ZINA BROZIA (AMBROZINE BAPTISTE) (BOURG-LÈS-VALENCE, 29
JUNE, 1876 – PARIS, 13 FEBRUARY, 1958)
Born on 29 June 1876 in Bourg-lès-Valence in south-eastern France,
Ambrozine Baptiste was the daughter of Joseph Baptiste, a glazer, and Irma
Chopin. (She later adopted the stage name of Zina Brozia, an anagram of
Ambrozine.) She was the youngest of three sisters and one brother. She studied
under the Romanian soprano Elena Theodorini. After an initial début as
Marguerite in Faust at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels (1904–1905), on 13
September 1905, she made her Paris début at the Opéra Comique, playing Violetta
in Verdi’s La Traviata. Still at the Opéra Comique, on 27 March 1906, she
created the role of Séso in the première of Camille Erlanger’s Aphrodite. In
1907, she performed at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, first as Elena in Arrigo
Boito’s Mefistofele, then as Élisabeth in Verdi’s Don Carlos.
In 1908, she was active both at the Teatro Regio in Parma, as
Cio-Cio-San in Madam Butterfly and in the title role of Manon, and in the Opéra
Garnier in Paris, as Gilda in Rigoletto and in the title role of Thaïs. At the
Garnier, she went on to perform Ophelia in Ambroise Thomas’s Hamlet and
Merguerite in Faust (1909). In September 1911, she played the role of Salome in
Hérodiade at the Théâtre de la Gaîté.
In December 1911, she went to Boston where she appeared at the Boston
Opera in various roles over the next few months, including Thaïs, Marguerite,
Mimi, and Manon. By 1914, she had returned to Paris where she created Messaline
in Henri Hirschmann’s La danseuse de Tanagra at the Théâtre de la Gaîté.
Zina Brozia died in Paris on 13 February 1958.
Chronology of her appearances
1905 Paris Opéra Comique Traviata (Violetta)
1905 Orange Théâtre Antique Mefistofele (Elena)
1906 Paris Opéra Comique Aphrodite (Séso) by Camille Erlanger (World
Premiere)
1907 Opéra Monte-Carlo Mefistofele (Elena)
1907 Opéra Monte-Carlo Don Carlos (Elisabeth)
1908 Parma Teatro Regio Madama Butterfly (Cio-Cio-San)
1908 Parma Teatro Regio Manon (Manon)
1909 Parma Teatro Regio Manon (Manon)
1908 Paris Palais Garnier Rigoletto (Gilda)
1909 Paris Palais Garnier Hamlet (Ophelia)
1909 Paris Palais Garnier Faust (Marguerite)
1911 Paris Théâtre de Gaité Herodiade (Salome)
1914 Paris Théâtre de Gaité Panurge (Ribaude)
TRACKLIST
Zina Brozia made 4 recordings (Columbia, 1912)
Faust (Gounod) Jewel song A-1242 19761 Columbia, New York 1912-02
Hérodiade (Massenet) Il est doux, il est bon A5417 30964-1 Columbia,
New York 1912-02
Madama Butterfly (Puccini) Ancora un passo A5417 30966-1 Columbia, New
York 1912-02
Thais (Thomas) L’amour est une vertu A-1242 19762 Columbia, New York
1912-02
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