Background
Lucrezia Bori was born on December 24, 1887, in Valencia, Spain. Her real name was Lucrecia Borja y González de Riancho. Her father was an officer in the Spanish army.
Lucrezia Bori was born on December 24, 1887, in Valencia, Spain. Her real name was Lucrecia Borja y González de Riancho. Her father was an officer in the Spanish army.
After a convent education, Bori at 16 decided to become a singer and went to Milan, Italy, for coaching.
Lucrezia Bori made her professional debut at the Teatro Adriano in Rome on October 31, 1908, as Micaela in Carmen. Premiered at the Metropolitan Opera Bori's long association with the Metropolitan Opera began in 1910 in Paris, when she was invited to replace an indisposed colleague as Manon in Puccini's Manon Lescaut with the touring New York company.
After an enthusiastic response to her portrayal, two more performances were added and quickly sold out.
Her first American appearance was in the same role at age 24, opposite the legendary Italian tenor Enrico Caruso, performed on the opening night of the Metropolitan Opera's 1912-1913 season in New York.
As Bori was enjoying the peak of her success, her career took a fateful and dramatic turn.
Nodules on her vocal chords required delicate throat surgery in 1915, followed by five years of lonely convalescence.
In a New York Times article she described her harrowing period of recovery, during which she once forced herself to be absolutely silent for two months.
"I felt, " she said, "as must those stricken with blindness just as the sun of spring flooded the world. "
Some of Bori's most famous roles included Mimi in La Bohème; Norina in Don Pasquale; Juliette in Roméo et Juliette; and Violetta in La Traviata, among others.
Bori's farewell performance at the Met, on March 29, 1936, was a moving tribute to a brilliant career still in its prime.
After singing selections from La Traviata and Manon, the audience stood and cheered for 20 minutes in homage, with women weeping and men stamping their feet.
Bori was later quoted in the New York Times: "I have no illusions about the length of time a singer may sing.
I want to finish while I am still at my best. "
Bori's "second career" with the Metropolitan Opera began in the early 1930, when the company's survival seemed threatened by the Depression.
In 1942, she was elected president of the Metropolitan Opera Guild. On May 2, 1960, Bori suffered a cerebral hemorrhage.
Physical Characteristics: Lucrezia Bori's voice had a unique timbre and transparent quality unlike any present-day singer. Her artistic integrity, personal dignity, and lack of temperamental behavior also made her one of opera's most gracious figures.