Jane Van Etten
{{short description|American composer and singer (1869–1950)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2024}}
Jane Van Etten (1869 – April 17, 1950), also known by her married name, Jane Van Etten Andrews, was an American composer and singer. She was one of the first female composers in the United States to have an opera produced by a regular opera company.
Biography
Van Etten was a native of St. Paul, Minnesota, the daughter of Isaac Van Etten, a prominent local lawyer and politician, and Jane Oakes Van Etten. She was descended from the Van Etten family of New York.{{cite web|url=http://johnlisle.us/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I12931&tree=stedman_main|title=Alfred Burritt Andrews b. 26 Nov 1871 Chicago, Cook Co., Illinois d. Unknown: Stedman Family Genealogies|publisher=|accessdate=July 25, 2016}} She studied music and opera singing in New York City, Paris, and London. Among her teachers was Mathilde Marchesi.{{cite book |author=Christine Ammer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O_GRCkxiXVwC&pg=PA193 |title=Unsung: A History of Women in American Music |publisher=Amadeus |year=2001 |isbn=978-1-57467-061-5 |pages=193–}} Her stage debut came as Siébel in Faust at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 1895.{{cite book |author=Ken Wlaschin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SBkKAQAAMAAJ |title=Encyclopedia of American Opera |publisher=McFarland & Company |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-7864-2109-1}}
She returned to the United States to concertize. By 1901 her reputation was good enough that Benton Harbor's orchestra was advertising itself using Van Etten's name, despite no formal connection or performances.{{Cite journal |date=1901 |title=MUSICAL ECHOES |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42004912 |journal=Fine Arts Journal |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=42–47 |jstor=42004912 |issn=2151-2760}} In 1901 she married architect Alfred Burritt Andrews and settled in Evanston, Illinois.{{Cite book |last=Waterman |first=Arba Nelson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ehQVAAAAYAAJ |title=Historical Review of Chicago and Cook County and Selected Biography |date=1908 |publisher=Lewis publishing Company |page=881 |language=en}} After her wedding she gave up singing to concentrate on composition, though she later worked as a teacher of voice in Chicago.{{cite book|author1=Dexter Smith|author2=Lorin Fuller Deland|author3=Thomas Tapper |author4=Philip Hale|title=Musical Record and Review|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9dkB_UpSM5cC&pg=RA1-PA88|year=1901|publisher=O.Ditson & Company|pages=1–}} Her teachers of composition included Alexander von Fielitz and Bernhard Ziehn.
She composed Guido Ferranti, a one-act opera to a libretto by Elsie M. Wilbor based on the play The Duchess of Padua by Oscar Wilde. It was premiered on December 29, 1914, in Chicago by the Century Opera Company at the Auditorium Theater. Hazel Eden was Beatrice and Worthe Faulkner Guido Ferranti; the opera was conducted by Agide Jacchia.{{cite book |author1=Margaret Ross Griffel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WxIKAQAAMAAJ |title=Operas in English: A Dictionary |author2=Adrienne Fried Block |publisher=Greenwood Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-313-25310-2 |author-link=Margaret Ross Griffel}} The piece received the Bispham Memorial Medal Award. It was said that Van Etten had not studied orchestration, harmony or counterpoint prior to the composition of the opera.{{cite book |author=Viola Vaille (Barnes). Campbell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-QAtAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA169 |title=The Musical Monitor |publisher=Mrs. David Allen Campbell, Publisher |year=1914 |pages=169–}} The opera won great critical acclaim, but appears not to have been performed again after its premiere. Its music has been described as "tuneful in the Puccini mode".
Van Etten died in Punta Gorda, Florida on April 17, 1950. She is interred in her family plot in St. Paul's Oakland Cemetery.{{Cite web |title=Oakland Interment Search |url=https://oaklandcemeterymn.com/map/Block_15-33.asp |access-date=May 1, 2023 |website=oaklandcemeterymn.com}}
Two of her songs have been recorded.{{cite web|url=http://www.albanyrecords.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=AR&Product_Code=TROY165&Category_Code=a-Vocal|title=Albany Records: Songs From The Heart|publisher=|accessdate=July 24, 2016}}
Selected compositions
= Songs =
- Rose, words by Austin Dobson{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u9Y6AQAAMAAJ |title=The Canadian Patent Office Record and Register of Copyrights and Trade Marks |date=1906 |publisher=Patent Office |page=1443 |language=en}}
- A Vow, words by R. de Peyster Tytus
- Jealousy, words by Carrie Blake Morgan
- Destiny, words by William Richard Hereford
- The Joy of Life, words by William Ernest Henley
- Just for Luck, words by Anonymous
- Your Kiss, Beloved, words by Gouverneur Morris
- It was a Lover and his Lass, words by Shakespeare
- The Night has a Thousand Eyes, words by F. W. Bourdillon
- Pablo's Song, words by George Eliot (from The Spanish Gypsy)
= Opera =
- Guido Ferranti, libretto by Elsie M. Wilbor
- Ghouls{{Cite book |last=Office |first=Library of Congress Copyright |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RVJhAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA329 |title=Catalog of Copyright Entries. Part 1. [C] Group 3. Dramatic Composition and Motion Pictures. New Series |date=1935 |page=6691 |language=en}}
= Choral =
- Behold, the Master Passeth By, offertory hymn, words by W. W. How{{Cite book |last=Office |first=Library of Congress Copyright |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oFghAQAAIAAJ |title=Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series |date=1951 |page=232 |language=en}}
- Nymph's Reply to the Passionate Shepherd, words by Walter Raleigh{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GBNhAAAAIAAJ |title=Catalog of Copyright Entries: Musical compositions |date=1945 |publisher=Library of Congress, Copyright Office. |language=en}}
- Lord be Gracious Unto Us
= Instrumental =
References
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Category:Year of death unknown
Category:American opera composers
Category:American operatic mezzo-sopranos
Category:19th-century American women opera singers
Category:19th-century American classical composers
Category:20th-century American classical composers
Category:Musicians from Saint Paul, Minnesota
Category:American women opera composers
Category:Singers from Minnesota
Category:20th-century American women opera singers
Category:Classical musicians from Minnesota