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Edna Thornton 1875-1964 English Contralto She worked at Covent Garden from 1905 to 1910, appearing in the Ring cycles of 1908 and 1909. These were conducted by Karl Richter, and her roles were Erda and Waltraute. She toured with the Quinlan and Beecham companies, returning to Covent Garden between 1919 and 1923. After the BNOC was established she worked with it extensively. Other roles in her repertoire for which she was noted included Dalila and Amneris as well as Brangäne. She also appeared in the premiere of Holst's comic opera The Perfect Fool at Covent Garden in 1923.

as Aida and Amneris "AIDA" Giuseppe Verdi Rosina Buckman 1881-1948 New Zealand/Australian Soprano She studied in Britain, at the Birmingham School of Music and made her debut in 1906, back in Wellington as Zara in A Moorish Maid (Alfred Hill). She worked in Australia from 1909, joining Melba's company in 1911. Returning to the UK, she made her debut at Covent Garden in 1914 as a Flower Maiden, followed by Musetta. She joined Beecham's operation the following year, with a repertoire that extended to include Butterfly, Aïda and Isolde. In 1923 she worked with BNOC. Edna Thornton 1875-1964 English Contralto She worked at Covent Garden from 1905 to 1910, appearing in the Ring cycles of 1908 and 1909. These were conducted by Karl Richter, and her roles were Erda and Waltraute. She toured with the Quinlan and Beecham companies, returning to Covent Garden between 1919 and 1923. After the BNOC was established she worked with it extensively. Other roles in her repertoire for which she was noted included Dalila and Amneris as well as Brangäne. She also appeared in the premiere of Holst's comic opera The Perfect Fool at Covent Garden in 1923.

Buckman as Aida "AIDA" Giuseppe Verdi Rosina Buckman 1881-1948 New Zealand/Australian Soprano She studied in Britain, at the Birmingham School of Music and made her debut in 1906, back in Wellington as Zara in A Moorish Maid (Alfred Hill). She worked in Australia from 1909, joining Melba's company in 1911. Returning to the UK, she made her debut at Covent Garden in 1914 as a Flower Maiden, followed by Musetta. She joined Beecham's operation the following year, with a repertoire that extended to include Butterfly, Aïda and Isolde. In 1923 she worked with BNOC.

as Olga & Michael in "IVAN THE TERRIBLE" by Sergei Prokofiev Jeanne Brola (Jean Lane Brooks) 1871-1956 American soprano. She reached operatic fame in the early 1900s when she appeared at Italy's La Scala Opera House and London's Covent Garden. She also appeared in Vienna and Berlin During the First World War she was a leading member of the Quinlan and Beecham companies, featuring on the world tour made by Quinlan. In 1919 and 1920 she appeared at Covent Garden, as Tosca, Giorgetta and Lauretta. Roles sung elsewhere included Aïda, Nedda, Desdemona, Marguerite, Manon, Mimì, Freia, Gutrune and Eva. Walter Hyde 1875-1951 English Tenor Studied at College of Music under Gustave Garcia and Walter Parratt, His early professional career was in musical comedy, Percy Pitt then recruited him to sing Siegmund in the 1908 English language Ring cycles at Covent Garden, Worked regularly at Covent Garden until 1923. , He worked extensively with Beecham's company, and in the twenties became a director of BNOC, continuing to sing with them until they folded.He sang Siegmund at the New York Met, After Siegmund, his most notable Wagnerian role was probably Parsifal.He later became Professor of Singing at the Guildhall School of Music, where his students included John Heddle Nash and Eric Shilling. .

Walter Hyde 1875-1951 English Tenor Studied at College of Music under Gustave Garcia and Walter Parratt, His early professional career was in musical comedy, Percy Pitt then recruited him to sing Siegmund in the 1908 English language Ring cycles at Covent Garden, Worked regularly at Covent Garden until 1923. , He worked extensively with Beecham's company, and in the twenties became a director of BNOC, continuing to sing with them until they folded.He sang Siegmund at the New York Met, After Siegmund, his most notable Wagnerian role was probably Parsifal.He later became Professor of Singing at the Guildhall School of Music, where his students included John Heddle Nash and Eric Shilling.

Merz as Elizabeth in "Tannhauser" by Richard Wagner Nellie Merz 1887-1968 German Soprano Studied at Dr Hoch's Conservatory in frankfurt , further studied in Geneva and Milan. Debut at Stadtheatre Krefeld. Engaged by the Deutsche opera Berlin where she remained and sang leading roles for 30 Years.

Kirschoff as Max "Der Freischütz " by Carl Maria von Weber Walther Kirchoff 1879-1951 German Tenor Studied with Robert Weiss and Lilli Lehmann in Berlin.Debut Imperial Opera Berlin in 1906 as Faust . Remained at the Berlin Imperial Opera until 1920.He sang leading roles at Bayreuth, Covent Garden london , Buenos Aires and Metropolitan New York years

as Kundry and Parsifal in "PARSIFAL" by Richard Wagner Martha Leffler-Burckhard 1865-1954 German Soprano Studied with Anna von Meichsner in Berlin and Pauline Viardot in paris.Debut 1888 at Strasbourg . Began her career as a coloratura soprano but soon turned to the dramatic soprano repertoire .Performed leading roles throughout Germany , New York Metropolitan , Covent Garden London Walther Kirchoff 1879-1951 German Tenor Studied with Robert Weiss and Lilli Lehmann in Berlin.Debut Imperial Opera Berlin in 1906 as Faust . Remained at the Berlin Imperial Opera until 1920.He sang leading roles at Bayreuth, Covent Garden london , Buenos Aires and Metropolitan New York years

ANNIE LOUISE CARY (October 22, 1842 – April 3, 1921) American Contralto In 1866 studied In Milan With Giovanni Corsi Until 1868. 1868 Debut In Italian Opera As A Profundo Contralto In Copenhagen . Further study with Pauline Viardot, And In The Autumn She In Paris, Studying With Giovanni Bottesini, A Conductor And Contra-bassist Made A Contract With Messrs. Maurice And Max Strakosch For Three Years In The United States. London With Henry C. Deacon, And Sang At Drury Lane Theatre. She Made Her First New York Appearance In September 1870 In Concert At Steinway Hall With Nilsson, Vieuxtemps, And Brignoli. Appearing With Carlotta Patti, Mario, Albani, f 1875/76, Visited Moscow And St. Petersburg, Returning To America For The Seasons Of 1877-78 And 1878-79, She Sang In Opera With Clara Louise Kellogg And Marie Rose,, At The Time She Retired, She Was The Most Popular Singer In America

ADOLPHE NOURITT (3 March 1802 – 8 March 1839) French Tenor Studied singing and musical theory with his father(Louis Nourrit) and then, despite his father's objections, took lessons with Manuel del Pópulo Vicente García.Made his professional operatic debut in 1821 as Pylades in Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride. While at the Opéra, he became a pupil of Gioachino Rossini with whom he would work frequently. Nourrit created all principal tenor roles in Rossini's French operas, namely Néocles in Le siège de Corinthe (1826), Aménophis in the revised version of Moïse et Pharaon (1827), the title role in Le comte Ory (1828), and Arnold in William Tell (1829). He was also the first to perform the roles of Masaniello in Auber's La muette de Portici (1828), Robert in Meyerbeer's Robert le Diable, Eleazar in Halévy's La Juive (1835), and Raoul in Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots (1836), among other parts

ANNIE LOUISE CARY (October 22, 1842 – April 3, 1921) American Contralto In 1866 studied In Milan With Giovanni Corsi Until 1868. 1868 Debut In Italian Opera As A Profundo Contralto In Copenhagen . Further study with Pauline Viardot, And In The Autumn She In Paris, Studying With Giovanni Bottesini, A Conductor And Contra-bassist Made A Contract With Messrs. Maurice And Max Strakosch For Three Years In The United States. London With Henry C. Deacon, And Sang At Drury Lane Theatre. She Made Her First New York Appearance In September 1870 In Concert At Steinway Hall With Nilsson, Vieuxtemps, And Brignoli. Appearing With Carlotta Patti, Mario, Albani, f 1875/76, Visited Moscow And St. Petersburg, Returning To America For The Seasons Of 1877-78 And 1878-79, She Sang In Opera With Clara Louise Kellogg And Marie Rose,, At The Time She Retired, She Was The Most Popular Singer In America

CLARA LOUISE KELLOGG (July 9, 1842 – May 13, 1916) American Soprano She received her musical training in New York City and first sang in opera there in 1861.She appeared as prima donna in Italian opera in London and at concerts in 1867 and 1868, and from that time till 1887 was one of the leading public singers. She appeared at intervals in London,but was principally engaged in America

PASQUALE BRIGNOLI (b. Naples, Italy, 1824; d. New York City, 30 October 1884) Italian-born American tenor. His operatic debut was in Paris in Rossini's Mosè in Egitto but he needed training and so he entered the Paris Conservatoire. After a period of study, he appeared in L'elisir d'amore in the role of Nemorino at the Theatre des Italiens. He is also recorded as having sung at the Paris Opera in 1854 he came to the United States with Maurice Strakosch in 1855, and soon attained a popularity that lasted almost to the end of his life. His American debut was as Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor (1855) and soon thereafter he sang Manrico in the first American production of Il Trovatore (1855). Other permière American performances in which he appeared were La Traviata (1856), I vespri siciliani (1859) and Un ballo in maschera (1861), conducted by Brignoli's friend, Emanuele Muzio at the New York Academy of Music, as well as Luigi Arditi's La Spia (1855) and Betly (1861) at the Philadelphia Academy of Music. Brignoli's first appearance in Boston was in 1855, as Gennaro in Lucrezia Borgia.

Autographed 1894

ALICE DUCASSE (Anne-Elisa Alice Ducasse) 1841-19?? Chillian Soprano pupil of M. Laget and Mmes Duprez and Miolan-Cavalho. At the Théâtre Lyrique under Pasdeloup and Vizentini she sang various roles at that theatre, creating Mab in Bizet's La jolie fille de Perth, as well as Nérine in L'irato by Méhul (November 1868), Formosa in En Prison by Guiraud (March 1869), and Thérèse in Don Quichotte by Boulanger (May 1869) .At the Opéra Comique she created Léna in the 1872 premiere of La princesse jaune, and Frasquita in the 1875 premiere of Carmen, as well as singing in the first Opéra Comique performances of works premiered elsewhere: Jacqueline in Le médecin malgré lui in 1872, Stefano in Roméo et Juliette in 1873, a shepherd in the 1874 revival of Le pardon de Ploërmel, Nicette in the 1871 revival of Le Pré aux clercs Mirza in the 1876 production of Lalla-Roukh, Rita in the 1877 revival of Zampa and Papagena in the 1879 production of The Magic Flute. After appearing as Marceline in The Marriage of Figaro in May 1882, Ducasse left the stage to take up teaching

Andreas Dipple as Siegfried "Siegfried" Wagner ANDREAS DIPPEL ( Johann Andreas Dippel ) (30 November 1866 – 12 May 1932) German tenor He made his stage debut in 1887 at the Bremen Stadttheater as Lionel in Flotow's opera Martha and continued to study singing with Julius Hey (Berlin), Alberto Leoni (Milan) and Johann Ress (Vienna). He sang several smaller roles in Bayreuth in 1889, and become a member of the Vienna State Opera in 1893. He sang there until 1898 in 27 roles, including Marcello in the Vienna premiere of Leoncavallo's La bohème. During that period he also sang in London's Royal Opera House and at the New York Metropolitan Opera.Dippel made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera on 26 November 1890 in the title role of Alberto Franchetti's Asrael for its United States premiere. He appeared with the company 392 times including three other US premieres – Antonio Smareglia's Il vassalo di Szigeth (1890), Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha's Diana von Solange (1891), and Richard Strauss' Salome (1907). His final appearance at the Met was as Froh in Das Rheingold on 13 April 1908

EMMA ALBANI (1 November 1847 – 3 April 1930) Canadian soprano (Marie Louise Cecilia Emma Lajeunesse.) Vocal studies in Europe, and she became a student of Gilbert Louis Duprez in Paris, then by Francesco Lamperti in Milan. Debut in 1870 at the Opera House of Messina as Amina in 'La Sonnambula'. Covent Garden début 1872. First Covent Garden Senta (Der fliegende Holländer), 1877. NY Met début 1891; first Desdemona at NY Met 1894. Sang Isolde, Covent Garden 1896, retiring from stage a month later, but continuing to sing in oratorio. Retired to teach in 1911. DBE 1925.

IVAN MELNIKOV (Ivan Aleksandrovich Melnikov ) (March 4, 1832 – July 8, 1906) Russian baritone Began studying with Gavriil Lomakin,continued his studies in Milan with a master of bel canto, E. Repetto .In 1867, Melnikov made a triumphant St. Petersburg debut at Mariinsky Theatre, performing the role of Riccardo in Bellini's I puritani. Melnikov appeared regularly at the Mariinsky, in both foreign and Russian roles, and was the first interpreter of more than dozen roles in Russian opera. Melnikov sang in every opera by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky except for Iolanta, creating roles in four of Tchaikovsky's operas: Prince Vyazminsky in The Oprichnik (1874), Devil in Cherevichki (1886), Prince Kurlyatev in The Enchantress (1887), and Tomsky in The Queen of Spades (1890)