Description

MARY WILLIE GRACE MOORE (SLABTOWN [NOW NOUGH], TENNESSEE, USA, DECEMBER 5, 1898 — IN-FLIGHT IN COPENHAGEN, DENMARK, JANUARY 26, 1947)

 

 

 

 

She sang in a church choir as a child, then studied in Nashville and at the Wilson-Green Music School in Washington, D.C., and from 1919 with Marafiori in New York. From 1921 to 1926, she appeared in operettas and revues in the United States (“Up in the Clouds,” “Hitchy-Koo,” “Music Box Revue,” and similar Broadway productions), which were enthusiastically received.

In 1926, she went to Europe and continued her vocal studies in Paris (with Richard Bathelémy) and Milan. She began her major operatic career in 1928 at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as Mimì in Puccini’s La Bohème. At the Metropolitan Opera, she sang ten roles in a total of seventy-four performances between 1928 and 1934, and again from 1934 until her death.

During the 1932–33 season, she temporarily left the Metropolitan Opera to appear on Broadway in the musical Madame Dubarry (based on the operetta by Millöcker–Mackeben). She made guest appearances at the Opéra-Comique in Paris in 1929, 1938, and 1946; debuted at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, in 1935 (again as Mimì in La Bohème); at the Chicago Opera in 1937 (as Massenet’s Manon); and at the San Francisco Opera in 1941 (as Fiora in Montemezzi’s L’Amore dei tre Re). She also appeared as a guest in Berlin, Vienna, Amsterdam, and Stockholm.

Besides Mimì, her major roles included Tosca, Massenet’s Manon, Fiora in Montemezzi’s L’Amore dei tre Re, and Louise in Charpentier’s Louise.

In 1930, she began one of the most illustrious film careers ever achieved by an opera singer. Her most successful film was One Night of Love (1938); Love Me Forever and New Moon also made her name internationally famous. She also portrayed the title role in a film version of Charpentier’s Louise, and in the (less successful) film A Lady’s Morals, she played the great Swedish soprano Jenny Lind. Curiously, she sang several operatic roles in her films that she never performed on stage.

After the Second World War, she undertook extensive concert tours in France, Italy, England, and the Scandinavian countries. In 1946, she gave a recital at the Salzburg Festival. Her final concert took place on January 25, 1947, in Copenhagen—one day before she died in the crash of a Dutch airplane en route to Stockholm. The son of the then Crown Prince of Sweden (later King Gustav VI Adolf) also perished in the crash.

Her autobiography, You’re Only Human Once, appeared in 1944. Grace Moore achieved her greatest successes in lyric roles of both the Italian and French operatic repertoire.

She died in a plane crash at Kastrup Airport in Copenhagen.

 

Literature:
R.R. Farrar: Grace Moore and Her Many Worlds (New York, 1982).

 

TRACKLIST

 

 

Bohème (Puccini) Addio… Mi chiamano Mimì 50140, 50140, XE26964, XE26965 Brunswick, New York 1928-03-13

Bohème (Puccini) Mi chiamano Mimì 17189 Victor, 1940

Bohème (Puccini) Musetta’s Waltz Song 02102 C9537-6 Brunswick

By the bend of the river (-) 15186 E27328-A Brunswick, New York 1928-04-11

Ciribiribin (Pestalozza) 6994 B16101A Brunswick

Dubarry (Millöcker) I give my heart DA1309 BS74708-2 Victor, 1932-12-19

Dubarry (Millöcker) The Dubarry DA1309 BS74709-2 Victor, 1932-12-19

Dubarry (Millöcker) Without your love (w. Crooks) 40-5517 BS74707-2 Victor, 1932-12-19

Funiculi, funiculà (Denza) 02102 C9539-6 Brunswick

Hérodiade (Massenet) Il est doux, il est bon 11-8258 Victor

Louise (Charpentier) Depuis le jour 17189 CS047052-4 Victor, 1940-02-12

Love me forever (Film Love me forever) (Kahn-Schertzinger) 29000 DLA285A Brunswick

Madama Butterfly (Puccini) Un bel dì vedremo 29000 DLA284A Brunswick

Manon (Massenet) Adieu, notre petite table 11-8259 Victor

Manon (Massenet) Obéissons, quand leur voix appelle (Gavotte) 11-8259 Victor

Music Box revue (Berlin) Listening 19613 B31662-8 Victor, New York 1925-02-26

Music Box revue (Berlin) Rock-a-bye-baby 19668 B31663-4 Victor, Camden NJ 1925-01-30

Music Box revue (Berlin) Tell her in the springtime 19613 B31661-10 Victor, New York 1925-02-26

One night of love (Kahn-Schertzinger) 6994 B16102A Brunswick

Phidylé (Duparc) 11-8258 Victor

Pour toi (-) 15186 E27327-A Brunswick, New York 1928-04-11

Psyche (Paladilhe) 10-1018 Victor

Que deviennent les roses (Paulin) 11-8158 Victor, 1942

Serenade (Schubert) (En) 0136 62119 Brunswick

Si mes vers avaient des ailes (Hahn) 10-1018 Victor

The King steps out (Kreisler-Fields) Stars in my eyes… Learn how to lose A81014, A81014 Brunswick

Toi seule (Tchaikovsky) 11-8158 Victor, 1942

Tosca (Puccini) Vissi d’arte 0136 62118 Brunswick