Julián Gayarre

From a very poor family, he left school at 13 and earned his life as a shepherd, then as a sales clerk in Pamplona, and eventually he learned the trade of a blacksmith. When the Orfeon Pamplonés (a classical choir) was founded in 1865, Gayarre sang there in his spare time. Choir director Joaquín Maya found the young man's voice promising, so he took him to Hilarión Eslava, famous composer and director of the conservatory in Madrid. Eslava advised Gayarre to come to Madrid to study; Orfeon founder Conrado García collected some money from patrons so as to make Gayarre's trip to Madrid feasible.

He studied voice at the Conservatorio Real, and appeared in 1867 in Tudela with the touring zarzuela company of Pepe Gainza, under a pseudonym (Sebastián Sandoval). Without an engagement, he returned to Pamplona, and gave a concert (now as a soloist) with the Orfeon Pamplonés (1868). He was so successful that a grant by the local authorities enabled him to finish his studies in Milano with Giuseppe Gerli.

After his September 1869 debut in Varese, he sang around Italy for the next years; the Carcano in Milano, the Regio in Parma (where he had his breakthrough in 1870), the Carlo Felice in Genova, the Comunale in Bologna and the Apollo in Rome stand out among "his" theaters of that period.

In 1872, he sang in Spain for the first time (in Sevilla as Elvino, his father was in the audience); in 1873, he won triumphs in St. Petersburg. 1874 was spent between Moscow, Madrid, Vienna and St. Petersburg again. Also in 1875, he was in Russia.

For one and a half years from 1876 to 1877 (and again in 1888), he sang at La Scala; his first appearance there (2 January 1876) was in his favorite opera, La favorite, he went on to sing Raoul, Gennaro, Alvaro, and in the 1876 world premieres of La lega (by Giovanni Josse, and fortunately totally unrelated to Umberto Bossi or Matteo Salvini) and La Gioconda (where he was Enzo of course).

In 1877, he caused a sensation as Fernand at Covent Garden, where he returned several times until 1887. 1879/80, he sang at the Teatro Real in Madrid, 1881 at the Liceu in Barcelona, 1882 in Monte Carlo, and in Rome, where he sang in the posthumous world premiere of Donizetti's Il duca d'Alba. In 1883, he was in Naples (and almost died from malaria), in 1884 at the Théâtre des Italiens in Paris as Gennaro. So as to realize his dream of singing at the Paris Opéra, he took great pains to learn French; on 7 April 1886, he made his debut there as Vasco da Gama, another tremendous success.

After that, his voice began to weaken as he faced respiratory problems. In Les pêcheurs de perles in Madrid on 8 December 1889 (his role debut), he cracked an exposed note in "Je crois entendre encore", said "I cannot sing anymore" and left the stage. The audience of the Teatro Real was very fond of him, so they called him back and encouraged him to try the aria again; he failed once more, was heard saying "This is the end", and fell into a deep depression. A few days later, he contracted influenza, and not quite a month after the disastrous performance, he was dead.

Reference 1: http://www.terra.es/personal6/valmont2/juliangayarre.htm (defunct); reference 2; reference 3; reference 4: Kutsch & Riemens