"The World's Most Beautiful Woman" / Soprano Lina Cavalieri ~ Carmen (1910)

Italian soprano Lina Cavalieri (1874-1944) / Habanera / Carmen (Bizet) / Recorded: March 1910 / In the second frame Ms. Cavalieri is pictured with her third husband, the French tenor Lucien Muratore --

Italian operatic soprano Lina Cavalieri (December, 25, 1874 - February 7, 1944), known for her great beauty.

Born Natalina Cavalieri in Viterbo, Latium, Italy, she lost her parents at the age of fifteen and became a ward of the state, sent to live in a Roman Catholic orphanage. The vivacious young girl was extremely unhappy under the strict raising of the nuns, and at the first opportunity she ran away with a touring theatrical group.

Blessed with a good singing voice, a young Cavalieri made her way to Paris, France, where her stunning good looks opened doors and she obtained work as a singer at one of the city's café-concerts. From there she performed at a variety of music halls and other such venues around Europe while still working to develop her voice for the opera. A soprano, Cavalieri took voice lessons and made her opera debut in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1900, the same year she married her first husband, the Russian Prince Bariatinsky. Eventually she followed in the footsteps of Hariclea Darclée as one of the first stars of Puccini's Tosca. In 1904 she sang at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo then in 1905, at the Sarah Bernhardt Theatre in Paris, Cavalieri starred opposite Enrico Caruso in the Umberto Giordano opera, Fedora. From there, she and Caruso took the show to New York City, debuting with it at the Metropolitan Opera on December 5, 1906.

Cavalieri remained with the Metropolitan Opera for the next two seasons performing again with Caruso in 1907 in Puccini's Manon Lescaut. Renowned as much for her great beauty as for her singing voice, she became one of the most photographed stars of her time. Frequently referred to as the "world's most beautiful woman," she was part of the tightlacing tradition that saw women use corsetry to create an "hour-glass" figure. During the 1909-1910 season she sang with Oscar Hammerstein's Manhattan Opera Company. Her first marriage long over, she had a whirlwind romance and marriage with Robert Winthrop Chanler (1872-1930), a member of New York's prominent Astor family. However, this marriage lasted only a very short time (1) and Cavalieri returned to Europe where she became a much-loved star in pre-Revolutionary St. Petersburg, Russia, and in the Ukraine. During her career, Cavalieri sang with other opera greats such as the Italian baritone Titta Ruffo and the French tenor Lucien Muratore, whom she married in 1913. After retiring from the stage, Cavalieri ran a cosmetic salon in Paris. In 1914, on the eve of her fortieth birthday — her beauty still spectacular — she wrote an advice column on make-up for women in Femina magazine and published a book, My Secrets of Beauty. In 1915, she returned to her native Italy to make motion pictures. When that country became involved in World War I, she went to the United States where she made four more silent films. The last three of her films were the product of her friend, the Belgian film director Edward José.

Married for the fourth time to Paolo d'Arvanni, Cavalieri returned to live with her husband in Italy. Well into her sixties when World War II broke out, she nevertheless worked as a volunteer nurse. Cavalieri was killed in 1944 during an Allied bombing raid that destroyed her home in the outskirts of Florence.

La Cavalieri's discography is slim. In 1910, for Columbia, she recorded arias from Faust, Carmen, Mefistofele, La bohème, Manon Lescaut and Tosca, as well as the song, "Maria, Marì! (Ah! Marì! Ah! Marì!)." In 1917, for Pathé, the soprano recorded "Le rêve passé," with Muratore.

She was painted by the Italian artist Giovanni Boldini (acquired by Maurice Rothschild) and by the Swiss-born American artist Adolfo Müller-Ury (1862-1947). The latter is now the property of the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, the gift of Nicholas Meredith Turner in memory of his wife the soprano Jessica Dragonette. Hers is the face that appears repeatedly, obsessively in Piero Fornasetti's designs.

In 1955, Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida portrayed Cavalieri in the film The World's Most Beautiful Woman. In 2004, a book was published authored by Paul Fryer and Olga Usova titled Lina Cavalieri -The Life of Operas Greatest Beauty, 1874-1944. (wikipedia)

(1) During her brief marriage, Cavalieri, so the story goes, managed to cajole Chanler out of his entire considerable fortune. Chanler's brother, committed to a mental institution in Virginia, sent a short and highly publicized telegram reading "Who's looney now?" (NYT)

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Category:

Music

Tags:

• Italian
• Soprano
• Lina
• Cavalieri
• Opera
• Bizel
• Carmen
• Acoustic
• 78
• rpm
• CurzonRoad

[255maggie]

hey i'm related to her!

[CurzonRoad]

@255maggie

Standing by.... do tell !!!

[65attila]

Doug

I generally agree with Bivolari but this is interesting as history.

Regards-John

[CurzonRoad]

Hi John:

Yes, in no way can I disagree...

... and as you say, interesting history.

Thank you!

Doug --

[MrGer2295]

MOLTO BELLO!!! Thank you my Friend for sharing this Wonderful and Rare Performance of Great Italian Operatic Soprano LINA CAVALIERI (1874 – 1944)

[matizaph]

@255maggie I bet you must have heard many interesting stories. Those days seem light good times being just after the war. If you have photos your a lucky girl.

[Chutson353]

I agree she was - even by today's standards - one of the most beautiful woman I've ever seen - but not the greatest of sopranos.

[HM0880]

2:44-- what a hat!  She seems to think that tempo and note durations do not apply to beautiful divas. :) Her performance is decent but not definitive. I doubt she could pull off the complex role of Carmen in a full opera, but there is a certain light charm about her voice that makes this excerpt enjoyable. Thank you for posting. :)

[7inga7]

Wow! Great!

[genia106]

Douglasio,

I love her Carmen, she is Wonderful!

Merci.