Special thanks to \"operamark1\" for suggesting / British contralto Marguerite d'Alvarez (c. 1883-1953) / Habanera / Carmen (Bizet) / Recorded: 1929 --
Marguerite d'Alvarez (c. 1883-October 18, 1953) was an English contralto. Born in Liverpool to a French mother and a Peruvian father, d'Alvarez studied in Brussels, and made her debut in Rouen, singing Dalila. She made her first American appearances with the Manhattan Opera in 1909 as Fidès in Giacomo Meyerbeer's Le prophète. Following her season in New York City, she went to London to help Oscar Hammerstein inaugurate his London Opera in 1911; that year, she scored great successes in French roles. D'Alvarez subsequently appeared at leading European opera houses such as Covent Garden, and also sang in Chicago and Boston. She made one film, Till We Meet Again, in 1944; her autobiography, Forsaken Altars, was published in 1954, after her death in Alassio, Italy.
