Artūrs Priednieks-Cavara (born Artūrs Vilhelms Priednieks; 29 June 1901 – 9 April 1979) was a

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

n operatic

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

during the late 1920s through the early 1940s. Cavara had performing contracts with the State Opera Houses of

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, the Latvian National Opera in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

, the City Opera Houses in Liepāja, Zurich,

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

, Barmen-Elberfel, and the

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

Teatro Colón The Teatro Colón (Spanish: ''Columbus Theatre'') is the main opera house in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is considered one of the ten best opera houses in the world by National Geographic. According to a survey carried out by the acousti ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

.''The Latvian Artist Union, USA Zone Germany, Certificate.'' Annus, Aug. Prof., Latvian Artists Union, Esslingen, July 15, 1947. Cavara was born in Liepāja to Sīmaņas and Līze Priedniekas (née Krūms). He began his vocal training in 1924 at the Liepāja Conservatory. While performing outside of Latvia, he used the stage name Artūrs Cavara, in honor of his favorite role of Mario Cavaradosi from

Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Puccini (Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long li ...

's 1900 opera ''

Tosca ''Tosca'' is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1 ...

''.Frey-Rabine, Lia. "Der Rosenkavalier, 20 September 1936 • Teatro Colón Performance, Buenos Aires Featuring Alexander Kipnis", 1996. Retrieved on April 23, 2012. While performing In Latvia, however, he generally used his birthname, Artūrs Priednieks. He was occasionally billed under the alternate spellings Kavara, or Kavarra. Cavara's success and stardom peaked in the 1930s, but due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

's invasion of Latvia in the early 1940s, his singing and recording career was cut short prematurely; subsequently, many of his recordings have been lost or lie in obscurity. In 1941, he was arrested and briefly imprisoned in the Riga Central Prison. After his release, he continued to work at the Riga Opera, as well as to give concerts in various Latvian cities. In 1947, he and his family fled Latvia to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

via Ellis Island, settling in

St. Peter, Minnesota St. Peter is a city in Nicollet County, Minnesota, United States. It is 10 miles north of the Mankato – North Mankato metropolitan area. The population was 12,066 at the 2020 census. St. Peter is the county seat of Nicollet County and home ...

, where he taught vocal instruction and opera production at

Gustavus Adolphus College Gustavus Adolphus College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in St. Peter, Minnesota. It was founded in 1862 by Swedish Americans led by Eric Norelius and is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Gustavus gets its nam ...

. He died on 9 April 1979, in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. His ashes are interred at the Latvian Memorial Park in the Catskills, Elka Park, New York.

Selected filmography

* ''

The White Devil ''The White Devil'' (full original title: ''The White Divel; or, The Tragedy of Paulo Giordano Ursini, Duke of Brachiano. With The Life and Death of Vittoria Corombona the famous Venetian Curtizan'') is a tragedy by English playwright John We ...

'' (1930) * '' The Immortal Vagabond'' (1930)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cavara, Arthur 1901 births 1979 deaths 20th-century Latvian male opera singers Latvian World War II refugees Latvian emigrants to the United States Musicians from Liepāja