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SOFIA SCALCHI (November 29, 1850 – August 22, 1922) Italian Contralto/Mezzo Studied voice with Augusta Boccabadati. In 1866, she made her stage debut in Mantua as Ulrica in Giuseppe Verdi's " Un Ballo in Maschera ". At the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, on November 5, 1868, she made her London debut as Azucena in "Il trovatore," also by Verdi. She appeared with the Covent Garden company thereafter until 1890, performing most of the standard lower-pitched female operatic roles. These included Urbain, Amneris and Arsarce, among others. Meanwhile, in 1882-83, she toured the United States for the first time, singing on that occasion with Mapleson's company. She did, however, take part in a number of important American premieres, including those of Verdi's last two masterpieces, Otello and Falstaff. She appeared, too, in the initial American productions of Amilcare Ponchielli's La Gioconda and Umberto Giordano's Andrea Chénier.

Maurice Renaud as Wolfram "Tannhauser" Wagner RENAUD Maurice (Maurice CRONEAU ). — BaritonE (Bordeaux, 24 July 1862 – Paris, 16 October 1933). Début 17 July 1891 in L'AFRICAINE (Nélusko). 1891, LES HUGUENOTS (Nevers), LA FAVORITE (Alphonse), SIGURD (Gunther, The Priest in 1896) ; 1892, FAUST (Valentin), GUILLAUME TELL (Leuthold, then Guillaume), AÏDA (Amonasro), LE SICILIEN (Tircis), OTHELLO (Iago) ; then SAMSON ET DALILA (Grand Priest 1893), TANNHÄUSER (Wolfram 1895) ; HAMLET (Hamlet), DON JUAN (Don Juan) in 1896 ; RIGOLETTO (Rigoletto), THAÏS (Athanaël) 1908 ; APOTHEOSE DE BEETHOVEN (Teltscher), HENRY VIII (Henry VIII) 1909 ; LA DAMNATION DE FAUST (Méphistophélès, 1910), LE VIEIL AIGLE ( Khan, 1914), MONSIEUR CHOUFLEURI RESTERA CHEZ LUI LE... (Fetermann, 1919). Creator in LOHENGRIN ( Telramund), SALAMMBO (Hamilcar), LA VIE DU POETE, RHEINGOLD (Albérich), DEIDAMIE (Ulysse), GWENDOLINE (Harald), DJELMA (Raim), LA MONTAGNE NOIRE (Aslar), FREDEGONDE (Hilpérik), MESSIDOR (le Berger), LES MAÎTRES CHANTEURS DE NUREMBERG (Beckmesser), LA PRISE DE TROIE (Chorèbe), LANCELOT (Arthus . He created at the Nouveau-Théâtre on April 26, 1906 the Clown (Auguste) of Isaac de Camondo

Lucienne Breval as Valentine 'Le Huguenots" Meyerbeer LUCIENNE BREVAL (Bertha Agnès Lisette Schilling) (4 November 1869, Zürich- 15 August 1935, Neuilly-sur-Seine) Swiss Soprano She studied voice with Victor Warot at the Paris Conservatoire before making her debut at the Opéra National de Paris in 1892 as Selika in l'Africaine by Giacomo Meyerbeer .Bréval became a principal soprano at the Paris Opéra and remained there until 1919.[3] Her roles with the company included several world premières including Augusta Holmès's La Montagne Noire (1895), Camille Erlanger's Le fils de l' étoile' (1904), Dukas’ Ariane et Barbe-bleue (1907), Massenet's Bacchus (1909), and the title roles in Massenet's Ariane (1906) and Henry Février’s Monna Vanna (1909). She also was Kundry in France's first performance of Wagner's Parsifal (1914). Her other notable roles at the Paris Opera included Brünnhilde in Richard Wagner's Die Walküre (1893), Venus in Wagner's Tannhäuser (1895), Marguerite in Hector Berlioz's La damnation de Faust (1897), and the title role in Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie (1908). Bréval also occasionally appeared in productions at the Opéra-Comique in Paris. Most notably she portrayed the title role in the world premiere of Massenet’s Grisélidis in 1901, and in 1910 she sang Lady Macbeth in the première of Ernst Bloch’s Macbeth, which he dedicated to her. In 1899, Bréval made her first appearance at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden as Valentine in Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots. Two years later she made her American début at the Metropolitan Opera as Chimène in Le Cid, singing also in Die Walküre and the American première of Ernest Reyer’s Salammbô. Five years later she returned to Covent Garden for the second and last time in the title role of Gluck’s Armide. In 1913 she created the title role in Fauré’s Pénélope at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo; her other title roles there had been in Isidore De Lara's Amy Robsart and in Bizet's Carmen

Minnie Hauk as Carmen "Carmen " Bizet MINNIE HAUK (Amalia Mignon Hauck) (November 16, 1851 – February 6, 1929), American Soprano. In 1862, Hauk began vocal studies with Achille Errani, who secured her a spot with the operatic company of Max Maretzek. At age fourteen she made her debut in Brooklyn as Amina in La sonnambula, and a month later, in November, 1866, her New York City debut as Prascovia in L'étoile du nord. In the American premiere of Gounod's Roméo et Juliette (1867) she sang Juliette. Hauk sang at Covent Garden, London, on 26 October 1868, and debuted in Paris in 1869. The soprano then appeared in Italian and German opera at the Grand Opera in Vienna and other venues throughout Europe. Hauk was the first American Carmen (1878) and Manon (1885). Her voice became a mezzo-soprano of great strength and depth. Hauk's enormous repertory included approximately one hundred roles, and she sang Carmen in four languages.

as Elizabeth in "Tannhauser" by Wagner Dame NELLIE MELBA GBE (Helen Porter Mitchell) (19 May 1861 – 23 February 1931), Australian Soprano Melba was taught to play the piano and first sang in public around age six.She was educated at a local boarding school and then at the Presbyterian Ladies' College. She studied singing with Mary Ellen Christian (a former pupil of Manuel García) and Pietro Cecchi, an Italian tenor, who was a respected teacher in Melbourne. In her teens, Melba continued to perform in amateur concerts in and around Melbourne, and she played the organ at church. Making her professional debut in Melbourne concerts in 1884. On the strength of local success, she travelled to London in search of an opportunity.Her debut at the Princes' Hall in 1886 made little impression, and she sought work unsuccessfully from Sir Arthur Sullivan, Carl Rosa and Augustus Harris.She then went to Paris to study with the leading teacher Mathilde Marchesi, who instantly recognised the young singer's potential: Melba made such rapid progress that she was allowed to sing the "Mad Scene" from Ambroise Thomas's Hamlet at a matinée musicale in Marchesi's house in December the same year, in the presence of the composer.Her talent was so evident that, after less than a year with Marchesi, the impresario Maurice Strakosch gave her a ten-year contract at 1000 francs annually. After she had signed, she received a far better offer of 3000 francs per month from the Théâtre de la Monnaie, Brussels, but Strakosch would not release her and obtained an injunction preventing her from performing .The matter was resolved by Strakosch's sudden death.She made her operatic debut four days later as Gilda in Rigoletto at La Monnaie on 12 October 1887.. It was at this time, on Marchesi's advice, that she adopted the stage name of "Melba", a contraction of the name of her home city.Her Covent Garden début in May 1888, in the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor. She received a friendly but not excited reception The following year, she performed at the Opéra in Paris, in the role of Ophélie in Hamlet; She travelled across Europe to St Petersburg to sing for Tsar Nicholas II: and sang in Paris, Brussels, Vienna , Milan, and Berlin Melba sang the role of Nedda in Pagliacci at Covent Garden in 1893, soon after its Italian premiere. The composer was present, and said that the role had never been so well played before.[19] In December of that year, Melba sang at the Metropolitan Opera in New York for the first time. As at her Covent Garden debut, she appeared as Lucia di Lammermoor, Her Roles included mostly in the lyric soprano repertoire, but with some heavier roles also. She sang the title roles in Herman Bemberg's Elaine and Arthur Goring Thomas's Esmeralda. Her Italian parts included Gilda in Rigoletto, the title role in Aida Desdemona in Otello, Luisa in Mascagni's I Rantzau, Nedda in Pagliacci, Rosina in The Barber of Seville, Violetta in La traviata, and Mimi in La bohème. In the French repertoire, she sang Juliette in Roméo et Juliette, Marguerite in Faust, Marguerite de Valois in Les Huguenots, the title role in Saint-Saëns's Hélène, which was written for her, and Micaëla in Carmen.

FRITZ FEINHALS ( b Cologne , 4Dec1869; d Munich , 30Aug1940). German Baritone After studies in Italy he made his début in 1895 as Silvio in Pagliacci at Essen, where he remained for two seasons. After a year in Mainz, in 1898 he joined the Munich Opera, where he was last heard in 1927. His Covent Garden début as Telramund won high praise in 1898, but he did not sing there again until Ernest Van Dyck's German season of 1907 when in addition to Telramund his roles were Hans Sachs, Kurwenal, Wolfram and Wotan (Die Walküre). He also appeared in Paris, Vienna, and Rostock, and in 1908–9 at the Metropolitan. There, in addition to the Wagnerian repertory, he sang Amonasro, and Sebastiano in the American première of Eugen D᾽;Albert's Tiefland. In 1917 he sang Borromeo in the world première of Palestrina at Munich, where he later taught. Though W. J. Henderson of the New York Sun wrote of his ‘glorious voice’, recordings made at about this time (1908) make painful listening. The volume is ample but the tone unsteady, the method providing scant evidence of his Italian training.

FRITZ FEINHALS ( b Cologne , 4Dec1869; d Munich , 30Aug1940). German Baritone After studies in Italy he made his début in 1895 as Silvio in Pagliacci at Essen, where he remained for two seasons. After a year in Mainz, in 1898 he joined the Munich Opera, where he was last heard in 1927. His Covent Garden début as Telramund won high praise in 1898, but he did not sing there again until Ernest Van Dyck's German season of 1907 when in addition to Telramund his roles were Hans Sachs, Kurwenal, Wolfram and Wotan (Die Walküre). He also appeared in Paris, Vienna, and Rostock, and in 1908–9 at the Metropolitan. There, in addition to the Wagnerian repertory, he sang Amonasro, and Sebastiano in the American première of Eugen D᾽;Albert's Tiefland. In 1917 he sang Borromeo in the world première of Palestrina at Munich, where he later taught.

NIKOLAJ SEVERESKY ( 1875-1941) Russian Baritone Was an exiled Russian - French opera singer ( baritone ) and actor , including playing Tsar Peter the Great in the Swedish film Karl XII and Charles XII, Part II .

ANTIONETTE STERLING (January 23, 1850 – January 10, 1904) American Contralto Took a few singing lessons at the age of eleven from Signor Abella in New York. In 1868, she came to Europe for further training ; she sang at Darlington in Handel's Messiah on 17 December, and elsewhere, taking some lessons under W. H. Cummings in London before proceeding to Germany. There she studied under Pauline Viardot-Garcia, and finally under Manuel Garcia in London. In 1871, she returned to America and became a prominent concert singer. In February 1874, she sang in Mendelssohn's Elijah on two consecutive nights at Exeter Hall and Royal Albert Hall. Her repertory was entirely oratorio music or German Lieder.she was married at the Savoy Chapel to John MacKinlay, a Scotch American ; they settled in Stanhope Place, London.

MARCELLA SEMBRICH (Prakseda Marcelina Kochańska) (February 15, 1858 – January 11, 1935) Polish Soprano She entered the Vienna Conservatory in Autumn 1875. It was only then that her remarkable voice was discovered. She studied violin with Joseph Hellmesberger, Sr., piano with Julius Epstein, and voice with Viktor Rokitansky. After a year it was decided to give up study of the violin and piano and fully devote the young student to voice lessons. She arrived in Milan in September 1876 to study with one of the best vocal teachers on the continent, namely, Giovanni Battista Lamperti, son of the eminent teacher Francesco Lamperti, with whom she would later study in 1885. Made her debut in opera at Athens as Elvira in Bellini's I Puritani on June 3, 1877. She not only sang Puritani, but also Dinorah, Lucia di Lammermoor, Robert le Diable and La Sonnambula! She continued her vocal studies, this time with Marie Seebach and Richard Lewey in Vienna. At Covent Garden and signed a contract there for five seasons. In June 1880 she created a sensation in her debut at Covent Garden as Lucia in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. She became a great favorite in the characters of Zerlina, Don Giovanni; Susanna, The Marriage of Figaro; Konstanze, The Abduction from the Seraglio; Lady Harriet/Martha, Martha; and, of course, Lucia. She made her Met debut as Lucia in the company premiere of Lucia di Lammermoor on October 24, 1883, she was also the Met's first Elvira in I Puritani, Violetta in La Traviata, Amina in La Sonnambula, Gilda in Rigoletto, Marguerite in Les Huguenots and Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia.

JOHANNA GADSKI (15 June 1872 – 22 February 1932) German Soprano Studied in Stettin. Debut Berlin as Undine "Undine" Tchaikovsky .appearanced in the works of Wagner's at the 1899 Bayreuth Festival and at the 1905/06 Munich Festival. American debut in New York in 1895 with the Damrosch Opera Company .In 1896 she created the role of Hester Prynne in the fully staged premiere of Walter Damrosch's opera The Scarlet Letter in Boston. Sang in London at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 1899, 1900, 1901 and 1906.She had also joined the star-studded roster of singers at the New York Metropolitan Opera, singing there from 1898 to 1904 and again from 1907 to 1917.At the height of World War I, however, she was obliged to resign from the Metropolitan Opera because of her German links. Gadski resumed her professional concert career in the United States in 1921. She did not return to the operatic stage, however, until the late 1920s; her first such appearance being in a 1928 production of Die Walküre mounted by the Washington National Opera, a semi-professional company not Thereafter, in the years 1929 to 1931, she toured as the star of the German Grand Opera Company

LILLIAN JUNE BAILEY (1860-1901) American Soprano She made her professional debut in Boston at 16, then went to Paris to study with Viardot-Garcia. On April 30, 1879, she appeared in London, at a Phil, concert, when she sang, besides her solo number, a duet with George Henschel.whom she married . SIR GEORGE HENSCHEL (Isidor George Henschel ) (18 February 1850 – 10 September 1934) German-born British baritone, pianist, conductor, and composer. Born at Breslau, in Silesia, now part of Poland, then part of Germany, of Polish-Jewish parentage .His first appearance (1877) in England was as a singer, and there he and his wife inaugurated (c.1880) the song recital. In 1881 he became the Boston Symphony Orchestra's first conductor. He returned to England in 1884 and was professor of singing (1886—88) at the Royal College of Music, London. He founded (1886) the London Symphony Concerts, which he conducted until they ceased in 1897. In his musical compositions, which include operas, songs, choral works, and instrumental music, he was strongly influenced by Brahms and Wagner. He married the American soprano, Lilian June Bailey (1860-1901), who was associated with him in a number of vocal recitals throughout the United States and nearly all Europe until 1884. He was knighted in 1914 and at a farewell concert that year, was presented with a lute engraved with "A token of gratitude for forty years' song". He taught at the Institute of Musical Art in New York, .

Thomas Salignac as Don Jose "Carmen" Bizet THOMAS SALIGNAC (Eustase Thomas-Salignac) (March 1867 Générac - 16 November 1943 Paris) French Tenor Studied at the Paris Conservatry under Victor Alphonse Duvernoy . Debut in 1893 at the Opéra-Comique in " Richard Coeur-de-Lion " Debut at the Metropolitan New York in 1896 as Don Jose "Carmen" . Sang at Covent Garden London 1897-1899 and then returned to the Metropolitan 1898-1903 alternating with Covent Garden . Returned to the Opera Comique in 1905 .became a Professor of singing at the Fontainebleau American Conservatory in 1923

VITTORIO ARIMONDI (Saluzzo 1861 - Chicago 1928) Italian Bass Studied with Cima in Milan . Made his debut (1883) at Varese in Gomes's ‘’Il Guarany’’. First La Scala appearance (1893) as Sparafucile in ‘’Rigoletto’’. In that same year he created the role of Pistol in the world premiere of Verdi's ‘’Falstaff’’. He then traveled to London to appear for three seasons at Covent Garden (1894-96). He sailed to New York and made his Metropolitan Opera debut (7 Dec 1896) as Ferrando in ‘’Il Trovatore’’. He spent several seasons at Hammerstein's Manhattan Opera where he was Arkel in the American premiere of ‘’Pelléas et Mélisande’’. He spent the last twenty years of his life in the United States but during that time he made appearances in Poland and in Russia, where this postcard originates.

ALESSANDRO BONCI (February 10, 1870 – August 10, 1940) Italian Tenor Studied at the Rossini Conservatory in Pesaro with Carlo Pedrotti and Felice Coen. He had private lessons in Paris with retired baritone Enrico Delle Sedi. Debut 1896 in Parma as Fenton in "Falstaff" , debuted at La Scala milan in 'I Puritani" . Appeared in Eiurope and Covent Garden London . Made his American debut with the Manhattan opera Company New York , performed at the Metropolitan and chicargo Opera

VALENTINA KUZA (Yefrosinia Kusa) Rusian Soprano 1856-1910 Kusa was seen principally at the Mariinsky Theatre. In 1905 she was released from the Mariinsky when she publicly refused her hand to a Tsarist officer of the Guard. That courage made her quite popular with the people, who showered her with affection during her subsequent recitals.

ADELAIDE BOLSKA ( Adelajda Bolska) (b. November 16th 1863 in the province of Podolia, d. September 29 1930 in Tallinn ) Polish Soprano After graduating from the Moscow Conservatory, she continued her studies in Italy, appearing in the Milan theater Dal Verne and and Lodi and participating in concerts under the baton of Charles Lamoureux and Édouard Colonne. After returning to Russia, on the recommendation of Tchaikovsky began performing in the Moscow Grand Theatre under the name Skąpski. Tchaikovsky intended to be entrusted to the title role in the opera Jolanta . In Paris, she perfected skills with Caroline MIOLAN-Carvalho. Jules Massenet garnish advised her stage name. Adela chose the pseudonym Adela Bolska referring to the novel by Victor Cherbulieza L'aventure de Ladislas Bolski (1869). In the year 1896 the persuasion of friends returned to live shows by playing the part of Ophelia at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona . Many of the proposals selected invitation of the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg.

IVAN ERSHOV (Ivan Vasiliyevitch Yershov ) (November 8, 1867 – November 21, 1943) Russian Tenor Received singing lessons in Moscow. In 1888, Anton Rubinstein awarded him a scholarship to the Saint Petersburg Conservatory where he was assigned to the class of the distinguished teacher Stanislav Ivanovich Gabel . He studied, too, with Joseph Palacek .travelled to Italy the following year to complete his studies in Milan with Ernesto Rossi. While in Italy, he performed at Turin and at Reggio Emilia, appearing as Don Jose in Carmen and Canio in Pagliacci. He returned to Russia in 1894 and took up an engagement with the Kharkov Opera. Here he sang a variety of roles as diverse as Romeo in Roméo et Juliette, Arturo in I puritani, Samson in Samson and Delilah, Vladimir in Prince Igor and Ernani in Ernani His debut as a Mariinsky came in the title role of Faust in January 1895.He would appear regularly at the Mariinsky in a wide spectrum of operatic works, including Peter Tchaikovsky's masterpiece Eugene Onegin, in which he sang the part of Lenski. He also sang the title roles in Tannhäuser and Lohengrin and appeared as Faust in Mefistofele. The part of Roland in Esclarmonde was added in 1897 to his repertoire. In 1900, he appeared as Tristan in Tristan und Isolde and Raoul in Les Huguenots. He sang the title role in Otello the next year, and that of Siegfried in Siegfried in 1902. He appeared, too, as Radames in Aida and Paolo in Francesca da Rimini in 1904. Other roles which he undertook included John of Leyden, Florestan, Grishka Kuterma, Sobinin, Tsar Berendey, Sadko, Finn, Mikhailo Tucha, Orest, Gvidan and Golitsyn. He also gave concerts featuring vocal music by Tchaikovsky, Modest Mussorgsky, J.S. Bach, G.F. Handel, Robert Schumann, Hector Berlioz and other prominent composers.