Maxim Karolik

Maxim Karolik (November 21, 1893 – December 20, 1963), born in what is now Ukraine, he became a featured tenor for the Imperial Russian Grand Opera (later known as the Petrograd Grand Opera). He toured in Europe as a young man. He left Russia during the Bolshevik Revolution and moved to the United States to continue study of music. There he met and married Martha Catharine Codman, from one of Boston, Massachusetts's wealthiest families. He became a noted collector of early American art, and the couple were influential in promoting eighteenth and nineteenth American art and antiques. In 1939 and 1947 they made valuable donations of their collections to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where a new wing was built and named for them. Early life Maxim Karolik was born on November 21, 1893, in Akkerman, Ukraine. He became a professional opera singer, and made his debut as a tenor at the old Imperial Russian Grand Opera, later known as the Petrograd Opera. He toured in Europe, including to Italy, England, and other countries, and made his debut in New York City in 1924. Because of the Bolshevik Revolution, he left Russia during the unrest. He moved to the United States to continue his study of music. In 1927 in Washington, DC Karolik met Martha Catharine Codman, a wealthy socialite who was 30 years older than he. With homes in the capital and Newport, Rhode Island, she was said to be worth $25 million to $40 million. She was a daughter of J. Amory Codman and his wife Martha Pickman Rogers Codman of Boston. Karolik and Codman married on February 2, 1928, in the French Riviera.