Prominent Poles
Jan Mieczyslaw Reszke (aka Jean de Reszke aka Giovanni di Reschi) operatic singer (tenor))
Born: January 14, 1850, Warsaw, Russian partition of Poland (presently Poland)
Died: April 3, 1925, Nice, France
Summary. …But all of them were outshined by the unparalleled Jan Reszke, whom none in the world could equal in his glory years, and whose numerous critics as well as historians consider to have been the greatest tenor of all time. Writes “Encyclopedia Britannica”: “ …Polish operatic tenor, celebrated for his beautiful voice, phrasing, and enunciation as well as his charm and striking presence.” “Time” magazine dated 1/1/1940 writes: ”Greatest operatic tenor of the past century was tall, handsome, Polish-born Jean de Reszke, who retired in 1901...”
Early days. Father- a wealthy citizen of Warsaw, Jan Reszke – a justice of the peace, railway inspector, and owner of the flourishing Saski Hotel on Kozia Street and three tenement houses on Krakowskie Przedmieście Street. His mother was a capable amateur singer. Their three children – Jan, Edward and Józefina – were to become the pride of world’s leading opera houses. Jan Mieczyslaw was educated by Italian maestros Cotogni and Ciaffei.
Career. He began his career as a singer at Venice's Teatro la Fenice as a baritone, under the name Giovanni di Reschi, singing the part of King Alphonse in “La Favorite”. He subsequently sang baritone parts in London, even including the title role in Mozart's “Don Juan”, Count Almaviva in “The Marriage of Figaro”, and Valentine in “Faust”. After two years, however, dissatisfied with his achievements as a baritone, he took up vocal studies again, with the famous Italian teacher Giovanni Sbriglia, under whose guidance his voice was ultimately formed as a heroic tenor. He made his tenor debut in the title role in Meyerbeer's “Robert le Diable” (Madrid 1879). Jan Reszke's truly brilliant career began on 1 March 1884: at the invitation of Jules Massenet himself, he appeared at the Paris Opera in the part of John the Baptist in the first Paris performance of Massenet's “Hérodiade”, his stage partners being his sister Józefina and his brother Edward. Next, Massenet prepared the part of Rodrigo in “Le Cid”, which he was finishing, specially with Reszke in mind. After the work's excellent world premiere at the Grand Opera on 30 November 1885, Reszke became the idol of Paris, and went on to sing the parts of Radames, Vasco da Gama in “L'Africaine”, John of Leyden in “Le Prophčte”, “Faust”, and Don Ottavio in “Don Juan”.
On 13 June 1887, Reszke debuted at London's Drury Lane Theatre as Radames in “Aida”, then Lohengrin and then the part of Faust. Reviewers offered enthusiastic opinions, including “A magnificent tenore robusto”, “the best Lohengrin ever seen”, etc. The 11 July performance of “Les Huguenots”, with him in the leading roles, was considered the culmination of the musical season, while the Prince of Wales' admiration led London's high society to return to the previously slightly abandoned fashion for going to the opera.
His greatest triumph took place in Paris, when Gounod's “Romeo and Juliet” was revived, conducted by the composer himself, who demanded that Reszke sing the title role and added a new finale to Act Three specially for him. Edward Reszke was Friar Lawrence. That was a gala and an extraordinary event, also socially. Jan Reszke had to give an encore of the aria “Ali! Lčve-toi, soleil” in Act Two; after the curtain went down, musical Paris went absolutely crazy over him. “This is my ideal Romeo”, said the opera's composer. Experts admired the style of his musical interpretation, and the combination of youthfulness and maturity in his rendition of the Shakespearean hero.
In the summer of 1889, after the greatly successful London premiere of “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg” (NB: in Italian!) featuring Jan Reszke and his brother Edward, Queen Victoria commanded the two brothers to come to Windsor Castle, where they gave an improvised concert. This was the start of a real friendship with the royal household, and led to close contacts with other aristocratic families.
Jan Reszke performed in St. Petersburg in the winter of 1890/91. As a Russian subject, he could not refuse to sing in front of the tsar, who was very pleased with his performance, and knowing of the Polish tenor's wealth, agreed to confirm his ennoblement; from that time, the singer began writing his name “de Reszke”.
Reszke debuted as Romeo at the Metropolitan Opera on 14 December 1891. Soon after, he appeared in “Les Huguenots” there, and repeated the same parts in Boston. He returned to Europe for the 1892/93 season, taking part in the 500th performance of “Romeo and Juliet” in Paris, and in May 1893 appearing just once at the Warsaw Opera. He returned to the Metropolitan Opera in late 1893, to sing in “Faust”, “Lohengrin” and “Les Huguenots”, and – for the first time – in Massenet's “Werther”. In the spring of 1894, he sang in the London production of “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg” with an excellent international cast. Soon afterwards, he purchased the Skrzydlów estate near Częstochowa, and subsequently three more properties. Skrzydlów became his proper Polish home; he went there many times for the summer, to work on new roles. He also built a road, and established a stud farm and a modern sports stable that exists to this day.
By then he was a great star of the Metropolitan Opera. On 27 November 1896 he sang that part of Tristan, a performance that critics said went beyond all expectations; his singing, which astonished listeners with its power, recitative expression but also subtlety, opened a new era in the history of operatic interpretation.
Slightly later, he included the title role from “Siegfried” in his repertoire. Obviously, they wanted to see him in these roles at the Wagner Festival in Bayreuth; it never happened, though, because at one time the Princess of Wales, who was to become Queen Alexandra, had half-jokingly forced a solemn oath from both Reszke brothers that they would never sing on territory belonging to the German emperor.
Jan Reszke's triumphs on stages in Europe and America lasted until 1901. That spring, he officially parted company with the Metropolitan Opera, and in the autumn – the first artist at the Paris Opera to do so – sang Siegfried in French (the chronicles of London's Royal Opera Covent Garden simply call this period the “Jan Reszke era”). His last stage creation was the part of Canio in “I Pagliacci”, produced in autumn 1902. He had been suffering for some time from chronic bronchitis and other ailments, and decided to end his career while he was still a star, so that nobody would hear him “once his voice had gone”.
He devoted himself to teaching at his Paris residence. After World War I he wanted to return to independent Poland (where his estates were prospering very well, and his horses were winning races), but his French wife wouldn't agree, not wanting to move too far away from the grave of her only son, who had been killed on the French front. Thus, Jan Reszke spent the last years of his life in Nice, and he died there on 3 April 1925. He was buried at the Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris.
Jan Reszke was not only a phenomenal singer but also a genuine, fully-fledged musician. He was famous first and foremost as an unparalleled interpreter of French operas – Gounod, Meyerbeer, Massenet, and also as an unequalled Wagnerian tenor whose creations in the parts of Tristan, Siegfried, Walter von Stolzing or Lohengrin have a lasting place in history.
This great artist never agreed to make gramophone recordings. Despite of this Reszke's voice was recorded a few times. Hidden phonographs were placed around the stage during his performances. However, even these extremely primitive recordings allow to appreciate the singer's phenomenal vocal skill. Mapleson cylinder recordings include fragments of his showpiece aria from Meyerbeer's “L'Africaine”, a group scene from Massenet's “Le Cid”, a duet from “Les Huguenots”, and also fragments from Wagner's “Lohengrin”, “Siegfried” and “Tristan”. Apparently the artist also made one recording for the British royal family. Some of these recordings were ultimately released on 78 rpm records, but these were intended for specialist collectors only; later, the International Record Collectors Club of the United States released them on a 33 rpm record.
Copied and shortened from the biography appearing in the website of Teatr Wielki-Opera Narodowa in Warsaw:
Teatr Wielki-Opera Narodowa
with the permission of Mr.Jacek Gnoinski
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