Rosalía Gertrudis de la Concepción Díaz de Herrera de Fonseca

World-renowned Cuban diva. The first national figure to record her voice (soprano singer) in a phonographic recording in 1897.

Chalía deserves the credit, of course, for having had the honor of making the first recording of a Cuban artist outside of Cuba.

According to accounts, in 1899—in the early "Bettini" cylinder system—she made the first recording of the habanera "Tú," by the already-known Cuban musician and composer Eduardo Sánchez de Fuentes. It is also said that she was the first Latin American to record professionally and the third person on a worldwide scale. Two singers recorded before her: Marie Romaine, in July of 1900, and Edna Florence, on October 17 of that same year. It is not insignificant, but these are circumstantial achievements, although she was chosen for her talent and ability.

The celebrated soprano Chalía Herrera was born in La Habana. Her early years were spent in the city of Santiago de Cuba, where she took music lessons from the notable composer and orchestra director Laureano Fuentes Matons, who was her violin teacher.

She studied singing in La Habana with Angelo Massanet. In 1893 she went to New York to receive advanced lessons at the Opera and Oratorio School founded in that city by Cuban musician Emilio Agramonte.

In 1894 she made her professional debut at the Grand Opera House theater in Philadelphia, playing the role of Aída in the homonymous opera by Giuseppe Verdi, and also offered a recital of Cuban songs. That same year she debuted in New York, also in the role of Aída, with the Hinrich company.

She mastered the different languages in which she sang and was able to put to good use the advanced lessons from the Opera and Oratorio School founded in North America by the renowned Cuban musician Emilio Agramonte. It is also said that her marriage to a wealthy American caused her to step away from the stage for a time, but once she took to the boards again to perform none other than Aida, everything changed for the better.

She traveled to Italy in 1895 and at the Teatro Lírico Internazionale in Milan, she premiered the opera Claudia, by Cuban composer Gellio Coronado, with resounding success, according to the Italian press of the time.

Upon her return to New York, she joined a group of emigrated Cuban artists who organized artistic performances in that city in order to raise funds for Cuba's struggle for independence. Among the musicians in this patriotic nucleus was the Dutch maestro, based in La Habana, Hubert de Blanck, deported by the colonial government because of his sympathies toward the separatist cause.

Pianist and singer Emilio Agramante headed the group of revolutionary artists, supported by music professionals and amateurs; among them, the notable baritone Emilio de Gogorza (1872-1949) and soprano Ana Aguado (1866-1921), known as La calandria cienfueguera.

On November 27, 1896, Chalía Herrera offered an extensive musical program in favor of the Cuban revolution at Chikering Hall in New York, backed at the piano by Hubert de Blanck. Another patriotic evening was held at Weber Hall in the same city, with the participation, among others, of baritone Gogorza and maestro De Blanck.

General Máximo Gómez publicly praised Chalía Herrera's constant and valuable contribution to these events, and José Martí, with whom she maintained a friendship, mentioned her warmly in several of his chronicles.

In 1899 she began a several-month tour of Mexico, where she sang, along with tenor Michele Sigaldi and bass Mariani, the operas Aída, Fausto—by Gounod—and La Bohème—by Giacomo Puccini. On December 14 of that same year she debuted with her company at the Sauto theater in the city of Matanzas, whose Liceo Artístico y Literario declared her "Member of Merit."

She premiered two Cuban operas composed by Hubert de Blanck, which had themes related to emancipation. She successfully assumed one of the roles in Patria, which she sang for the benefit of veterans. In early 1900 she received a tribute at the Albisu Theater in La Habana for her contribution to the independence cause, which was attended by Máximo Gómez. In 1900 a gala event was organized in Santiago de Cuba for her benefit.

Chalía Herrera was one of the first sopranos to make phonographic recordings in the United States. Only two singers had done so before: Marie Romaine in July of 1900, and Edna Florence on October 17 of that year. On the 30th of that same month, the Cuban singer began recording for RCA Victor, and the number of her recordings far exceeded those of her predecessors: more than forty selections between 1900 and 1903.

Between 1897 and 1900, before recording for RCA Victor discs, she had recorded several dozen Bettini cylinders. She later continued recording for Monarch and Zonophone labels. In 1912 she made her last recordings: twenty for RCA Victor and thirteen for Columbia.

Although the repertoire recorded by Chalía Herrera consisted fundamentally of operatic pieces, it also included selections of zarzuelas, Spanish songs, and several Cuban songs; among them, the habanera Tú by Eduardo Sánchez de Fuentes, which she first recorded on cylinder, then on Zonophone discs and later on Victor discs.

By José Marín Varona she recorded the guajiras Bajo un guayabo and Mulatica de mi vida; by Manuel Mauri, the clave Las desventuras de Liborio and the bolero Lloraba un corazón; by Sindo Garay, the criolla Guarina, and by Puerto Rican composer Félix Astil, La borinqueña, the first known recording of popular music from Puerto Rico (recorded in 1900 for the Zonophone label).

On August 18, 1901 she signed a contract with the Agenzia Lirica Internazionale in Milan, where she had an extended season at its Teatro Principal. Between 1905 and 1907 she toured Mexico with her company, composed of tenor Sigaldi and baritone Torres Ovando. She returned to Mexico in 1910 to perform the leading roles of La Traviata and Tosca.

In 1914 she arrived in La Habana as a member of María Barrientos's company, to perform at the Politeama theater, which, according to the press of the time, "was filled with people daily to see and applaud the Cuban diva."

On April 22, 1915 she made her debut at Carnegie Hall in New York, accompanied at the piano by maestro Raimundo Llada. Her interpretations of arias from the operas Carmen by Bizet and Cavallería rusticana by Mascagni were highly acclaimed at that recital, according to the chronicles.

The following year she made successful presentations in Venezuela, and in 1922 she performed in major theaters in Madrid and Barcelona. Upon her return to the United States, she performed in theaters in several states of the Union, and in 1925 she signed a contract with the Metropolitan Opera Company to do, with the piano accompaniment of Mario Basini, a series of radio programs, at that time a novel medium for broadcasting music.

Founding of the Chalia Opera Company Society
The 1930s were a period of artistic decline for her. She founded the Chalia Opera Company in 1940, which would be based in her own home in New York, but the enterprise failed due to economic reasons.

Six years later, already retired from the arts, Chalía Herrera decided to return permanently to Cuba. Her return to the Island and her final days were narrated by journalist and biographer José Ramón Fajardo as an emotional reunion with her homeland. After hearing the notes of the National Anthem, performed by the Municipal Band under the direction of Gonzalo Roig, the diva began to sing the habanera Tú, and upon finishing expressed: "I come to die in Cuba."

On November 16, 1948, on the eve of turning 85 years old, Chalía Herrera passed away, in poverty, in a hospital in La Habana. Shortly after, she was awarded the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes order, the highest official distinction of the time.