Natalina "Lina" Cavalieri (25 December 1874 – 7 February 1944) was an Italian operatic

dramatic soprano A dramatic soprano is a type of operatic soprano with a powerful, rich, emotive voice that can sing over, or cut through, a full orchestra. Thicker vocal folds in dramatic voices usually (but not always) mean less agility than lighter voices but a ...

, actress, and

monologist A monologist (), or interchangeably monologuist (), is a solo artist who recitation, recites or gives oral interpretation, dramatic readings from a monologue, soliloquy, poetry, or work of literature, for the entertainment of an audience. The te ...

Biography

Lina Cavalieri was born on

Christmas Day Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A liturgical feast central to Christianity, Chri ...

Viterbo Viterbo (; Central Italian, Viterbese: ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Lazio region of Italy, the Capital city, capital of the province of Viterbo. It conquered and absorbed the neighboring town of Ferento (see Ferentium) in ...

, some north of

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. She lost her parents at the age of fifteen and became a ward of the state, sent to live in a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

orphanage. The vivacious young girl was unhappy under the strict discipline of the nuns, and at the first opportunity she ran away with a touring theatrical group. At a young age, she made her way to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, where her appearance opened doors and she obtained work as a singer at one of the city's café-concerts. From there she performed at a variety of

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...

s and other such venues around

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, while still working to develop her voice. She took voice lessons and made her opera debut in

Lisbon, Portugal Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, in 1900 (as Nedda in ''

Pagliacci ''Pagliacci'' (; literal translation, 'Clowns') is an Italian opera in a prologue and two acts, with music and libretto by Ruggero Leoncavallo. The opera tells the tale of Canio, actor and leader of a commedia dell'arte theatrical company, who mu ...

''). The Russian Prince Alexander Bariatinsky was deeply in love with Lina, and they had an open affair, but never became husband and wife as his parents and Tsar

Nicholas II Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov; 186817 July 1918) or Nikolai II was the last reigning Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1 November 1894 until his abdication on 15 March 1917. He married ...

himself strongly opposed this marriage. In 1904, she sang at the

Opéra de Monte-Carlo The Opéra de Monte-Carlo is an opera house which is part of the Monte Carlo Casino located in the Monaco, Principality of Monaco. With the lack of cultural diversions available in Monaco in the 1870s, Charles III, Prince of Monaco, Prince Charl ...

then in 1905, at the Sarah Bernhardt Theatre in Paris, Cavalieri starred opposite

Enrico Caruso Enrico Caruso (, , ; 25 February 1873 – 2 August 1921) was an Italian operatic first lyric tenor then dramatic tenor. He sang to great acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and the Americas, appearing in a wide variety of roles that r ...

in the

Umberto Giordano Umberto Menotti Maria Giordano (28 August 186712 November 1948) was an Italian composer, mainly of operas. His best-known work in that genre was Andrea Chénier (1896). He was born in Foggia in Apulia, southern Italy, and studied under Paolo Se ...

opera ''

Fedora A fedora () is a hat with a soft brim and indented crown.Kilgour, Ruth Edwards (1958). ''A Pageant of Hats Ancient and Modern''. R. M. McBride Company. It is typically creased lengthwise down the crown and "pinched" near the front on both sides ...

''. From there, she and Caruso took the opera to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, debuting with it at the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...

on 5 December 1906. Cavalieri remained with the Metropolitan Opera for the next two seasons, performing again with Caruso in 1907, in

Puccini Giacomo Puccini (22 December 1858 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long line of composers, s ...

's ''

Manon Lescaut ''The Story of the Chevalier des Grieux and Manon Lescaut'' ( ) is a novel by Antoine François Prévost. It tells a tragic love story about a nobleman (known only as the Chevalier des Grieux) and a common woman (Manon Lescaut). Their decisio ...

''. She became one of the most photographed stars of her time. Frequently referred to as the "world's most beautiful woman", she was part of the

tightlacing Tightlacing (also called corset training) is the practice of wearing an increasingly tightly laced corset to achieve cosmetic modifications to the figure and posture or to experience the sensation of bodily restriction. The process originates in ...

tradition that saw women use

corset A corset /ˈkɔːrsɪt/ is a support garment worn to constrict the torso into the desired shape and Posture correction, posture. They are traditionally constructed out of fabric with boning made of Baleen, whalebone or steel, a stiff panel in th ...

ry to create an "hour-glass" figure. During the 1909–10 season she sang with Oscar Hammerstein's

Manhattan Opera Company The Manhattan Opera Company was an opera company based in New York City. Active from 1906 until 1910, it was founded by Oscar Hammerstein I. History The company began operations in 1906 at the Manhattan Opera House on 34th Street in New York Cit ...

. Her first marriage long over, she had a whirlwind romance with Robert Winthrop Chanler (1872–1930), a member of the

Astor family The Astor family achieved prominence in business sector, business, Socialite, society, and politics in the United States and the United Kingdom during the 19th and 20th centuries. With Germans, German roots, some of their ancestry goes back to th ...

and Dudley–Winthrop family. They married on 18 June 1910 but separated by the end of their honeymoon, and their divorce became final in June 1912. After the divorce, Cavalieri returned to Europe where she became a much-loved star in pre-revolutionary St. Petersburg, Russia. Other operas in her repertoire included ''

La bohème ''La bohème'' ( , ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions '':wikt:quadro, quadri'', ''wikt:tableau, tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto b ...

'', '' La traviata'', ''

Faust Faust ( , ) is the protagonist of a classic German folklore, German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a deal with the Devil at a ...

'', ''

Manon ''Manon'' () is an ''opéra comique'' in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, based on the 1731 novel '' L'histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut'' by the Abbé Prévost. It was f ...

'', ''

Andrea Chénier ''Andrea Chénier'' () is a verismo opera in four acts by Umberto Giordano, set to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica, and first performed on 28 March 1896 at La Scala, Milan. The story is based loosely on the life of the French poet An ...

'', ''

Thaïs Thaïs (; ; ) was a Greek who accompanied Alexander the Great on his military campaigns. Likely from Athens, she is most famous for having instigated the burning of Persepolis, the capital city of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, after it was con ...

'', ''

Les contes d'Hoffmann ''The Tales of Hoffmann'' (French: ) is an by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Jules Barbier, based on three short stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, who is the protagonist of the story. It was Offenbach's final work; he died in ...

'' (as the courtesan Giulietta), ''

Rigoletto ''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play '' Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had c ...

'', ''

Mefistofele ''Mefistofele'' () is an opera in a prologue and five acts, later reduced to four acts and an epilogue, the only completed opera with music by the Italian composer-librettist Arrigo Boito (there are several completed operas for which he was lib ...

'' (as both Margarita and Elena), ''

Adriana Lecouvreur ''Adriana Lecouvreur'' () is an opera in four acts by Francesco Cilea to an Italian libretto by Arturo Colautti, based on the 1849 play '' Adrienne Lecouvreur'' by Eugène Scribe and Ernest Legouvé. It was first performed on 6 November 1902 ...

'', ''

Tosca ''Tosca'' is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1 ...

'', ''

Hérodiade ''Hérodiade'' is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Paul Milliet and Henri Grémont, based on the novella ''Hérodias'' (1877) by Gustave Flaubert. It was first performed at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels ...

'' (as Salomé), ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the O ...

'' (the title role), ''

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

'', and ''

Zazà ''Zazà'' () is an opera by Ruggero Leoncavallo, with a libretto by the composer, which draws on the same material as the French play '' Zaza'' (1898). The story concerns the French music hall singer, Zazà, and her affair and subsequent decisio ...

''.

During her career, Cavalieri sang with other prominent singers, including Giuseppe Anselmi,

Mary Garden Mary Garden (20 February 1874 – 3 January 1967) was a Scottish-American operatic lyric soprano, then mezzo-soprano, with a substantial career in France and America in the first third of the 20th century. She spent the latter part of her chil ...

(the world premiere of

Massenet Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (; 12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty. The two most frequently staged are ''Manon'' (1884 ...

's ''

Chérubin ''Chérubin'' is an opera (''comédie chantée'') in three acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Francis de Croisset and Henri Cain after de Croisset's play of the same name. It was first performed at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo on 14 Feb ...

'', 1905),

Mattia Battistini Mattia Battistini (27 February 1856 – 7 November 1928) was an Italian operatic baritone, referred to as the "King of Baritones" in multiple publications.Steane, J.B., 1998. Singers of the Century, vol. 2. Amadeus Press, Portland, pp. ...

Titta Ruffo Titta Ruffo (9 June 1877 – 5 July 1953), born as Ruffo Cafiero (double forename) Titta, was an Italian operatic baritone who had a major international singing career. Known as the "Voce del leone" ("voice of the lion"), he was greatly admi ...

Feodor Chaliapin Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin ( rus, Фёдор Ива́нович Шаля́пин, Fyodor Ivanovich Shalyapin, ˈfʲɵdər ɨˈvanəvʲɪtɕ ʂɐˈlʲapʲɪn}; 12 April 1938) was a Russian opera singer. Possessing a deep and expressive bass voic ...

, Nikolay Figner, Antonio Scotti, Vanni Marcoux,

Giovanni Zenatello Giovanni Zenatello (22 February 1876 – 11 February 1949) was an Italian opera singer. Born in Verona, he enjoyed an international career as a dramatic tenor of the first rank. Otello became his most famous operatic role but his repertoire a ...

, Tito Schipa, and the French tenor

Lucien Muratore Lucien Muratore (29 August 1876 – 16 July 1954, in Paris) was a French actor and operatic dramatic tenor, particularly associated with the French repertory. Life and career Lucien Muratore was born Marseille to Italian parents from Piedmont ...

, whom she married in 1913 after his divorce from soprano Marguerite Bériza. After retiring from the stage, Cavalieri ran a cosmetic salon in Paris. In 1914, on the eve of her fortieth birthday – her beauty still spectacular – she wrote an advice column on make-up for women in ''Femina'' magazine and published a book, ''My Secrets of Beauty''. In her Parisian Institut de Beauté, she licensed Parfums Isabey Paris and not only sold Isabey perfumes, but developed in 1926 a range of beauty products. The same year, she launched her own perfume, called "Mona Lina", apparently inspired by

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...

's ''

Mona Lisa The ''Mona Lisa'' is a half-length portrait painting by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. Considered an archetypal masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, it has been described as "the best known, the most visited, the most written about, ...

''. In 1915, she returned to her native

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

to make motion pictures. When that country became involved in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, she went to the United States, where she made four more

silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

s. The last three of her films were the product of her friend, the film director

Edward José Edward José (5 July 1865 – 18 December 1930) was a Belgian film director and actor of the silent film, silent era. He directed 42 films between 1915 and 1925. He also performed in 12 films between 1910 and 1916.lost. After marrying her fourth husband, Paolo d'Arvanni, she returned to live with her husband in Italy. Well into her sixties when

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

began, she nevertheless worked as a volunteer nurse. Cavalieri was killed on 7 February 1944 during an Allied bombing raid that destroyed her home in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

near Poggio Imperiale, where she had been placed under police surveillance because of her foreign husband. Hearing an American bomber nearby, Cavalieri, her husband, and the servants ran to the air-raid shelter in the grounds, but Cavalieri and her husband were delayed because they were collecting her valuable jewellery from the house. Both Cavalieri and her husband were killed running to the air-raid shelter, while the servants inside the shelter all survived.

Legacy

Lina Cavalieri's discography is rather slim. In 1910, for Columbia, she recorded arias from ''La bohème'', ''Tosca'', ''Manon Lescaut'', ''Carmen'', ''Mefistofele'', and ''Faust'', as well as "Maria, Marì! (Ah! Marì! Ah! Marì!)." In 1913, also for Columbia, she recorded Italian songs. In 1918, for

Pathé Pathé SAS (; styled as PATHÉ!) is a French major film production and distribution company, owning a number of cinema chains through its subsidiary Pathé Cinémas and television networks across Europe. It is the name of a network of Fren ...

, the soprano recorded two songs, the aria from ''Hérodiade'', and three duets with Muratore. Her portrait was painted by the Italian artist

Giovanni Boldini Giovanni Boldini (31 December 1842 – 11 January 1931) was an Italian genre and portrait painter who lived and worked in Paris for most of his career. According to a 1933 article in ''Time'' magazine, he was known as the "Master of Swish" beca ...

(acquired by

Maurice de Rothschild Maurice Edmond Karl de Rothschild (19 May 1881 – 4 September 1957) was a French art collector, vineyard owner, financier and politician. He was born into the Rothschild banking family of France. Early life Maurice de Rothschild was born on 19 ...

) and by the Swiss-born American artist

Adolfo Müller-Ury Adolfo Müller-Ury, Order of St. Gregory the Great, KSG (March 29, 1862 – July 6, 1947) was a Swiss-born American portrait painter and Impressionism, impressionistic painter of roses and still life. Early life and education Müller was b ...

. The latter painting is now the property of the Metropolitan Opera, the gift of Nicholas Meredith Turner in memory of his wife, the soprano

Jessica Dragonette Jessica Valentina Dragonette (Born Jessica Valentina Dragonetti; February 14, 1900 – March 18, 1980) was a singer who became popular on American radio and was active in the World War II effort. Early life Born in Calcutta, India, or Philadelp ...

. Hers is the inspiring beauty that appears in several works by Piero Fornasetti. In 1955,

Gina Lollobrigida Luigia "Gina" Lollobrigida (4 July 1927 – 16 January 2023) was an Italian actress, model, photojournalist, and sculptor. She was one of the highest-profile European actresses of the 1950s and 1960s, a period in which she was an international ...

portrayed Cavalieri in a movie of Cavalieri's life, ''

Beautiful But Dangerous ''Beautiful but Dangerous'' (; ) is a 1955 romantic comedy-drama film directed by Robert Z. Leonard. It is a biographical film about Italian opera soprano Lina Cavalieri. The film is a co-production between Italy and France. For this film, Gi ...

'' (also known as ''The World's Most Beautiful Woman''). In 2004, a book was published, written by Paul Fryer and Olga Usova, titled ''Lina Cavalieri: The Life of Opera’s Greatest Beauty, 1874–1944''.

Family

From her relationship to Alexandre Bariatinsky, Lina had one son, Alexandre Bariatinsky, Jr. He was serving in the Italian Army early in WW1 when she went to the authorities trying to find him.''The Opera Singer and the Silent Film'' by Paul Fryer 2005

Films

*''

'' (1914) *'' The Shadow of Her Past'' (1915) *'' The Rose of Granada'' (1916) *''

The Eternal Temptress ''The Eternal Temptress'' is a 1917 American silent film, silent drama film directed by Émile Chautard and written by Fred de Gresac and Eve Unsell. The film stars Lina Cavalieri, Elliott Dexter, Mildred Conselman, Alan Hale, Sr., Edward Fieldin ...

'' (1917) *'' Love's Conquest'' (1918) *'' A Woman of Impulse'' (1918) *'' The Two Brides'' (1919) *''

The Crushed Idol ''The Crushed Idol'' (French:''L'idole brisée'') is a 1920 French silent drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The dr ...

'' (1920) *''

Mad Love __NOTOC__ Mad Love may refer to: Books *''Mad Love'' (French ''L'amour fou''), collection of poems by André Breton *'' The Batman Adventures: Mad Love'', an Eisner and Harvey award-winning comic by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm * Mad Love (publisher), ...

'' (1920)

Iconography

*'' Antonio de La Gandara'' – Portrait of Lina Cavalieri *''Piero Fornasetti – 'Tema e Variazioni' series''

Bibliography

* * *Lina Cavalieri, ''Le mie verità'', redatte da Paolo D'Arvanni, Roma, Soc. An. Poligr. Italiana, 1936; *Vincenzo De Angelis, ''Lina Cavalieri e Gabriele D'Annunzio'', Roma, Fratelli Palombi, 1955; *Vittorio Martinelli, ''L'avventura cinematografica di Lina Cavalieri'', S.l., s.n., 1986; *Franco Di Tizio, ''Lina Cavalieri, la donna più bella del mondo. La vita 1875-1944'', prefazione di Dacia Maraini, Chieti, Ianieri, 2004. *Lucia Fusco, ''Storie di donne che hanno fatto la storia: Lina Cavalieri'', Nuova Informazione, Lt, A. XXIII, n. 12, pp. 302–303, Dicembre 2017. *Franco Di Tizio, Lina Cavalieri "Massima testimonianza di Venere in Terra", Pescara, Ianieri, 2019. *Fryer, Paul, and Olga Usova. ''Lina Cavalieri: The Life of Opera's Greatest Beauty, 1874-1944''. McFarland, 2003.

References

External links

La Gandara
* * (audio only, 1910). *
Lina Cavalieri: Broadway Photographs
Univ. of South Carolina) {{DEFAULTSORT:Cavalieri, Lina 1874 births 1944 deaths People from Rieti Italian operatic sopranos Italian film actresses Italian silent film actresses Deaths by American airstrikes during World War II Italian civilians killed in World War II 20th-century Italian actresses 20th-century Italian women opera singers Monologists Italian artists' models Chanler family People of Marchesan descent Burials at Campo Verano Astor family