Description

ALICE NIELSEN (NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, JUNE 7, 1872 – NEW YORK, N.Y., MARCH 8, 1943)

 

 

 

 

She came from a Danish-Irish family and, as a child, sang in a church choir in Kansas City. During a tour with a church concert company, the company went bankrupt while performing in St. Joseph, Missouri. To finance her trip home, she performed at the Eden Musée. In 1892, she married organist Benjamin Nentwig from Kansas City when she was very young.

In 1893, she made her stage debut with the Burton Opera Company as Yum-Yum in the Gilbert & Sullivan operetta The Mikado. After brief study with Max Dessi, she participated in the world premiere of Victor Herbert’s operetta The Fortune Teller in New York in 1898, and appeared in its London premiere in 1901. She also performed in Herbert’s The Singing Girl.

In 1901, while performing in London at the Shaftesbury Theatre, impresario Henry Russell encouraged her to focus on opera singing. After further studies in Rome, she made her opera debut in 1903 at the Teatro Bellini in Naples as Marguerite in Gounod’s Faust. In 1904, she achieved great success as Violetta in La Traviata at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. That same year, she made guest appearances at Covent Garden in London, performing as Zerlina in Don Giovanni and as Mimi in La Bohème, with Enrico Caruso as Rodolfo.

In 1905, she was praised for her portrayal of Norina in Don Pasquale at the Casino Theatre in New York. She toured America in 1908 with the San Carlo Opera Company. From 1909 to 1913, she was the celebrated prima donna of the Boston Opera while also performing at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where she debuted as Mimi in La Bohème, followed by Norina in Don Pasquale and Nedda in Pagliacci. At the Boston Opera, she took part in the premiere of Frederick Converse’s The Sacrifice on March 3, 1911.

In 1917, she made her final appearance at the Casino Theatre in New York in the operetta Kitty Darling by Friml. Afterward, she retired from the stage and lived as a teacher in New York.

 

TRACKLIS

 

 

A little coon’s prayer (Hope) (w. quartet) 30007D 81648-4 Columbia, New York 1924-03-26

A spirit flower (Tipton) A5717 37180-2 Columbia, New York 1915-03-06

Always do as people say you should (Herbert) 3180 Berliner, 1898-1902

Annie Laurie (Scott) A5245 30588-1 Columbia, New York 1910-11-29

Barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini) Una voce poco fa 74074 C4548-1 Victor, 1907-05-31

Barney O’Hea (Lover) A5711 37206 Columbia, New York 1915-03-06

Believe me if all those endearing young charms (trad) A5678 37173-3 Columbia, New York 1915-02-11

Bendemeer’s stream (Gatty) A5670 37178 Columbia, New York 1915-02-15

Bohème (Puccini) Addio A5246 30596 Columbia, New York 1910-11-29

Bohème (Puccini) Mi chiamano Mimì 74062 C4559-1 Victor, 1907-05-22

Bonnie sweet Bessie (Gilbert) A5299 30582-3 Columbia, New York 1910-11-22

By the Waters of Minnetonka (Lieurance) A1732 39874 Columbia, New York 1915-02-18

Carmen (Bizet) Je dis que rien A5247 30599-1 Columbia, New York 1910-11-29

Darling Nelly Gray (hanby) 54-M 19735-5 Columbia, New York 1922-03-02

Darling Nelly Gray (hanby) A1143 19735 Columbia, New York 1912-01-23