Irra Petina (April 18, 1908 – January 19, 2000) was an actress and singer as well as a leadingcontralto with theMetropolitan Opera in New York City. She was called the "floperetta queen" by criticKen Mandelbaum.
Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, Petina was the daughter of General Stephen Petin,Czar Nicholas II's personal escort, and a goddaughter of theDowager EmpressMarie Feodorovna. She studied singing in New York City withEstelle Liebling, the teacher ofBeverly Sills.[1] Her debut role with the Met was as Schwertleite inRichard Wagner'sDie Walküre (the second part of the acclaimedRing Cycle) on December 29, 1933. She appeared as Maddalena inGiuseppe Verdi'sRigoletto with Jan Peerce, the marquise of Berkenfeld inDonizetti'sThe Daughter of the Regiment withLily Pons, Mallika inLéo Delibes'sLakmé, Feodor inBoris Godunov, Annina inRichard Strauss'sDer Rosenkavalier, and the title role inBizet'sCarmen.
Petina's portrayal of Marcellina inWolfgang Amadeus Mozart'sLe nozze di Figaro (27 Met performances in all, with four radio broadcasts), won her rave reviews from theNew York Times and theNew York Herald Tribune. Additional credits include 35 Met performances as Berta inRossini'sThe Barber of Seville, and despite being a contralto, the highsoprano role of Rosalinde in a 1944 national tour ofJohann Strauss, Jr.'s operettaDie Fledermaus.
Petina also appeared on Broadway in productions such asSong of Norway (1947),Magdalena (1948),Hit the Trail (1954),Leonard Bernstein'sCandide (1957), for which she received aTony Award nomination as Best Featured Actress in a Musical, andAnya (1965).
Petina appeared as herself in Andrew L. Stone's filmThere's Magic in Music (1941).
Asked how to pronounce her name, she toldTheLiterary Digest the first syllable should be stressed: PEH-ti-na. (Charles Earle Funk,What's the Name, Please?, Funk & Wagnalls, 1936.)
She married Dr. Frank Bussey and died in Austin, Texas. Her archive is held at theHarry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin.
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