stracciari

Riccardo Stracciari (June 26, 1875, Casalecchio di Reno – October 10, 1955, Rome) was a leading Italian baritone. His repertoire consisted mainly of Italian operatic works, with Rossini's Figaro and Verdi's Rigoletto becoming his signature roles during a long and distinguished career which stretched from 1899 to 1944. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riccardo_Stracciari

Another singer with the Chicago Opera for their early 1918 season in New York, singing Rigoletto. See, e.g., ad on The sun., February 10, 1918, Page 4, columns 6-8. chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030431/1918-02-10/ed-...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riccardo_Stracciari Theodore Bauer, sculptor Giovanni Viafora (1870-1930)

Pompilio Malatesta (Bass) (Roma, Italia 1879 -1960) forgottenoperasingers.blogspot.com/2015/05/pompilio-malat... www.lavoceantica.it/Basso/Malatesta Pompilio.htm He has an astounding 737 performance credits in the Metropolitan Opera archive, between 1915 and 1939.

This photo is used in a biography of Stracciari, identifying Bauer as being from Columbia Records. It's all in Italian, but it seems that this might related to the other photos about the Chicago Opera's performances in New York in early 1918. books.google.com/books?id=LbXZCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA79&dq...

Italian Wikipedia identifies Viafora as also connected with Columbia Records:
it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Viafora

He was also a caricaturist of celebrities of the music world:
www.historicopera.com/xusa/viafora.htm

He is also pictured at the funeral of Luca Botta:

New-York tribune., July 13, 1919, Page 7, Image 37, Column 7 (with portrait of John McCormack chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1919-07-13/ed-... announces that Stracciari, Ponselle, and Della Baker would appear at the "great carnival for the benefit of the Police Relief Fund." The Police Field Days were to be on July 19 and July 26 at Sheepshead Bay Speedway.

For Della Baker, see (or listen to): www.loc.gov/jukebox/artists/detail/id/91/ adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/talent/detail/1129/Baker_D...

The unidentified man to the right may be Nahan Franko (1861-1930), noted conductor, concert promoter, and violinist.
(needs additional verification)

although the conductor in the next photo in this series, "Ponselle (LOC)" certainly looks like Nahan Franko, but is wearing a different suit than in "Stracciari, Baker, Ponselle (LOC)" -- so maybe not.

Musical Courier of July 17, 1919, page 20, column 3 third full paragraph, books.google.com/books?id=7SIqQHZL2_wC&pg=RA2-PA20&am... indicated that Franko would be conducting at the 1919 police field day.

swanq, Thanks! No question in my mind that Franko conducted -- question is, is the unidentified man standing beside Rosa Ponselle Nahan Franko? (far right in photo)