 But since this offer did not include money for food and lodging, the young man could not accept.Although Cornelie van Zanten is credited in some reference books as being Urlus' teacher, the young tenor was more or less an autodidact when he made his stage début at the Amsterdam opera house on 20 September 1894 as Beppe in Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci".He was 27 and a married man.