OPERA SINGERS - FELIA LITVINNE  

Born in St Petersburg in 1860, Felia Litvinne was a Russian dramatic soprano, who became a naturalised French citizen in 1893. She was a student of Victor Maurel, who gave her her debut in 1883 with the Théâtre-Italien in the role of Amélia in Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra. Her powerful voice, with its flexible and brilliant timbre, caused a sensation. It was her appearances in works by Wagner that turned her into a legend: she was the first Brünnhilde, the first Isolde and the first Kundry in Parsifal in 1913 on the stage of the Monte-Carlo Opera. She is considered to be the greatest Alceste (in the opera by Christoph Willibald Gluck) in history. She is one of the rare female voices to have stood the test of recording (around forty).

• Design and line-engraving: Sarah LAZAREVIC
• Printing process: 6 colours steel-engraving
• Size of the stamp: 40,85 x 52 mm vertical
• Quantity of issue: 36 000 stamps
• Sheet of 6 stamps with illuminations