1895, NEW YORK, USA: The celebrated french singer soprano Emma Calvé (Rosa Emma Calvet, 1858-1942) Calvé was probably the most famous French female opera singer of the Belle Epoque. Celebrated in in Charles Gounod 's Faust, L'Amico Fritz by Pietro Mascagni, Cavalleria rusticana by Mascagni, Bizet 's Carmen, Mignon by Ambroise Thomas, Massenet 's La Navarraise and Sapho. She also sang Ophélie in Ambroise Thomas 's Hamlet in Paris in 1899. She is best known as Carmen, by Bizet. Calve' was a lesbian of circle of most rich american heiress Winnaretta Singer De Polignac in Paris.