Marin Journal, Volume 60, Number 10, 10 March 1921 — Beatriz Michelena Loses Father [ARTICLE]

Beatriz Michelena Loses Father

Fernando Michelena passed away in San Francisco last Friday. That meant to many sympathising friends in San Rafael that Beatriz Michelena, the beloved moving star, had been bereft by death of a. father. But it meant to many thousands elsewhere that the world of music had lost one of its greatly loved figures. Thoughts of Michelena brought to the minds of the older generation visions of the old gay days of the Baldwin and Tivoli theatres in the San Francisco of 1885. He arrived in San Francisco from South America and scored an immediate triumph as leading tenor with Emma Abbot's company. For six years he sang opposite the famous prima donna in grand opera roles. Later he was associated with Emma Nevada, Melba and Emma Yuch. A victim of apoplexy, he died at, the age of 63. Conquered in turn by the city which had given him its acclaim, Michelena decided to spend the re<t of his life in San Francisco. He established the Arrillaga Musical College and was its dean and president. Many of his students have won fame in the realm of music. He was of a celebrated family. His Spanish parents settled in Caraccas, Venzuela, where he was born. At the age of 9 Fernando Michelena was singing tenor in a large church. Guzman Blancho, president of Venzuela recognizing the rare timbre of the childish voice, sent the boy to Italy for training at the expense of the state. Mrs. Michelena. wife of the deceased, was celebrated as a comic opera star. She died 8 years ago. Miss Vera Michelena, a daughter, has won as much fame as her mother in comic opera, and is as well known as her sister, Beatriz. whom San Rafael knows as Mrs. George Middleton.