Emilio Belari

Emilio Yela de la Torre, better known as Emilio Belari, (c. 1837 — 18 May 1907) was a Spanish voice teacher, tenor, writer on vocal pedagogy, and journalist.

Life and career Emilio Belari was born Emilio Yela de la Torre in Madrid in c. 1837. His family was part of the Spanish nobility, and his mother was the cousin of Agustín Fernando Muñoz y Sánchez, 1st Duke of Riánsares who married Queen Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies.

Belari began his professional life working as a journalist for newspapers in Spain. and the two men developed a close friendship. In 1883 his book The Secrets of the Voice in Singing was published under the surname of Belari. This latter book was recently republished by the Frankfurt academic publisher Outlook Verlag in 2024.

In c. 1882 Belari came to the United States with his own touring opera company. It was not successful. and bass, voice teacher, and choral conductor Edward M. Zimmerman. He also was the voice teacher of numerous upper society ladies of New York, among them Arabella Huntington (wife of Collis P. Huntington) and Louise Whitfield Carnegie (wife of Andrew Carnegie).

Belari died on 18 May 1907 at the age of 70. His death resulted from a fall out of his bedroom window in an apartment on the seventh floor of a building located at 824 W. 57th St. It was deemed a suicide by the New York City coroner, although the initial police investigation was unable to definitively make that claim. The Musical Courier obituary did not claim the event was a suicide stating instead that friends of Belari considered the fall "an accident" and "a mystery".