Augusta Lenska
{{Short description|American concert and opera singer (died 1988)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Augusta Lenska
| image = AugustaLenka1919.png
| alt = A woman with light skin and dark hair, wearing a light-colored gown, a strand of pearls, and a fur wrap
| caption = Augusta Lenska, from a 1919 program
| birth_name =
| birth_date = probably 1880s
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| death_date =
| death_place =
| other_names = Madame Lenska
| occupation = Singer
| years_active =
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| spouse(s) =
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}}
Augusta Lenska (probably born 1880s){{Cite news |date=1933-02-23 |title=Augusta Lenska Injured by Car; Oldtime Singer Attempts Suicide; Recovering from Hurts |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/tallahassee-democrat-augusta-lenska-inju/162364451/ |access-date=2025-01-05 |work=Tallahassee Democrat |pages=3 |via=Newspapers.com}} was a Russian-born American concert and opera singer in the 1910s and 1920s, based in Chicago.
Early life
In publicity and interviews, Lenska described herself as being born in Russia, raised in the Cape Colony, and educated in England and Belgium.{{Cite news |date=1918-04-23 |title=Noted Russian Singer Happy in U.S. Though Far from Home |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/hattiesburg-american-noted-russian-singe/162340528/ |access-date=2025-01-05 |work=Hattiesburg American |pages=5 |via=Newspapers.com}} Another version of her background described her as being born to Russian parents in England, or to Russian-British parents in South Africa,{{Cite news |date=1927-01-02 |title=Famous Singer Here January 14 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-star-press-famous-singer-here-januar/162341301/ |access-date=2025-01-05 |work=The Star Press |pages=14 |via=Newspapers.com}} with training in Germany and Italy.{{Cite news |date=1927-01-09 |title=Matinee Musicale Concert Series to Bring Singer Here |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-star-press-matinee-musicale-concert/162362972/ |access-date=2025-01-05 |work=The Star Press |pages=8 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5GG5t3CCl_cC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=Lenska%20Chicago&pg=PA458#v=onepage&q=Lenska%20Chicago&f=false |title=Pierre Key's International Music Year Book |date=1928 |publisher=Pierre Key, Incorporated |pages=458 |language=en}}
Career
Lenska was singer, associated with La Monnaie opera house in Brussels,{{Cite news |date=1933-02-23 |title=Opera Singer Hit by Street Car; Augusta Lenska Taken to Chicago Hospital |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe-opera-singer-hit-by-str/162339197/ |access-date=2025-01-05 |work=The Boston Globe |pages=14}} and with the Chicago Civic Opera Company.[https://books.google.com/books?id=RybiAAAAMAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&lpg=PA623&dq=Augusta%20Lenska&pg=PA623#v=onepage&q=Augusta%20Lenska&f=false "The Thirty-Third May Festival"] The Michigan Alumnus 32(31)(May 29, 1926): 623.Watt, Charles E. [https://books.google.com/books?id=SqGTi4fXSlMC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=Agnes%20Leist%20Beebe&pg=RA4-PA24#v=onepage&q&f=false "Opera in Chicago"] The Music News 19(January 28, 1927): 24. Her range was variously described as mezzo-soprano, alto, and contralto. "The singer has a voice of good quality, especially in its middle and lower registers," explained The New York Times in 1927, "and is also gifted with dramatic temperament, knowledge of style and ability to convey he mood and significance of a song to her audience."[https://www.nytimes.com/1927/10/16/archives/augusta-lenska-contralto-pleases.html "Augusta Lenska, Contralto, Pleases"] The New York Times (October 16, 1927): 30.
Lenska's musical career flourished in middle America in the 1910s and 1920s. In 1916, she was a guest artist at a concert in Missouri{{Cite news |date=1917-03-04 |title=Social News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/st-joseph-gazette-social-news/162338857/ |access-date=2025-01-05 |work=St. Joseph Gazette |pages=11 |via=Newspapers.com}} and hosted a "soiree musicale" in Iowa.{{Cite news |date=1917-09-15 |title=Soiree Musicale |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-gate-city-and-constitution-dem/162343858/ |access-date=2025-01-05 |work=The Daily Gate City and Constitution-Democrat |pages=5 |via=Newspapers.com}} She gave recitals in Mississippi and Minnesota in 1918,{{Cite news |date=1918-02-01 |title=Prima Donna to Sing Here |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-brainerd-daily-dispatch-prima-donna/162338593/ |access-date=2025-01-05 |work=The Brainerd Daily Dispatch |pages=3 |via=Newspapers.com}} and toured the Chautauqua circuit with the Culp String Quartet in 1919.[https://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/islandora/object/ui%3Atc_51392 "Mme. Lenska and the Culp String Quartet"] (1919 program), in the Iowa Digital Library.[https://historicnewspapers.sc.edu/lccn/sn93067760/1919-04-30/ed-1/seq-16.pdf "Noted Prima Donna Here on Third Night of Chautauqua Week"] The Laurens Advertiser (April 30, 1919).{{Cite news |date=1919-05-30 |title=Grand Opera Artist Will Sing on Third Night of Chautauqua |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-parisian-grand-opera-artist-will-sin/162341122/ |access-date=2025-01-05 |work=The Parisian |pages=5 |via=Newspapers.com}} In 1921 she gave a recital at the University of Oklahoma.{{Cite news |date=1921-10-07 |title=First Recital Tonight; Madame Lenska Presents Group of Masterpieces |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-oklahoma-daily-first-recital-tonight/162339673/ |access-date=2025-01-05 |work=The Oklahoma Daily |pages=1 |via=Newspapers.com}} She sang in Italy in 1923.{{Cite journal |date=1923-10-18 |title=Augusta Lenska Sings in Italy |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_music-magazine-and-musical-courier_1923-10-18_87_16/page/12/mode/2up?q=%22Augusta+Lenska%22 |journal=Musical Courier |volume=87 |issue=16 |pages=12 |via=Internet Archive}} She was a soloist in a 1925 production of La Gioconda and a 1926 production of Lohengrin, both with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.{{Cite web |title=Lenska, Augusta |url=https://umsrewind.org/artists/?id=9818 |access-date=2025-01-05 |website=University Musical Society }} She toured in the United States in 1926."Along the Musical Highway" Musical Digest 10(August 3, 1926): 12. In 1927, she sang the Azucena role in Il Trovatore in Chattanooga, Tennessee,{{Cite news |date=1927-02-19 |title=Augusta Lenska Will Attend Reception |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-chattanooga-news-augusta-lenska-will/162337314/ |access-date=2025-01-05|via=Newspapers.com |work=The Chattanooga News |pages=14}} and gave "a program of rare musical value" in Muncie, Indiana.{{Cite news |last=Charman |first=John |date=1927-01-15 |title=Augusta Lenska is Well Received by Muncie Audience |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-star-press-augusta-lenska-is-well-re/162340237/ |access-date=2025-01-05 |work=The Star Press |pages=2 |via=Newspapers.com}} She sang in Berlin in 1929.[https://books.google.com/books?id=ipKs5E5E6cQC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=Augusta%20Lenska&pg=RA7-PA15#v=onepage&q=Augusta%20Lenska&f=false "Random Arrows"] The Musical Leader (August 22, 1929): 15.
Later life
Along with others in the Chicago opera world, Lenska lost her life savings in 1929, buying worthless stock from investor Samuel Insull.{{Cite news |date=1934-05-11 |title=Operatic Divas Out of Tune with Insull; Some Saddened... Others Are Bitter |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/fort-worth-star-telegram-operatic-divas/162342107/ |access-date=2025-01-05 |work=Fort Worth Star-Telegram |pages=2 |via=Newspapers.com}} Her career never recovered. In 1933, Lenska was injured when she was struck by a streetcar in Chicago; during a suspected suicide attempt.{{Cite news |date=1933-02-23 |title=Opera Singer Leaps in Path of Street Car; Rescued Only Bruised, Augusta Lenska Lays Act to Despair |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/evening-express-opera-singer-leaps-in-pa/162341553/ |access-date=2025-01-05 |work=Evening Express |pages=1 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=1933-02-23 |title=Former Singer Tries Suicide |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-ardmoreite-former-singer-tries/162341809/ |access-date=2025-01-05 |work=The Daily Ardmoreite |pages=5 |via=Newspapers.com}} She was reported to be 51 years old at that time. She was an inmate of the Kankakee State Hospital by 1940, and still institutionalized there in 1950.United States federal censuses for 1940 and 1950, Kankakee State Hospital, via Ancestry.
References
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