Jan Kiepura
Jan Wiktor Kiepura was a Polish singer and actor. Jan Kiepura was born in Sosnowiec, the son of Miriam, a former professional singer, Franciszek Kiepura, a baker and grocery owner. Jan Kiepura introduced himself as, "The Great Kierpura," to the annoyance of temperamental individuals, his mother was Jewish. He had Władysław. During 1916-1920, he attended the Junior School in Sosnowiec. In 1921 he studied law at the University of Warsaw, he learned singing from Tadeusz Leliwa. In 1923 he performed his first concert in the Sphinx cinema in Sosnowiec. In 1924, Jan Kiepura was admitted by Emil Młynarski to the local choir, he played the role of Góral in Moniuszko's opera Halka. He took part in a production of Gounod's Faust Faust in the Polish city of Lwow. In 1926, Jan Kiepura left Poland for an international career in Germany, Hungary and England; when he returned to Poland, with the money he had earned from his performances, he built the well-known hotel Patria in the Polish border town of Krynica-Zdrój, which cost him about US$3 million.
Some Polish movies were made there. Kiepura played in twelve Polish musicals, including O czym się nie myśli, Die Singende Stadt, Tout Pour L'amour, Mon coeur t'appelle. Kiepura's return to Warsaw in 1934 caused a sensation in the Polish capital, his musical shows were received with huge enthusiasm. Apart from his performances in concert halls, he sang to a crowd gathered under the balcony of the Warsaw hotel "Bristol", he sang while standing on his car's roof, or from a carriage's window, spoke to the audience. However, he was not a frequent guest in Poland, he signed contracts with Covent Garden in London, Opéra Comique in Paris and National Opera in Berlin. Kiepura started a film career, working with Berlin's UFA and with the Motion Picture Industry in Hollywood, he played in many films, of which the most famous are: The Singing City, The Song of Night, Ich liebe alle Frauen, The Charm of La Boheme, The Land of Smiles. On October 31, 1936, Kiepura married the Hungarian-born lyric soprano Marta Eggerth.
The two sang together in operettas, in concerts, on records, in films until his death. In 1937 Kiepura and Eggerth were forced to flee Europe due to the rise of German Nazism and the onset of World War II, they emigrated to the United States. He was buried in Powązki Cemetery, Warsaw. 1927: performances in Budapest, Vienna, Stuttgart and Prague. Faust and Stranger in Vienna. Concerts in Warsaw, Gdansk. 1928: performances in Budapest, a three-year contract with La Scala, debut in the role of Calaf, he sings well and Mascarila Cavaradossiego the premiere of Le Preziosa ridicole Lattuady under the baton of Arturo Toscanini. Cavaradossi in Paris with a team of the Vienna Staatsoper. Cavaradossi in Warsaw and Poznan. Concerts in Kraków, Warsaw and Poznan. 1929: performances in Budapest, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Frankfurt. Cavaradossi, the Duke of Mantua, Rodolfo and a concert in Warsaw. 1930: The throat disease reduces for some time his performances at opera houses. Film career, becoming one of the first European cinema idols sound.
The film The Singing City. Cavaradossi in. 1931: Knight des Grieux in Manon Massenet's La Scala in Milan. He sang in Chicago. Cavaradossi in Warsaw. Concerts in Warsaw and Lvov. 1932: the movie The Song of Night, concerts in Warsaw and Poznan. 1933: The film I need to get you. Calaf in Warsaw. Opens Hotel Patria in Krynica. 1934: The movie My Song for You, Cavaradossi in Berlin, Warsaw Faust, Knight des Grieux and Rodolfo at the Paris Opera Comique, in Krynica concert for flood victims. 1935: Cavaradossi in Kraków, a concert in Berlin, the film I love all women, awarded the Polish Gold Cross of Merit and the Knight's Cross of the French Legion of Honour. 1936: Movies Love Song and sunshine, married Oct. 30 in Katowice, Martha Eggerth, a Hungarian actress and singer, has performed for the construction of the National Museum in Kraków, awarded the Officer's Cross, Order of Polonia Restituta and the Belgian Order of Leopold I. 1937: concerts in Kraków and Paris, the film The Charm of La Boheme, Swedish Cross North, Warsaw Philharmonic concerts in the winter to help the poor population.
1938: Debut at New York's Metropolitan Opera (from 10 February to 9 April there occurred 13 times in the office and at the venue the band in Boston and Cleveland, he sang Rodolfo, Don José in Carmen by Bizet Duke of Mantua and participated in a concert gigs in Warsaw. 1939: from 10 February to 10 April there are 15 times at the Metropolitan Opera and the guest appearances of this syndrome in Boston, Cleveland and Rochester, he sang Rodolfo, Chevalier des Grieux, Duke of Mantua Cavaradossiego and participated in two concerts, summer concerts in Cieszyn, Poznan and after World War II in Paris and France Polonia centers. 1940: Germans place him in the Lexikon der Juden in der Musik, he returned to America, giving concerts to Poles in Montreal. 1942: the switch. February and March, again appeared with the New York Metropolitan Opera, singing there for only five: Don José Cavaradossiego, Duke
Ipswich
Ipswich is a large historical town in Suffolk, located in East Anglia about 66 miles north east of London. It is the county town of Suffolk; the town has been continuously occupied since the Saxon period, its port has been one of England's most important for the whole of its history. Ipswich is a non-metropolitan district; the urban development of Ipswich overspills the borough boundaries with 75% of the town's population living within the borough at the time of the 2011 Census, when it was the fourth-largest urban area in the United Kingdom's East of England region, the 42nd-largest urban area in England and Wales. In 2011, the town of Ipswich was found to have a population of 133,384, while the Ipswich built-up area is estimated to have a population of 180,000 in 2011; the modern name is derived from the medieval name Gippeswic taken either from an Old Saxon personal name or from an earlier name of the Orwell estuary. It has been known as Gyppewicus and Yppswyche. Ipswich is one of England's oldest towns, if not the oldest.
At its core Ipswich was and is the oldest still continuing town to have been established and developed by the English. It has an unbroken history of community as a town since early Anglo-Saxon times. Under the Roman empire, the area around Ipswich formed an important route inland to rural towns and settlements via the rivers Orwell and Gipping. A large Roman fort, part of the coastal defences of Britain, stood at Walton near Felixstowe, the largest Roman villa in Suffolk stood at Castle Hill; the modern town took shape in Anglo-Saxon times around the Ipswich docks. As the coastal states of north-western Europe emerged from the collapse of the Roman Empire, essential North Sea trade and communication between eastern Britain and the continent passed through the former Roman ports of London and York. Gipeswic arose as the equivalent to these, serving the Kingdom of East Anglia, its early imported wares dating to the time of King Rædwald, supreme ruler of the English; the famous ship-burial and treasure at Sutton Hoo nearby is his grave.
The Ipswich Museum houses replicas of the Roman Sutton Hoo treasures. A gallery devoted to the town's origins includes Anglo-Saxon weapons and other artefacts; the seventh-century town was centred near the quay. Towards 700 AD, Frisian potters from the Netherlands area settled in Ipswich and set up the first large-scale potteries in England since Roman times, their wares were traded far across England, the industry was unique to Ipswich for 200 years. With growing prosperity, in about 720 AD a large new part of the town was laid out in the Buttermarket area. Ipswich was becoming a place of international importance. Parts of the ancient road plan still survive in its modern streets. After the invasion of 869 Ipswich fell under Viking rule; the earth ramparts circling the town centre were raised by Vikings in Ipswich around 900 to prevent its recapture by the English. They were unsuccessful; the town operated a mint under royal licence from King Edgar in the 970s, which continued through the Norman Conquest until the time of King John, in about 1215.
The abbreviation Gipes appears on the coins. King John granted the town its first charter in 1200, laying the medieval foundations of its modern civil government. Thenceforth Ipswich maintained its jurisdiction over the so-called Liberty, a region extending over about 35 square kilometres centred on the town. In the next four centuries it made the most of its wealth. Five large religious houses, including two Augustinian Priories, those of the Ipswich Greyfriars, Ipswich Whitefriars and Ipswich Blackfriars, stood in medieval Ipswich; the last Carmelite Prior of Ipswich was the celebrated John Bale, author of the oldest English historical verse-drama. There were several hospitals, including the leper hospital of St Mary Magdalene, founded before 1199. During the Middle Ages the Marian Shrine of Our Lady of Grace was a famous pilgrimage destination, attracted many pilgrims including Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon. At the Reformation the statue was taken away to London to be burned, though some claim that it survived and is preserved at Nettuno, Italy.
Around 1380, Geoffrey Chaucer satirised the merchants of Ipswich in the Canterbury Tales. Thomas Wolsey, the future cardinal, was born in Ipswich in 1473 as the son of a wealthy landowner. One of Henry VIII's closest political allies, he founded a college in the town in 1528, for its brief duration one of the homes of the Ipswich School, he remains one of the town's most famed figures. During the 14th to 17th centuries Ipswich was a kontor for the Hanseatic League, the port being used for imports and exports to the Baltic. In the time of Queen Mary the Ipswich Martyrs were burnt at the stake on the Cornhill for their Protestant beliefs. A monument commemorating this event now stands in Christchurch Park. From 1611 to 1634 Ipswich was a major centre for emigration to New England; this was encouraged by Samuel Ward. His brother Nathaniel Ward was first minister of Ipswich, where a promontory was named'Castle Hill' after the place of that name in north-wes
Félia Litvinne
Félia Litvinne was a Russian-born, French-based dramatic soprano. She was associated with Wagnerian roles, although she sang a wide range of parts by other opera composers. Born in St Petersburg, Russian Empire as Françoise-Jeanne Schütz in 1860, her father was Russian, her mother was French-Canadian. After study in Russia and Italy, she became multi-lingual, she moved with her family to Paris, where she studied singing with Madame Barthe-Banderali for three years and took lessons with Pauline Viardot and Victor Maurel. She possessed a wide range, encompassing both soprano coloratura roles, she made her stage debut at the Théâtre-Italien in 1883, as Amelia in Verdi's Simon Boccanegra, as a last-minute replacement for Fidès Devriès. Litvinne's career became international in scope. During the course of the next three decades she appeared at the Academy of Music in New York, at the Paris Opera, at La Scala in Milan, at the Rome Opera, at La Fenice in Venice, at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in London and at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels.
Tsarist Russia's two main cities and Saint Petersburg, experienced her vocal artistry as well. Litvinne first sang in New York in 1885-1886 with the Mapleson Company, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut in that city on 25 November 1896, as Valentine in Meyerbeer's grandest work, Les Huguenots. She sang at the Met for only one season, however, her other roles there included Verdi's Aida, Mozart's Donna Anna, Massenet's Chimène, Meyerbeer's Sélika, Wagner's Brünnhilde and Isolde. Paris became Litvinne's base, she took part in the premieres of three works by Camille Saint-Saëns, Hélène, L'ancêtre and Déjanire, as well as of Camille Erlanger's Bacchus triomphant. Livinne won acclaim for her splendid singing in revivals of two 18th-century operas by Gluck, namely Alceste and Armide. In 1915, she sang Aida at Monte Carlo opposite Enrico Caruso, her last operatic appearances were at Vichy in 1919 but she continued giving recitals until 1924. In retirement, she taught at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau.
Among her pupils were the sopranos Nina Koshetz and Germaine Lubin. She published a book of Conseils et exercices in 1924 while her autobiography, Ma vie et mon art, was released in 1933, she died in Paris three years one day after her 76th birthday. Using an Archéophone for the transcription, the 35 surviving records of Litvinne have been released complete on CD by Marston Records; this release contains extensive liner notes dealing with her career and voice. Le dictionnaire des interprètes, Alain Pâris,; the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera, Harold Rosenthal & John Warrack. Liner notes to the complete recordings issued by Marston Records Musicweb review of the Marston Records release
Roméo et Juliette
Roméo et Juliette is an opera in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. It was first performed at the Théâtre Lyrique, Paris on 27 April 1867; this opera is notable for the series of four duets for the main characters and the waltz song "Je veux vivre" for the soprano. Gounod's opera Faust had become popular at the Théâtre Lyrique since its premiere in 1859 and this led to a further commission from the director Carvalho. Behind the scenes there were difficulties in casting the lead tenor, Gounod was said to have composed the last act twice, but after the public general rehearsal and first night it was hailed as a major success for the composer, its success was aided by the presence of dignitaries in Paris for the Exhibition, several of whom attended performances. A parody soon appeared at the Théâtre entitled Rhum et eau en juillet; the opera entered the repertoire of the Opéra-Comique on 20 January 1873, where it received 391 performances in 14 years.
On 28 November 1888 Roméo et Juliette transferred to the Paris Opéra, with Adelina Patti and Jean de Reszke in the leading roles. The opera was first seen in London on 11 July 1867 and in New York at the Academy of Music on 15 November of that year. In 1912, the opera was recorded complete for the first time with Agustarello Affre as Roméo, Yvonne Gall as Juliette, Henri Albers as Capulet and Marcel Journet as Laurent; the opera is staged by the world's opera houses. Sutherland Edwards, music critic of the St. James's Gazette, wrote the following about the opera following its first London performance in 1867: Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, in which the composer is always pleasing, though impressive, might be described as the powerful drama of Romeo and Juliet reduced to the proportions of an eclogue for Juliet and Romeo. One remembers the work as a series of pretty duets, varied by a sparkling waltz air for Juliet, in which Madame Patti displays that tragic genius, which belongs to her with the highest capacity for comedy.
Romeo e Giulietta is an admirable opera for Giulietta. The libretto follows the story of Shakespeare's play. Overture prologue: A short chorus sets the scene of the rival families in Verona. A masked ball in the Capulets’ palace Tybalt talks to Pâris about Juliette, who appears with her father. Roméo, Mercutio and their friends enter and Mercutio sings a ballad about Queen Mab, after which Juliette sings a joyful waltz song; the first meeting between Roméo and Juliette takes place, they fall in love. But Tybalt suspects that the hastily re-masked Roméo is his rival. While Tybalt wants immediate revenge, Capulet orders that the ball continue; the Capulets' garden After Roméo's page Stephano has helped his master gain access, he reveals the two young lovers exchanging their vows of love. Scene 1: Laurent's cell Roméo and Juliette, accompanied by Gertrude, go to the cell, the wedding takes place. Laurent hopes that reconciliation between the houses of the Montagus and the Capulets may thus take place.
Scene 2: a street near Capulet's palace Stephano sings to attract the occupants into the street. Gregoire and Stephano skirmish as men from each family appear; the duel is first between Tybalt and Mercutio, who falls dead, between Roméo, determined to avenge his comrade, Tybalt. Tybalt is killed by Roméo, banished by the Duke. Juliet's room at dawn Roméo and Juliette are together and, after a long duet, Roméo departs for exile. Juliette's father comes to remind her of Tybalt's dying wish for Juliette to marry Count Pâris; the friar gives Juliette a draught which will cause her to sleep, so as to appear as if dead and, after being laid in the family tomb, it is planned that Roméo will awaken her and take her away. Juliet's tomb Roméo breaks into the tomb after having taken poison because he believes that Juliette is dead; when she awakes from the friar’s potion, the lovers' last duet is heard before the poison takes effect on Roméo. As her bridegroom weakens Juliette stabs herself. Notes SourcesHuebner, Steven.
"Roméo et Juliette", vol. 4, pp. 31–32, in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, edited by Stanley Sadie. New York: Grove. ISBN 0333734327. Available at Oxford Music Online. Rosenthal, Harold. Two Centuries of Opera at Covent Garden. London: Putnam. OCLC 593682, 503687870. Roméo et Juliette: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project Libretto of Roméo et Juliette in French and English Facsimile of Gounod's ms at Juilliard library showing revisions to the end of Act 3 and opening of Act 4
Ernest van Dyck
Ernest van Dyck was a Belgian dramatic tenor, identified with the Wagnerian repertoire. A native of Antwerp where he was educated in a Jesuit school, van Dyck studied both law and philosophy in Leuven before deciding to become an opera singer; the notary under whom he was studying introduced him to the conductor Joseph Dupont. He became a journalist. From his arrival in Paris and debut at the Concerts Lamoureux in the first act of Tristan und Isolde he studied with Chabrier and became a close friend of the composer; the singer repaid Chabrier by advocating for performances of his operas in Karlsruhe and other places where he appeared. During the years appearing at the Lamoureux concerts, Van Dyck sang in La Damnation de Faust, fragments from Sigurd, Tristan und Isolde, Die Walkyrie, Les Sept péchés capitaux of Goldschmidt, the premiere of le Chant de la Cloche by Vincent d'Indy. In Paris he studied singing with Saint-Yves Bax before making his stage debut at the Théâtre Éden on 3 May 1887. Intensive study with Felix Mottl followed before he appeared as Parsifal at the Bayreuth Festival in 1888, with great success.
The intensity of his acting was praised in particular and he was invited back to Bayreuth on repeated occasions, where he became a proponent of the Sprechgesang style of operatic vocalism. The Vienna Opera soon engaged him, he remained with the company for a decade, during which time he created the title-role in Massenet's Werther, he made guest appearances throughout Europe. Van Dyck made his American debut on 29 November 1898, he stayed in New York City until the 1901-02 season, singing not only Wagner roles but parts in French operas. Having made his debut at Covent Garden in 1891, in 1907 he undertook a season of German opera there. In 1914 he appeared in the first Parisian performances of Parsifal. For the Musica journal, n° 13, October 1903 he wrote an article on'Richard Wagner et l’interprétation'. Van Dyck sang in the first performance of Debussy's L'enfant prodigue in Paris on 27 July 1884. With Camille de Roddaz, Van Dyck provided the libretto for Massenet's ballet set in Courtrai Le Carillon, for the Vienna Opera in February 1892.
He appeared at the Theatre de la Monnaie in Brussels in 1894, where his repertoire included Wagner and Massenet. Van Dyck made a few acoustic records in the early 1900s which show a voice prematurely past its prime after a dozen years of hard, declamatory use in heavy Wagnerian parts, he died in Berlaar in 1923. He was awarded several civic honours: Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur, orders of Léopold de Belgique, François-Joseph d'Autriche, Saint-Stanislas de Russie, the lion de Zaeringhen, of Baden, the star of Romania; the South-West Brabant Museum in Halle has a collection on his work. David Ewen, Encyclopedia of the Opera: New Enlarged Edition. New York. Media related to Ernest Van Dyck at Wikimedia Commons
Aino Ackté
Aino Ackté was a Finnish soprano. She was the first international star of the Finnish opera scene after Alma Fohström, a groundbreaker for the domestic field. Ackté was born in Helsinki, her parents were mezzo-soprano Emmy Achté and the conductor-composer Lorenz Nikolai Achté. Aino Ackté married a doctor, Heikki Renvall, in 1901 and gave birth to a daughter, Glory Leppänen, the same year, their son, Mies Reenkola, was born in 1908. The young Ackté studied singing under her mother's tutelage until 1894 when she entered the Paris Conservatory, studying under Edmond Duvernoy and Alfred Girodet, her debut at the Paris Grand Opera was in 1897 in Faust and she was signed on for six years as a result. In 1904 Ackté was engaged by the New York Metropolitan Opera where she remained until 1906, she created the title role of Richard Strauss's Salome at its local premieres in London. The Covent Garden premiere was an enormous success and Strauss himself proclaimed Ackté the "one and only Salome". Ackté considered the London performances her real breakthrough.
In 1911, Ackté, Oskar Merikanto, Edvard Fazer founded the Kotimainen Ooppera. She was to act as its director in 1938-39. After parting ways with the National Opera, Ackté organized an international Savonlinna Opera Festival beginning on 3 July 1912. Jean Sibelius dedicated his tone poem Luonnotar to Ackté and she premiered the work on 10 September 1913 at the Three Choirs Festival in Gloucester, England, she sang in the first performance of Luonnotar in Finland, in January 1914. Ackté ended her international travels in 1914 and returned to Finland, where she gave her farewell performance in 1920, her final public performances took place at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in 1930. Ackté's coterie included among others Albert Edelfelt, who painted a famous full portrait of her in 1901, she provided the libretto for Juha, opera that received two treatments: the first by Aarre Merikanto and the second by Leevi Madetoja. She died of pancreatic cancer in Nummela, Vihti in August 1944, she has a park road named after her, near the Olavinlinna in Savonlinna and another street in Helsinki, Finland.
Her old summerhouse, Villa Aino Ackté, located in Helsinki is being rented by the city for cultural activities and meetings. Ackté is most the original model for the opera diva character Bianca Castafiore in comics books of "Adventures of Tintin" by Belgian Hergé<ref? p. 15 Tett, Stuart Rea-Life Inspiration Behind TinTin's Adventures in King Ottokar's SceptreEgmont UK Ltd 2016</ref>. This article is based on a translation of the corresponding article from the Finnish Wikipedia, retrieved 3 March 2005. Severi Nygård: Tintti Suomessa, Helsingin Sanomat, October 2008. Media related to Aino Ackté at Wikimedia Commons Voice sample from YLE national voice galleria Villa Aino Ackté
Jean de Reszke
Jean de Reszke was a Polish tenor, a major male opera star of the late 19th century. Jan Mieczysław Reszke was born into comfortable circumstances in Warsaw, Poland in 1850. Both his parents were Poles, he sang as a boy in Warsaw's cathedral and studied law at the city's university, but after a few years he abandoned his legal schooling to study at the Warsaw Conservatory with the Italian tenor Francesco Ciaffei, who trained him as a baritone. At age 19, Jean and his father visited Italy. In Venice he attended a performance. Cotogni's singing made such a profound impression on him that the young de Reszke followed him for the next five years wherever he performed—London, St. Petersburg, etc. During that time he was under Cotogni's tutelage as baritone. In January 1874, he made his debut in Venice as Jan de Reschi, undertaking the baritone part of Alfonso in a production of Donizetti's La favorite; the following April, he sang for the first time in London, performing at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, a little in Paris, essaying an array of different baritone roles.
De Reszke displayed limitations as a baritone and he withdrew from the stage to allow for a further period of study, this time with Giovanni Sbriglia in Paris. Under Sbirgilia's tutelage, his voice gained remarkably in the freedom of its upper register. Accordingly, when he made his first operatic reappearance in 1879, it was as a tenor, scoring a success in the title-role of Meyerbeer's Robert le diable. Indeed, the 29-year-old de Reszke's immense fame as a singer dates from this moment, he sang at the Paris Opéra during the ensuing years of his vocal prime and, in 1887, was re-engaged by the management at London's Drury Lane, delivering among other things a notable Radamès in Verdi's Aida. The following year he was heard again in London, appearing no longer at Drury Lane but at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, lending his unique blend of dash and charm to the following roles: Vasco da Gama in L'Africaine and Raoul in Les Huguenots, Faust in Faust, Lohengrin in Lohengrin, Riccardo in Un ballo in maschera, Radamès again.
De Reszke's 1888 Covent Garden appearances proved exceedingly popular with audiences. Indeed, they were responsible for the revival of the operatic art form as a fashionable amusement in London, he would sing in the British capital nearly every year until 1900, adding a number of new roles to his canon during this time. They included, among others, John of Leyden in Meyerbeer's Le prophète, Don José in Bizet's Carmen, Roméo in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, Wagner's Tristan in Tristan und Isolde, Walther von Stolzing in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Siegfried in Siegfried, he gave a single performance as the tenor lead in Massenet's Werther. De Reszke's singing was admired by Queen Victoria, between 1889 and 1900 he was invited to take part in a number of royal galas mounted at Covent Garden or command performances held at Windsor Castle. In 1891, de Reszke sang in the United States for the first time. From 1893 to 1899 he starred in every season at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City duplicating his London list of operatic roles and having an charismatic effect on trans-Atlantic audiences.
One of De Reszke's colleagues, the Australian lyric soprano Nellie Melba, became a close personal friend of his during this period. She replaced the ageing star Adelina Patti as the most celebrated of his various stage partners, she speaks admiringly of him in her memoirs, he was associated with the French and Wagnerian operatic repertoires during the peak of his career at Covent Garden and the Met. His French signature parts were considered to be Meyerbeer's three big tenor heroes, Gounod's Faust and Romeo, the title role in Massenet's Le Cid. De Reszke was successful singing in German, his appearances as Lohengrin, Walther von Stolzing and Tristan were lauded by music critics, who praised him for demonstrating how the demanding and declamatory music that Wagner wrote for his heldentenors could be sung with beauty of tone and, wherever practicable, a smooth legato line. American-born Lillian Nordica was the most illustrious of the dramatic sopranos that partnered him in Wagner's operas. During his heyday, De Reszke sang Italian operas less than French or Wagnerian ones.
Indeed, in 1891, his keenly awaited interpretation of the title role in Verdi's last tragic masterpiece, had disappointed the critics somewhat. On this occasion Shaw chided him for his laziness and his customary lateness in meeting cues, though by and large he was appreciative of both Jean and Edouard de Reszke's abilities. De Reszke married Marie de Mailly-Nesle, a French countess who ran away from her husband to be with the singer, in 1896, he reduced his performance load during the opening years of the 20th century. Prudently, in 1904, he decided to retire while his voice was still in good shape, citing illness as the reason for his departure. Enrico Caruso, 23 years de Reszke's junior, took up his mantle as the world's most famous tenor, he subsequently busied himself breeding racehorses in Poland and teaching singing in Paris and at Nice on
