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

 

 

Love’s old sweet song (Molloy) A5670 37174 Columbia, New York 1915-02-13

Low back’d car (Lover) A5669 37202 Columbia, New York 1915-03-05

Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti) Verranno a te (w. Constantino) 74064 C4550-1 Victor, 1907-05-31

Madama Butterfly (Puccini) Ancora un passo A5250 30593 Columbia, New York 1910-11-29

Madama Butterfly (Puccini) Ieri son salita A5300 30728-1 Columbia, New York 1911-04-13

Madama Butterfly (Puccini) Piccolo Iddio A5300 30594-2 Columbia, New York 1911-04-15

Madama Butterfly (Puccini) Un bel dì A5250 30595 Columbia, New York 1910-11-29

Martha (Flotow) Last rose of summer A5283 30579-1 Columbia, New York 1910-11-22

Mefistofele (Boito) L’altra notte A5248 30597 Columbia, New York 1910-11-29

My laddie (Thayer) A5401 30585-2 Columbia, New York 1910-11-23

Nebber Min’ Mah Honey (Riker) (w. quartet) 30007D 81649-3 Columbia, New York 1924-03-26

Nozze di Figaro (Mozart) Deh vieni A5249 30586 Columbia, New York 1910-11-23

Nozze di Figaro (Mozart) Voi lo sapete H1085 30581-2 Columbia, New York 1910-11-22

Oh! I’m not myself at all (Lover) A5669 37172 Columbia, New York 1915-02-11

Old black Joe (Foster) A5678 37184-3 Columbia, New York 1915-02-18