Éva Gauthier
Encyclopedia
Éva Gauthier was a Canadian mezzo-soprano
and voice teacher. She performed and popularised songs by contemporary composers throughout her career and sang in the American premieres of several works by Erik Satie
, Maurice Ravel
and Igor Stravinsky
, including the title role in the latter's Perséphone
.
The niece of Lady Laurier
and Sir Wilfrid Laurier
, who also were her patron
s, she initially trained and performed in Europe. She then travelled to Java
and for four years immersed herself in its native music, which she introduced to North American audiences on her return. She retired from performing in 1937, and opened a voice studio in New York, where she became a founding member of the American Guild of Musical Artists
and served on its board of governors. Gauthier was praised for the many qualities her singing brought to music. The citation from the Campion Society of San Francisco, which she received in 1949, said: "...her rare open-mindedness and unorthodox enthusiasm having been initially responsible for the recognition of many vital and important modern composers"
, Ontario
, Gauthier received musical lessons as a child, in harmony
, voice
, and piano
. The custom of the time dictated that North American musicians travel to Europe for training if they desired a reputable professional career, and in July 1902, at the age of seventeen, Gauthier set out for Europe, financed by her aunt and uncle, Lady Zoé Laurier and Sir Wilfrid Laurier.
, whom she would later credit for her vocal technique. In 1906, Gauthier was retained by fellow Canadian singer Emma Albani
to accompany her on a tour of England
and her Canadian farewell tour. Albani provided a degree of mentorship to Gauthier during the 30 week tour of Canada.
Lord Strathcona awarded Gauthier a scholarship in 1906 that allowed her to return to Europe and continue her vocal studies. She returned there and continued both to study and give performances. Her first opera
tic performance came in 1909 in Pavia
, Italy as Micaëla in Bizet
's Carmen
. She landed a second operatic role as Mallika in Delibes
' Lakmé
, which was being performed by the London Covent Garden opera company
. The opera opened in June 1910. Supposedly, Luisa Tetrazzini
, the prima donna
soprano
of the company, feared that Gauthier's voice would outshine her own, and demanded that Gauthier be removed from the opera. The company's director acquiesced to Tetrazzini's demands, informing Gauthier on opening night that she would not be performing. Gauthier reacted badly, and quit opera entirely.
Disappointed by her blocked entry into the operatic scene, Gauthier departed Europe and travelled to Java
. There, she met a Dutch importer and plantation manager named Frans Knoote. Gauthier and Knoote married on May 22, 1911. Gauthier studied the music of Java, and began to include this in her repertoire. Her accompanying pianist was Paul Seelig, who had previously been the conductor for the Kraton of Surakarta
, which afforded Gauthier a number of opportunities. On permission of the Javanese court, she studied the gamelan
, probably being the first western woman with a classical music education to be afforded this opportunity. While living in Java, Gauthier travelled extensively, giving performances in China, Japan, Singapore, Malaya, Australia, and New Zealand. She remained in Java for four years, but with the outbreak of World War I
she decided to travel back to North America, arriving in New York City
in the fall of 1915.
entitled Songmotion, which combined Javan music with dancers. New York was already home to many North American and European musical performers, so Gauthier focused on her Javan musical repertoire, which she combined with knowledge and skill in modernist western singing. Gauthier began giving annual recitals at Aeolian Hall
, and in November 1917 her performance there caught the eye of many leading composers. She developed her own reputation quickly, known as a "...sensitive purveyor of interesting, untried songs". She gave renditions of three songs by Maurice Ravel
. Her performance then also included American premieres of Stravinsky
's Three Japanese Lyrics and Griffes
' Five Poems of Ancient China and Japan. The performance was a great success, and she began to receive invitations to perform premieres of songs by contemporary composers. Stravinsky arranged to have Gauthier to premiere all of his vocal pieces.
Gauthier travelled to Paris in 1920 at the behest of the Music League of America. Sent there to arrange a tour of North America by Maurice Ravel
, she struck up a friendship and professional correspondence not only with him, but also with Erik Satie
and Les six
. This led to more music being sent to her by various composers that she would premiere in concert. She accepted and premiered almost all works sent to her, the only exception being a refusal to perform Pierrot Lunaire
by Arnold Schoenberg
. Through this, Gauthier performed large amounts of contemporary French music across the United States. She also included American music in all of her concerts. Gauthier toured America frequently and returned to Europe in 1922, and again in 1923. She began to explore Jazz
music in concert as well, earning her negative reviews by many musical critics.
Her 1923 annual performance at Aeolian Hall
entitled "Recital of Ancient and Modern Music for Voice" became a historic occasion when she presented the works of George Gershwin
, the first time his works were performed by a classical singer in concert. The first half of the programme presented works considered serious music at the time. She performed both classical works by Vincenzo Bellini
and Henry Purcell
, mixing them with modernist and neoclassical works by Arnold Schoenberg
, Darius Milhaud
, Béla Bartók
, and Paul Hindemith
. The second half of her performance would upset the musical establishment, however. She opened with Alexander's Ragtime Band
by Irving Berlin
, then performed works by Jerome Kern
and Walter Donaldson
, and finally finished with three works by George Gershwin
: I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise, Innocent Ingénue Baby, and Swanee. Gershwin played the piano for these pieces. Important figures in the audience included Ernestine Schumann-Heink
, Virgil Thomson
, and Paul Whiteman
. Although some musical critics panned her decision to include Jazz music, the performance was overall a huge success, and provoked serious discussion among conservative audiences whether jazz music could be considered serious art.
Gauthier continued to present music that was thought poorly of by conservative audiences. On some occasions, such as her performances of Gershwin in New York in 1923 and 1925, as well as in London in 1925, this was quite successful. A critic in Vienna welcomed her musical selection as a reprieve from the usual fare of classical performances - Schubert
, Brahms, Wolf
, Richard Strauss
- while praising her skill with more classical choices. Other performances suffered – she was booed
while performing works by Heitor Villa-Lobos
at the Festival of the International Society of Contemporary Music in Venice
. She became a celebrity
, and continued giving performances across the United States, Europe, and her native Canada. On the sixtieth anniversary of Canadian Confederation
in 1927, she gave a performance in Ottawa which was the first transcontinental radio broadcast in Canada. Although she toured Canada from time to time, and attended performances of Canadian music in New York, she held a negative opinion of Canada's treatment of native musicians, saying "Canadians . . . would rather listen to foreigners than their own people."
, Cuba. As time passed she began to engage more and more in teaching, and less and less in stage performing. Her income from teaching was substantially better than from touring. She retired from performing entirely in 1937, and opened a music studio in New York. There she became a founding member of the American Guild of Musical Artists
, serving on its board of governors. She died on December 20, 1958.
Gauthier was a controversial musician in her time. Her choice of music for performance was often condemned, and often praised. The appropriateness of jazz music for a classically trained singer, combined with the performances taking place in concert halls lead some critics to cheer her for promoting otherwise overlooked music, and others to condemn her for taking lowbrow
music into a highbrow venue.
A May 1, 1917 review by the New York Times praised her natural talent, with some reservations about the unpolished quality of her voice. Her ability to capture the spirit of the pieces was also praised: "...her singing of songs by Frenchmen of today and the day before yesterday gave pleasure because of her understanding of them and the appropriate expression which she found for them."
A November 12, 1923 Time
review of her performance of historic Italian songs, as well as modern English, French, Austrian, German and American numbers focused on her choice to include selections of contemporary jazz music. The critic remarked "Her voice was much too good for jazz." Here she was praised as a serious, scholarly artist whose performance was "...neat and expressive." The audience received the concert very enthusiastically.
Her performance in Fargo
in 1923 resulted in a headline in the Fargo Forum the next day that was headed Eva Gauthier’s Program Sets Whole Town Buzzing: Many People Are of Two Minds Regarding Jazz Numbers – Some Reluctantly Admit That They Like Them – Others Keep Silent or Condemn Them. The review divides the audience and critics into various camps: those who openly enjoyed and applauded the performance; those who openly disliked and condemned it; those unsure how to react to a performance they liked but felt was inappropriate; and those who liked the performance but would not show approval for fear of looking foolish or uncultured.
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...
and voice teacher. She performed and popularised songs by contemporary composers throughout her career and sang in the American premieres of several works by Erik Satie
Erik Satie
Éric Alfred Leslie Satie was a French composer and pianist. Satie was a colourful figure in the early 20th century Parisian avant-garde...
, Maurice Ravel
Maurice Ravel
Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
and Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
, including the title role in the latter's Perséphone
Perséphone (Stravinsky)
Perséphone is a musical work for speaker, solo singers, chorus, dancers and orchestra with music by Igor Stravinsky and a libretto by André Gide....
.
The niece of Lady Laurier
Zoé Laurier
Zoé Lafontaine, Lady Laurier was the wife of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the seventh Prime Minister of Canada. They married at Marie-Reine-du Monde, Montreal, Quebec on August 13, 1868. The union was childless. She died, aged 79, in 1921.A lounge in the Château Laurier was named in her honour. She was...
and Sir Wilfrid Laurier
Wilfrid Laurier
Sir Wilfrid Laurier, GCMG, PC, KC, baptized Henri-Charles-Wilfrid Laurier was the seventh Prime Minister of Canada from 11 July 1896 to 6 October 1911....
, who also were her patron
Patrón
Patrón is a luxury brand of tequila produced in Mexico and sold in hand-blown, individually numbered bottles.Made entirely from Blue Agave "piñas" , Patrón comes in five varieties: Silver, Añejo, Reposado, Gran Patrón Platinum and Gran Patrón Burdeos. Patrón also sells a tequila-coffee blend known...
s, she initially trained and performed in Europe. She then travelled to Java
Java
Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...
and for four years immersed herself in its native music, which she introduced to North American audiences on her return. She retired from performing in 1937, and opened a voice studio in New York, where she became a founding member of the American Guild of Musical Artists
American Guild of Musical Artists
The American Guild of Musical Artists, AFL-CIO is the American labor union that represents 8,000 current and retired opera singers, ballet and other dancers, opera Directors, backstage production personnel at opera and dance companies, and figure skaters.-Jurisdiction:According to its website it...
and served on its board of governors. Gauthier was praised for the many qualities her singing brought to music. The citation from the Campion Society of San Francisco, which she received in 1949, said: "...her rare open-mindedness and unorthodox enthusiasm having been initially responsible for the recognition of many vital and important modern composers"
Singing career
Born in OttawaOttawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Gauthier received musical lessons as a child, in harmony
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
, voice
Voice
Voice may refer to:* Human voice* Voice control or voice activation* Writer's voice* Voice acting* Voice vote* Voice message-In film:* Voice , a 2005 South Korean film* The Voice , a 2010 Turkish horror film directed by Ümit Ünal...
, and piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
. The custom of the time dictated that North American musicians travel to Europe for training if they desired a reputable professional career, and in July 1902, at the age of seventeen, Gauthier set out for Europe, financed by her aunt and uncle, Lady Zoé Laurier and Sir Wilfrid Laurier.
Training in Europe
Gauthier travelled to France, where she received private voice lessons from Auguste-Jean Dubulle of the Paris Conservatory. Nodules on her vocal cords were problematic, but they were removed surgically. She later began training under Jacques BouhyJacques 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....
, whom she would later credit for her vocal technique. In 1906, Gauthier was retained by fellow Canadian singer Emma Albani
Emma Albani
Dame Emma Albani DBE was a leading soprano of the 19th century and early 20th century, and the first Canadian singer to become an international star. Her repertoire focused on the operas of Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini and Wagner...
to accompany her on a tour of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and her Canadian farewell tour. Albani provided a degree of mentorship to Gauthier during the 30 week tour of Canada.
Lord Strathcona awarded Gauthier a scholarship in 1906 that allowed her to return to Europe and continue her vocal studies. She returned there and continued both to study and give performances. Her first opera
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...
tic performance came in 1909 in Pavia
Pavia
Pavia , the ancient Ticinum, is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, northern Italy, 35 km south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It is the capital of the province of Pavia. It has a population of c. 71,000...
, Italy as Micaëla in Bizet
Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet formally Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, was a French composer, mainly of operas. In a career cut short by his early death, he achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, became one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertory.During a...
's 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...
. She landed a second operatic role as Mallika in Delibes
Léo Delibes
Clément Philibert Léo Delibes was a French composer of ballets, operas, and other works for the stage...
' Lakmé
Lakmé
Lakmé is an opera in three acts by Léo Delibes to a French libretto by Edmond Gondinet and Philippe Gille. Delibes wrote the score during 1881–82 with its first performance on 14 April 1883 at the Opéra Comique in Paris. Set in British India in the mid 19th century, Lakmé is based on the 1880 novel...
, which was being performed by the London Covent Garden opera company
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...
. The opera opened in June 1910. Supposedly, Luisa Tetrazzini
Luisa Tetrazzini
Luisa Tetrazzini was an Italian coloratura soprano of great international fame.Tetrazzini's voice was remarkable for its phenomenal flexibility, thrust, steadiness and thrilling tone...
, the prima donna
Prima donna
Originally used in opera or Commedia dell'arte companies, "prima donna" is Italian for "first lady." The term was used to designate the leading female singer in the opera company, the person to whom the prime roles would be given. The prima donna was normally, but not necessarily, a soprano...
soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
of the company, feared that Gauthier's voice would outshine her own, and demanded that Gauthier be removed from the opera. The company's director acquiesced to Tetrazzini's demands, informing Gauthier on opening night that she would not be performing. Gauthier reacted badly, and quit opera entirely.
Move to Java
Java
Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...
. There, she met a Dutch importer and plantation manager named Frans Knoote. Gauthier and Knoote married on May 22, 1911. Gauthier studied the music of Java, and began to include this in her repertoire. Her accompanying pianist was Paul Seelig, who had previously been the conductor for the Kraton of Surakarta
Surakarta
Surakarta, also called Solo or Sala, is a city in Central Java, Indonesia of more than 520,061 people with a population density of 11,811.5 people/km2. The 44 km2 city adjoins Karanganyar Regency and Boyolali Regency to the north, Karanganyar Regency and Sukoharjo Regency to the east and...
, which afforded Gauthier a number of opportunities. On permission of the Javanese court, she studied the gamelan
Gamelan
A gamelan is a musical ensemble from Indonesia, typically from the islands of Bali or Java, featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums and gongs; bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings. Vocalists may also be included....
, probably being the first western woman with a classical music education to be afforded this opportunity. While living in Java, Gauthier travelled extensively, giving performances in China, Japan, Singapore, Malaya, Australia, and New Zealand. She remained in Java for four years, but with the outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
she decided to travel back to North America, arriving in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in the fall of 1915.
Return to North America
Arriving in New York, Gauthier struggled to find a niche in an already crowded music scene. She put on a performance in VaudevilleVaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
entitled Songmotion, which combined Javan music with dancers. New York was already home to many North American and European musical performers, so Gauthier focused on her Javan musical repertoire, which she combined with knowledge and skill in modernist western singing. Gauthier began giving annual recitals at Aeolian Hall
Aeolian 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...
, and in November 1917 her performance there caught the eye of many leading composers. She developed her own reputation quickly, known as a "...sensitive purveyor of interesting, untried songs". She gave renditions of three songs by Maurice Ravel
Maurice Ravel
Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
. Her performance then also included American premieres of Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
's Three Japanese Lyrics and Griffes
Charles Griffes
Charles Tomlinson Griffes was an American composer for piano, chamber ensembles and for voice.-Musical career:...
' Five Poems of Ancient China and Japan. The performance was a great success, and she began to receive invitations to perform premieres of songs by contemporary composers. Stravinsky arranged to have Gauthier to premiere all of his vocal pieces.
Gauthier travelled to Paris in 1920 at the behest of the Music League of America. Sent there to arrange a tour of North America by Maurice Ravel
Maurice Ravel
Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
, she struck up a friendship and professional correspondence not only with him, but also with Erik Satie
Erik Satie
Éric Alfred Leslie Satie was a French composer and pianist. Satie was a colourful figure in the early 20th century Parisian avant-garde...
and Les six
Les Six
Les six is a name, inspired by The Five, given in 1920 by critic Henri Collet in an article titled "" to a group of six composers working in Montparnasse whose music is often seen as a reaction against the musical style of Richard Wagner and impressionist music.-Members:Formally, the Groupe des...
. This led to more music being sent to her by various composers that she would premiere in concert. She accepted and premiered almost all works sent to her, the only exception being a refusal to perform Pierrot Lunaire
Pierrot Lunaire
Dreimal sieben Gedichte aus Albert Girauds 'Pierrot lunaire' , commonly known simply as Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21 , is a melodrama by Arnold Schoenberg...
by Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
. Through this, Gauthier performed large amounts of contemporary French music across the United States. She also included American music in all of her concerts. Gauthier toured America frequently and returned to Europe in 1922, and again in 1923. She began to explore Jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
music in concert as well, earning her negative reviews by many musical critics.
Aeolian 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...
entitled "Recital of Ancient and Modern Music for Voice" became a historic occasion when she presented the works of George Gershwin
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
, the first time his works were performed by a classical singer in concert. The first half of the programme presented works considered serious music at the time. She performed both classical works by Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi , La sonnambula , Norma , Beatrice di Tenda , and I puritani...
and Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell – 21 November 1695), was an English organist and Baroque composer of secular and sacred music. Although Purcell incorporated Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, his legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music...
, mixing them with modernist and neoclassical works by Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
, Darius Milhaud
Darius Milhaud
Darius Milhaud was a French composer and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as The Group of Six—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions are influenced by jazz and make use of polytonality...
, Béla Bartók
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer...
, and Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist and conductor.- Biography :Born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, Hindemith was taught the violin as a child...
. The second half of her performance would upset the musical establishment, however. She opened with Alexander's Ragtime Band
Alexander's Ragtime Band
"Alexander's Ragtime Band" is the name of a song by Irving Berlin. It was his first major hit, in 1911. There is some evidence, although inconclusive, that Berlin borrowed the melody from a draft of "A Real Slow Drag" submitted by Scott Joplin that had been submitted to a...
by Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist of Jewish heritage, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history.His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", became world famous...
, then performed works by Jerome Kern
Jerome Kern
Jerome David Kern was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A...
and Walter Donaldson
Walter Donaldson
Walter Donaldson was a prolific United States popular songwriter, composing many hit songs of the 1910s and 1920s.-History:...
, and finally finished with three works by George Gershwin
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
: I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise, Innocent Ingénue Baby, and Swanee. Gershwin played the piano for these pieces. Important figures in the audience included Ernestine Schumann-Heink
Ernestine Schumann-Heink
Ernestine Schumann-Heink was a celebrated Austrian, later American, operatic contralto, noted for the size, beauty, tonal richness, flexibility and wide range of her voice.- Early life:...
, Virgil Thomson
Virgil Thomson
Virgil Thomson was an American composer and critic. He was instrumental in the development of the "American Sound" in classical music...
, and Paul Whiteman
Paul Whiteman
Paul Samuel Whiteman was an American bandleader and orchestral director.Leader of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s, Whiteman's recordings were immensely successful, and press notices often referred to him as the "King of Jazz"...
. Although some musical critics panned her decision to include Jazz music, the performance was overall a huge success, and provoked serious discussion among conservative audiences whether jazz music could be considered serious art.
Gauthier continued to present music that was thought poorly of by conservative audiences. On some occasions, such as her performances of Gershwin in New York in 1923 and 1925, as well as in London in 1925, this was quite successful. A critic in Vienna welcomed her musical selection as a reprieve from the usual fare of classical performances - Schubert
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
, Brahms, Wolf
Hugo Wolf
Hugo Wolf was an Austrian composer of Slovene origin, particularly noted for his art songs, or lieder. He brought to this form a concentrated expressive intensity which was unique in late Romantic music, somewhat related to that of the Second Viennese School in concision but utterly unrelated in...
, Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
- while praising her skill with more classical choices. Other performances suffered – she was booed
Booing
Booing is an act of showing displeasure for someone or something, generally an entertainer, by loudly yelling boo! or making other noises of disparagement, such as hissing. People may make hand signs at the entertainer, such as the thumbs down sign...
while performing works by Heitor Villa-Lobos
Heitor Villa-Lobos
Heitor Villa-Lobos was a Brazilian composer, described as "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music". Villa-Lobos has become the best-known and most significant Latin American composer to date. He wrote numerous orchestral, chamber, instrumental and vocal works...
at the Festival of the International Society of Contemporary Music in Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
. She became a celebrity
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
, and continued giving performances across the United States, Europe, and her native Canada. On the sixtieth anniversary of Canadian Confederation
Canadian Confederation
Canadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed on July 1, 1867. On that day, three British colonies were formed into four Canadian provinces...
in 1927, she gave a performance in Ottawa which was the first transcontinental radio broadcast in Canada. Although she toured Canada from time to time, and attended performances of Canadian music in New York, she held a negative opinion of Canada's treatment of native musicians, saying "Canadians . . . would rather listen to foreigners than their own people."
Retirement from the stage
Illness forced Gauthier to halt giving performances in the late 1920s, but she would return to the stage in 1931, giving a concert in HavanaHavana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
, Cuba. As time passed she began to engage more and more in teaching, and less and less in stage performing. Her income from teaching was substantially better than from touring. She retired from performing entirely in 1937, and opened a music studio in New York. There she became a founding member of the American Guild of Musical Artists
American Guild of Musical Artists
The American Guild of Musical Artists, AFL-CIO is the American labor union that represents 8,000 current and retired opera singers, ballet and other dancers, opera Directors, backstage production personnel at opera and dance companies, and figure skaters.-Jurisdiction:According to its website it...
, serving on its board of governors. She died on December 20, 1958.
Views of critics and audiences
Low culture
Low culture is a term for some forms of popular culture. Its opposite is high culture. It has been said by culture theorists that both high culture and low culture are subcultures....
music into a highbrow venue.
A May 1, 1917 review by the New York Times praised her natural talent, with some reservations about the unpolished quality of her voice. Her ability to capture the spirit of the pieces was also praised: "...her singing of songs by Frenchmen of today and the day before yesterday gave pleasure because of her understanding of them and the appropriate expression which she found for them."
A November 12, 1923 Time
Time (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...
review of her performance of historic Italian songs, as well as modern English, French, Austrian, German and American numbers focused on her choice to include selections of contemporary jazz music. The critic remarked "Her voice was much too good for jazz." Here she was praised as a serious, scholarly artist whose performance was "...neat and expressive." The audience received the concert very enthusiastically.
Her performance in Fargo
Fargo, North Dakota
Fargo is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Cass County. In 2010, its population was 105,549, and it had an estimated metropolitan population of 208,777...
in 1923 resulted in a headline in the Fargo Forum the next day that was headed Eva Gauthier’s Program Sets Whole Town Buzzing: Many People Are of Two Minds Regarding Jazz Numbers – Some Reluctantly Admit That They Like Them – Others Keep Silent or Condemn Them. The review divides the audience and critics into various camps: those who openly enjoyed and applauded the performance; those who openly disliked and condemned it; those unsure how to react to a performance they liked but felt was inappropriate; and those who liked the performance but would not show approval for fear of looking foolish or uncultured.