Suzanne Adams
Encyclopedia
Suzanne Adams was an American lyric coloratura soprano. Known for her agile and pure voice, Adams first became well known in France before establishing herself as one of the Metropolitan Opera
's leading sopranos at the beginning of the twentieth century.
. She studied in New York with Jacques Bouhy
and then in Paris with Mathilde Marchesi
. She made her opera début at the Paris Opéra
in 1894 or 1895 as Juliette in Charles Gounod
's Roméo et Juliette
. She studied the role of Juliet and the role of Marguerite from Faust
with Gounod himself, who greatly admired her fine technique, brilliant tone, and vocal flexibility.
She remained at the Paris Opera for three years and then went to Nice
. While in France she sang numeroues roles by Gounod and Meyerbeer, as well as the Queen of the Night in the The Magic Flute
and the title role in Gluck's Eurydice
among other roles. In the summer of 1898 she appeared at Covent Garden
, London as Hero in the world premiere of C. V. Stanford's Much Ado About Nothing
. She went on to join the Metropolitan Opera
in New York City where she sang numerous roles during the seasons of 1898-99 to 1903. Her roles at the Met included Juliette, Marguerite, Marguerite de Valois from Les Huguenots
, Micaela from Carmen
, Cherubino from Le nozze di Figaro, Donna Elvira from Don Giovanni
, Philine from Mignon
, Berthe from Le prophète
, the Forest Bird from Siegfried
, Nedda from Pagliacci
, Gilda from Rigoletto
, Infanta from Le Cid
, Inès from L'Africaine
, and Mimì from La bohème
among others.
In 1898 she married Leo Stern
, an English cellist who died in 1904. Following Stern's death, Adams soon retired from the stage and settled in London. She appeared at Covent Garden in some performances of Carmen in November 1906 (presumably as Micaela), these may have been among her last appearances in opera.
Judging from a New York passenger list of 1903, she had already ceased to be a US citizen; presumably she had become a British citizen. However, the recently released UK 1911 census has her as a US citizen resident in the UK. She is reported to have taught singing for many years, further details are lacking so far. She appeared in a few concerts in the UK in 1905 and 1906. She visited the United States in late 1907 to appear in vaudeville in Chicago, New York and elsewhere.
In 1915 she married John Lumsden Mackay, 'of independent means'. Details of John Mackay's life are lacking, but he may have had some career as an actor before World War I (sources: NY passenger list of 1912; 'Garrick Club' as address in WWI medal index). He served in WWI, possibly as a sick bay attendant with the Navy, and was awarded the 1915 Star etc.
He died in November 1934. They lived for many years north of Hyde Park in London at 55 Inverness Terrace. She may have continued teaching until her death in London in 1953.
Note: Some reference books claim that she managed a laundry in London after her retirement, but do not cite reliable primary sources for this.
in 1898. In 1902 she made five disc recordings in London for the Gramophone and Typewriter Company's new Red Seal series, four of which were issued in the United States by the Victor Talking Machine Company
the following year. Seven more records were made in the United States for Columbia Records'
1903 Grand Opera Series. She also appears on a few of the Mapleson Cylinders
, including (probably) the one of the Queen's aria from Les Huguenots previously attributed to Melba
.
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...
's leading sopranos at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Biography
Adams was born in Cambridge, MassachusettsCambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
. She studied in New York with Jacques Bouhy
Jacques Bouhy
Jacques-Joseph-André Bouhy a Belgian baritone, most famous for being the first to sing the Toreador Song in the role of Escamillo in Carmen....
and then in Paris with Mathilde Marchesi
Mathilde Marchesi
Mathilde Marchesi was a German mezzo-soprano, a renowned teacher of singing, and a proponent of the bel canto vocal method.-Biography:...
. She made her opera début at the Paris Opéra
Palais Garnier
The Palais Garnier, , is an elegant 1,979-seat opera house, which was built from 1861 to 1875 for the Paris Opera. It was originally called the Salle des Capucines because of its location on the Boulevard des Capucines in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, but soon became known as the Palais Garnier...
in 1894 or 1895 as Juliette in Charles Gounod
Charles Gounod
Charles-François Gounod was a French composer, known for his Ave Maria as well as his operas Faust and Roméo et Juliette.-Biography:...
's Roméo et Juliette
Roméo et Juliette
Roméo et Juliette is an opéra in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. It was first performed at the Théâtre Lyrique , Paris on 27 April 1867...
. She studied the role of Juliet and the role of Marguerite from Faust
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
with Gounod himself, who greatly admired her fine technique, brilliant tone, and vocal flexibility.
She remained at the Paris Opera for three years and then went to Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
. While in France she sang numeroues roles by Gounod and Meyerbeer, as well as the Queen of the Night in the The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue....
and the title role in Gluck's Eurydice
Eurydice
Eurydice in Greek mythology, was an oak nymph or one of the daughters of Apollo . She was the wife of Orpheus, who loved her dearly; on their wedding day, he played joyful songs as his bride danced through the meadow. One day, a satyr saw and pursued Eurydice, who stepped on a venomous snake,...
among other roles. In the summer of 1898 she appeared at Covent Garden
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...
, London as Hero in the world premiere of C. V. Stanford's Much Ado About Nothing
Much Ado About Nothing (opera)
Much Ado About Nothing is an opera in four acts by Charles Villiers Stanford with a libretto by Julian Sturgis based on Shakespeare's play Much Ado About Nothing. It premiered to considerable success at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on 30 May 1901...
. She went on to join 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...
in New York City where she sang numerous roles during the seasons of 1898-99 to 1903. Her roles at the Met included Juliette, Marguerite, Marguerite de Valois from Les Huguenots
Les Huguenots
Les Huguenots is a French opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer, one of the most popular and spectacular examples of the style of grand opera. The opera is in five acts and premiered in Paris in 1836. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and Émile Deschamps....
, Micaela from 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...
, Cherubino from Le nozze di Figaro, Donna Elvira from Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
, Philine from 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,...
, Berthe from Le prophète
Le prophète
Le prophète is an opera in five acts by Giacomo Meyerbeer. The French-language libretto was by Eugène Scribe.-Performance history:...
, the Forest Bird from Siegfried
Siegfried (opera)
Siegfried is the third of the four operas that constitute Der Ring des Nibelungen , by Richard Wagner. It received its premiere at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus on 16 August 1876, as part of the first complete performance of The Ring...
, Nedda from Pagliacci
Pagliacci
Pagliacci , sometimes incorrectly rendered with a definite article as I Pagliacci, is an opera consisting of a prologue and two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It recounts the tragedy of a jealous husband in a commedia dell'arte troupe...
, Gilda from Rigoletto
Rigoletto
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
, Infanta from Le Cid
Le Cid
Le Cid is a tragicomedy written by Pierre Corneille and published in 1636. It is based on the legend of El Cid.The play followed Corneille's first true tragedy, Médée, produced in 1635. An enormous popular success, Corneille's Le Cid was the subject of a heated polemic over the norms of dramatic...
, Inès from L'Africaine
L'Africaine
L'africaine is a grand opera, the last work of the composer Giacomo Meyerbeer. The French libretto was written by Eugène Scribe. The opera is about fictitious events in the life of the real historical person Vasco da Gama...
, and Mimì from La bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
among others.
In 1898 she married Leo Stern
Leo Stern
Leo Stern was an English cellist, best remembered for being the soloist in the premiere performance of Antonín Dvořák's Cello Concerto in B minor in London in 1896.-Biography:...
, an English cellist who died in 1904. Following Stern's death, Adams soon retired from the stage and settled in London. She appeared at Covent Garden in some performances of Carmen in November 1906 (presumably as Micaela), these may have been among her last appearances in opera.
Judging from a New York passenger list of 1903, she had already ceased to be a US citizen; presumably she had become a British citizen. However, the recently released UK 1911 census has her as a US citizen resident in the UK. She is reported to have taught singing for many years, further details are lacking so far. She appeared in a few concerts in the UK in 1905 and 1906. She visited the United States in late 1907 to appear in vaudeville in Chicago, New York and elsewhere.
In 1915 she married John Lumsden Mackay, 'of independent means'. Details of John Mackay's life are lacking, but he may have had some career as an actor before World War I (sources: NY passenger list of 1912; 'Garrick Club' as address in WWI medal index). He served in WWI, possibly as a sick bay attendant with the Navy, and was awarded the 1915 Star etc.
He died in November 1934. They lived for many years north of Hyde Park in London at 55 Inverness Terrace. She may have continued teaching until her death in London in 1953.
Note: Some reference books claim that she managed a laundry in London after her retirement, but do not cite reliable primary sources for this.
Recordings
Adams recorded five cylinders for Gianni BettiniGianni Bettini
Gianni Bettini was an early audiophile. He made a number of high-end phonographs that are highly sought after today. He invented a playback device which improves the sound quality of recordings; The Micro-reproducer...
in 1898. In 1902 she made five disc recordings in London for the Gramophone and Typewriter Company's new Red Seal series, four of which were issued in the United States by the Victor Talking Machine Company
Victor Talking Machine Company
The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American corporation, the leading American producer of phonographs and phonograph records and one of the leading phonograph companies in the world at the time. It was headquartered in Camden, New Jersey....
the following year. Seven more records were made in the United States for Columbia Records'
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
1903 Grand Opera Series. She also appears on a few of the Mapleson Cylinders
Mapleson Cylinders
The Mapleson Cylinders are a group of more than 100 phonograph cylinders recorded live at the Metropolitan Opera, primarily in the years 1901–1903, by the Met librarian Lionel Mapleson ....
, including (probably) the one of the Queen's aria from Les Huguenots previously attributed to Melba
Melba
Melba may refer to:* Dame Nellie Melba, Australian soprano opera singer* Melba , a 1953 film directed by Lewis Milestone* Melba Montgomery, a country music singer* Melba Moore, an American R&B singer and actress...
.