Gabrielle Hunt
Vivian Greenstein Ferleger Kresch, known on the stage as Gabrielle Hunt (4 September 1913 - 2 December 1984), was an American contralto and voice teacher. She trained under Estelle Liebling at the Curtis Institute of Music and was a leading performer with the Philadelphia Opera Company in the early 1940s. She is best remembered for performing the role of Miss Todd in the first staging of Gian Carlo Menotti's The Old Maid and the Thief in 1941, and later as a celebrated singing teacher at first the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music and then the Settlement Music School. She also created the role of Dolores in the world premiere of Deems Taylor's Ramuntcho in 1942.
Life and career
The daughter of Alfred R Greenstein and Harriet E Magell, Vivian G. F. Kresch was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with the name Vivian Hilda Greenstein on 4 September 1913.Vivian Hilda Greenstein in the Pennsylvania, U.S., Birth Certificates, 1906-1914, Certificate Number 153506Vivian Kresch in the U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 She was educated in her native city at Simon Gratz High School and the Curtis Institute of Music (CIM); graduating from the school in 1938. At Curtis she studied singing with Estelle Liebling.{{cite thesis|title=Estelle Liebling: An exploration of her pedagogical principles as an extension and elaboration of the Marchesi method, including a survey of her music and editing for coloratura soprano and other voices|first=Alandra|last=Dean Fowler|year=1994|type=PhD|publisher=University of Arizona}} When the world premiere of Gian Carlo Menotti's Amelia Goes to the Ball was given at CIM on April 1, 1937,{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y8bQAwAAQBAJ |title=Operas In English: A Dictionary| year=2013 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |first=Margaret Ross |last=Griffel|author-link=Margaret Ross Griffel|page=16|isbn=9780810883253 }} she was listed under the name Gabrielle Hunt as a member of the opera chorus.{{cite news|url=https://archive.org/details/recitalprograms1937curt/page/40/mode/2up?q=%22Gabrielle+Hunt%22|title=Recital programs 1936-1937|publisher=Curtis Institute of Music|year=1937|page=40}} In 1938 she married Herbert R Ferleger.Vivian H Greenstein in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., Marriage Index, 1885-1951, Marriage License Number 695698 They had three children: Laurence, Donald, and Carol.
Hunt was a leading contralto with the Philadelphia Opera Company (POC). With the POC she notably performed the role of Miss Todd in the first staging of Gian Carlo Menotti's The Old Maid and the Thief in 1941; an opera which had previously only been performed on a radio broadcast.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1941/02/12/archives/two-operatic-novelties-philadelphia-company-is-heard-by-a-large.html|title=Two Operatic Novelties: Philadelphia Company Is Heard by a Large Audience|date=February 12, 1941|work=The New York Times}} She also created the role of Dolores in the world premiere of Deems Taylor's Ramuntcho at the Academy of Music on February 10, 1942.{{cite news|title=Concerts-Opera: Phila. Bow for Taylor Opera|author=Eddy|work=Variety|volume=145|issue=10|date=February 11, 1942|page=33}}{{cite news|title=Premiere is Given of Taylor Opera: 'Ramuntcho' Presented at the Philadelphia Academy of Music by Local Company Based on Novel by Loti: William Hess, Tenor, Sings Title Role – Dorothy Sarnoff is Heard as Gracieuse|author=Howard Taubman|work=The New York Times|date=11 February 1942|page= 27}} Her other repertoire with the POC included Mercédès in Carmen (1940),{{cite news|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_musical-america_1940-04-10_60_7/page/16/mode/1up?q=%22Gabrielle+Hunt%22|page=17|work=Musical America|date=April 10, 1940|volume= 60|issue= 7|title=Philadelphia Opera Ends Second Tear}} Olga in Eugene Onegin (1940),{{cite journal|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_music-magazine-and-musical-courier_1940-11-15_122_10/page/n6/mode/1up?q=%22Selma+Amansky%22|title=Eugene Onegin Sung In English|journal=The Musical Courier|date=November 15, 1940|page=7|volume=122|issue= 10}} Marthe Schwerlein in Charles Gounod's Faust (1941),{{cite news|url=https://archive.org/details/newsweek18octnewy/page/n650/mode/1up?q=%22Gabrielle+Hunt%22|title=American Faust|work=Newsweek|date=December 1, 1941|page=63}} Geneviève in Pelléas et Mélisande (1941),{{cite news|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_musical-america_1941-02-10_61_3/page/210/mode/2up?q=%22Gabrielle+Hunt%22|title=Philadelphia Opera Gives Pelléas|page=210|work=Musical America|date=February 10, 1941|volume= 61|issue= 3}} Marcellina in The Marriage of Figaro (1941),{{cite news|title=Local and Visiting Opera Groups Heard|work=Musical America|date=April 19, 1941|volume= 61|issue= 7}} Annina in Der Rosenkavalier (1941),{{cite news|title=Rose Cavalier Sung in English|work=The Musical Courier|date=December 15, 1941|volume= 124|issue=9|page=24}} She toured to the Boston Opera House with the POC in 1942 where she repeated the roles of Marcellina{{cite news|url=https://archive.org/details/per_christian-science-monitor_1942-01-07_34_36/page/4/mode/1up?q=%22Gabrielle+Hunt%22|title=Philadelphia Opera Company Starts Rehearsals in Boston|page=4|work=The Christian Science Monitor|date=January 7, 1942|volume= 34|issue= 36}} and Geneviève.{{cite news|url=https://archive.org/details/per_christian-science-monitor_1942-01-10_34_39/page/8/mode/1up?q=%22Gabrielle+Hunt%22|title= Pelleas et Melisande |page=8|date=January 10, 1942|work=The Christian Science Monitor}}
In 1944 Hunt gave a recital of music by Claude Debussy with pianist Rafael de Silva that was sponsored by the Philadelphia Art Alliance (PAA).{{cite journal|title=Fall Recitals Begin in Philadelphia|work=Musical America|page=23|date=October 1944|volume= 64|issue=13|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_musical-america_1944-10_64_13/page/23/mode/1up?q=%22Gabrielle+Hunt%22}} Later that year she gave a recital at the Brooklyn Museum.{{cite news|title=Alumni Association of the Curtis Institute|work=Musical America|page=100|date=February 10, 1945|volume= 65|issue= 3}} She sang in concerts again with the PAA in 1945.{{cite news|title=Philadelphia Concerts|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_musical-america_1945-05_65_8/page/22/mode/1up?q=%22Gabrielle+Hunt%22|work=Musical America|page=22 |date=May 1945|volume= 65|issue= 8}}
Later life
After retiring from the stage, Kresch was a celebrated voice teacher in Philadelphia where she had a lengthy career first on the faculty of the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music (appointed to faculty in 1945,{{cite news|title=Philadelphia Conservatory Makes Additions to Faculty|work=Musical America|date=September 1945|volume= 65|issue= 12|page=40}} school later the renamed University of the Arts) and then the Settlement Music School. She lived in Wyncote, Pennsylvania. She died on December 2, 1984 at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia.{{cite news|title= Vivian G. F. Kresch, 71, singer and voice teacher|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer|date=December 4, 1984|page=53}}
Kresch's brother, Morris Hunt, was married to soprano Lois Hunt.{{cite news|url=https://archive.org/details/radiot00macf/page/n329/mode/2up?q=%22Gabrielle+Hunt%22|title=Lois Hunt's Lullaby|work=Radio TV Mirror|page=94|author=Gladys Hall|date=August 1955}}