Born: May 16, 1902, Sosnowiec, Poland
Died: August 16, 1966, Harrison, NY, USA
Early days. Jan Kiepura the son of Miriam (née Neuman), a former professional singer, and Franciszek Kiepura, a baker and grocery owner. His mother was Jewish. He had a brother, Władysław also a tenor aka Ladis Kiepura. During 1916-1920, he attended the Staszic Junior High School in Sosnowiec where he graduated from. In 1921 he studied law at the University of Warsaw. He learned singing from Wacław Brzeziński and Tadeusz Leliwa. He became a member of Polska Organizacja Wojskowa and in 1919 took part in Powstanie Slaskie (Silesian uprising).
Career. In 1923 he performed his first concert in Sosnowiec. In 1924, Kiepura was admitted by Emil Młynarski to the choir at Warsaw’s Teatr Wielki. He played the role of Góral in Moniuszko's opera Halka. He also sang in Gounod's Faust in Lwow (now Lviv, Ukraine), Poznan and Warsaw. In 1926, Kiepura left Poland performing in Austria, Germany, Czechoslovakia and Hungary. His performances in Vienna (Staatsoper) brought him fame. He was declared by the Austrian press to be a king of tenors. In 1929 and in 1931 he performed in Milan’s La Scala. When he returned to Poland, with the money he had earned from his performances, he built the well-known hotel Patria in Krynica-Zdrój, which costed him about three million dollars. Some Polish movies were made there. Kiepura played in twelve Polish musicals, including O czym się nie myśli (1926), Die Singende Stadt (1930), Tout Pour L'amour (1933), and Mon coeur t'appelle (1934). Kiepura's return to Warsaw in 1934 caused a sensation in the Polish capital, and his musical shows were received with huge enthusiasm. Apart from his performances in concert halls, he also sang to a crowd gathered under the balcony of the Warsaw hotel "Bristol". He also sang while standing on his car's roof, or from a carriage's window, and also spoke to the audience. He signed contracts with Convert Garden in London, Opéra Comique in Paris and National Opera in Berlin. Kiepura also started a film career, working with Berlin's UFA and then with the Motion Picture Industry in Hollywood. He played in many films, of which the most famous are: The Singing City, The Song of Night, Ich liebe alle Frauen, The Charm of La Boheme, Das Land des Lächelns. In 1939 after the outbreak of WWII he volunteered to serve in the Polish Army in France. In 1938, 1939, 1941-1942 he performed in New York’s Metropolitan Opera singing in La Boheme, Carmen and in Rigoletto. He also had a successful appearance in Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. A little later he performed very successfully on Broadway together with his wife Marta Eggerth in Lehar’s The Merry Widow. After WWII they sang The Merry Widow in four languages in many European countries. Kiepura was extremely hardworking and charitable person.
Personal.In 1936, Kiepura married the Hungarian-born lyric soprano Marta Eggerth (1912–2013). The two often sang together in operettas, in concerts, on records, and in films until his death. In 1937 Kiepura and Eggerth were forced to flee Europe due to the rise of German Nazism and the onset of World War II. They emigrated to the United States. He died in New York and was buried in Aleja Zasluzonych of the Powązki Cemetery, Warsaw. Many thousands of people visited his coffin.
Awards, prizes. 1935: Officer's Cross, Order of Polonia Restituta ; 1937 Polish Gold Cross of Merit; 1936; Belgian Great Cross of the Order of Leopold I; 1937: Swedish Northern Cross.
Sources:
Wikipedia.
Supplemented by:
Wikipedia (in Polish).
Kiepura singing
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