Alda Frances (Jean)

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Alda Frances (Jean) (née Davis) (b Christchurch, NZ, 1883; d Venice, 1952). NZ-born soprano (Amer. cit. 1939). Début Paris 1904 ( Massenet's Manon). CG début 1906, La Scala and NY Met 1908. From 1908 to 1929 sang at NY Met, to whose dir., Gatti-Casazza, she was married 1910–28. Much given to litigation. A fine Desdemona. Autobiography, Men, Women and Tenors (Boston, 1937).