Feliia Vasilevna Litvin

(real name, Françoise-Jeanne Schütz). Born 1861 in St. Petersburg; died Oct. 12, 1936, in Paris. Russian singer (dramatic soprano).

Litvin studied in Paris and made her debut in the Italian opera in 1884. She sang in four languages (Italian, Russian, French, and German). Litvin appeared in the most important opera theaters of the world, including Milan, Rome, New York, and Paris. In the 1890’s, she performed in Russia (St. Petersburg, Moscow, and other cities).

Litvin had a dramatically expressive, flexible, and delicate voice of great range and strength. She was a major Wagnerian soprano, singing Elsa in Lohengrin; Brünnhilde in Die Walküre, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung; Kundry in Parsifal; and Isolde in Tristan and Isolde. Her other important roles included Judith in Judith by Serov, Salomé in Hérodiade by Massenet, and Delilah in Samson and Delilah by Saint-Saëns.