born in Murrayville, British Columbia, and lived in Dawson Creek...

, Michael Schade

Michael Schade

Michael Schade is a Canadian operatic tenor, who was born in Geneva and raised in Germany and Canada. He and his four children live in Oakville, Ontario; a city just outside of Toronto, Canada. The family has a second home in Vienna, Austria.Schade is considered a leading Mozart tenor...

, Roberto Alagna

Roberto Alagna

Roberto Alagna is a French-Italian tenor. He was born in Clichy-sous-Bois, Seine-Saint-Denis, France.-Early years:Alagna was born outside of the city of Paris in 1963 to a family of Sicilian immigrants . As a teenager, the young Alagna began busking and singing pop in Parisian cabarets for tips...

, José Cura

José Cura

José Cura is a prominent operatic tenor known for his intense and original interpretations of his characters, notably Verdi’s Otello and Saint-Saëns’ Samson, as well as for his unconventional and innovative concert performances. He is also able to perform high baritone roles with the extended...

Baritones and basses: 1991–1995

Bryn Terfel

Bryn Terfel Jones CBE is a Welsh bass-baritone opera and concert singer. Terfel was initially associated with the roles of Mozart, particularly Figaro and Leporello, but has subsequently shifted his attention to heavier roles, especially those by Wagner....

, Bernd Weikl

Bernd Weikl

Bernd Weikl is an Austrian operatic baritone, best known for his performances in the operas of Richard Wagner.- Early career :...

, François Le Roux

François le Roux

François le Roux is a French baritone. Le Roux began vocal studies at 19 with François Loup, winning prizes in Barcelona and Rio de Janeiro. He was a member of the Lyon Opera Company from 1980 to 1985, before appearing in many international houses, making his Paris Opéra debut in 1988 as Valentin...

, Thomas Hampson, Simon Keenlyside

Simon Keenlyside

Simon Keenlyside CBE is a British baritone who has had an active international career performing in operas and concerts since the mid 1980s.-Early life and education:...

, Thomas Quasthoff

Thomas Quasthoff

Thomas Quasthoff is a German bass-baritone. Although his reputation was initially based on his performance of Romantic lieder, Quasthoff has proven to have a remarkable range from the Baroque cantatas of Bach to solo jazz improvisations.-Biography:Quasthoff was born in Hildesheim, Germany, with...

Singers of Baroque and early music and early music 1953–2005

Female: Montserrat Figueras

Montserrat Figueras

Montserrat Figueras García was a Catalan soprano who specialized in early music....

, Helen Donath

Helen Donath

Helen Jeanette Donath is an American soprano with a career spanning fifty years.- Biography :She was born in Corpus Christi, Texas and studied at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi and with Paola Novikova in New York....

, Arleen Augér

Arleen Auger

Joyce Arleen Auger was an American soprano singer, admired for her coloratura voice and interpretations of works by Bach, Handel, Haydn, Monteverdi, Gluck, and Mozart.-Biography:...

, Emily Van Evera, Nancy Argenta

Nancy Argenta

Nancy Maureen Argenta is a Canadian soprano singer, best known for performing music from the pre-classical era. She has won international acclaim, and is considered by many as the leading Handel soprano of her time.She was born in Nelson, British Columbia, Canada...

, Emma Kirkby

Emma Kirkby

Dame Carolyn Emma Kirkby, DBE is an English soprano singer and one of the world's most renowned early music specialists. She attended Sherborne School For Girls in Dorset and was a classics student at Somerville College, Oxford, and an English teacher before developing a career as a soloist...

, Catherine King

Catherine King (mezzo-soprano)

Catherine King is an English mezzo-soprano, best known for her performances and recordings of mediaeval, renaissance and baroque music and also very active in performing classical oratorio, opera and contemporary music. She is the only female member of Gothic Voices and has made over 30...

, Patricia Petibon

Patricia Petibon

Patricia Petibon is a French coloratura soprano who has been acclaimed for her interpretations of French Baroque music.-Biography:...

, Susan Graham

Susan Graham

Susan Graham is an American mezzo-soprano.Raised in Midland, Texas, she is a graduate of Texas Tech University and the Manhattan School of Music. She studied the piano for 13 years...

, Véronique Gens

Véronique Gens

Véronique Gens is a French soprano. She has spent much of her career recording and performing Baroque music....

Male: Alfred Deller

Alfred Deller

Alfred George Deller CBE , was an English singer and one of the main figures in popularizing the return of the countertenor voice in Renaissance and Baroque music during the 20th Century....

, James Bowman, Nigel Rogers

Nigel Rogers

Nigel David Rogers is an English tenor, conductor, and teacher, who has made numerous recordings, mostly of early music.A native of Wellington, Shropshire, Rogers studied at King's College, Cambridge from 1953–1956, in Rome in 1957, in Milan from 1958–1959, and with Gerhard Hüsch at the Munich...

, Paul Esswood

Paul Esswood

Paul Esswood is an English countertenor. He is best known for his singing in Bach cantatas and the operas of Handel and Monteverdi. Along with his countrymen Alfred Deller and James Bowman, he led the revival of countertenor singing in modern times.Esswood was born in West Bridgford, England. He...

, Aris Christofellis

Aris Christofellis

Aris Christofellis is a sopranist who was born in Athens on 5 February 1960. After studying piano in Athens and Paris, he decided to concentrate on developing his singing voice.He made his debut in Bordeaux in 1984...

, Charles Brett

Charles Brett

Sir Charles Edward Bainbridge Brett CBE . Born in Holywood, County Down, was a Northern Irish solicitor, journalist, author and founding member, and first chairman, of the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society...

, René Jacobs, Michael Chance

Michael Chance

Michael Chance CBE is an English countertenor.Chance was born in Penn, Buckinghamshire, into a musical family. After growing up as a chorister he attended Eton College, Berkshire, and later King's College, Cambridge...

, Harry van der Kamp

Harry van der Kamp

Harry van der Kamp is a Dutch bass singer in opera and concert.- Singing career :Van der Kamp studied first law and psychology in Amsterdam...

, Dominique Visse

Dominique Visse

Dominique Visse is a French countertenor and founder of the Ensemble Clément Janequin. Visse devotes himself to performing of secular and religious music of the Renaissance. He is principally known for his interpretations of the Parisian chansons.He was a chorister in the Cathedral of Notre Dame...

, Derek Lee Ragin

Derek Lee Ragin

Derek Lee Ragin is an American countertenor.Ragin studied as a piano major at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. While at Oberlin he took secondary voice lessons with Richard Anderson. He began his operatic career at Oberlin in Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream as Oberon...

, Gérard Lesne

Gérard Lesne

Gérard Lesne is a French countertenor. He also the founder and artistic director of the baroque music ensemble, Il Seminario Musicale...

, Philippe Jaroussky

Philippe Jaroussky

Philippe Jaroussky is a French sopranist countertenor. He began his musical career with the violin, winning an award at the Versailles conservatory and then took up the piano before turning to singing...

, Bejun Mehta

Bejun Mehta

Bejun Mehta is an American countertenor who performs in operas, recitals, and concerts. He records for Harmonia Mundi.-Early life and family:...

Singers of the new millenium: 2000–2007

Sopranos, mezzo-sopranos and contraltos: Angela Gheorghiu

Angela Gheorghiu

Angela Gheorghiu is a Romanian soprano opera singer. Since her professional debut in 1990, she has sung as soprano leading roles at New York's Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden's Royal Opera House, the Vienna State Opera, Milan's La Scala, and many other opera houses in Europe and the United States...

, Sandrine Piau

Sandrine Piau

Sandrine Piau is an opera soprano. Trained as a harpist, she studied voice at the Collège Lamartine and the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique du Paris....

, Natalie Dessay

Natalie Dessay

Natalie Dessay is a French coloratura soprano. She dropped the silent "h" in her first name in honor of Natalie Wood when she was in grade school and subsequently simplified the spelling of her surname outside France...

, Violeta Urmana

Violeta Urmana

Violeta Urmana, born Violeta Urmanavičiūtė is a diva who began her career as a mezzo-soprano but has transitioned successfully into soprano roles....

, Patrizia Ciofi

Patrizia Ciofi

Patrizia Ciofi, born in Casole d'Elsa, Siena, on June 7, 1967, is an Italian operatic soprano. She is married to the conductor Luciano Acocella....

, Joyce DiDonato

Joyce DiDonato

Joyce DiDonato is an award-winning American operatic mezzo-soprano particularly admired for her interpretations of the works of Handel, Mozart, and Rossini...

, Sine Bundgaard, Deborah Voigt

Deborah Voigt

Deborah Voigt is an American operatic soprano. Voigt regularly performs in opera houses and concert halls worldwide.- Early life and education :...

, Christine Rice, Nina Stemme

Nina Stemme

Nina Stemme is an opera singer known for her warm, solid spinto soprano voice, with some qualities of a dramatic soprano....

, Diana Damrau

Diana Damrau

Diana Damrau is a German lyric coloratura soprano of the operatic stage.-Biography:Diana Damrau was born in 1971 in Günzburg, Bavaria, Germany, and began her operatic studies with Carmen Hanganu at the Musikhochschule in Würzburg. After graduating from music conservatory she worked in Salzburg...

, Hyunah Yu, Kate Royal

Kate Royal

Kate Royal is an English lyric soprano. She is the daughter of Steve Royal, a singer and songwriter for television, and of Carolyn Royal, a former model and dancer....

, Stephanie Blythe

Stephanie Blythe

Stephanie Blythe is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer.-Biography:Blythe graduated from Monticello High School in 1987 and the Crane School of Music at the State University of New York at Potsdam in 1992. She was the recipient of the prestigious Richard Tucker Award in 1999...

, Vivica Genaux

Vivica Genaux

Vivica Genaux is an American coloratura mezzo-soprano. Her father, an American of Belgian-Welsh descent, was a biochemistry professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and her mother, Mexican-born of Swiss-German extraction, was a language teacher...

, Marie

Marie

-Music:* "Marie", a song written by Irving Berlin, that was a hit for Tommy Dorsey , Rudy Vallée , Nat Shilkret , Franklyn Bauer , The Four Tunes and The Bachelors*"Marie" , a hit for Johnny Hallyday*Marie, song by Solveig Sandnes...

Tenors and countertenors: Daniil Shtoda, Jonas Kaufmann

Jonas Kaufmann

Jonas Kaufmann is a German operatic tenor. Although he has sung a variety of leading roles including both the Mozart and Wagner repertoire, he is particularly known for his performances in spinto roles such as Don José in Carmen, Cavaradossi in Tosca, Maurizio in Adriana Lecouvreur, and the title...

, Ian Bostridge

Ian Bostridge

Ian Bostridge CBE is an English tenor, well known for his performances as an opera singer and as a song recitalist.-Early life and education:...

, Yu Qiang Dai, David Daniels, Lawrence Brownlee

Lawrence Brownlee

Lawrence Brownlee is an American operatic tenor particularly associated with the bel canto repertoire. In 2001 he won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He was named Seattle Opera's Artist of the Year in 2008 for his performances as Arturo in Bellini's I puritani. He has also...

, Rolando Villazón

Rolando Villazón

Emilio Rolando Villazón Mauleón is a Mexican tenor. He settled in France and in 2007 became a French citizen.-Early life and education:...

, Max Emanuel Cencic

Max Emanuel Cencic

Max Emanuel Cencic is a countertenor, currently based in Austria.- Early Career as a Boy Soprano :...

, Toby Spence

Toby Spence

Toby Spence, born London 1969, is a professional and internationally renowned tenor active on the concert platform, in the opera house and in recordings across a wide range of classical music.-Early life and studies:...

, Franco Fagioli

Baritones and basses: Laurent Naouri

Laurent Naouri

Laurent Naouri is a French bass-baritone. Initially beginning his education at the École Centrale de Lyon, Naouri decided to concentrate on opera in 1986 and continued his musical studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.His professional career in France began in 1992 with...

, Giovanni Furlanetto, Luca Pisaroni

Luca Pisaroni

Luca Pisaroni is an Italian operatic bass-baritone, known for his Mozartean roles. Although Pisaroni was born in Venezuela, at the age of four his family moved to Busseto, Italy were he grew up attending the musical academy by famous local tenor Carlo Bergonzi...

, Erwin Schrott

Erwin Schrott

Erwin Schrott is an operatic bass-baritone, particularly known for his interpretation of the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni.-Career:...

, Jonathan Lemalu

Jonathan Lemalu

Jonathan Fa'afetai Lemalu is a New Zealand opera singer, of Samoan descent. Born in Dunedin, he sings in the bass baritone register....

, Rodion Pogossov, Ildebrando D'Arcangelo

Ildebrando D'Arcangelo

Ildebrando D'Arcangelo is an Italian bass-baritone opera singer.-Biography:A Native of Pescara, Abruzzo, D'Arcangelo began his studies in 1985 at the conservatory of Luisa D'Annunzio in Pescara, under Maria Vittoria Romano, honing his skills under Paride Venturi in Bologna.From 1989 to 1991 he...

Personal communication from Vivian Liff

I have become resigned to the compilation of "The Record of Singing" being ascribed to Michael Scott or to Keith Hardwick. Only Volume 2 in its LP issue gives a correct acknowledgement of the fact that the enterprise was my original concept and that the choice of records for the first two volumes was mine. It should also be mentioned that virtually all the recordings used in those volumes came from the Stuart-Liff collection, as did the photographs used in the books accompanying them. I was asked to write these books but the effort of compilation, pitching and taping for Michael Scott (whom I suggested should be asked to write the books) and Bryan Crimp, E.M.I's transfer maestro, occupied every moment of my available free time.

A few critics writing of the initial 2 volumes did give me credit. There was a long article with photos in the August 1978 issue of the American magazine Opera News on the Stuart–Liff collections with special reference to the Record of Singing. Dale Harris writing about all four volumes in the same magazine, a decade or so later, also set the record straight and was highly complimentary of my work. However, unknown and unacknowledged by all, were those innumerable tapes I had to make exclusively for the purpose of giving Michael some experience of the singers he was writing about - many of whom he had never previously heard. His often highly critical views on many favourite singers did not go down well with some reviewers but Michael's controversial writing certainly made readers want to return to the recordings, if only to disagree with his judgements.

The appearance of volume 1 occasioned real sadness when it was discovered that many selections had been transferred at the wrong speed. Unknown, either to Michael or to me, was the fact that Bryan Crimp was seriously unwell at the time. We were not given the promised pre-issue run-through during which we could have corrected many grievous errors. In fact, the first volume should have been withdrawn and money refunded to purchasers. Unfortunately this was not done, but a corrected edition was issued a year or two later, still on LP, using a slightly changed name. This was probably to overcome the difficulties caused by the fact that the original issue was a limited one.

Not long after the appearance of the second volume, we moved from England to the Isle of Man and the Stuart-Liff collection was sold. Keith Hardwick took over the project for the final volumes, in which I had no say. Although personally my relationship with Keith remained friendly until his death, he had such a strong antipathy to Michael Scott that he felt unable to collaborate with any of his friends. Unfortunately, to this day, the first two volumes still await transfer to CD.

Vivian Liff. 2 March 2006

Discography

The EMI Record of Singing, Volume 3 (1926-1939) (Testament Records) alt
The Record of Singing – The Very Best of Volumes 1-4 (From 1899 to the end of the 78 era: 1899-1952 (EMI Records) alt

External links

Full list of singers and recordings from 'The Record of Singing' on Mrichter.com

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