Eggerth, Martha
Kiepura Jan Wiktor, *16 May 1902 Sosnowiec, †15 August 1966 Harrison (New York), Polish opera singer, tenor. His father Franciszek Kiepura was a baker in Sosnowiec. In his youth, Jan Kiepura took an active part in the fight for the freedom of Silesia as a member of the Polish Military Organization and a participant of the First Silesian Uprising. According to his parents’ will, he studied at the University of Warsaw; at the same time, however, he studied singing with W. Brzeziński, and for some time he also took lessons with T. Leliwa. In 1923, he performed for the first time at a public concert in the “Sfinks” cinema in Sosnowiec. In 1924, E. Młynarski engaged him at the opera in Warsaw, where the young adept sang at first modest, episodic parts (Góral in Act III of Moniuszko’s Halka), and he celebrated his real operatic debut in Lviv on 15 January 1925, playing the title role in Gounod’s Faust. In 1926, he went to Vienna, where the director of the Staatsoper, F. Schalk, and the prima donna, M. Jeritz, became interested in the young singer; Jan Kiepura was her partner in Puccini’s Tosca on 22 September 1926 on the Staatsoper stage, which became his foreign debut. For the next three months, he sang in Vienna, Berlin, Brno, Prague and Budapest, and in February 1927 – at the Royal Albert Hall in London. In 1928, he took part in the premiere of Das Wunder der Heliane by E.W. Korngold at the Staatsoper (with L. Lehmann as partner). In 1928, he made his debut at La Scala in Milan with the role of Calaf (Puccini’s Turandot), where he then sang the part of Cavaradossi and took part in the world premiere of F. Lattuada’s opera Le preciose ridicole conducted by A. Toscanini. He appeared again at La Scala in 1931 as Chevalier des Grieux in Massenet’s Manon, conducted by V. de Sabata. It was the beginning of the great career of the Polish singer, who also began to triumph in other famous theatres, such as the Staatsoper in Berlin, the Opéra in Paris, Covent Garden in London, and the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. On 10 February 1938, he made his debut as Rudolf in Puccini’s La bohème at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, where he also sang Don José in Bizet’s Carmen and the Duke of Mantua in Verdi’s Rigoletto, which role became one of his greatest creations. In 1930, he also began cooperation with German, and then American and other European film studios, successfully appearing in 12 films, including Naples, the Singing City (dir. C. Gallone, 1930), Song of Night (dir. A. Litvak, 1932), My Heart Calls You (dir. C. Gallone, 1934), The Charm of La Boheme (dir. G. v. Bolvary, 1937) and Valse brillante (dir. J. Boyer, 1949); in the last two, he played together with the singer and film actress M. Eggerth, whom he married in 1937. He became one of the first European idols of sound cinema. Jan Kiepura also performed at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1939 and the 1941/42 season. In 1944, he moved to one of the theatres on Broadway, where he and M. Eggerth played the main roles in Lehár’s The Merry Widow for a whole year with great success; with this performance, they also visited other cities in the United States and – after World War II – in England, France, Italy and Germany (the performance was prepared in four language versions). In 1958 and 1959, Jan Kiepura visited Poland, giving concerts, among others, in Warsaw and Krakow. His last public appearance was on 13 August 1966 at a Polish concert in Portchester (United States). Two days later, he died suddenly of a heart attack at his residence near New York. His body, following the artist’s last will, was transported to Poland and buried in the Avenue of Merit at the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw. Since 1967, the annual J. Kiepura Festival of Arias and Songs has been held in Krynica.
Jan Kiepura went down in history as the most popular Polish singer of the 20th century. Endowed with a tenor voice of exceptional beauty, he was able, as a result of hard work, to bring his vocal technique to the limits of mastery. He also had excellent external conditions and captivated the audience with his spontaneous temperament and the joy of life that was conveyed to the audience.
In the 1930s, he recorded several opera arias, two duets from Tosca with L. Lehmann, La danza by Rossini and many film songs for the Odeon/Parlophon record label; in 1939, a performance of Rigoletto at the Metropolitan Opera House was also recorded, starring Jan Kiepura as the prince, released in the CD series “The Golden Age of the Opera;” in 1992 and 1993, the English company Pearl released two CDs containing, in addition to previously known items, arias and songs included in musical films with Kiepura’s participation (including La Traviata, Werther and Turandot), previously unpublished American recordings from the war years and several Polish songs recorded during performances in 1938 in Warsaw.
Literature: R. Hernicz [R. Haber] Mózg i krtań. Opowieść o Janie Kiepurze, Vienna 1931; A. Rogalski Jan Kiepura, król śpiewaków, Warsaw 1933; J. Ramage Jan Kiepura, Paris 1968; J. Waldorff Jan Kiepura, Kraków 1974; J. Zieliński Chłopak z Sosnowca. Szkice do portretu, Katowice 1987; W. Panek Jan Kiepura, Warsaw 1992.