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Jan Kiepura

                                    Last week I wrote of Marthe Eggerth, an inspiration for her long career and the beauty she con tinues to bring to our lives. I mentioned her husband, Jan Kiepura, who was one of my favorite tenors even before I learned of his widow. This week, I want to discuss my love of Kiepura's voice and energy. For the first time, I'm linking to a you tube video, in the hope that others will come to appreciate him as much as I do. His singing would be enough for me to idolize him but he was much more than a singer- he was a generous Polish patriot who had to flee Europe because of his Jewish ancestry and made a new life in the United States. He was so popular in his homeland that there is a train named after him.

                                            Jan Kiepura was born in 1902 in Poland. He began studying law but, fortunately, was able to pursue his singing lessons and soon became an opera star. I've read that at the peak of his career, he was the highest paid singer in the world. His emphasis later shifted from opera to film. Thankfully, several of his movies survive. In Ich Liebe Alle Frauen, Kiepura plays a famous singer and his doppelganger, a deli worker. In both characters, he sings one of my favorite songs, also Ich Liebe Alle Frauen (I Love All the Women), written by composer Robert Stolz  for Kiepura. The you tube video I've selected is from this movie. (By the way, the old lady in this clip is Adele Sandrock, a noted early German film star.)

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If you enjoyed this video, search for Kiepura on you tube and you'll find many more beautiful selections.

                                            I often find myself thinking what it must be like to be forced to flee your home and to build a new life in a strange country. I grant that it must be easier for talented artists like Mr. and Mrs. Kiepura but I imagine it to be difficult for anyone. From everything I've read, Kiepura, like his widow, never gave up and performed until the end of this life. He died an untimely death in 1966. To me, the greatest tribute to Jan Kiepura is that his widow has never remarried after 42 years.

                                            I don't have any message about Kiepura other than my love of his voice and energy. I hope others will remember and appreciate Jan Kiepura and his widow, Marthe Eggerth. I certainly will.

9-22-08