SUPERVIA, CONCHITA. (1895-1936). Popular Spanish coloratura mezzo-soprano. Notebook calendar containing her handwritten notes. (Unsigned). N.p., 12mo. (England), 1936. A “Featherweight Diary” for the year 1936 manufactured by Frank Smythson, bound in grey leather with the original steel mechanical pencil. The near daily calendar entries written by Supervia in pencil end on March 21st, approximately a week before she died in childbirth, on March 30. Some of her final entries mention “Nurse Jennie” and “Nursing Home,” the latter, no doubt, a reference to the nursing home where she awaited the birth of her child.

Supervia made her operatic debut at Buenos Aires’ Teatro Colon on October 1, 1910 at the age of 15, and within a few short years she was appearing regularly throughout Europe. “Few singers conveyed so keen a pleasure in the sheer act of singing, or such a power of establishing immediate contact with the listener,” (The New Grove Dictionary). Her roles in Rossini’s operas and her copious recordings made her an international celebrity. In 1930, she married a timber broker named Ben Rubinstein and settled in London, continuing to sing at Covent Garden. However, pregnancy led her to cancel her fall 1935 performances. On March 29, eight days after the last entry in our diary, she was admitted to a clinic in London to await the birth of her daughter who was stillborn on March 30; Conchita died a few hours later and the two were buried in Willesden’s Liberal Jewish cemetery.

In fine condition. Likely the last words written by one of opera’s greatest singers.