Cyrena van Gordon
Encyclopedia
Cyrena van Gordon was the stage name of an American operatic contralto
born Cyrena Sue Pocock. Sources variously list her birth date as September 4, 1893, 1896, or 1897 (one citing 1866 is implausible) in Camden, Ohio
; she died on April 4, 1964 in New York City. In approximately 1918 she married Dr. Shirley Munn, an eye, ear, nose, and throat specialist in Chicago.
After studies with Louise Dotti, van Gordon made her operatic debut as Amneris in Verdi
's Aida
in 1913. A principal member of the opera companies active in Chicago during her career, she also performed in New York City, Philadelphia, and as far afield as San Francisco. She left recordings for the Edison and Columbia companies.
Notable events in her career would include the following:
Contralto
Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...
born Cyrena Sue Pocock. Sources variously list her birth date as September 4, 1893, 1896, or 1897 (one citing 1866 is implausible) in Camden, Ohio
Camden, Ohio
Camden is a village in Preble County, Ohio, United States. The population was 2,302 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area...
; she died on April 4, 1964 in New York City. In approximately 1918 she married Dr. Shirley Munn, an eye, ear, nose, and throat specialist in Chicago.
After studies with Louise Dotti, van Gordon made her operatic debut as Amneris in Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's Aida
Aida
Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
in 1913. A principal member of the opera companies active in Chicago during her career, she also performed in New York City, Philadelphia, and as far afield as San Francisco. She left recordings for the Edison and Columbia companies.
Notable events in her career would include the following:
- December 26, 1917, created the role of Papantzin in Henry Kimball HadleyHenry Kimball HadleyHenry Kimball Hadley was an American composer and conductor.-Life:Hadley was born into a musical family in Somerville, Massachusetts...
's short-lived opera Azora, the Daughter of MontezumaAzora, the Daughter of MontezumaAzora, The Daughter of Montezuma is an opera in 3 acts by American composer Henry Kimball Hadley to a libretto in English by author David Stevens.-Synopsis:The story takes place at the time of the conquest of the Aztecs by Cortez...
.
- October 5, 1919, first New York recital, Aeolian HallAeolian Hall (New York)Aeolian Hall was a concert hall near Times Square in Midtown Manhattan, New York City located on the third floor of 29-33 West 42nd Street across the street from Bryant Park. The Aeolian Building was built in 1912 for the Aeolian Company, which manufactured pianos...
. Her program included HandelGeorge Frideric HandelGeorge Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
's Come, Beloved; Carey's Pastoral; songs in English by Salter, GretchaninovAlexander GretchaninovAlexander Tikhonovich Gretchaninov was a Russian Romantic composer.-His life:Gretchaninov started his musical studies rather late because his father, a businessman, had expected the boy to take over the family firm...
, Sturani, Kramer, Hadley, and Spross; an air by Henry Bishop; and a French air by Lenormand.
- February 8, 1922, appeared as Venus, opposite the Elisabeth of Rosa RaisaRosa RaisaRosa Raisa was a Polish-born, Italian-trained, dramatic operatic soprano. In 1926 she created the role of Turandot at La Scala, Milan.-Career:...
, in the first production in German of WagnerRichard WagnerWilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
's TannhäuserTannhäuser (opera)Tannhäuser is an opera in three acts, music and text by Richard Wagner, based on the two German legends of Tannhäuser and the song contest at Wartburg...
at New York's Manhattan Opera HouseManhattan CenterThe Manhattan Center building, built in 1906 and located at 311 West 34th Street in Midtown Manhattan, houses Manhattan Center Studios , its Grand Ballroom, and the Hammerstein Ballroom, one of New York City's most renowned performance venues...
; the work had been heard there in French a dozen years before. The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
praised her voice as being "of genuine beauty, just as in stature she looked the goddess queen."
- July 12, 1922, performed the first in a series of six operatic concerts sponsored by Wrigley FieldWrigley FieldWrigley Field is a baseball stadium in Chicago, Illinois, United States that has served as the home ballpark of the Chicago Cubs since 1916. It was built in 1914 as Weeghman Park for the Chicago Federal League baseball team, the Chicago Whales...
in Chicago. She sang on a platform built over the baseball diamond illuminated by electric lighting; the conductor stood over the pitcher's mound.
- May 27, 1933, sang The Star-Spangled BannerThe Star-Spangled Banner"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States of America. The lyrics come from "Defence of Fort McHenry", a poem written in 1814 by the 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, Francis Scott Key, after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy ships...
at the opening ceremonies of the Century of ProgressCentury of ProgressA Century of Progress International Exposition was the name of a World's Fair held in Chicago from 1933 to 1934 to celebrate the city's centennial. The theme of the fair was technological innovation...
1933 World's Fair in Chicago.
- November, 1933, appeared as Delilah in Saint-SaënsCamille Saint-SaënsCharles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...
's Samson and DelilahSamson and Delilah (opera)Samson and Delilah , Op. 47, is a grand opera in three acts and four scenes by Camille Saint-Saëns to a French libretto by Ferdinand Lemaire...
in San Francisco. TIMETime (magazine)Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine reported that she received ten curtain calls after singing "Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix"; it also remarked that she "was bigger than Samson (Tenor Giovanni MartinelliGiovanni MartinelliGiovanni Martinelli was a celebrated Italian operatic tenor. He was particularly associated with the Italian lyric-dramatic repertory, although he performed French operatic roles to great acclaim as well...
)...."
- March, 1935, appeared as Clytemnestra in the United States premiere of GluckChristoph Willibald GluckChristoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck was an opera composer of the early classical period. After many years at the Habsburg court at Vienna, Gluck brought about the practical reform of opera's dramaturgical practices that many intellectuals had been campaigning for over the years...
's Iphigénie en AulideIphigénie en AulideIphigénie en Aulide is an opera in three acts by Christoph Willibald Gluck, the first work he wrote for the Paris stage. The libretto was written by Leblanc du Roullet and was based on Jean Racine's tragedy Iphigénie...
, Philadelphia.