Berthe Erza
{{Short description|French soprano singer (1920s/1930s)}}
{{use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Berthe Erza
| image = BertheErza1922b.tif
| alt = Berthe Erza in 1922
| caption = Berthe Erza in 1922
| birth_name =
| birth_date =
| birth_place = Algiers, Algeria
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality = French
| other_names =
| occupation = Singer
| years_active = 1920s–death
}}
Berthe Erza was a French soprano singer.
Early life
Erza was born to French parents in Algiers.{{cite magazine|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112089701673;view=1up;seq=113|title=Bertha Erza, Dramatic Soprano|magazine=The Musical Monitor|date=February 1922|page=157|via=HathiTrust}} She studied voice in Italy and France.{{cite news|url=https://nyti.ms/3zxf42E|access-date=July 5, 2024|title=Berthe Erza Makes Debut; Dramatic Soprano of Algiers Gives Varied Program at Biltmore|newspaper=The New York Times|date=March 17, 1930|page=19}} In 1920, she moved to the United States with her vocal coach, Isidore Braggiotti (father of dancer Francesca Braggiotti).{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y-w6AQAAMAAJ&dq=Madame+Erza+voice&pg=RA11-PA40|title=Berthe Erza Arrives to Coach with Braggiotti|magazine=Musical Courier|date=March 18, 1920|page=40}}
Career
Erza was a featured singer with the Pasdeloup Orchestra in Paris conducted by Rhené-Baton, and spent three seasons with the Concerts Classiques of Monte Carlo. In 1921 she sang at a concert to benefit a French village, Misery-sur-Somme, after World War I.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14825976/berthe_erza_1921/|title=Representative Audience at Benefit Concert|newspaper=Brooklyn Life|date=August 6, 1921|page=8|via=Newspapers.com}}{{open access}} She made an "American debut" in July 1921,{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/43723962/prize_singer_makes_debut/|title=Prize Singer Makes Debut|date=1921-07-23|newspaper=New York Herald|access-date=2020-02-06|page=7|via=Newspapers.com}} then her "formal debut" in America, at the Aeolian Hall in New York City in 1922,{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jEFFAQAAMAAJ&dq=Berthe+Erza&pg=PA37|title=Here and There|magazine=The Musical Leader|date=January 12, 1922|page=37}} and had another New York concert billed as a "debut" in 1930, at the Biltmore Theatre. The New York Times called her "a well-schooled musician with a flair for the exotic" in 1931.{{cite news|url=https://nyti.ms/4czMa0n|access-date=July 6, 2024|title=Recital by Berthe Erza; Algerian Soprano, Who Made Debut at Stadium Concerts, Reappears|newspaper=The New York Times|date=February 18, 1931|page=14}} She sang at Carnegie Hall later that year, sharing the stage with Hugh Ross and the chorus of the Schola Cantorum, Nelson Eddy, and others, for the American premiere of Karol Szymanowski's Stabat Mater.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14826292/music_news_item_1931/|title=(Untitled music news item)|newspaper=Brooklyn Daily Eagle|date=January 4, 1931|page=31|via=Newspapers.com}}{{open access}}
She made at least two recordings for Victor in 1920.{{cite web|url=https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/mastertalent/detail/314293/Erza_Berthe|access-date=July 6, 2024|title=Berthe Erza|website=Discography of American Historical Recordings|publisher=University of California, Santa Barbara Library}}. She taught vocal music in Brooklyn in the 1930s at the Chase School, on the same music faculty as composer Harrison Kerr.{{cite book|author=Randy B. Kohlenberg|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5HVnfQyyiLMC&q=Erza&pg=PA26|title=Harrison Kerr: Portrait of a Twentieth-Century American Composer|publisher=Scarecrow Press|year=1997|page=26|isbn=9780810832589}}
References
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Category:French operatic sopranos
Category:20th-century women opera singers
Category:Musicians from Algiers