Isabel Richardson Molter

Richardson was born in Cincinnati and raised in the Chicago area, the daughter of George Parker Richardson and Isabel Lorena Adams Richardson. Her father was a businessman from New Hampshire.{{Cite news |date=1919-02-14 |title=George P. Richardson, Silk Man, Dies in East |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-george-p-richardson-si/172692823/ |access-date=2025-05-19 |work=Chicago Tribune |pages=15 |via=Newspapers.com}} She lived in St. Joseph, Michigan, as a young woman.{{Cite news |date=1925-04-24 |title=Recital Here on May 5 is Anticipated Event |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-herald-press-recital-here-on-may-5-i/172694017/ |access-date=2025-05-19 |work=The Herald-Press |pages=12 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=1925-05-06 |title=SInger Gets Tribute at High School; Isabel Richardson Molter Again Delights Local Friends Tuesday |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-herald-palladium-singer-gets-tribute/172670932/ |access-date=2025-05-19 |work=The Herald-Palladium |pages=3 |via=Newspapers.com}} She trained as a singer with Franz Prochowsky in Germany.{{Cite news |date=1925-04-16 |title=Recital May 5 to be Brilliant Music Event; Mrs. Isabel Richardson Molter, Formerly of this City |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-herald-palladium-recital-may-5-to-be/172693559/ |access-date=2025-05-19 |work=The Herald-Palladium |pages=3 |via=Newspapers.com}}

Molter was a dramatic soprano. She began her career in Chicago in the 1910s,{{Cite news |date=1912-10-30 |title=Makes Musical Debut Today |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-inter-ocean-makes-musical-debut-toda/172694430/ |access-date=2025-05-19 |work=The Inter Ocean |pages=7 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=1914-03-07 |title=Miss Isabel Richardson |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-miss-isabel-richardson/172694272/ |access-date=2025-05-19 |work=Chicago Tribune |pages=9 |via=Newspapers.com}} and toured in the United States in the 1920s.[https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Musical_Leader/p1CaXBqx8M4C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Isabel%20Molter%20Singer%201929&pg=RA19-PA8&printsec=frontcover "Isabel Molter Sings in New York"] The Musical Leader 57(20)(November 14, 1929): 8.[https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Musical_Leader/p1CaXBqx8M4C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Isabel%20Molter%20Singer%201929&pg=RA19-PA19&printsec=frontcover "Engagements for Isabel Molter"] The Musical Leader 57(20)(November 14, 1929): 19. She was associated with the David Bispham's Society of American Singers.{{Cite news |date=1925-12-06 |title=Soloist at Symphony Concert |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-duluth-news-tribune-soloist-at-symph/172670737/ |access-date=2025-05-19 |work=The Duluth News Tribune |pages=44 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=1925-05-04 |title=Music Lovers Will Welcome Noted Artist |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-herald-palladium-music-lovers-will-w/172694161/ |access-date=2025-05-19 |work=The Herald-Palladium |pages=3 |via=Newspapers.com}} The New York Times commented that her voice "when unforced, has good quality in its middle register, and her phrasing and enunciation of the texts of her songs revealed true musicianship."[https://www.nytimes.com/1929/01/14/archives/isabel-r-molter-sings-soprano-is-cordially-received-at-her-recital.html "Isabel R. Molter Sings: Soprano is Cordially Received as her Recital in Guild Theatre"] The New York Times (January 14, 1929): 33. The Boston Globe found that Molter "showed keen dramatic instinct, and a high degree of musical intelligence."{{Cite news |date=1927-10-21 |title=Song Recital by Isabel R. Molter; Soprano Shows Keen Dramatic Instinct |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe-song-recital-by-isabel/172695388/ |access-date=2025-05-19 |work=The Boston Globe |pages=12 |via=Newspapers.com}}

Molter sang with the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1925, and gave concerts at a church in Kenosha in 1925 and 1926.{{Cite news |date=1925-10-17 |title=Noted Soprano at M. E. Church; Madam Isabel Richardson-Molter to Sing Here Sunday Evening |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/kenosha-news-noted-soprano-at-m-e-chur/172670549/ |access-date=2025-05-19 |work=Kenosha News |pages=4 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=1926-09-29 |title=Isabel Molter will Reappear in Concert Here |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/kenosha-news-isabel-molter-will-reappear/172670413/ |access-date=2025-05-19 |work=Kenosha News |pages=4 |via=Newspapers.com}} She sang on a radio concert in 1927.{{Cite news |date=1927-12-11 |title=Laclede Gas Co. to Sponsor 'Pop' Concerts on KWK |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/st-louis-post-dispatch-laclede-gas-co/172694762/ |access-date=2025-05-19 |work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch |pages=58 |via=Newspapers.com}} In New York, she sang at Aeolian Hall in 1926,{{Cite news |date=October 11, 1926 |title=Isabel R. Molter Sings; Concert Artist Is at Her Best in Lyrics of MacDowell. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1926/10/11/98516470.html?pageNumber=12 |access-date=2025-05-19 |work=The New York Times |pages=12 |language=en |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news |date=October 10, 1926 |title=Programs of the Week |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1926/10/10/119072224.html?pageNumber=201 |access-date=2025-05-19 |work=The New York Times |pages=201 |language=en |issn=0362-4331}} and at Town Hall in 1927,{{Cite news |date=October 15, 1927 |title=Isabel R. Molter Sings; Soprano at Her Best in the Quieter Moods of French Songs |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1927/10/15/117998906.html?pageNumber=16 |access-date=2025-05-19 |work=The New York Times |pages=16 |language=en |issn=0362-4331}} and sang on programs organized by the Washington Heights Musical Club,[https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Musical_Leader/I4Hj49vOoYUC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Isabel%20Richardson%20Molter&pg=RA2-PA10&printsec=frontcover "Isabel Molter, 'A Singer Who Can Really Sing'"] The Musical Leader 56(3)(January 17, 1929): 10.

In 1928, Molter toured in the American South,{{Cite news |date=1928-11-18 |title=Dramatic Soprano Will be Heard in Recital in City |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-birmingham-news-dramatic-soprano-wil/172695033/ |access-date=2025-05-19 |work=The Birmingham News |pages=81 |via=Newspapers.com}} and sang in at the Texas Music Teachers' Association conference in Waco, and at concerts in Fort Worth and Dallas.{{Cite journal |date=January 25, 1929 |title=Isabel Richardson Molter |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Music_News/MynOROiaAzEC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Isabel%20Molter%20soprano&pg=RA2-PA45-IA6&printsec=frontcover |journal=The Music News |pages=7}} In 1929 she performed in Maine and Massachusetts, and was a last-minute substitute in a performance of Handel's Judas Maccabeus in Chicago.[https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Musical_Leader/I4Hj49vOoYUC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Isabel%20Molter%20&pg=RA21-PA22&printsec=frontcover "Mrs. Molter Substitutes at Last Minute"] The Musical Leader 56(22)(May 30, 1929): 22. In 1931, she sang in Chicago at a concert-format demonstration of Manabozo, an opera by Francis Neilson and William Lester, based on Ojibwe legends.{{Cite news |last=Moore |first=Edward |date=1931-02-18 |title=Authors Offer Opera Based on 'Hiawatha' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-authors-offer-opera-base/172690594/ |access-date=2025-05-19 |work=Chicago Tribune |pages=19 |via=Newspapers.com}}

Richardson married pianist and educator Harold Molter in 1921.{{Cite news |date=1921-12-18 |title=Weddings |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-weddings/172693247/ |access-date=2025-05-19 |work=Chicago Tribune |pages=80}}[https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Musical_Leader/I4Hj49vOoYUC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Isabel%20Molter%20soprano&pg=RA1-PA31&printsec=frontcover "Isabel Molter to Sing at Guild Theatre"] The Musical Leader 56(2)(January 10, 1929): 31. They had a son.

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Category:American sopranos

Category:Musicians from Chicago

Category:People from St. Joseph, Michigan

Category:Date of birth missing

Category:Date of death missing