Degas at the Opéra, Portrait of Rose Caron, c. 1892

KAYWIN FELDMAN: Critics praised Rose Caron as a “peerless tragic actress.” Others were less enthusiastic about her voice, which was once referred to as “wounded.” This is a recording of her from late in her career, in her signature role as Brunehild, the Queen of Iceland, from the opera Sigurd. Between 1885 and 1892, Degas spent 177 evenings at the Paris Opéra. He was clearly drawn to particular productions and performers. Rose Caron was a favorite. Degas marveled at her elegant and graceful gestures. KIMBERLY JONES: Here she is shown in evening garb, as she pulls up her glove over her long arm. Degas admired her beautiful arms tremendously; so much so that he wrote a sonnet to her, //which he opens with the line: These arms, noble and long. KAYWIN FELDMAN: According to his own admission, Degas was passionately in love with Rose Caron. The day after seeing a performance of Sigurd, he wrote to his friend: ACTOR: DEGAS: “How well she is able to raise her thin and divine arms, holding them aloft for a long time, without affectation, for a long time and then lowering them gently!” KIMBERLY JONES: Degas’s admiration for Rose Caron is almost certainly the reason why he attended the opera Sigurd at least 37 times; it couldn’t possibly have been the music itself that he found so alluring.