Long live Battistini!
Remembering on this day – as every day – the immortal Mattia Battistini (he was born February 27, 1856). It’s fun to recall some wonderful memories of a book launch in New York, held just ten years ago, at a special event organized by the Richard Wagner Society of New York, for ‘Mattia Battistini, King of Baritones and Baritone of Kings.’ We spent a very exciting week there, accompanied by Biscuit! Among the speakers, besides author Jacques Chuilon and yours truly, was Battistini’s grand-daughter Liza Mrosovsky Shaw, who came especially from London. Her brother (name withheld) from New York, was also present, and they are now both deceased. And then there was the marvelous Nora London, the indefatigable widow of George London, who signed for me his biography. In one of the photos, Jacques admires a priceless jeweled Fabergé cigarette case, given to the King of Baritones as a gift from the Russian Czar Nicolas II, in the hands of Battistini’s descendant. Many thanks to our friends Chris and François for the photos. (The last pictures feature Biscuit contemplating the activity on Broadway from his suite at the Empire Hotel at Lincoln Center! Liza, who was a close friend since 1996, named Biscuit “le prince persan.”).
