Lucrezia Bori

Lucrezia Bori (24 December 1887 – 14 May 1960) was a Spanish operatic singer, a lyric soprano and a tireless and effective fundraiser for the Metropolitan Opera.

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. Her family were descended from the influential family of the Italian Renaissance, the House of Borgia and she herself was named after her ancestor, Lucrezia Borgia.

Her voice had a unique timbre and transparent quality unlike any present-day singer. She studied in Milan with Vidal and made her debut at the Teatro Adriano in Rome as Micaëla in Bizet's Carmen on October 31, 1908. In December, 1910, she made her debut at La Scala as Carolina in Il Matrimonio Segreto and the following year, she sang Octavian in the Italian premiere of Der Rosenkavalier there.

Her career at the Metropolitan Opera began in the summer of 1910 during the Met's first visit to Paris. On June 9 of that year she replaced a singer who had become ill in the role of Manon in Puccini's Manon Lescaut. On the opening night of the 1912-13 season, she made her debut with the Met in New York when she sang Manon opposite Enrico Caruso. In 1915 she was forced to stop singing for a surgical operation to remove nodes on her vocal cords. Following a lengthy convalescence, she returned to the stage in 1921. During the course of her career with the Opera, she appeared a total of 654 times and sang the leading role in 39 operas. She was famous for her portrayals of Manon in Massenet's opera; Mimì in La bohème; Fiora in L' amore dei trè rè; Mélisande in Pelléas et Mélisande; and Violetta in La traviata.