Adam Didur

Adam Didur (born 24 February 1874 in Wola Sękowa, died 7 January 1946 in Katowice) was a world famous Polish opera singer – one of the time's foremost basses.

After having completed high school, he began studies at the University of Lviv, and took song studies under Walery Wysocki. He later continued his studies in Italy. He began his opera career in 1894, when he debuted as Fader Guardiano in Verdi's "La forza del destino" in Pinerolo, Torino. He often sang at the Teatr Wielki in Lviv, and also sang at many Italian theatres, and later in Alexandria and Kairo. The successes he achieved (among others, in Verdi's "Aida" and Meyerbeer's "Les Huguenots") were such that he was asked to sing at La Scala. He later also sang in Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires, where his career gained speed. In the 1898/99 season, he sang in Messina, and in the years 1899 – 1903 he was the main soloist in the opera in Warszawa. From 1903 – 1906 he again sang at La Scala in Milan.

In 1908 he debuted in the title role of Boito's "Mefistofeles" at the Manhattan Opera in New York, and later in the season opening of the Metropolitan in Verdi's "Aida", where he sung in an unusual company – Emma Destinn in the title role, Louise Homer as Amneris, Enrico Caruso as Radames, Antonio Scotti as Aida's father, and Arturo Toscanini as conductor.

Didur was the main soloist at the Metropolitan from 1914 to 1929, but at the same time, he continued his European career. He was also famous in Russia, where he performed many times. He was seen as the foremost bass of the time, on an equal basis with Fjodor Sjaljapin. In 1932 he ended his career, and moved back to his homeland of Poland, where he was active as a teacher. In 1945 he founded the Państwowa Opera Śląska in Bytom, and was the opera's first director.

Didur had a big voice with a wide scale (he could therefore also sing baritone parts), and an unusual technique and acting temprament. His creations of the title role in Mussorgskij's "Boris Godunov", Méphistophélès in Gounod's "Faust" and Don Basilio in Rossini's "Il barbiere di Sivilgia" have gone down in history. He was also the world's first Billy Jackrabbit (Puccini's "La Fanciulla del West" – world premiere 1910), Trehogger (Humperdinck's "Königskinder" – world premiere 1910), Talpa (Puccini's "Il Tabarro" – world premiere 1918) and Simone (Puccini's "Gianni Schicchi" – world premiere 1918).

Famous roles

*Méphistophélès in "Faust" by Gounod
*Boris in "Boris Godunov" by Mussorgskij
*Marcel in "Les Huguenots" by Meyerbeer
*Ramfis in "Aida" by Verdi
*Colline in "La Bohème" by Puccini
*Mefistofele in "Mefistofele" by Boito
*Coppélius in "Les Contes d’Hoffmann" by Offenbach
*Sparafucile in "Rigoletto" by Verdi
*Galitskij in "Prins Igor" by Borodin
*Leporello in "Don Giovanni" by Borodin
*Archibaldo in "L’Amore dei tre re" by Montemezzi
*Filippo II in "Don Carlo" by Verdi
*Don Basilio in "Il barbiere di Siviglia" by Rossini
*Figaro in "Le nozze di Figaro" by Mozart
*Tomskij in "Spardame" by Tsjajkovskij
*Kezal in "Svatební košile" by Dvořák
*Tonio in "I pagliacci" by Leoncavallo
*Klingsor in "Parsifal" by Wagner
*Oberthal in "Le prophète" by Meyerbeer
*Don Alfonso in "Così fan tutte" by Mozart
*Mustafà in "L’Italiana in Algeri" by Rossini
*Alvise Badoero in "La Gioconda" by Ponchielli
*Scarpia in "Tosca" by Puccini
*Billy Jackrabbit in "La Fanciulla del West" by Puccini
*Talpa in "Il Tabarro" by Puccini
*Simone in "Gianni Schicchi" by Puccini
*Trehogger in "Königskinder" by Humperdinck
*Il Cieco in "Iris" by Mascagni
*Franz in "Lodoletta" by Mascagni
*Gremin in "Eugene Onegin" by Tsjajkovskij
*Pistol in "Falstaff" by Verdi
*Giovanni Filippo Palm in "Germania" by Franchetti
*Hu-Tsin in "L’Oracolo" by Leoni