Riccardo Martin (November 18, 1874 – August 11, 1952) was an American

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 ...

. Born Hugh Whitfield Martin in

Hopkinsville, Kentucky Hopkinsville is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Christian County, Kentucky, United States. The population at the 2010 census was 31,577. History Early years The area of present-day Hopkinsville was initially claimed in 1796 b ...

, Martin began his career at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

studying

music composition Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called c ...

under

Edward MacDowell Edward Alexander MacDowell (December 18, 1860January 23, 1908) was an American composer and pianist of the late Romantic period. He was best known for his second piano concerto and his piano suites ''Woodland Sketches'', ''Sea Pieces'' and ''Ne ...

. It was while studying at Columbia that Martin's vocal talents were discovered. In 1901 he was granted an endowment by industrialist

Henry Flagler Henry Morrison Flagler (January 2, 1830 – May 20, 1913) was an American industrialist and a founder of Standard Oil, which was first based in Ohio. He was also a key figure in the development of the Atlantic coast of Florida and founde ...

to study to further his vocal studies in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

with

Giovanni Sbriglia Giovanni Sbriglia (June 23, 1832 – February 20, 1916), was an Italian tenor and prominent teacher of singing. A native of Naples, Sbriglia attended the city's music conservatory under Emanuele De Roxas before making his debut, aged 21, at the ...

Jean de Reszke Jean de Reszke (14 January 18503 April 1925) was a Polish tenor and opera star. Reszke came from a musically inclined family. His mother gave him his first singing lessons and provided a home that was a recognized music centre. His sister Josep ...

and

Léon Escalaïs Léon Escalaïs (August 8, 1859, Cuxac-d'Aude – November 8, 1940, Cuxac-d'Aude) was a prominent French tenor, particularly associated with French and Italian heroic roles. His lean, nimble and powerful voice was noted for the ease and bril ...

. Martin later completed his studies with Vincenzo Lombardi in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

and

Beniamino Carelli Beniamino Carelli (9 May 1833 – 14 February 1921) was an Italian singing teacher and composer. Carelli was born and died in Naples, where he spent many years teaching at the Conservatory of San Pietro a Majella. One of the most sought afte ...

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. He debuted as Faust in

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

in 1904. Two years later he made his American debut in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, singing with the visiting San Carlo Opera. Martin bowed at the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

on November 20, 1907, in ''

Mefistofele ''Mefistofele'' () is an opera in a prologue and five acts, later reduced to four acts and an epilogue, the only completed opera with music by the Italian composer-librettist Arrigo Boito (there are several completed operas for which he was libret ...

''; the performance also marked the American debut of

Fyodor Chaliapin Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin ( rus, Фёдор Ива́нович Шаля́пин, Fyodor Ivanovich Shalyapin, ˈfʲɵdər ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ ʂɐˈlʲapʲɪn}; April 12, 1938) was a Russian opera singer. Possessing a deep and expressive bass v ...

. Martin remained with the Metropolitan through the 1914–15 season, appearing in numerous leading tenor roles; he was among the first American-born leading men the company employed. He returned for the 1917–18 season. During his tenure at the Met, he created the lead tenor roles in three American operas:

Walter Damrosch Walter Johannes Damrosch (January 30, 1862December 22, 1950) was a German-born American conductor and composer. He was the director of the New York Symphony Orchestra and conducted the world premiere performances of various works, including Ge ...

's ''

Cyrano Cyrano may refer to: Astronomy * 3582 Cyrano, a small main belt asteroid * Cyrano (crater), a lunar impact crater that lies on the far side of the Moon Stage and film * ''Cyrano'' (Damrosch), a 1913 opera by Walter Damrosch * ''Cyrano'', a 195 ...

'',

Horatio Parker Horatio William Parker (September 15, 1863 – December 18, 1919) was an American composer, organist and teacher. He was a central figure in musical life in New Haven, Connecticut in the late 19th century, and is best remembered as the undergradu ...

's '' Mona'', and Frederick Shepherd Converse's ''

The Pipe of Desire ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

''. After leaving the company he appeared with numerous companies throughout America and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, and spent three seasons with the

Chicago Civic Opera The Civic Opera Company (1922–1931) was a Chicago company that produced seven seasons of grand opera in the Auditorium Theatre from 1922 to 1928, and three seasons at its own Civic Opera House from 1929 to 1931 before falling victim to financia ...

. Martin died in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1952. Martin is known to have married at least three times according to newspaper accounts and vital records. He first married in 1899, to Elfrida Hildegarde Klamroth, a fellow opera singer more widely known by the stage name Ruano Bogislav. They had one child, Beth Martin, commonly and professionally known as

Bijie Martin Beth "Bijie" Martin (October 13, 1900 – January 30, 1968) was an American fashion director, writer and actress. Born in New York City, she was the daughter of American Opera singers Riccardo Martin and Ruano Bogislav. From the time Martin wa ...

. The couple divorced before 1920, largely due to career differences. Martin's 1923 marriage to aspiring actress Jane Grey also ended in divorce. His last known marriage was in 1932, to Allis Beaumont, who has recently become famous as Allis Beaumont Reid in the documentary "Must Read After My Death" (2007).

References

*David Ewen, ''Encyclopedia of the Opera: New Enlarged Edition''. New York; Hill and Wang, 1963. 1874 births 1952 deaths American operatic tenors People from Hopkinsville, Kentucky Singers from Kentucky 20th-century American male opera singers Columbia University alumni {{US-opera-singer-stub