Elizabeth Amsden
{{short description|American actress}}
{{Use American English|date=July 2020}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2020}}
File:Elizabeth Amsden, ca. 1915.jpg
Elizabeth Amsden (March 27, 1881, Boston – July 20, 1966, Sugar Hill, New Hampshire) was an American operatic soprano.{{cite news |title=Crowd Warmly Greets "Aida" with Elizabeth Amsden in Title Role. |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9902E7DB1439E13ABC4B53DFBF668383609EDE |quote=Signor Caruso and his American bride, in a right stage box under flags of the Allies, joined an eager audience that stood up and cheered at the Shubert Theatre last night while the orchestra of the San Carlo Opera company played ... |work=The New York Times |date=September 3, 1918 |accessdate=2009-12-05 }} She had an active international opera career during the early 20th century.
Life and career
Amsden was born in Boston, Massachusetts, but during her school days her family moved to Providence, Rhode Island, where she was educated at the Elmhurst School. In 1892, while still in her youth, she entered the International School for singers in Boston where she studied under William Whitney. She then attended and graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music.
After completing her education in the United States, Amsden went to Paris where she remained for six years before relocating to London. While biograhical sources credited her professional opera debut at London's Royal Opera House in 1910, she had been active earlier than this on the London stage. A year earlier, on June 22, 1909, she had performed the role of Avis in the United Kingdom premiere of Ethel Smyth's The Wreckers at His Majesty's Theatre.{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=z8woDAAAQBAJ&dq=Elizabeth+Amsden&pg=PA306|title= Opera in the British Isles, 1875-1918|author=Paul Rodmell|page=306|year=2016|publisher= Routledge|isbn= 978-1-317-08545-4}} She was committed to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 1910-1911 where she notably portrayed Toinette in the United Kingdom premiere of Xavier Leroux's Le Chemineau.{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=NT1KAQAAMAAJ&dq=Elizabeth+Amsden&pg=RA1-PA163|title=The Era Annual|page=174|year=1911|editor= Edward Ledger}} Other roles she performed at Covent Garden included Countess Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro,{{cite news|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=y2AvAQAAMAAJ&dq=Elizabeth+Amsden&pg=PA600|title=Music: The Week; Covent Garden.— Figaro|work=The Athenaeum|date=November 12, 1910|page=600}} Helmwige in Die Walküre, and Gutrune in Götterdämmerung.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KMFnAgAAQBAJ&dq=%22Elizabeth+Amsden%22&pg=PT70|title=The London Stage 1910-1919: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel|author=J. P. Wearing|year=2014|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-9300-9 }}
Following engagements in Nice and Brussels, she became a member of the Boston Opera Company in 1911.Lahee, Henry Charles (1912). [https://archive.org/details/grandoperasinge00lahegoog The Grand Opera Singers of Today]. Boston: L.C. Page and Company, pp. 390-91 She made her debut in Boston in January 1912 in the title role of Giuseppe Verdi's Aida.{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qts9AQAAMAAJ&dq=%22Elizabeth+Amsden%22&pg=PA518|chapter=Boston Grand Opera Company|pages=510–526|title=Who's Who in Music and Drama|publisher=H.P. Hanaford|editor=Dixie Hines|year=1914}} Her other roles with the Boston Opera Company included Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Giulietta in The Tales of Hoffmann, La Regina in Germania, Leonora in Il trovatore, Marguerite in Faust, Minnie in La fanciulla del West, and Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana.
In 1913 Amsden performed the roles of Maliella in Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari's The Jewels of the Madonna and Verdi's Aida at the Century Opera House in New York.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1913/09/14/archives/popular-opera-season-to-begin-with-aida.html|title=POPULAR OPERA SEASON TO BEGIN WITH "AIDA"|date=September 14, 1913|page=97|work=The New York Times}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1913/10/15/archives/jewels-of-the-madonna-wolf-ferraris-opera-given-successfully-at-the.html|title=JEWELS OF THE MADONNA."; Wolf Ferrari's Opera Given Successfully at the Century|work=The New York Times|date=October 15, 1913|page=11}} In 1916 she portrayed the title role in Puccini's Tosca with the Chicago Opera Association.{{cite journal|title="Falstaff" Has Noteworthy Chicago Revival|journal=Musical America|date=December 30, 1916|page=42|author=Maurice Rosenfela}} In 1922 she was engaged for the third season of the Cincinnati Opera with whom she performed the role of Margherita in Boito's Mefistofele.{{cite journal|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Z7qzxK4ZascC&dq=elizabeth+amsden+cincinnati+opera&pg=PA341|title=Grand Opera As Given In Cincinnati|author=Sara L. Langley|journal=The Musical Monitor|date=August 1922}} She also toured the United States with the San Carlo Opera Company for several years during her career; appearing in roles like Aida (1918),{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1918/09/03/archives/san-carlo-opera-returns-crowd-warmly-greets-aida-with-elizabeth.html|title=SAN CARLO OPERA RETURNS; Crowd Warmly Greets "Aida" with Elizabeth Amsden in Title Role|work=The New York Times|date=September 3, 1918|page= 9}} Amelia in Un ballo in maschera (1921),{{cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1921/10/09/107028237.html|title=MUSIC; THE OPERA FORECAST|date=October 9, 1921|page=D73|work=The New York Times}} and the title role in Il segreto di Susanna (1923).{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1923/10/21/archives/san-carlo-sings-farewell-secret-of-suzanne-hansel-and-gretel-and.html|title=SAN CARLO SINGS FAREWELL; " Secret of Suzanne," "Hansel and Gretel" and "Aida" End Engagement|date=October 21, 1923|page=S8|work=The New York Times}} On the international stage she appeared in operas at the Paris Opera and La Scala among other companies.
Amsden married French-Canadian baritone Joseph Royer in Quebec in 1918.{{cite news|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HO86AQAAMAAJ&dq=%22Elizabeth+Amsden%22++%22Joseph+Royer%22+marriage&pg=RA14-PA19|title=Louis H. Bourdon Predicts Great Future For Montreal|author=F. E. A.|work=Musical Courier|date=October 10, 1918|page=19}} Their marriage ended in divorce in 1926.{{cite journal|title=Marriages, Divorces, and Births|journal=The Musical Leader|volume=51|page=11}} She later married Gabriel Chaminadas who survived her upon her death in 1966.{{cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1966/07/21/96975662.pdf|title=Mrs. G. Chaminadas|work=The New York Times|date=July 21, 1966}}
References
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Category:American operatic sopranos
Category:20th-century American women opera singers
Category:Classical musicians from Massachusetts
Category:Musicians from Boston
Category:Musicians from Providence, Rhode Island
Category:New England Conservatory alumni