Exhibition concept: Marina Perica Krapljanov
Exhibition design: Lana Kovačić, Željko Kovačić
Poster, catalogue and invitation design: Bilić_Müller Design Studio
Commemorating the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the birth (on December 19, 1863) of the great Croatian and world opera diva, the soprano Milka Trnina, Zagreb City Museum wishes to recall to the public the life and professional achievements of the country’s celebrated artist with a monographic exhibition of objects from the Trnina Bequest.
The Milka Trnina Bequest, kept in Zagreb City Museum (over 250 objects, counting photographs, theatrical costumes, posters, playbills, drawings of costumes, memorabilia and personal items) is supplemented at the exhibition with objects from the holdings of the Ethnographic Museum in Zagreb, Požega Municipal Museum and the Museum of Arts and Crafts.
This monographic exhibition was preceded by an exhibition that Zagreb City Museum put on in 2006 in the Royal Opera House in London, marking the centennial year since the last appearance of Trnina on the London stage.
Features of interest from the career of Milka Trnina
Milka Trnina graduated from the Vienna Conservatory. She made her debut in Zagreb on April 11, 1882, appearing in the old theatre building in the Upper Town as Amalia in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera, with Ivan pl. Zajc, then the director of the opera, conducting. When her training was complete, since she did not obtain a permanent engagement in Zagreb, she set out to acquire experience and fame abroad: in Leipzig, Graz, Bremen, Munich, Bayreuth, London, New York and Boston, for example.
Milka Trnina as Isolde in Wagner’s opera Tristan und Isolde
Munich, 1901
In June 1896 she appeared in Moscow in a concert given before the imperial couple on the occasion of the coronation of Tsar Nicholas II. At the wish of the Tsarina, Trnina sang Isolde’s Love-Death, one of the finest arias from Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde. The Tsar rewarded her with a large diamond brooch set with rubies, now kept in the Museum of Arts and Crafts, and the Tsarina with a diamond bracelet.
Milka Trnina in New York Portrait of Milka Trnina with a diamond brooch, the gift
New York, 1896-1900 of Tsar Nicholas II, Munich, 1902
She appeared in the Metropolitan in New York as many as 79 times. She associated with eminent men and women from elite circles: with writers, composers, conductors and many important singers. She also was friends with scientist and inventor Nikola Tesla, who loved music and had a permanent box in the Opera. Trnina was among those who visited Tesla’s laboratory in Manhattan and observed his experiments being conducted.
This brilliant career lasted more than twenty years, but it was brought to a sudden close because of an inflammation of the facial nerve (nervus facialis) at the very time when the singer was at the peak of her creative ability, in 1906.
Drawing for the costume worn by Milka Trnina in the role The costume worn by Milka Trnina in the role of
of Tosca in the eponymous opera of Puccini, London, 1900 Tosca in the eponymous Puccini opera
Costume drawing by the English painter Percy Anderson London, 1900
Drawing for the costume worn by Milka Trnina in the title Drawing for the costume worn by Milka Trnina in the
role in Ponchielli’s opera La Gioconda, London, 1900 role of Tosca in the eponymous opera by Puccini
Costume drawing by the English painter Percy Anderson London, 1900
Milka Trnina as Brunhilde in Wagner’s opera Milka Trnina as Leonore in Beethoven’s opera Fidelio
Twilight of the Gods, Munich, 1900 Munich, 1900
In her career, she shone in many great roles, such as Isolde, Elizabeth in Tannhäuser and Puccini’s Tosca.
Trnina took 65 roles, in more than 1200 appearances. In this exhibition, we wish to present Milka Trnina to current generations as the first lady of Croatian and world opera at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Marina Perica Krapljanov
Pictures from the exhibition
photo Miljenko Gregl, ZCM
