Didur was born on 24 December 1874 in
Wola Sękowa near
Sanok, Poland. Didur studied in
Lwów with and later with Franz Emmerich in Milan. After steady years at
Warsaw Opera from 1899 to 1903, Didur launched a career at major European opera houses. His guest appearances in Spain and Russia in 1903 were followed by
La Scala years 1903-1906, first appearing there as Wotan in
Das Rheingold. His debut at London's
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, was in the role of Colline in
La bohème on the opening night of the 1905 season. He travelled later to Argentina, singing in
Buenos Aires in the 1905–1908 operatic seasons. In 1914, he returned to London to sing Baron Archibaldo at the British premiere of Montemezzi's ''
L'amore dei tre re'' and a few other roles. Didur's North American debut was as Alvise in Ponchielli's
La Gioconda at the second season opening of
Hammerstein's Manhattan Opera House. It was the night of "Golden Age" stars, also featuring American debuts of
Giovanni Zenatello as Enzo and
Jeanne Gerville-Réache as La Cieca, while
Lillian Nordica sang the title role,
Mario Ancona was Barnaba and Eleanora de Cisnero was Laura. A year later,
Metropolitan Opera engaged Didur as Méphistophélès in Gounod's
Faust at the inauguration of the new Brooklyn Academy of Music to be followed two days later by his Ramfis in
Giuseppe Verdi's
Aida. On this all-star opening night of the 1908 season,
Arturo Toscanini was in the pit and the rest of the cast included
Emmy Destinn in her Met debut as Aida,
Enrico Caruso (Radames),
Louise Homer (Amneris) and
Antonio Scotti (Amonasro). He remained with the company for a quarter of a century and became one of its principal bass singers, counting 933 performances in 55 roles. In 1913, Didur appeared at the Met in the title role of
Boris Godunov, the American premiere of Mussorgsky's opera. Didur created roles in the world premieres of three operas by
Giacomo Puccini at the Met:
La fanciulla del West in 1910 and
Il tabarro and
Gianni Schicchi of the
Il trittico trilogy in 1918. He also appeared at the world premiere of Humperdinck's
Königskinder. Didur's other important "firsts" at the Met include the US premieres of Mozart's
Così fan tutte, Smetana's
The Bartered Bride, Borodin's
Prince Igor (singing both Prince Galitzky and Khan Konchak), and Montemezzi's ''L'amore dei tre re''. He also sang under the baton of
Gustav Mahler in Mozart's
Le nozze de Figaro, Smetana's
The Bartered Bride and the Met premiere of Tchaikovsky's
The Queen of Spades. Didur's last appearance at the Met was in the role of Coppélius in ''
Les Contes d'Hoffmann'' on 11 February 1932. Two months before the outbreak of
World War II, Didur was appointed director of the
Warsaw Opera, but the 1939 bombardment, almost completely destroying the opera house, made work impossible. He continued his work as a professor in
Lwów and then
Katowice, ==Family==