Félia Litvinne
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Félia Litvinne (October 11, 1860, Saint Petersburg - October 12, 1936, Paris) was a Russian-born French soprano, particularly associated with Wagner roles, although she sang a wide range of roles.
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[edit] Life and career
Born in Russia as Françoise Jeanne Schutz, into a family of German and French origin. She came to Paris to study with Barthe-Banderali, Pauline Viardot and Victor Maurel. She made her stage debut at the Théâtre-Italien in 1883, as Amalia in Simon Boccanegra, as a last minute replacement for Fidès Devriès, and shorthly after made her official debut as Elvira in Ernani.
Her career became rapidly international, appearing at the Academy of Music in New York, at the Paris Opera, La Scala in Milan, the Rome Opera, La Fenice in Venice, Royal Opera House in London, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, etc.
She made her Metropolitan Opera debut on November 25, 1896, as Valentine in Les Huguenots, she sang there for only one season, her other roles included: Aida, Donna Anna, Chimène, Sélika, Brunnhilde, Isolde.
She took part in the creation of operas by Camille Saint-Saëns, such as Hélène, L'ancêtre, and Déjanire, as well as Camille Erlanger 's Bacchus triomphant. She also won great acclaim in operas by Gluck such as Alceste and Armide.
She gave her last performance in Monte Carlo, as Aida, opposite Enrico Caruso, in 1915, but continued giving recital until 1924. She taught at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, amongst her pupils were Nina Koshetz and Germaine Lubin. She published a book of Conseils et exercices in 1924, and her autobriography Ma vie et mon art, in 1933.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest voices of all time, she possessed a brilliant, flexible and resonant voice, and had a powerful stage presence.
[edit] Recordings
The 35 complete recordings of Litvinne have been released on CD by Marston Records (52049-2) [1].
[edit] Sources
- Le dictionnaire des interprètes, Alain Pâris, (Édition Robert Laffont, 1989), ISBN 2-221-06660-X
