PAR@ ` ▓TEXT ` ñVan Zandt, Marie1858╨1919opera singerBorn in New York, probably in Brooklyn, on October 8, 1858, Marie Van Zandt was apparently taken to Europe as a small child by her mother, who pursued a successful career as a concert and operatic singer under the name Madame Vanzini. Marie evidently attended a convent school in Europe for a time. She soon displayed vocal abilities of her own, and her mother abandoned her own career in order to promote the daughter╒s. She received encouragement from Adelina Patti, studied under Francesco Lamperti in Milan, and made her singing debut in a production of Don Giovanni in Turin early in 1879. In May of that year she made her London debut at Her Majesty╒s Theatre in La Sonnambula. Her Paris debut followed in March 1880 in an OpÄra-Comique production of Mignon. Her performance there won her a five-year contract, and she attained popular stardom with dizzying speed. The height of her Paris career came in April 1883, when she created the title role in LakmÄ, which Leo Delibes reportedly had written for her. In November 1884 her voice failed during a performance of Il Barbiere di Siviglia; immediately the many cabals that had formed against her╤some founded on anti-Americanism, some perhaps inspired by the rival Emma Nevada, and some perhaps arising from entirely irrelevant matters╤sprang forth to destroy her reputation. She was accused, falsely, of having attempted to sing while inebriated. Her return to the OpÄra-Comique stage three months later sparked riots, whereupon she secured a release from her contract. She sang successfully in St. Petersburg, Moscow, and London and in November 1891 made her American debut in La Sonnambula at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago. She spent the rest of the 1891╨1892 season at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, where she made her debut in December in La Sonnambula. After that single American season she returned permanently to Europe. She made a successful return to the OpÄra-Comique in 1896. She retired from the stage following her marriage in April 1898 to Mikhail Petrovitch de Tscherinoff, a Russian professor and state councilor. She died in Cannes, France, on December 31, 1919. styl ` ! ¬ 5¬ 5¬ ) !I ≥ !I ▐ !I Z !I f !I ╩ !I ╫ !I # !I ) !I φ !I ≥ !I ' 5¬ ( !I b !I y !I ° !I ▐ !I Ö !I ª !I ╧ 5¬ ╨ !I O !I \ !I .link ` HYPR ≥ HYPR °
