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Founder:
Len Mullenger (1942-2025) Editor
in Chief:John Quinn
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Founder:
Len Mullenger (1942-2025) Editor
in Chief:John Quinn
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A Beginners’ Guide to the Galaxy of Singers from the Past By Göran Forsling and Jonathan Woolf
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Frida
Leider (1888–1975) was the foremost
dramatic soprano of the 1920s and 1930s
and was unsurpassed in roles like Brünnhilde
and Isolde, which she sang at Bayreuth
between 1928 and 1938. During this period
she was also a celebrated guest at Covent
Garden as, e.g. Leonore in Fidelio,
but her home stage from 1924 was the
Berlin State Opera, which she had to
leave in 1940, since she was married
to a Jew. 
Lotte
Lehmann (1888–1976). If Leider
was the dramatic soprano of her age,
Lehmann was the leading lyric-dramatic
singer in operas by Richard Strauss,
but she was also a great Sieglinde in
Die Walküre and also an excellent
Lieder singer. At the Salzburg Festival
she was Leonore in Fidelio for ten years
and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf learnt much
from her about unforgettably moulding
a phrase. 
Elisabeth
Schumann (1888–1952) was the
third of the great German sopranos of
this period and she was the most lyrical
of them, first and foremost an excellent
Mozart singer and few sopranos ever
have been such a lovely Pamina or Susanna.
Every recording of hers oozes with charm.
With advanced years she devoted more
and more time to Lieder and her Schubert
readings are regarded as models. 
Rosa
Ponselle (1897–1981) was American
by birth and started her career as a
vaudeville singer. An impresario discovered
her talent and took her to the Metropolitan
Opera where she made her debut at the
age of 21 in La forza del destino against
Enrico Caruso, no less. She was at her
best in Verdi’s lirico-spinto parts,
e.g. Elisabeth in Don Carlo,
but she also sang Norma and also appeared
as Mathilde In William Tell.
She retired in 1936, not yet 40. 
Kirsten
Flagstad (1895–1962) was Norwegian
and made her debut as early as 1913.
After that she sang mostly operetta
for many years and not until 1934 when
she sang in Bayreuth, she had a real
break-through, but then the operatic
world lay before her feet and the Metropolitan,
the Vienna State Opera, San Francisco
and London quickly launched her in the
heavy dramatic roles as the natural
heir to Frida Leider. Her relatively
late start in the heroic repertoire
granted her a long career; she continued
singing until 1955 and even later, in
1958, Georg Solti enticed her to a comeback
when she sang Fricka on his epoch-making
Das Rheingold. 
Claudia
Muzio (1889–1936) made her debut
in Arezzo in 1910 and sang for some
seasons in Turin and also at Covent
Garden but it was in the US and also
South America that she has her great
successes. She sang all the great Verdi
and Puccini roles and also some verismo.
Maria
Caniglia (1905–1979) was probably
the most popular Italian soprano during
the 1930s and 40s, moving from lyrical
roles to the great dramatic parts. She
was an engaging actor and her voice
was magnificent but not always so subtle.
She was in great demand all over the
world but most of all she was the star
of La Scala in Milan. 
Conchita
Supervia (1895–1936). This Spanish
contralto started her training at the
age of twelve and she was sixteen she
was Octavian at the Italian premiere
of Der Rosenkavalier. After that
she sang on the great Italian houses,
from 1924 at La Scala. In 1925 she took
part in the revival of Rossini’s operas,
since she was the first singer since
the 19th century who could
cope with the tremendously difficult
coloratura roles, intended for contraltos:
Il barbiere di Siviglia, La Cenerentola
and L’Italiana in Algeri.
She died in childbirth when she was
41. 
Kerstin
Thorborg (1896–1970) This Swedish
mezzo-soprano started her career at
the Stockholm Opera in 1923, where she
for seven years sang many of the great
roles, not least Wagner. From 1930 her
career was international. From 1935
she was engaged at the Vienna State
Opera, which she left in 1938 as a protest
against the Nazis. After that she sang
every year at the Met, where she was
soubriqueted "Caruso of Contraltos".
Sigrid
Onegin (1889–1943) was German
but married one of her teachers, the
Russian composer Eugen Onegin. She sang
at various German houses but also came
to the Met, where she made her debut
as Amneris in Aida. Among her
signature parts were Orpheus, Dorabella
in Cosi fan tutte, Lady Macbeth
and Dalila in Samson et Dalila. She
was also a noted interpreter of Strauss
and Wagner. 
Marian
Anderson (1897–1993) owned one
of the warmest contralto voices of her
generation, and she became enormously
popular, even among people who normally
didn’t bother about "classical
music". She worked mainly as a
concert singer, performing negro spirituals,
which was her true metier, but she was
also a noted singer of Lieder. Her recording
of Schubert’s Ave Maria is one
of the classics of the gramophone. When
touring Europe in the 1930s she got
interested in Sibelius’s songs, which
she also recorded. The composer even
dedicated his Solitude to her.
In 1955 she made her debut at the Metropolitan
Opera as the first coloured singer ever,
singing Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera.
By then, though, she was 58 and past
her best. 
Ebe
Stignani (1903–1974) was the
leading dramatic contralto during almost
thirty years, from her La Scala debut
in 1926 until she retired in 1958. She
was one of the all time greats with
a voice type that today seems practically
extinct. Amneris in Aida, Azucena
in Il trovatore, Eboli in Don
Carlo and Adalgisa in
Norma were some of her more than
one hundred parts.
Beniamino
Gigli, born 1890, died 1957, charismatic
Italian who after a career in Italy
came to the MET as the natural heir
to Caruso for more than ten years. In
the beginning of the 1930s he returned
to Europe and had a long career well
into his 60s. He had a brilliant lyric
dramatic voice and also charmed his
audiences with his meltingly beautiful
half-voice. His singing was sometimes
marred by too much sobs and gulps but
he always made amends by the passion
and intensity of his delivery.
Tito
Schipa (1887–1965) was the aristocrat
among his contemporaries and indeed
in any time. His was a smallish, lyrical
voice with limited range (no breast-beating
high Cs) and not intrinsically beautiful
as Gigli’s certainly was, but it was
employed with the utmost musicality
and taste and no one could inflect the
musical line with so many exquisite
nuances. His operatic repertoire was
not large; he only sang roles that were
suited to his resources and this also
allowed him to continue singing well
into his 60s. He didn’t leave La Scala
until 1950.
Giovanni
Martinelli (1885–1969) made his
debut in Milan in 1910 but arrived at
the Met as early as 1913 and remained
there as a leading Italian tenor until
1946. His was a powerful dramatic tenor
with gleaming penetrating high notes
and very little of the honeyed beauty
of e.g. Gigli and Schipa. He was an
expressive actor and excelled in roles
like Radames in Aida and the
title role of Otello. He even
sang Tristan against Kirsten Flagstad’s
Isolde in Chicago in 1939. By many he
is regarded as the best Verdi tenor
during the 1920s and 1930s.
Richard
Tauber (1891–1948) Austrian of birth
he had his training in Freiburg and
made his debut as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte
in 1913 and was regarded as the foremost
Mozart singer in Germany and Austria.
Like Schipa he didn’t have a very large
voice and he rarely hit a high C but
his mellifluous delivery and his ability
to caress phrases unforgettably made
him immensely popular. Some critics
thought him too sentimental, something
that became more pronounced when he
in the late 1920s became associated
with Franz Lehár and was the
operetta star of his time. He also
sang Lieder and popular songs and even
composed. At the end of his career he
returned to Mozart and turned out to
be just as stylish as he was in his
youth.
Lauritz
Melchior (1890–1973) Born in Denmark
he had his training in Copenhagen and
after his debut in 1913 he sang the
first five years as a baritone but after
further studies moved up to the tenor
department where he soon became the
leading dramatic tenor, specialising
on Wagner. No one has actually equalled
his volume, his roundness of tone, his
dramatic delivery and his stamina. 1926–1950
he sang almost 500 performances at the
MET, more than one hundred as Tristan,
regarded as the Everest of tenor roles.
He had a jovial personality and made
films and sang operetta and musical
after he had left the stage. 
Georges
Thill (1897-1984) was undoubtedly
the greatest French tenor of the 20th
century. He studied with the Italian
bel canto tenor Fernando de Lucia and
under his guidance developed a voice
that was a mixture of the lyric and
the dramatic. He could excel in ravishing
mezza voce singing but also had a powerful
forte with a ringing high C at his disposal
and his emission of tone was absolutely
even from top to bottom. Naturally he
was at his best in the central French
repertoire where his timbre and enunciation
seems perfect.
Jussi
Björling (1911–1960) Born in
Stora Tuna in central Sweden he had
an early career as a boy soprano together
with his father and two brothers. He
came to the Stockholm opera still only
19 and during the next eight years he
sang more than 50 roles. In 1938 he
came to the Met which became the home
stage for the rest of his life. His
was a true tenor, produced with a supreme
lightness but with a brilliant ringing
top and unsurpassed beauty all through
the range. His plangent tone still goes
directly to the heart in most of the
standard tenor arias. Jussi was considerably
younger than the other singers represented
here and actually more belongs to the
following periods but his recorded legacy
from the first decade is of a quality
to make it compulsory listening for
anyone interested in good singing.
Alexander
Kipnis (1891-1978) Versatility in
range – from the cavernous depths to
high Ds without discomfort – and in
repertoire – from Wagner to Brahms,
Wolf and beyond – marked out the supreme
artistry of Alexander Kipnis. A superb
lieder recitalist and a powerful theatrical
stage presence Kipnis was equally successful
in his native Russian songs as in the
central Germanic repertoire; somewhat
less so in his more limited forays into
the Italian school.
Ezio
Pinza (1892-1957) An almost exact
contemporary of Kipnis, Ezio Pinza was
a different kind of animal – a basso
cantante. His later popular career may
have diminished him in the eyes of specialists
but history will denote him as one of
the rarest of his kind, a singer with
exquisite control, perfectly graded
pianissimi and tremendous taste. His
earliest recordings in the 1920s show
his voice in freshest and most vibrant
estate. His decline was post-war.
Feodor
Chaliapin (1873-1938) Chaliapin’s
recording career began well into the
acoustic era of course but he made discs
until 1936, two years before his death.
He was the ultimate singer-actor, a
theatrical presence of magnetic allure,
and one who was perfectly prepared to
jettison Italian ideas of legato in
favour of dramatic realism and vocal
impersonation. Despite that the voice
is invariably under absolute control,
and it’s frequently of considerable
intrinsic beauty, despite the reputation
for histrionic projection.
Marcel
Journet (1867-1933) Journet creeps
in to the post-1925 list but only just;
he did sing until the year of his death.
The 1927 recordings he made show him
in admirable vocal estate for a man
of sixty and only reveal some wear and
reduction in range. His was an extensive
career and he had a voice to match –
wide compass, nobility, technical security
bordering on the remarkable - incredible
rapidity of movement from low to high
without break or technical impediment.
As the representative French bass he
demonstrates all that is greatest in
that school. 
Heinrich
Schlusnus (1888-1952) Versatile
in the Italian repertoire and equally
versed in his native lieder Schlusnus
possessed one of the most beautiful
of all voices, irrespective of type.
His art was marked by sheer grace, by
fluidity through all registers, though
being a high baritone it was naturally
stronger in that part of his voice.
He shared with Kipnis sovereignty in
the opera house and on the recital platform;
he was a memorable Wagnerian.
Herbert
Janssen (1892-1965) Janssen’s stature
seems to grow with the years. Later
concerns about the wear in his voice
from the 1940s cannot efface the singularity
of his operatic impersonations – principally
Wagnerian – or his success in lieder.
Tonally the voice was often beautiful
if not quite in Schlusnus’s class, but
Janssen’s penetrating combination of
acute characterisation and discreet
expression lent him a very special place
in vocal art.
Friedrich
Schorr (1889-1953) The quartet of
German baritones is completed by the
bass-baritone Schorr. He was an exceptional
Schumann singer but the bulk of his
reputation rests on his Wagner. For
thirty years Schorr was an indispensable
Wagnerian – his magnetic theatrical
presence allied to a resonant vocal
production, a splendid legato, and command
over soft and intense singing, ensured
that he seemed to inhabit his roles
from within, the very essence of characterisation.
Riccardo
Stracciari (1875-1955) Leaving Ruffo
and Battistini aside as too early Stracciari
was the reigning Italian baritone of
this period. He was an energetic and
characterful singer – technically irreproachable
with regard to divisions and with a
command of legato, and a quality of
penetration at the top of his register.
His Rigoletto was exceptionally impressive
and his stage appeal indivisible from
his pronounced qualities of word painting.
Lawrence
Tibbett (1896-1960) Tibbett’s
early decline – traceable to the early
1940s – has tended to mask his real
stature as a trenchantly declamatory
operatic baritone. He sang new music
and older with the same commitment but
excelled in the Italian repertoire.
Here, in his youth, his ringing top
notes were soon joined by a mature colour
and subtle vocal inflexion to produce
an undeniable home grown American operatic
star. 
