Photo: The Library of Congress
Josephine Lucchese was born in San Antonio in 1893, one of 7 children whose parents were Sam and Frances Lucchese. Her father was rapidly earning a reputation as a master boot maker after establishing the family boot company in 1883.
Photo: Lucchese Boot Company
As a young girl, growing up in the family home near Brackenridge Park, Josephine developed a keen interest in music, and she learned to play the mandolin from the age of 6, and the piano from the age of 10.
Photo: Former Lucchese home…Author
It soon became apparent that young Josephine also possessed a wonderful singing voice, and when she graduated from Main Street High School, her singing teacher Virginia Colombati, took Josephine to New York when she was 18 to continue her voice training.
Photo: Blog Della Musica
She impressed everyone who heard her, and soon after, Josephine was cast in her first public recital on November 26th, 1919 at the Aeolian Hall in Manhattan, where she delighted the assembled audience with a selection of songs and arias.
Photo: Worth Point
She made her operatic debut the following year at the Manhattan Opera House as Olympia in Offenbach’s “Tales of Hoffman”
Photo: Wikipedia
Through the ensuing 5 years she performed with the San Carlo Opera Company, and this gave her the opportunity to be heard in a number of performances throughout the United States and Canada. She was featured in productions of “Carmen” where she performed the role of Micaela, followed by subsequent roles as Gilda in “Rigoletto,” Violetta in “La traviata” and as Rosina in “The Barber of Seville.”
Photo: Worth Point
She earned a reputation as an accomplished coloratura soprano, and gave her first overseas performance in 1923 at the National Theater of Cuba in Havana as Ophelia in the Ambroise Thomas production of “Hamlet.”
Photo: Worth Point
Her first appearance in a production in Europe was also in a Thomas opera, when she performed the role of Philine in “Mignon.” This opera toured throughout Germany in 1927 and 1928.
From 1929 – 1932, she was a resident artist with the Philadelphia Grand Opera Company, followed by a similar role with the Dutch National Opera, which introduced her talents to adoring fans throughout the Netherlands. She was also requested to perform at opera houses in Berlin, Prague and Hamburg, and she became widely known as “The American Nightingale”
As her career blossomed, Josephine was invited to sing at the Cincinnati Opera, the Detroit Opera House, in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and with the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra.
Photo: The Library of Congress
Writing about her widespread success, the Texas State Historical Association noted, “Lucchese was an operatic success at a time when it was considered impossible to achieve an international reputation without having first studied in Italy”
In 1956, she returned to her hometown of San Antonio and taught singing at the University of Texas until 1968, when she concentrated on private singing lessons.
Today, on the 50th anniversary of her passing in San Antonio, we remember “The American Nightingale” Josephine Lucchese.
Photo: Author
Her gravestone is inscribed ” BELOVED WIFE OF FLORENTINE DONATO “
Florentine Donato was in fact her second husband. Her first husband was her Manager Adolfo Caruso, and she is buried next to him in San Antonio.
Photo: University of Washington
ADDITIONAL STORIES :
- Some of the Lucchese Boot Company’s best-known customers includes Bing Crosby, Gregory Peck, Gary Cooper, John Wayne, The Andrews Sisters, Gene Autry, Lyndon Baines Johnson, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Jimmy Stewart, Sandra Dee, Jimmy Dean, Johnny Cash, Ronald Reagan, Grace Kelly, George W. Bush, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rick Perry, Big Tex at the Dallas State Fair ( a size 96 )….and the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders !
Photo: Lucchese Boot Company
- The original Lucchese Boot Company store was located where the historic Kress Building is now on Houston Street. Later they had a store where today you can find the Torch of Friendship
- The Lucchese Company kept meticulous records. Each of their orders in the early days were documented in measurement books, in which a customer’s ball, waist, instep, and heel were recorded, with an outline of each foot. The oldest measurements on record are for Mr. W. Shock in 1897. His order for kangaroo boots totaled $9.
CREDITS :
Wikipedia
Texas State Historical Association
lucchese.com
San Antonio Express News
Chron.com
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