Mary Garden

Mary Garden ( born February 20, 1874 in Aberdeen, † January 3, 1967 ibid ) was a British opera singer (soprano ). It was called the " Sarah Bernhardt of opera".

Life

Mary Garden was born in Aberdeen, Scotland and grew up in the Chicago, Illinois, on. Early on, she began to study singing at the Conservatory in Chicago, and later continued her studies in Paris.

Her first public appearance was in April 1900 as Louise in the world premiere of the opera by Gustave Charpentier Louise at the Opéra -Comique in Paris. In 1902, she sang Mélisande in the premiere of Claude Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande. This led to a one " divas war" between Mary and Georgette Leblanc Garden. Maurice Maeterlinck, author of the literary work, had just Leblanc married and promised her the vocal part of Mélisande.

In 1907 she made ​​her American debut as Thaïs - as the most important of Actress shall remain valid until today - at the Metropolitan Opera. From 1910 to 1931 she was a member of the Lyric Opera of Chicago - for a short time even their leader. After 1935 she retired from the stage in order to limit itself to the concert hall and later in teaching.

Between 1903 and 1929 she successfully took on several recordings for Columbia Records and Victor Talking Machine Company. She also did advertising for fashion, perfume and cigarettes.

Filmography ( silent film )

Primary literature

Secondary literature

• J. B. Fletcher: Mary Garden in ' The New Grove Dictionary of Opera', London ( 1992) ISBN 0-333-73432-7
• Michael Turnbull: Mary Garden, Portland, Oregon ( 1997)