Max Bloch

Max Bloch was at the Met from 1914 to 1918 and from 1923 to 1930, singing a total of 435 performances. The roles he sang were, among others, Mime in both Rheingold and Siegfried, Jonas in Prophète, the Fisherman in Guillaume Tell, the Astrologer in Zolotoj petushok, Erster Geharnischter in Zauberflöte, Simpleton in Boris Godunov...

Other than that, there's considerable confusion about his biography. It seems clear that he was born in 1882; sources differ on whether in Germany or Poland, so I suppose he was a German speaker from that part of Poland that belonged to Germany at the time.

On record, he sometimes used the pseudonyms Mario Brefelli or Martino Brefelli, there's no doubt about that; that he is also credited with the "pseudonym" Stanisław (or Stassio) Berini is plain wrong, however – Berini was a Polish tenor, who has only the year of birth in common with Bloch.

Another uncertainty regards Bloch's death; some (usually reliable) sources like notably the French National Library give it as 1943, but the New York Times reported on September 1st, 1930, that Bloch had died in Düsseldorf. I'm sure that neither he nor the Times faked his death, and that the 1943 indication is a mix-up with two Jewish namesakes, both born in 1882 like himself, one from Czechoslovakia and one from Amsterdam, both murdered by the Nazis.