Calvé (real name, Calvet de Roquer), (Rosa-Noémie) Emma
Calvé (real name, Calvet de Roquer), (Rosa-Noémie) Emma
Calvé (real name, Calvet de Roquer), (Rosa-Noémie) Emma, famous French soprano; b. Décazeville, Aveyron, Aug. 15, 1858; d. Millau, Jan. 6, 1942. She studied voice with Puget in Paris and with Marchesi and Laborde. She made her operatic debut as Marguerite in Gounod’s Faust at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels on Sept. 23, 1881; then sang at the Opéra-Comique in Paris 3 years later. She sang at La Scala in Milan and at other Italian opera houses from 1886; appeared at Covent Garden in London from 1892 to 1904. She made her American debut at the Metropolitan Opera in N.Y. as Santuzza on Nov. 29, 1893, and remained on its staff until 1904; her greatest role was that of Carmen. Subsequently she sang at the Manhattan Opera (1907–09), in Boston (1912), and in Nice (1914) before retiring from the operatic stage; she continued to give concerts until 1927. Her life was made the subject of a novel by Gustav Kobbé, Signora, A Child of the Opera House (N.Y., 1903). She publ, an autobiography, in Eng., My Life (N.Y., 1922); she later publ, an additional vol. of memoirs, Sous tous les ciels j’ai chanté (Paris, 1940).
Bibliography
A. Gallus, E. C., Her Artistic Life (N.Y., 1902).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire