Émile Cossira

2 October 1854 Orthez – 1 February 1923 Québec

Émile Cossira sings

Le prophète: Roi du ciel

In RA format

Born Jean-Émile Coussirat (and not, what you'll read most everywhere, Coussival), he studied voice at the conservatory of Bordeaux and made his debut in 1883 at the Paris Opéra-Comique as Grétry's Richard Coeur-de-Lion. The next few years, he sang in Belgium (Gent, Antwerp, Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels). From 1888 to 1891, he was at the Paris Opéra (debut role: Fernand in La favorite), where he participated in the world premiere of Saint-Saëns' Ascanio on 21 March 1890. Other roles he sang at the Opéra included Raoul, Vasco da Gama, Gounod's Faust, Roméo and Edgardo.
In 1891, he was in North America (New Orleans, New York), then in Nice for two seasons, where he sang Werther and Turiddu, for instance. 1893/94, he appeared again at La Monnaie, where he was Tristan in the Belgian premiere of Tristan und Isolde (sung in French). This was to become one of his most famous roles, and to some extent, he specialized in Wagner now: he was France's first Stolzing (Lyon, 30 December 1896), and also added Lohengrin and Tannhäuser to his repertory.
As a guest, he sang at Covent Garden (1894 and 1900), at the Théâtre Lyrique Renaissance in Paris (1899), in Cairo, Monte Carlo (1901, Samson), at La Scala (see complete list of appearances below), in Barcelona, Kyiv, St. Petersburg...
He pursued his career unusually long, and died all of a sudden on an operetta tour to Canada.
Reference 1, reference 2: Kutsch & Riemens, reference 3: La République des Pyrénées, 31 October 2022

Milano, Scala, Linda di Chamounix, from 2 January 1902 onwards, with Rosina Storchio, Elisa Bruno/Blanca Lavin de Casas, Mario Sammarco, Enrico Contini, Arcangelo Rossi/Augusto Dadò, Arturo Toscanini (total 10)
Milano, Scala, Requiem, from 27 January 1902 onwards, with Malia Karola, Elisa Bruno, Constantino Nicolay, Arturo Toscanini (total 2)
Milano, Scala, Euryanthe, from 2 April 1902 onwards, with Rosina Storchio, Elvira Magliulo, Onoria Popovici, Antonio Magini-Coletti, Augusto Dadò, Arturo Toscanini (total 3)

Discography

Phono-Cinéma-Théâtre cylinder (unnumbered), Paris, 1900
	Roméo et Juliette (Gounod): Ah! lêve-toi, soleil

Disque Gramophone, Paris, January 1904
2850F	Jérusalem (Verdi): Je veux entendre encore			3-32059, Zonophone X-82100
2851F	La perle du Brésil (David): Zora, je cède			3-32058, Zonophone X-82102
2852F	Dimitri (Joncières): Moscou, voici la ville sainte		3-32055, Zonophone X-82103
2854F	Histoire d'amour (Samaras): Partir! quitter ce que l'on aime	3-32054, Zonophone X-82104
2855F	Le prophète (Meyerbeer): Roi du ciel				3-32056, Zonophone X-82105

Disque Gramophone, Paris, February 1904
2909F	Sérénade de Severo Torelli (Schatté)				3-32065, Zonophone X-82106
2910F	Chanson d'Estelle (Godard)					3-32066, Zonophone X-82107
2911F	Au printemps (Gounod)						3-32064, Zonophone X-82108
2912F	Die Zauberflöte (Mozart): Jamais dans son rêve un poète		3-32068, Zonophone X-82109
2913F	Naples (d'Hack)							3-32057, Zonophone X-82110
2914F	Ouvre tes yeux bleus (Massenet)					3-32067, Zonophone X-82111
2915F	Stances à Manon (Delmet)					3-32063, Zonophone X-82112
2916F	Il était nuit déjà (Duprato)					3-32106, Zonophone X-82113

Disque Gramophone, Paris, March 1904
3007F	La muette de Portici (Auber): Du pauvre seul ami fidèle		3-32142, Zonophone X-82114
3011F	Mefistofele (Boito): Je touche au but extrême			3-32107, Zonophone X-82115
3012F	Tristesse de la lune (Rollinat)					3-32108, Zonophone X-82116
3013F	Aime-moi (Bemberg)						3-32109, Zonophone X-82117
3014F	Chant provençal (Massenet)					3-32110, Zonophone X-82118

Source: Gesellschaft für historische Tonträger, Wien

I wish to thank Juan Dzazópulos for his help.

I wish to thank Richard J Venezia for the recording.

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