Lina Cavalieri
Natalina Cavalieri (born December 25, 1874 in Viterbo , † February 7, 1944 in Florence ) was an Italian opera singer with a soprano voice .
Life
Natalina Cavalieri was an orphan at the age of 15 and was educated in a convent for young girls. After a short time she ran away from there and joined a theater group. In Paris she took acting and singing lessons at the Comédie-Française . In 1900 she made her debut at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon and had a love affair with the Russian Prince Alexander Wladimirowitsch Bariatinski (1870–1910), later son-in-law of Tsar Alexander II . As a representative of Hariclea Darclée's illness, Cavalieri sang Floria Tosca in Giacomo Puccini 's opera of the same name in 1902 and received great acclaim. Further appearances followed, including at the Opéra de Monaco in Monte-Carlo , the Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt in Paris and at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City .
In New York, Cavalieri was a permanent member of the Metropolitan Opera ensemble, to which she remained loyal for over four years. She had a close friendship with her singing colleague Enrico Caruso . During the 1909-1910 season she sang at Oscar Hammerstein's Manhattan Opera Company with John McCormack . At the same time, Cavalieri had a romance with the artist Robert Winthrop Chanler (1872–1930), a member of the famous Astor family . The joint marriage did not last long and Cavalieri returned to Europe . On her tour of Russia she met and fell in love with the French tenor Lucien Muratore (1878–1954). She had also appeared on stage with him as lovers in a performance of the opera Siberia in 1911 . Her wedding was the social event in Paris and a year later (1914) she said goodbye to the opera stage.
When the First World War broke out , Cavalieri went to the United States and starred in Hollywood in several silent films under the Belgian film director Edward José. In the mid-1920s she returned to Italy, where she gave singing lessons. In order to raise money for charitable organizations, she organized several song recitals in London , Madrid and Paris. During the Second World War she worked as a volunteer nurse. Cavalieri was killed in an Allied bombing raid , her body was never found.
Only a few vocal recordings of Lina Cavalieri are known. In 1910 she recorded several arias for Columbia Records , in 1916 she sang three duets with her husband Lucien Muratore for Pathé , including the love duet from the opera Roméo et Juliette by Charles Gounod .
Worth mentioning
- Lina Cavalieri fell around Enrico Caruso's neck on the open stage and kissed him so passionately out of enthusiasm that this kiss went down in history as the first “real” stage kiss.
- Immortalized in portraits and photographs by numerous artists, Lina Cavalieri became famous as the “most photographed woman of her time” ( Belle Époque ).
- In 1955, Lina Cavalieri was played by Gina Lollobrigida in the film The Most Beautiful Woman in the World .
gallery
Giovanni Boldini: Portrait of Lina Cavalieri, oil on canvas, around 1912
Portrait of Cavalieri and Enrico Caruso, around 1905/1907
Lina Cavalieri, around 1905
Lina Cavalieri, 1907
Lina Cavalieri, 1908
literature
- Paul Fryer, Olga Usova: Lina Cavalieri: The Life of Opera's Greatest Beauty, 1874–1944. McFarland, 2003, ISBN 0-7864-1685-8 .
Web links
- Lina Cavalieri in the Internet Movie Database (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Cavalieri, Lina |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Cavalieri, Natalina |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Italian opera singer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 25, 1874 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Viterbo |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 7, 1944 |
| Place of death | Florence |