Musical accompaniment: Nightmare, by Artie Shaw (1934):

Maria Jeritza (1887 – 1982) lived a very full life. She was a dramatic soprano, a renowned beauty, and fashion icon. I have a brief sketch of her life to share, but I was mostly fixated on her clothes. Can you imagine having such beautiful things to wear?

When she was 23, I. 1910, the Emperor Franz Josef heard her sing at Olomouc and he was so impressed by her that he ordered that she be offered a contract at the Imperial Hofoper, Vienna.

The Emperor, by the way, was the uncle of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose assassination four years later plunged the world into the acute misery of the Great War.

Maria Jeritza sang at the Vienna State Opera from 1912–1934. She regularly crossed the ocean to appear at her the Met many times as well. She returned with to the stage from 1950-1953.

Maria was married four times and was famous for her style, magnetism, and of course, her beautiful voice. Madame Jeritza, as she was fondly known, eventually permanently settled in New Jersey, where her fourth husband was born.

Early on, the press nicknamed her the Moravian Thunderbolt. That is such a cool nickname! I wish I had a great nickname but I believe we established in a post last year that you cannot nickname yourself. (Foolish Sheik Loses the Game of Hearts)

It seems funny to use someone else’s music to discuss a legendary singer, but it’s just one of those nights where I’m not in the mood for opera music. Besides, Artie Shaw and Maria Jeritza were contemporaries. I bet she would appreciate having his music as background.

A brief postscript on the topic of nicknames: I’ve often wondered how Arthur Fellig, the famous New York freelance photographer who was famous for his remarkable pictures of New York, got the nickname Weegee. Today I learned it was because of how often he inexplicably arrived at crime scenes or tragedies before the police. The police and press were in awe of this ability and gave Fellig the nickname Weegee, which is the phonetic spelling of Ouija.