Jean de Reszke (14 January 1850 – 3 April 1925), was a Polish tenor. Renowned internationally for the high quality of his singing and the elegance of his bearing, he became the biggest male opera star of the late 19th century.

Jan Mieczysław Reszke was born into comfortable circumstances in Warsaw, Poland in 1850. Both his parents were Poles; his father was a state official and his mother a capable amateur singer, their house being a recognized musical centre. He sang as a boy in Warsaw's cathedral and later studied law at the city's university; but after a few years he abandoned his legal training and went to Milan in Italy to study voice. The most acclaimed of the pedagogues consulted by the young de Reszke was Antonio Cotogni, an eminent baritone who was a favorite of Giuseppe Verdi's.

In January 1874, he made his debut in Venice as Jan de Reschi (he later changed it to Jean de Reszke), undertaking the baritone part of Alfonso in a production of Donizetti's La favorite . The following April, he sang for the first time in London, performing at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and a little later in Paris, essaying an array of different baritone roles.

De Reszke displayed limitations as a baritone and he withdrew from the stage to allow for a further period of study, this time with Giovanni Sbriglia in Paris. Under Sbirgilia's tutelage, his voice gained remarkably in the freedom of its upper register. Accordingly, when he made his first operatic reappearance in 1879 (in Madrid), it was as a tenor, scoring a success in the title-role of Meyerbeer's Robert le diable. Indeed, the then 29-year-old de Reszke's immense fame as a singer dates from this moment.

Fame

He sang regularly at the Paris Opéra during the ensuing years of his vocal prime and, in 1887, was re-engaged by the management at London's Drury Lane, delivering among other things a notable Radamès in Verdi's Aida. The following year he was heard again in London, appearing no longer at Drury Lane but at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, lending his unique blend of dash and charm to the following roles: Vasco da Gama in L'Africaine and Raoul in Les Huguenots (both by Meyerbeer), Faust in Faust (by Gounod), Lohengrin in Lohengrin (by Wagner), Riccardo in Un ballo in maschera (by Verdi), and Radamès again.

De Reszke's 1888 Covent Garden appearances proved exceedingly popular with audiences. Indeed, they were mainly responsible for the revival of the operatic art form as a fashionable amusement in London. He would sing in the British capital nearly every year until 1900, adding a number of new roles to his canon during this time. They included, among others, John of Leyden in Meyerbeer's Le prophète, Don José in Bizet's Carmen, Roméo in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, and Wagner's Tristan in Tristan und Isolde, Walther von Stolzing in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Siegfried in Siegfried. He also gave (in 1894) a single performance as the tenor lead in Massenet's Werther. De Reszke's singing was admired by Queen Victoria, and between 1889 and 1900 he was invited to take part in a number of royal galas mounted at Covent Garden or command performances held privately at Windsor Castle.

In 1891, de Reszke sang in the United States for the first time. From 1893 to 1899 he starred in every season at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City, virtually duplicating his London list of operatic roles and having an equally charismatic effect on trans-Atlantic audiences. One of De Reszke's colleagues, the Australian lyric soprano Nellie Melba, became a close personal friend of his during this period. She replaced the ageing star Adelina Patti as the most celebrated of his various stage partners, and she speaks admiringly of him in her memoirs.

He was closely associated with the French and Wagnerian operatic repertoires during the peak of his career at Covent Garden and the Met. His French signature parts were considered to be Meyerbeer's three big tenor heroes (Vasco, Jean and Raoul), Gounod's Faust and Romeo, and the title role in Massenet's Le Cid (which was written expressly for him).

De Reszke was equally successful singing in German, and his appearances as Lohengrin, Walther von Stolzing, Siegfried and Tristan were lauded by music critics, who praised him for demonstrating how the extremely demanding and often declamatory music that Wagner wrote for his heldentenors could be sung with beauty of tone and, wherever practicable, a smooth legato line. American-born Lillian Nordica was the most illustrious of the dramatic sopranos that partnered him in Wagner's operas.

During his heyday, De Reszke sang Italian operas less frequently than French or Wagnerian ones. Indeed, in 1891, his keenly awaited interpretation of the title role in Verdi's last tragic masterpiece, Otello, had disappointed the critics somewhat; while expertly sung, it lacked the clarion ring and elemental force that his main tenor rival, Francesco Tamagno (1850–1905), had brought to the part. On this occasion Shaw also chided him for his laziness and his customary lateness in meeting cues, though by and large he was highly appreciative of both Jean and Edouard de Reszke's abilities.

Retirement activities, the 'lost' recordings and death

De Reszke married a countess in 1896. He reduced his performance load during the opening years of the 20th century. Prudently, in 1904, he decided to retire while his voice was still in good shape, citing illness as the reason for his departure. Enrico Caruso, 23 years de Reszke's junior, took up his mantle as the world's most famous tenor. (Unlike de Reszke, however, Caruso did not choose to become an exponent of Wagnerian opera.)

He subsequently busied himself breeding racehorses in Poland and teaching singing in Paris and at Nice on the French Riviera. His pupils came from a variety of countries and included Bidu Sayão, Bessie Abott, Louise Edvina, Claire Croiza, Arthur Endrèze, Vladimir Rosing, Mafalda Salvatini, Clive Carey, Maggie Teyte and Miriam Licette. The already well established Austrian tenor Leo Slezak also took lessons from de Reszke in 1908–1909, seeking advice on how to further improve his vocal technique.

De Reszke died at his villa in Nice in 1925, having contracted influenza. He was aged 75.

Noted for his rounded timbre and matchless ability to combine a virile singing style with an exceptional degree of gracefulness and vocal refinement, de Reszke is generally regarded as being one of the very greatest tenors of all time. It is therefore highly unfortunate that the release of his only two commercial gramophone records, cut in Paris in 1905 for the Fonotipia label, never took place as intended. The matrices and test pressings appear to have been destroyed when de Reszke expressed his disappointment with the results. (Rumours of the survival of one of these discs, current in the 1950s, are to be discounted). Only a few Mapleson Cylinders, primitive recordings made privately during actual performances at the New York Metropolitan Opera in 1901, exist to give us a faint souvenir of him at work. They have been released on CD by the Symposium label, together with transfers of similar cylinders bearing snatches of the voices of other Met artists of the era.

Sibling singers

Jean de Reszke's younger brother Édouard de Reszke was also internationally famous as an operatic singer—but in the basso range. Édouard's operatic debut was in Aida in Paris in April 1876, under Verdi's baton. His debut was a success and he proceeded to sing with distinction alongside his brother for many years on the London–Paris–New York circuit. Édouard was said to have had an even more impressive voice than the one possessed by his older brother; but music critics considered Jean to have been the more cultured, conscientious and sophisticated artist of the two.

The de Reszke brothers were siblings of the soprano Josephine de Reszke, who gave up a promising operatic career in Paris in 1885 at the request of her aristocratic husband. Édouard, however, continued to sing opera until 1903. After living for a time in London, he went back to Poland where he died in reduced circumstances in 1917. Unlike Jean, Édouard left a few commercial recordings of his voice, made by Columbia Records in New York. Unfortunately, these were made when he was past his prime as a singer. (See the entry for Édouard de Reszke in vocal historian Michael Scott's The Record of Singing, Volume One, published by Duckworth, London, 1977.)

Jean de Reszke's appearances at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

• 1888 – Royal Italian Opera Season (15 May – 21 July)
  • as Vasco da Gama in L'Africaine (2, debut at Covent Garden in this role on 4 June)
  • as Radames in Aida (1)
  • as Riccardo in Un ballo in maschera (1)
  • as Faust in Faust (7, shared)
  • as Raoul in Les Huguenots (4)
  • as Lohengrin in Lohengrin (6)
• 1889 – Royal Italian Opera Season (18 May – 27 July)
  • as Radames in Aida (3, shared)
  • as Raoul in Les Huguenots (3)
  • as Lohengrin in Lohengrin (6, shared)
  • as Walther von Stolzing in Die Meistersinger (4)
  • as Romeo in Roméo et Juliette (7)
• 1890 – Royal Italian Opera Season (19 May – 28 July)
  • as Don Josè in Carmen (5)
  • as Phoebus in Esmeralda (3)
  • as Faust in Faust (6, shared)
  • as Lohengrin in Lohengrin (5, shared)
  • as Walther von Stolzing in Die Meistersinger (4)
  • as Jean de Leyden in Le prophète (5)
  • as Romeo in Roméo et Juliette (5)
• 1891 – Royal Italian Opera Season (6 April – 27 July)
  • as Don Josè in Carmen (7, shared)
  • as Faust in Faust (12, shared)
  • as Raoul in Les Huguenots (8, shared)
  • as Lohengrin in Lohengrin (9, shared)
  • as Walther von Stolzing in Die Meistersinger (2, shared)
  • as Otello in Otello (4)
  • as Jean de Leyden in Le prophète (3)
  • as Romeo in Roméo et Juliette (8)
• 1892 – Royal Opera Season (16 May – 28 July)
  • as Don Josè in Carmen (2, shared)
  • as Lancelot in Elaine (5)
  • as Lohengrin in Lohengrin (5, shared)
  • as Jean de Leyden in Le prophète (1)
  • as Romeo in Roméo et Juliette (3)
• 1893 – Royal Opera Season (15 May – 29 July)
  • as Faust in Faust (6, shared)
  • as Raoul in Les Huguenots (2)
  • as Lohengrin in Lohengrin (6, shared)
  • as Walther von Stolzing in Die Meistersinger (2)
  • as Romeo in Roméo et Juliette (7, shared)
• 1894 – Royal Opera Season (14 May – 30 July)
  • as Radames in Aida (2, shared)
  • as Lancelot in Elaine (2)
  • as Faust in Faust (7, shared)
  • as Lohengrin in Lohengrin (4, shared)
  • as Walther von Stolzing in Die Meistersinger (1)
  • as Romeo in Roméo et Juliette (7)
  • as Werther in Werther (1)
• 1896 – Royal Opera Season (11 May – 28 July)
  • as Faust in Faust (6)
  • as Lohengrin in Lohengrin (5)
  • as Walther von Stolzing in Die Meistersinger (5)
  • as Romeo in Roméo et Juliette (8)
  • as Tristan in Tristan und Isolde (4)
• 1897 – Royal Opera Season (10 May – 28 July)
  • as Lohengrin in Lohengrin (7, shared)
  • as Walther von Stolzing in Die Meistersinger (3)
  • as Romeo in Roméo et Juliette (6, shared)
  • as Siegfried in Siegfried (4)
  • as Tristan in Tristan und Isolde (3)
• 1898 – Royal Opera Season (9 May – 16 July)
  • as Siegfried in Gotterdammerung (3)
  • as Lohengrin in Lohengrin (7, shared)
  • as Walther von Stolzing in Die Meistersinger (4)
  • as Siegfried in Siegfried (3, shared)
  • as Tristan in Tristan und Isolde (4)
• 1899 – Royal Opera Season (8 May – 24 July)
  • as Faust in Faust (8, shared)
  • as Lohengrin in Lohengrin (6, shared)
  • as Walther von Stolzing in Die Meistersinger (2)
  • as Romeo in Roméo et Juliette (5, shared)
  • as Tristan in Tristan und Isolde (4)
• 1900 – Royal Opera Season (14 May – 30 July)
  • as Lohengrin in Lohengrin (6, shared)
  • as Walther von Stolzing in Die Meistersinger (2)
  • as Romeo in Roméo et Juliette (5, shared)

Gala appearances with Édouard de Reszke at Covent Garden and command performances at Windsor Castle

• 2 July 1889 – Gala in honour of the Shah of Persia:
  • Éduoard as Mephistofele in Act I of Mefistofele and as Mefistofele in Act 4 of Faust
  • Jean as Faust in Act 4 of Faust
• 8 July 1891 – Visit of the Emperor and Empress of Germany
  • Édouard as Enrico in Act 1 of Lohengrin, as Laurent in Act 4 of Roméo et Juliette and as San Bris in Act 4 of Les Huguenots
  • Jean as Lohengrin in Act 1 of Lohengrin, as Romeo in Act 4 of Roméo et Juliette and as Raoul in Act 4 of Les Huguenots
• 4 July 1893 – Gala in honour of the marriage of the Duke of York and Princess Mary of Teck
  • Édouard as Laurent in Roméo et Juliette
  • Jean as Romeo in Roméo et Juliette
• 23 June 1897 – 60th Anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession
  • Édouard as Laurent in Act 3 of Roméo et Juliette
  • Jean as Romeo in Act 3 of Roméo et Juliette
• 27 June 1898 – Command Performance at Windsor Castle (no data on programme)
• 24 May 1899 – Command Performance at Windsor Castle
  • Édouard as Enrico in Lohengrin
  • Jean as Lohengrin in Lohengrin
• 16 July 1900 – Command Performance at Windsor Castle
  • Édouard as Mefistofele in Faust