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.

 

TRACKLIST

 

 

Don Giovanni (Mozart) Batti, batti A5249 30583 Columbia, New York 1910-11-22

Don Pasquale (Donizetti) Quel guardo 74087 C4549-1 Victor, 1907-05-31

Faust (Gounod) Dammi ancor (w. Constantino) 74076 C4552-1 Victor, 1907-05-31

Faust (Gounod) Le Roi de Thulé A5247 30587-1 Columbia, New York 1910-11-23

Faust (Gounod) Tardi si fa! (w. Zenatello) H1073 30924-1 Columbia, New York 1911-12-18

Fille du Régiment (Donizetti) Convien partir 74117 C6133-4 Victor, 1908-05-01

From the land of the sky-blue water (Cadman) A5298 30726-1 Columbia, New York 1911-04-0813

From the Land of the sky-blue Waters (Cadman) A1732 39875 Columbia, New York 1915-02-18

Good Bye (Tosti) A5401 30729-3 Columbia, New York 1911-04-13

Home, sweet home (Bishop) A5283 30591 Columbia, New York 1910-11-29

Il bacio (Arditi) 74107 C6153-1 Victor, 1908-04-24

Il bacio (Arditi) A5246 30592 Columbia, New York 1910-11-29

In the Gloaming (Harrison) A5425 30941 Columbia, New York 1912-01-12

Kathleen Mavourneen (Crouch) A5245 30589-1 Columbia, New York 1910-11-29

Killarney (Balfe) A5711 37203-2 Columbia, New York 1915-03-05