Risë Stevens
Encyclopedia
Risë Stevens is a retired American operatic
mezzo-soprano
.
for three years. She went to Vienna
, where she was trained by Marie Gutheil-Schoder
and Herbert Graf
. She made her début as Mignon
in Prague
in 1936 and stayed there until 1938, also appearing in guest appearances at the Vienna State Opera
. Her Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier
was one of her finest and most accomplished roles.
She was engaged at the Teatro Colón in 1938 (again as Octavian) and was invited to the Glyndebourne Festival
in 1939 where she was heard as Dorabella
and Cherubino
. In 1938 she made her début at the Metropolitan Opera
as Mignon. Three days later, she sang Octavian opposite Lotte Lehmann
. The film industry in Hollywood produced several films for her, including The Chocolate Soldier (1941) with Nelson Eddy
and Going My Way
(1944) with Bing Crosby
, the latter film crediting Stevens as a contralto
.
For over two decades (until 1961) Stevens was the Met's leading mezzo-soprano and the only mezzo to command the top billing (and commensurate fees) normally awarded only to star sopranos and tenors. Her most successful roles there included Cherubino, Octavian, Dalila
, Laura
, Hänsel and Marina
. She was especially celebrated for her Carmen
, which she both performed and recorded several times. She also appeared in Paris
, London
, at La Scala
and at Glyndebourne
. Her last performance was as Carmen, at the Met in 1961.
In 1962, she recorded the voice of Glinda
for Journey Back to Oz
, but the production ran out of money and was halted for more than four years. It was only after the Filmation
studio had made profits on their numerous television series that they were able to finish the project (which was copyrighted 1971, released in 1972 in the United Kingdom
and in 1974 in the United States
). After her retirement from the opera stage, Stevens served as General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera Touring Company until 1966 and later coached the new generation of singers at the Met.
Stevens made occasional television appearances too, including a guest-starring role on NBC
's The Martha Raye Show
.
On October 22, 1977, Stevens was awarded the prestigious University of Pennsylvania Glee Club
Award of Merit. Established in 1964, this award sought "to bring a declaration of appreciation to an individual each year that has made a significant contribution to the world of music and helped to create a climate in which our talents may find valid expression".
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
.
Professional life
Stevens studied at New York's Juilliard SchoolJuilliard School
The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...
for three years. She went to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, where she was trained by Marie Gutheil-Schoder
Marie Gutheil-Schoder
Marie Gutheil-Schoder was one of the most important German sopranos of her day.Born Marie Schoder, in 1899 she married Gustav Gutheil, with whom she lived until his death in 1914....
and Herbert Graf
Herbert Graf
Herbert Grafton was an Austrian-American opera producer. Born in Vienna in 1904, he was the son of Max Graf , the Austrian author, critic, musicologist and member of Sigmund Freud's circle of friends...
. She made her début as Mignon
Mignon
Mignon is an opéra comique in three acts by Ambroise Thomas. The original French libretto was by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on Goethe's novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre. The Italian version was translated by Giuseppe Zaffira. The opera is mentioned in James Joyce's The Dead,...
in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
in 1936 and stayed there until 1938, also appearing in guest appearances at the Vienna State Opera
Vienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera is an opera house – and opera company – with a history dating back to the mid-19th century. It is located in the centre of Vienna, Austria. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera . In 1920, with the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy by the First Austrian...
. Her Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel Les amours du chevalier de Faublas by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière’s comedy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac...
was one of her finest and most accomplished roles.
She was engaged at the Teatro Colón in 1938 (again as Octavian) and was invited to the Glyndebourne Festival
Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an English opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England.-History:...
in 1939 where she was heard as Dorabella
Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed in 1790. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte....
and Cherubino
The Marriage of Figaro
Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...
. In 1938 she made her début at the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
as Mignon. Three days later, she sang Octavian opposite Lotte Lehmann
Lotte Lehmann
Charlotte "Lotte" Lehmann was a German soprano who was especially associated with German repertory. She gave memorable performances in the operas of Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Ludwig van Beethoven, Puccini, Mozart and Massenet. The Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier was considered her greatest...
. The film industry in Hollywood produced several films for her, including The Chocolate Soldier (1941) with Nelson Eddy
Nelson Eddy
Nelson Ackerman Eddy was an American singer and actor who appeared in 19 musical films during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as in opera and on the concert stage, radio, television, and in nightclubs. A classically trained baritone, he is best remembered for the eight films in which he costarred...
and Going My Way
Going My Way
Going My Way is a 1944 film directed by Leo McCarey. It is a light-hearted musical comedy-drama about a new young priest taking over a parish from an established old veteran . Crosby sings five songs in the film. It was followed the next year by a sequel, The Bells of St. Mary's. This picture was...
(1944) with Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
, the latter film crediting Stevens as a contralto
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...
.
For over two decades (until 1961) Stevens was the Met's leading mezzo-soprano and the only mezzo to command the top billing (and commensurate fees) normally awarded only to star sopranos and tenors. Her most successful roles there included Cherubino, Octavian, Dalila
Samson 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...
, Laura
La Gioconda (opera)
La Gioconda is an opera in four acts by Amilcare Ponchielli set to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Angelo, tyran de Padoue, a play in prose by Victor Hugo, dating from 1835...
, Hänsel and Marina
Boris Godunov (opera)
Boris Godunov is an opera by Modest Mussorgsky . The work was composed between 1868 and 1873 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is Mussorgsky's only completed opera and is considered his masterpiece. Its subjects are the Russian ruler Boris Godunov, who reigned as Tsar during the Time of Troubles,...
. She was especially celebrated for her Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
, which she both performed and recorded several times. She also appeared in Paris
Paris Opera
The Paris Opera is the primary opera company of Paris, France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the Académie d'Opéra and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and renamed the Académie Royale de Musique...
, London
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
, at La Scala
La Scala
La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...
and at Glyndebourne
Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an English opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England.-History:...
. Her last performance was as Carmen, at the Met in 1961.
In 1962, she recorded the voice of Glinda
Glinda
Glinda is a fictional character in the Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. She is the most powerful sorceress of Oz, ruler of the Quadling Country south of the Emerald City, and protector of Princess Ozma.- Literature :Baum's 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...
for Journey Back to Oz
Journey Back to Oz
Journey Back To Oz is a 1974 animated film and the official sequel to the 1939 MGM film The Wizard of Oz. It is loosely based on L. Frank Baum's second Oz novel, The Marvelous Land of Oz, although Baum received no screen credit. However, the Wizard was nowhere to be found, at least in the...
, but the production ran out of money and was halted for more than four years. It was only after the Filmation
Filmation
Filmation Associates was an American production company that produced animation and live action programming for television during the latter half of the 20th century. Located in Reseda, California, the animation studio was founded in 1963...
studio had made profits on their numerous television series that they were able to finish the project (which was copyrighted 1971, released in 1972 in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and in 1974 in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
). After her retirement from the opera stage, Stevens served as General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera Touring Company until 1966 and later coached the new generation of singers at the Met.
Stevens made occasional television appearances too, including a guest-starring role on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's The Martha Raye Show
The Martha Raye Show
The Martha Raye Show is an hour-long comedy/variety show which aired live on NBC from January 23, 1954, to May 29, 1956. The series was hosted by the late Martha Raye, a Montana native, who often called herself "The Big Mouth." Her boyfriend on the program and a foil for her humor was portrayed by...
.
On October 22, 1977, Stevens was awarded the prestigious University of Pennsylvania Glee Club
The University of Pennsylvania Glee Club
Founded in 1862, the University of Pennsylvania Glee Club is one of the oldest continually running glee clubs in the United States. The Club draws its singing members from the undergraduate and graduate men of the University of Pennsylvania; men and women from the Penn community are also called...
Award of Merit. Established in 1964, this award sought "to bring a declaration of appreciation to an individual each year that has made a significant contribution to the world of music and helped to create a climate in which our talents may find valid expression".
Film
Stevens was a part of a number of Hollywood productions, her most memorable being in the Oscar winning film "Going My Way" alongside costars Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald.- 1974 - Journey Back to Oz as Glinda, the Good Witch (voice)
- 1958 - Little Women (TV movie) as Margaret March
- 1958 - Hansel and Gretel (TV movie) as Mother
- 1956 - Producers' Showcase (TV series) as Carmen in Carmen excerpt
- 1955 - The Chocolate Soldier (TV movie) as Nadina
- 1952 - Carmen (TV movie) as Carmen
- 1949 - Der Rosenkavalier (TV movie) as Octavian
- 1944 - Going My Way as Genevieve Linden
- 1941 - The Chocolate SoldierThe Chocolate Soldier (film)-Cast:* Nelson Eddy as Karl Lang, aka Vassily Vassilievitch* Risë Stevens as Maria Lanyi, Karl's Wife* Nigel Bruce as Bernard Fischer, Critic* Florence Bates as Madame 'Pugsie' Helene* Dorothy Raye as Magda...
as Maria Lanyi, Karl's Wife
Family
Stevens was married to actor Walter Surovy (1910–2001). Their son is actor Nicolas Surovy (b. 1944).Sources
- Erna BergerErna BergerErna Berger , was a prominent German coloratura lyric soprano. She is most famous for her Queen of the Night and her Konstanze....
, Risë Stevens: American mezzo-soprano - Kyle Crichton, Subway to the Met: Risë Stevens' Own Story (New York: Doubleday, 1959)