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Salom ea Kruszelnicka Salomea Kruszelnicka was one of the most notable sopranos th a t sang on the ly ric stage d u r ing the f ir s t three decades of this century. She was an e xtra ordinary singer, possessing an extensive voice of great d u c til ity and w ith an exquisite feeling, by which she attained dramatic and musical performances of rare quality, most of them un surpassable fo r the style, sing ing line and acting a b ility she exhibited. She excelled as much in the ‘Italian repertory, as in the Wag nerian, and also in the concert world to which she devoted her self exclusively during the last years of her career. Born in Melavynci Buchach region on September 23, 1873, she showed a very early inclination fo r music. She received her earliest tra in in g fro m her fa th e r and at the age of twelve played in public a t a benefit concert. A fte r graduat ing from the L v iw Conservatory where she studied singing and piano she went, s till very young, to Ita ly w ith her sister Anna to perfect her singing and acting. Kruszelnicka made her debut in Lviw , probably in 1892, then sang in Cracow and Odessa. In 1896 she sang in Ita ly , in Cre mona. From 1898 to 1903 she was the Prim a Donna a t the Warsaw Im perial Opera and guested in Russia. In 1898 she was the A ida to the Radames of Caruso in St. Petersburg. In 1901 she made her Rome debut as Brunnhilde in “ Die W a lkiire ” and won immediately the admi ration of the Ita lia n capital’s public. A fte r her successes in Rome and then Naiples, soon equalled in other Ita lia n cities, Kruszelnicka adopted th a t as her second native country. Her f ir s t appearance at L ’Op- era, Paris, was Elsa in “ Lohen g rin ” in 1902. In 1904 she un dertook the mission of resur recting “ Madam B u tte rfly ” which had failed noisily some months previously at La Scala. The composer, deeply grieved at the unexpected failure, wrote to Kruszelnicka, whose talent he admired, asking her to revive his unfortunate B u tte rfly in a new performance in another c ity of Ita ly . Kruszelnicka agreed, studied intensively the p art of the new heroine and por trayed her w ith great success at the second premiere. A fterw ards “ B u tte rfly ” won successes ev erywhere and Kruszelnicka sang it again many times. Puccini re mained immensely g ratefu l to the great singer fo r the rest of his life. On his piano stood a picture of her as B u tte rfly , the one th a t can s till be seen at his home in Viareggio which is now a museum. Toscanini, not easily inclined to praise, greatly admired K ru- szelnicka’s intelligence and feel ing and praised her openly and warm ly. On the instigation of Toscanini, Kruszelnicka was in vited to sing at the M etropolitan Opera House in 1913 b u t due to a misunderstanding over the terms o f the contract she did not accept, so unfortunately fo r American opera lovers, she never sang in th a t theatre. From 1904 to 1913, Salomea Kruszelnicka sang in many op eras in Europe and South Am er ica. She was a special favorite in Buenos Aires where on July 10, 1910, she married an Ita lia n lawyer, Cesare Riccioni who had been Mayor of Viareggio where she lived in Ita ly. A t the end of 1913 Kruszelnic ka decided to re tire fro m opera and devoted herself to concert work. For some years she con centrated on the study o f the song repertoire of the most va ried origins. She did however make a few fu rth e r stage ap pearances in opera, the last be ing in 1920 in “ Lohengrin’’ at San Carlo, Naples. She continued to study fo r concert work and in 1923 began her recitals. She turned many countries w ith a repertoire of works fro m all ages and nation alities — classic, modern, popu la r and fo lk songs. She sang popular U krainian fo lk songs which she gave w ith a singular charm accompanying herself on the piano. In 1928 she sang fo r the f ir s t tim e in N o rth A m er ica, making her debut in New Y o rk at the Mecca Auditorium . She then sang in D etroit, Chi cago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland, and in Canada in Montreal and Winnipeg. By th a t time, according to one New Y o rk critic, her voice was s till of considerable power and espe cially one of a “ charming velvet suavity in the middle register." In 1929 she retired to live at her villa at Viareggio w ith her husband who died in 1937. In August, 1939, despite warnings about the dangers o f war, she returned to L v iw to v is it her fam ily. The war overtook her there and she remained during the years i t lasted. When the war ended she was forced to re main behind the Iron Curtain, spending her remaining years Опера „Африканка": Соломія Кру- шельницька в ролі Селіки Salomea Kruszelnicka as Selikai in “AfrAcama” Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
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