#RIP #OTD in 1899 artist (Le marché aux chevaux, Labourage nivernais) Rosa Bonheur died at Thomery (By), France, aged 77. With Nathalie Micas her lifelong companion, at Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris
#RIP #OTD in 1919 entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political and social activist Madam C. J. Walker died from kidney failure and complications of hypertension at the age of 51. Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx
On this day in 1981, operatic soprano, Rosa Ponselle died at her estate, Villa Pace, near Baltimore, Maryland after a long battle with bone marrow cancer at the age of 84. Born Rosa Ponzillo on 22 January 1897 in Meriden, Connecticut to Italian Neopolitan immigrants. She sang mainly at the New York Metropolitan Opera. In my opinion, she is one of the greatest sopranos. Ponselle made her Metropolitan Opera debut on 15 November 1918, as Leonora in Verdi‘s La forza del destino, opposite Enrico Caruso. Her roles included; Mathilde in Rossini’s William Tell, Leonora in Verdi’s Il trovatore, Aida in Verdi’s Aida, Gioconda in Ponchielli’s La Gioconda, Elisabeth of Valois in Verdi’s Don Carlo, Norma in Bellini’s Norma, Violetta in Verdi’s La traviata, Donna Anna in Mozart‘s Don Giovanni, and Carmen in Bizet’s Carmen. Ponselle was married to Carle Jackson (1936-1949 divorce). Luciano Pavarotti called Ponselle, “The Queen of Queens in all of singing.” Maria Callas said Ponselle was, “The greatest singer of us all.”
The Final Footprint – Ponselle in entombed in a tandem crypt with her sister, Carmela, in the mausoleum at Druid Ridge Cemetery in Pikesville, Maryland.
#RIP #OTD in 2020, George Floyd was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during an arrest, aged 46. Houston Memorial Gardens, Pearland, Texas
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