1911 Orig Cast HUNGARIAN Sari Petrass Béla Környei Lehar Count of Luxebourg Duet

$

35

A series of great  OPERA Records from early G&Ts to World War II recordings on 78 rpm Victrola Records

Click this link for more great Opera and Vocal Records in my other listings!

Click this link for more great Hungarian and Gypsy Records in my other listings! 

Sári Petráss


The original cast of Lehar's Count of Luxembourg Budapest Premiere

Sari Petrass of the Kiraly Szinhaz (King's Theater) and Béla Környei of the Royal Hungarian Opera house
The Kiraly Szinhaz was the leading venue with all the great stars of the Hungarian Operetta
According to Richard Traubner, Sári Petráss and Sári Fedák remain "the two best-remembered Hungarian female operetta stars of all time.




Gombolom, gimbelem  Juliette and Brissard Duet Act II: Duet: Schau'n Sie freundlichst mich an / 

Bohém-Duett Act I: Boheme: Duet: Ein Stubchen so kleinSari Petrass a Kiraly Szinhaz tagja es Béla Környei a m kiraly Opera tagja

Orig Issue Hungarian Gramophone Concert Record  V 104496/7 10" 78 rpm 

CONDITION: EXCELLENT MINUS,  just a hint of greying light rubs, fine scratch start of Boheme causes few mild clicks at start, plays very quiet light hiss rare ticks

A GREAT COPY

Sári Petráss (born Sarolta Petráss; 5 November 1888 – 9 September 1930) was a Hungarian operetta actress and singer. In the 1910s and 1920s, she played leading soprano parts in Budapest, Vienna, London and on Broadway. According to Richard Traubner, Sári Petráss and Sári Fedák remain "the two best-remembered Hungarian female operetta stars of all time."[1]

Biography
Petráss was born in Veroce, Hungary in 1888 and was a niece to Bertha von Suttner, countess Kinsky.[2]

Petráss debuted in as a lead singer in November 1911 in Leányvásár along with Sári Fedák.[1] The show produced at the Király Színház (King Theater), Budapest[3] became an international hit as was instantly picked up by Carltheater in Vienna and by the English impresario George Edwardes.[1] In 1912, Edwardes "imported" her and most of the original Budapest cast to London.[1][4] Petráss quickly mastered singing in English and performed at the Daly's Theatre in Edwardes's English language version of Franz Lehár's Gipsy Love (1912) at Daly's Theatre, which ran 299 performances.[5] She then performed at Daly's in The Marriage Market (1913) and in a revival of A Waltz Dream (1913), all with Gertie Millar and Robert Michaelis. Petráss was an expert horse rider, and rode a donkey called Jenny in the opening scenes of The Marriage Market.[1]

In February 1916, the American media spread a rumour that Petráss had been executed in Budapest as a spy.[2] Allegedly, after the outbreak of World War I she returned from England to Hungary to spy against the Central Powers for the British.[6] The exact origin of the rumour is unknown; later it was confirmed that she indeed returned from England to Vienna and starred there in The Beautiful Unknown by Oscar Straus.[7] William Boosey wrote that the London show of The Gipsy Princess with Petráss failed owing to cast selection, despite a "phenomenal run everywhere".[3]

In late 1916, she settled in New York City and starred at the New Amsterdam Theatre. The New York Times praised her performance in the September 1916 premiere of Miss Springtime. The show was originally billed as Little Miss Springtime but A.L. Erlanger of New Amsterdam decided against "anything Little"[8] by Emmerich Kálmán and Jerome Kern: "a prima donna new to these shores and destined to be a reigning favorite... in addition to her other talents, she is a clever actress. Miss Petrass is pretty and graceful and her voice, while not large, has a lovely quality and is used with great discretion."[9]

A few days later Alexander Woollcott objected: "while Sári Petráss is an ingratiating and pretty vivacious prima donna, she can scarcely take first rank as a singer."[10] In March 1917 Petráss married Felix Augustus Eugene Sommerhoff, a broker from Cedarhurst, New York.[11] She soon withdrew from Miss Springtime and toured the United States with The Beautiful Unknown.[11]

In 1921, Petráss reprised her role in The Gipsy Princess at the Prince of Wales Theatre, London.[12] Sari Petrass was buried at the "Old saint mary church churchyard in Deal, Kent UK ... thumb

Petráss and a friend, Lady Horne, were killed in an accident [clarification needed] in Antwerp, Belgium on 9 September 1930.[13] Their chauffeur, attempting to drive the car onto a ferry bound for Sainte Anne, was blinded by the beam of a lighthouse and crashed the car into the Scheldt.[14] Both passengers drowned; Petráss was not identified until the next day.

Béla Környei in 1908

Béla Környey ( Krumau , May 18 , 1873 – Budapest , Terézváros , April 28 , 1925 ) [1] singer ( tenor ), member of the Hungarian Royal Opera .


Béla Környei in 1908
His life 
He was born on May 18, 1873 in Krumau, the son of Béla Környey and Mária Amália Dudák. He studied at Elek Solymosi's acting school. In 1896, he sang as a bassist in the choir of the People's Theater , in 1898 he sang an operetta in the Hungarian Theater , from 1899 he was a baritone singer in Debrecen , and from 1901 he was a member of the Buda-Temesvár company.

He played in the Buda Theater Circle and from 1905 at the Király Theater , and from 1908 he signed a contract with the Népszínház–Vígopera, where he played tenor roles. He was a member of the Opera House from 1908 to 1915 . Then he was a member of the Vienna Opera for three years, then returned to the Opera House again; he sang here until his death. He is a permanent member of the institution.

The first great Hungarian tenor, the baritonal timbre of his voice was unique. His tombstone was unveiled on April 30, 1930.

His family 
From his first marriage to Paula Galyassy, ??he had a daughter, Paula Környey (1899–1996), an actress, and a son, Béla Környey (1901–?), a pianist.

On October 15, 1914, in Budapest, he married the opera singer Elza Szamosi (Erzsébet Szamek), who was eight years younger than him, the daughter of Jacques Szamek and Eugénia Goldstein, [2] but they divorced in 1921. [3]

He then married for the third time: on October 30, 1921, in Terézváros, Budapest, he married the singer Mária Sándor, who was born in Cluj and was 19 years younger than him , the daughter of János Sándor and Rozália Sebesi. [4]

Main roles 
Falke ( Johann Strauss Jr .: The Bat )
Johnson Dick ( Puccini : Daughter of the West )
Padro ( d'Albert : At the Bottom of the Mountains )
Radames ( Verdi : Aida )
Tenor, Bacchus ( Richard Strauss : Ariadne on the Island of Naxos )
Turiddu ( Mascagni : Peasant Honor )