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

 

 

Old folks at home (Foster) A5299 30580-2 Columbia, New York 1910-11-22

Rigoletto (Verdi) E il sol dell’anima (w. Constantino) 74063 C4547-2 Victor, 1907-05-31

Rigoletto (Verdi) Sì, vendetta (w. Blanchart) A5301 30737-1 Columbia, New York 1911-04 (medio)

Rigoletto (Verdi) Tutte le efste al tempio (w. Blanchart) A5301 30738-1 Columbia, New York 1911-04 (medio)

Roméo et Juliette (Gounod) Ah, ne fuis pas encore (w. Constantino) 64091 B6136-1 Victor, 1908-04-22

Roméo et Juliette (Gounod) Ange adorable (w. Constantino) 74108 C6135-1 Victor, 1908-04-22

Sacrifice (Converse) Chonita’s prayer (Almighty Father) A5298 30724-1 Columbia, New York 1911-04-0813

Sweet Genevieve (Tucker) A5425 30927-1 Columbia, New York 1911-12-26

The day is done (Spross) A5717 37179-3 Columbia, New York 1915-02-17

The last rose of summer (Moore) 74121 C6126-1 Victor, 1908-04-21

Tosca (Puccini) Vissi d’arte A5248 30598-1 Columbia, New York 1910-11-29

Traviata (Verdi) Addio del passato 64068 C4537 Victor, 1907-05-31

Traviata (Verdi) Parigi o cara (w. Constantino) 74075 C4551-1 Victor, 1907-05-31

You’re the flower of my heart, sweet Adeline (Armstrong) A1143 19734 Columbia, New York 1912-01-22