Jeanne Jomelli
{{Short description|Dutch soprano opera singer, concert singer and music educator}}
Jeanne Jomelli (May 18, 1879 – August 29, 1932) was a Dutch soprano opera singer, concert singer, and music educator.
Early life
Jeanne Jomelli was born in Amsterdam.Arthur A. Greene, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/15380942/jeanne_jomelli_1931/ "Jeanne Jomelli, Former Queen of Grand Opera, Recalls Golden Days"] The Honolulu Advertiser (August 23, 1931): 3. via Newspapers.com{{open access}} She studied voice under Mathilde Marchesi in Paris.[https://books.google.com/books?id=f3I9AQAAMAAJ&dq=%22Jeanne+Jomelli%22+%22Marchesi%22&pg=PA15-IA13 Untitled news item], Pacific Coast Musical Review (April 9, 1921): 12.
Career
Jomelli made her American debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1906.[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/15375897/jeanne_jomelli_died_1932/ "Once Star of Met Dies in Obscurity"] Pittsburgh Press (August 30, 1932): 13. via Newspapers.com{{open access}} In 1909 an aria, "The Call of Râdha" by Harriet Ware, with lyrics by Sarojini Naidu, was dedicated to Jomelli.[http://imslp.org/wiki/The_Call_of_R%C3%A2dha_(Ware%2C_Harriet) "The Call of Râdha"] IMSLP: Petrucci Music Library. Jomelli herself set a Heinrich Heine poem, "Oft I wept while dreaming", to music in 1912.[http://www.lieder.net/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=34857 "Oft I wept while dreaming"] The LiederNet Archive. "Mme. Jomelli had a pure soprano voice of singularly clear, steady, musical quality, and she was an accomplished vocalist," recalled Herman Klein, who worked with her on improving her English diction.Hermann Klein, [https://books.google.com/books?id=3CI5WGrxG2UC&dq=Jeanne+Jomelli&pg=PA302 Herman Klein and the Gramophone: Being a Series of Essays on the Bel Canto (1923), the Gramophone and the Singer (1924–1934), and Reviews of New Classical Vocal Recordings (1925–1934), and Other Writings from the Gramophone] (Hal Leonard Corporation 1990): 302. {{ISBN|9780931340185}}
She was in Belgium at the start of World War I and lost nineteen trunks of costumes and other possessions in the rush to leave ahead of German advances.[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/15380341/jeanne_jomelli_1919/ "Jeanne Jomelli Plans Busy Season"] Oakland Tribune (February 2, 1919): 6. via Newspapers.com{{open access}} Instead she toured western Canadian cities with composer Hallett Gilberté during the war, giving benefit concerts for wounded veterans.[https://books.google.com/books?id=Gk80AQAAMAAJ&dq=Jeanne+Jomelli&pg=RA6-PA21 "Discriminating Listeners Everywhere, says Gilberté"] Musical America (June 23, 1917): 21. In 1917, she gave a concert in Los Angeles singing songs by Charles Wakefield Cadman, with Cadman himself accompanying her on piano.[https://books.google.com/books?id=Gk80AQAAMAAJ&dq=Jeanne+Jomelli&pg=RA6-PA40 "Los Angeles Gamut Club Gives Annual Dinner"] Musical America (June 23, 1917): 40.
For the 1917/1918 academic year, Jomelli was engaged to teach at Cornish School of Music in Seattle, Washington.[https://books.google.com/books?id=Gk80AQAAMAAJ&dq=Jeanne+Jomelli&pg=RA18-PA18 "Mme. Jomelli Joins Faculty of Cornish School in Seattle"] Musical America (September 22, 1917): 18. However, she needed surgery for tonsillitis in September 1917,A. M. G., [https://books.google.com/books?id=Gk80AQAAMAAJ&dq=Jeanne+Jomelli&pg=RA19-PA19 "Sings Children's Songs"] Musical America (September 29, 1917): 19. which brought long-term health complications, and she taught while seated thereafter.[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/15380714/jomelli_memoirs_1930_part_xx/ "Applause: The Memoirs of Mme. Jeanne Jomelli"] Honolulu Star-Bulletin (March 1, 1930): 41. via Newspapers.com{{open access}}
Jomelli moved to Oakland, California, in 1918, and taught voice at the University of California in Berkeley.[https://books.google.com/books?id=MnI9AQAAMAAJ&dq=Jeanne+Jomelli&pg=RA1-PA26 "Jomelli a Welcome Addition to California"] Pacific Coast Musical Review (December 21, 1918): 26. She stayed in the San Francisco Bay area for most of her remaining years, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/15380267/jeanne_jomelli_1921/ "Famous Singer to be Featured in Sacred Concert"] San Francisco Chronicle (February 11, 1921): 4. via Newspapers.com{{open access}} though she also spent significant time teaching in Honolulu, Hawaii, at the Punahou School.[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/15380586/jomelli_in_honolulu_1919/ "Madame Jomelli has Great Hopes of Developing Hawaiian Voices at Punahou School"] Honolulu Star-Bulletin (August 30, 1919): 13. via Newspapers.com{{open access}}
Personal life
Jeanne Jomelli was first married in 1901, to a French tapestry maker, Nicolas Hernance.[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/15380499/jomelli_memoir_1929_part_ii/ "Applause: The Memoirs of Mme. Jeanne Jomelli"] Honolulu Star-Bulletin (October 19, 1929): 47. via Newspapers.com{{open access}} They divorced amicably in 1913.[https://www.proquest.com/docview/97425466 "Jomelli Seeks Divorce"] The New York Times (September 14, 1913): C1. {{subscription required}} Her second husband was her manager, W. Orrin Backus. She died in August 1932, aged 53 years, in San Francisco, California.[https://www.proquest.com/docview/99783489 "Mme. Jeanne Jomelli, Once Opera Star, Dead"] The New York Times (August 30, 1932): 18. {{subscription required}} Very soon after Jomelli's death, Orrin Backus remarried; when his new wife left him, in fear of his violent threats, he died in November 1932 by suicide.[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/15375945/william_orrin_backus_suicide_1932/ "W. O. Backus Kills Himself as Bride Flees"] Woodland Daily Democrat (November 16, 1932): 4. via Newspapers.com{{open access}}
References
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External links
{{commons category|Jeanne Jomelli}}
- The Library of Congress has [https://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/ggbain.06460/ a photograph of Jeanne Jomelli] from the 1910s, in the George Grantham Bain Collection.
- The Boston Public Library has [http://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/vh53xf55r a photograph of Jeanne Jomelli] taken by Aimé Dupont in 1911, in the Philip Hale Photograph Collection.
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Category:20th-century Dutch opera singers
Category:Cornish College of the Arts faculty
Category:University of California faculty