Emilio Bione (Baritone) (La Spezia 1882 – La Spezia 1957)

He studied singing under the pedagogue Domenico Cortopassi and made his debut in 1908 at  the Teatro Verdi in Florence as Germont in ‘’Traviata’’. In 1916 he appeared at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genova in the world premiere of R. Leoncavallo’s opera ‘’Goffredo Mameli’’. He spent the last years of his life in Casa di Riposo G. Verdi in Milan.

Chronology of some appearances

1908 Firenze Teatro Verdi Traviata (Germont)

1910 Bari Teatro Petruzzelli Ballo in Maschera (Renato)

1912 Guastalla Teatro Sociale Rigoletto (Rigoletto)

1914 Gorizia Teatro Sociale Rigoletto (Rigoletto)

1916 La Spezia Politeama Duca di Genova Favorita (Alfonso)

1918 Firenze Teatro Della Pergola Ernani (Carlo)

1920 Lisbona   Teatro San Carlos Rigoletto (Rigoletto)

1922 Savona Teatro Chiabrera Andrea Chenier (Gerard)

1924 Massa Teatro Guglielmi Andrea Chenier (Gerard)

1926 Bari Teatro Petruzzelli Andrea Chenier (Gerard)

1930 La Spezia Politeama Duca di Genova Cavalleria Rusticana (Alfio)

1932 Savona Teatro Chiabrera Ernani (Carlo)

1935 La Spezia Teatro Monteverdi Boheme (Marcello)

1939 La Spezia Teatro Monteverdi Cavalleria Rusticana (Alfio)

RECORDING FOR SALE

Odeon Fonotipia, Milano 1910/1912
Ernani (Verdi) Oh! Dei verd'anni miei  0056 mo 6293

Aida (Verdi): Di Napata le gole with Carlo Albani and Louise Plavano X110321 Xm17?? 

Arminio Ballistini (Baritone) (Legnago ? - ?)

He studied singing in Padua under the pedagogue G. Orefice and in Milan with Giuseppe Mandolini. He made his debut in 1909 at the Teatro Dauno in Foggia in ‘’Lucia di Lammermoor’’. After the First World War he started to appear as tenor, but without success.

Chronology of some appearances

1910 Cagliari   Teatro Civico Wally (Gellner)

1911 Malta Teatro Reale Cavalleria Rusticana (Alfio)

1912 Lendinara Teatro Ballarin Werther (Albert)

1913 Livorno   Teatro Rossini  Traviata (Germont)

1914 Caltagirone Teatro Garibaldi Madama Butterfly (Sharpless)

1918 Milano Teatro Lirico Pagliacci (Canio)

RECORDING FOR SALE

Odeon Fonotipia, Milano 1911?

Trovatore (Verdi): Un istante almen with Carlo Albani and Bianca Besalu 110143

Tadeusz Orda (Bass/baritone) (Ukraine, village Rashkovo, province of Chernovitskaya 1889 – Warsaw, Poland 1930)

                                                                 Onegin

                                                                 Escamilio

The real surname of this totally forgotten bass-baritone was Zalessky. He studied vocal art at the Music School of Kishinev. Later he also took lessons from great italian baritone Antonio Cotogni in Italy and Paris. Orda made his debut as Escamilio in Bizet’s ‘’Carmen’’ at the Opera Theatre of Tbilisi. It happened in 1910. Guest appearances followed in Odessa, Ekaterinoslav, Moscow (Opera House of S. Zimin, 1915) and Baku (1918-1919). In 1919 he also appeared in Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece and in Egypt. From 1921 to 1922 Orda was in Italy, where he performed with success. In 1922 he made his debut at Warsaw appearing as Rigoletto. From 1922 to 1923 Orda appeared not only at the Grand Opera in Paris but also in french provincial theatres. He visited also Belgium and Czech Republic. From 1925 to 1927 he was a soloist of the Warsaw Opera. In 1927 Orda fell seriously ill, he was forced to end his career and after losing his voice he committed suicide. He possessed a strong, equal voice of a deep timbre (especially in the top register). Orda was made only one record for Sirena.

Chronology of some appearances

1910 Tbilisi Opera Theatre

1915 Moscow S. Zimin's Opera House

RECORDING FOR SALE

Sirena 1925

Boris Godunov (Mussorgsky): Monologue

M. Geninatti (Tenor)

About this singer I have no information.

RECORDINGS FOR SALE

Excelsius

Sonnambula (Bellini): Prendi l’anel ti dono with Rosetta Ferlito M 7129 25M/1012

Sonnambula (Bellini): Son geloso with with Rosetta Ferlito  M 7129 25M/1013

Gabriel Hernández (Baritone) (Valencia 1866 - ?)

He made his debut at the Opera House in Chieti (1892?).

Chronology of some appearances

1896 I Pescatori di perle Valencia Principal with Ignazio Varela (Nadir)

1899 Boheme Valencia Apollo with Edoardo Mario Pagani (Rodolfo), Giuseppina Huguet (Mimi) and Alfredo Papi (Colline)

RECORDING FOR SALE

Puerto e Novella cylinder

Ernani (Verdi): Lo vedremo o veglio audace with Alfredo Papi

Anna El-Tour (Soprano) (Odessa 1886 – Amsterdam 1954)

She was one of those rare musicians whose teaching career began while she was at the beginning of her singing career. She studied at the St Petersburg Conservatory, where her professors were Annette Essipova for the piano and Mme von Hacke (mother of the soprano Eugenia Bronskaja), voice. She is credited with a debut in London in 1909, and she sang in the Saint Gall Opera, in Switzerland, from 1913 to 1914. She taught in Moscow from 1915 to 1920 and in Berlin at the New Conservatory, from 1922 to 1925, after touring for two years in China, Burma, India and the Philippines. From 1925 she taught in Paris, from where she continued to make extensive concert tours. Her repertoire included songs in Russian, French, German and English. Among her students was the mezzo-soprano Jennie Tourel. Mme El-Tour died in Amsterdam on 30 May 1954.

Chronology of some appearances

1913-1914 Switzerland Saint Gall Opera

RECORDINGS FOR SALE

Gramophone  1910

The soldier's bride, op 8, n° 4 (Rachmaninov) 2-23476 14095

Zuleika (Persian songs, op 34, n° 1) (Rubinstein) 2-23488 14096
By the sea: op 46: 2. Not a sound from the sea. - 1. The wave breaks into spray (Rimsky-Korsakov) 2-23491 14100

Daria Zakharova (Mezzo-Soprano) (Kirovograd 1887 - St. Petersburg 1963)

Following studies at the St Petersburg Conservatory, she sang from 1910 to 1918 as soloist of the Mariinsky Theatre. During the seasons that followed, she made guest performances in the major provincial Russian theatres and abroad. From 1938 to 1952, she taught in the conservatory of Gorky (now Nizhny- Novgorod) and in addition she gave recitals and undertook stage direction.

Chronology of some appearances

1910-1918 St. Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre

RECORDING FOR SALE

Gramophone 1912
Life for the Tsar (Glinka): Do not weep, little orphan 2-23663 16545
The cherry-tree blossoms (Glinka) 2-23664 16546

Stefan Makedonski (Tenor) (Sliven, Bulgaria 1885 - Sofia, Bulgaria 1952)

                                                                   Canio

His mother was a folk singer. In 1902 he left for Russia where he started his vocal studies. After a year in Russia he was accepted in the Moscow Conservatory as a student of Korssi. He returned to Bulgaria in 1910. Following his debut with the Operna Drushba on January 5, 1911 and following additional engagements he traveled to Paris to study the French repertoire. In 1916 Makedonsky left for Berlin where he studied the Italian roles with Marini in addition to guest appearances with the Berlin Royal Opera, Hanover and the Cassel Opera. From 1922 to 1933 he was a principle soloist with the Sofia Opera. During the First World War he performed numerous charity concerts. In addition to his stage activities he was the Artistic Director of the Varna Opera from 1930-1932 where he produced not only operas of the Italian composers but also of his fellow Bulgarian composers. In 1934 he founded the Traveling Opera Company and until 1937 was responsible for their productions. He became the Director of the State Music Theater in 1948. Major roles in his career included Radames, Otello, Alfredo, Don Jose, Tannhäuser, Manrico, the Duke in ''Rigoletto'', Pinkerton and Canio. Later in his career he turned to roles of the operetta repertoire. The State Music Theater was named after him.

Chronology of some appearances

1910 Bulgaria Operna Drushba

1922-1933 Sofia Opera

RECORDINGS FOR SALE

I wish to thank Hristo Botev for providing me this records

Gramophone ?

Eugen Onegin (Tchaikovsky): Whither, whither have you gone

Otello (Verdi): Niun mi tema

Galina Nikitina (Mezzo-Soprano) (? 1877 - ?)

Born in 1877, she studied in Kiev and made her debut at the Kiev opera. She was engaged, on the recommendation of F.I. Chaliapin, by the Bolshoi Opera, Moscow, where she sang from 1905 to 1913, excepting the years 1907-10. During these years she appeared at the Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg, making her debut in the role of Ratmir (Ruslan and Ljudmila). She was famous for her performances in Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia as well as the major mezzo roles in Russian opera. In 1912 she gave a recital in Paris, singing songs of Mussorgsky and Rachmaninov.

Chronology of some appearances

1905-1913 Moscow Bolshoi Theatre

RECORDINGS FOR SALE

Gramophone St. Petersburg -08
Life for the Tsar (Glinka): The rose that blooms, quartet with Maria Michailova, Lev Sibiryakov and Andrei Labinsky 2-24157 7839L

Klavdia Tugarinova (Mezzo-Soprano) (Perm 1877 - ? 1940)

Born in 1877, she was a soloist of the Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg, from 1902 to 1917, and was distinguished as a Wagner singer as well as an interpreter of roles in the Russian repertoire like Olga in ''Eugene Onegin'', the Countess in ''The Queen of Spades'' and, with Chaliapin as Boris Godunov, Fedor, a role in which she was heard in Paris in 1909, when Diaghilev brought the troupe of the Imperial Opera to the Theatre Sarah Bernhardt. She spent the years following her retirement as a teacher of singing, first in Petrograd and later in Stalingrad. She died after 1940.

Chronology of some appearances

1902-1917 St. Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre

RECORDINGS FOR SALE

G&T, St Petersburg 1905 (early)

Rose, little rose (Dargomyzhsky) with Maria Michailova3-4068 2808L

Pique dame (Tchaikovsky): Evening already with Maria Michailova 24376 2809L

Pique dame (Tchaikovsky): O viens, mon doux berger with Maria Michailova 7-34005 2810L

Maiglöckchen und die Blümelein (Mendelssohn) with Maria Michailova 24385 2811L

The little bird sang and sang (Rubinstein) with Maria Michailova 3-4067 2813L

Wanderers Nachtlied (Rubinstein) with Maria Michailova 24386 2814L

Doubt (Glinka) with Maria Michailova 24380 2815L

The sea-gull's cry (Grodskij) with Maria Michailova 3-4069 2816L

Eugen Onegin (Tchaikovsky): Did you hear with Maria Michailova 24382 2817L

Be silent, rye (Gurilev) with Maria Michailova 24383 2878L

Fair maiden (Dargomijsky) with Maria Michailova 24384 2880L

Elizaveta Popova (Soprano) (Astrakhan, Russia 1889 - Lazarevskoe, Krasnodar Krai, Russia 1967)

She was born in 1889, and studied at the St Petersburg Conservatory under Alma Fohstrom and loakhim Tartakov. From 1912 to 1917 she sang at the Mariinsky Theatre, where she made her debut as Tatiana in Eugene Onegin. She sang in Moscow and other cities of Russia before leaving, with her husband, Mikhail Karakash, in 1921, for guest appearances in Italy, Spain and France. Sne sang regularly with the Belgrade Opera from 1921 until the 1940s. She had an active career as recitalist and as soloist in choral/symphonic works. She returned to the Soviet Union in 1944 and died there in an automobile accident in 1967.

Chronology of some appearances

1912-1917 St. Petersburg Mariinksy Theatre

1921-1940's Belgrad Opera

RECORDINGS FOR SALE

Gramophone, St. Petersburg  30-10-13

Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky): Finale scene Part1 with Mikhail Karakash 024080 2886½c

Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky):  Finale scene Part2 with Mikhail Karakash 024081 2887c

Gramophone, St. Petersburg  5-11-13
Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky): Mesdames, I have taken the liberty with Aleksander Aleksandrovich, Mikhail Karakash and Alexandra Sakhnovskaya 024083 2891½c

Elena Katulskaya (Soprano) (Odessa 1888 - Moscow 1966)

A lyric-coloratura soprano who sang both in opera and in concert, she was born in 1888 in Odessa, where she began her musical studies. By 1905, she was teaching and studying in St Petersburg, where she worked with Ippolit Prjanishnikov. From 1907 to 1909, she studied at the local Conservatory with Mme Iretskaja. She made her debut at the Conservatory Theatre as Mrs Ford (Nikolai's The Merry Wives of Windsor), following which she sang from 1909 to 1913 at the Mariinsky Theatre and from 1913 to 1946 at the Bolshoi in Moscow, where she had first sung as guest in 1911. From 1948, she taught at the Moscow Conservatory. As a writer, she published essays on the opera and edited a collection of vocal literature. She died in 1966.

Chronology of some appearances

1909-1913 St. Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre

1913-1946 Moscow Bolshoi Theatre

RECORDINGS FOR SALE

Gramophone, St. Petersburg 1912

Sadko (Rimsky-Korsakov): Your tresses shine like honey-hued dew with Elena Katulskaya 024063 2674c

Gramophone, Moskva 1913

May night (Rimsky-Korsakov): Duet with Vasili Damaev 024092 2952c

Faust (Gounod): Church scene Seigneur, daignez permettre pt I with Lev Sibiryakov 024074 2740c

Faust (Gounod): Church scene Seigneur, daignez permettre pt II with Lev Sibiryakov 0242075 2741c

Eugen Transky (Tenor)

He was of Russian descent. After his education he made his debut in 1910 at the Theatre in Toruń, Poland. In the 1911-1912 seasons he appeared at the Hoftheater in Thüringen, from 1912 to 1913 at the Stadttheater in Nuremberg, in the 1913-1914 season at the Opernhaus in Wroclaw. There he appeared in 1913 in the German première of Mussorgsky’s ‘’Boris Godunov’’. from 1914 to 1918 due to his Russian nationality he forced to interrupt his career. In the 1919-1920 season he appeared again at the Landestheater in Gera. After the First World War he made guest appearances at the Volksoper in Berlin. from 1926 to 1930 he sang at the radio hour of the Berlin broadcasting company. At the same time he been active in Berlin as a singing teacher. As a Jew after 1933 he never appeared at the German operatic stages and sang from 1933 to 1937 at the theatre of the Jewish cultural alliance in Berlin. Here he appeared among other things as Samson in ‘’Samson et Dalila’’. At the Jewish cultural alliance in Frankfurt a. M. he sang in 1936 the role of Florestan in ‘’Fidelio’’. He should have emigrated to South America where he has worked in Rio de Janeiro as a vocal pedagogue. 

Chronology of some appearances

1910 Toruń  Theatre

1911-1912 Thüringen Hoftheater

1912-1913 Nuremberg Stadttheater

1913-1914 Wroclaw Opernhaus

1919-1920 Gera Landestheater

RECORDINGS FOR SALE

Parlophon, Berlin 1921-05-13
Contes d'Hoffmann (Offenbach): Hörst du es tönen with Emmy Bettendorf P1272 2-2887

HMV 
Martha (Flotow) with Sabine Meyen, Charlotte Müller and Otto Helgers

Richárd Kornay (Bass) (Pest, Hungary 1870 - ? 1931)

                                                               Mefistofele

He began his career as an actor, later sang on the foreign operatic stages, especially German, (Vienna, Graz, Olomouc, Troppau, etc.). After his return, he was engaged by the Hungarian State Opera House in 1895, where he sang leading roles for a long time, He was an actor, known for Aphrodite (1918), Casanova (1918) and A rog (1920).

Chronology of some appearances

Vienna Opera

Graz Opera

Olomouc Opera

Troppau Opera

RECORDING FOR SALE

Odeon, Budapest

Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini): La calunnia 35239

Lillian Blauvelt (Soprano) (Brooklyn 1873 - Chicago 1947)

She originally studied violin, and actually gave a concert when she was only 8 years old. She began her vocal studies in New York in 1889, and then studied in Paris. She had a very successful concert debut in Brussels in 1893, which led to a contract with the Brussels Opera that same year. After a tour of Germany and Russia, she returned to America and mainly sang in concert. In 1897 she first appeared in London, both on the stage and in concert. In 1898 she sang in Verdi's Requiem in Rome, and in 1902 she sang at the Coronation of King Edward VII in London. She then appeared in concerts all over Europe, and after 1903 sang frequently at Covent Garden. She continued to sing, mainly in concert, until 1920. Later, she lived and taught in Chicago, where she died in 1947. Lillian Blauvelt was one of the first singers to record for Victor Red Seal discs in 1903.

Blauvelt also studied with Anna E. Schoen-René, who mentions her student in "America's Musical Inheritance: memories and reminiscences" (1941). Schoen-René took Blauvelt to sing for her own teachers, Manuel García, and his famous sister, Pauline Viardot-Garcia around 1901. I so enjoy your blog! Thank you for your efforts and interests.

I wish to thank Daniel James Shigo for providing information

 Chronology of some appearances

1900 London Covent Garden

1905 New York Lyceum Theatre 

RECORDING FOR SALE

Columbia, New York 1909

Ouvrez (Dessauer) A5119 30253

Sidor Belarsky (Baritone) (Odessa 1898/1900 - New York 1975)

He studied at the Leningrad Conservatory. After graduation he sang for a while with the Leningrad Opera before emigrating to the United States in 1930. Here, he sang with the Chicago Civic Opera, the San Francisco Opera, the New York City Opera (in its first two seasons - 1944), and also sang at the Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro and the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. He also appeared as soloist in concerts with such eminent conductors as Toscanini, Busch, and Rodzinski. Toscanini chose him to sing the role of Rocco in his recording of Fidelio. However, Belarsky's main renown was as a singer of Hebrew and Jewish songs, which he sang in concerts all over America.

Chronology of some appearances

Chicago Civic Opera

San Francisco Opera

New York City Opera

Rio de Janeiro Teatro Municipal  

Buenos Aires Teatro Colon

RECORDING FOR SALE

Victor

Veulai (Shertok) 25-5019A

Joseph Shlisky (Tenor) (Ostrowce, Poland 1896 - New York 1955)

Joseph Shlisky was born in 1893, but the place of his birth is not known. We do know that he graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto in 1917 and debuted in New York City in 1919. For the next 20 years he held positions in leading New York synagogues and gave concerts throughout the nation. In 1940, at the height of his career, he was stricken with a paralytic stroke and never sang again. Shlisky died in New York in 1955. At one time in his career he was actually signed to appear with the San Carlo Opera Company in ‘’La Boheme’’, ‘’La Juive’’, and ‘’Tosca’’, but at the last minute passed up the opportunity because of his dedication to the cantorate.

RECORDINGS FOR SALE

Vocalion

La Juive (Halevy): Rachel aria A-2001

Les Pecheurs des Perles (Bizet): Je crois entendre encore B-2001