Marie Powers
{{short description|American opera singer}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| background = person
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Marie Powers
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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1902|06|20}}
| birth_place = Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, U.S.
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| death_date = {{Death date and age|1973|12|29|1902|06|20}}
| death_place = New York City, New York, U.S.
| genre =
| occupation = Contralto
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| years_active = 1919–1960s
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| spouse = Luigi Crescentini
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Marie Powers (June 20, 1902 – December 29, 1973), also known as Countess Crescentini,{{Cite news |date=August 30, 1944 |title=Marie Powers, Noted Contralto, Guilford Visitor |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-bangor-daily-news-marie-powers-note/174770760/ |access-date=June 18, 2025 |work=The Bangor Daily News |pages=3 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=September 16, 1943 |title=Marie Powers to be Guest Soloist in Presbyterian Church |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/mount-carmel-item-marie-powers-to-be-gue/174771730/ |access-date=June 18, 2025 |work=Mount Carmel Item |pages=1 |via=Newspapers.com}} was an American contralto who was best known for her performance as Madame Flora in Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Medium, a role that she played on stage, screen and television.
Early life and education
Powers was born in Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Daniel Powers and Rose Anne Powers. All of her grandparents were born in Ireland.1920 United States census, via Ancestry. She studied music and language at Cornell University.{{Cite news |date=April 22, 1937 |title=Marie Powers Sings Tonight |url=https://cdsun.library.cornell.edu/?a=d&d=CDS19370422.2.13&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN------- |work=Cornell Daily Sun |pages=1}} Powers studied in New York with Frank La Forge, and earned a master's degree at the Royal Conservatory in Florence, Italy.{{Cite news |date=February 18, 1966 |title=Maria Powers to Perform at Westchester Woman's Club |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/mount-vernon-argus-maria-powers-to-perfo/174766610/ |access-date=June 18, 2025 |work=Mount Vernon Argus |pages=10 |via=Newspapers.com}}
Career
Powers sang in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s, including a stint with the Paris Opera and appearances at La Scala under conductor Arturo Toscanini.{{Cite news |date=December 19, 1946 |title=Top Contralto Booked for 'The Messiah' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-salt-lake-tribune-top-contralto-book/174768964/ |access-date=June 18, 2025 |work=The Salt Lake Tribune |pages=13 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=1932-03-03 |title=Marie Powers to Sing for Fenimore Players |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/mount-vernon-argus-marie-powers-to-sing/174771435/ |access-date=2025-06-18 |work=Mount Vernon Argus |pages=6 |via=Newspapers.com}} She returned to the United States in 1937, and was a contralto soloist in concerts of Verdi's Requiem,{{Cite news |date=April 3, 1933 |title=Noted Artists Sing Tomorrow |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-danville-news-noted-artists-sing-tom/174769155/ |access-date=June 18, 2025 |work=The Danville News |pages=2 |via=Newspapers.com}} Handel's Messiah, and Constant Lambert's Rio Grande.{{Cite news |last=Regal |first=Francis |date=October 13, 1932 |title=Worcester Hears New Compositions at Music Festival |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/springfield-weekly-republican-worcester/174770380/ |access-date=June 18, 2025 |work=Springfield Weekly Republican |pages=11 |via=Newspapers.com}} She also gave recitals for community groups.{{Cite news |date=August 20, 1937 |title=Marie Powers Featured on Program to Open Westchester Woman's Club |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/mount-vernon-argus-marie-powers-featured/174770610/ |access-date=June 18, 2025 |work=Mount Vernon Argus |pages=12}}{{Cite news |date=1937-09-24 |title=Marie Powers Sings Tonight at Local Club |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/mount-vernon-argus-marie-powers-sings-to/174769373/ |access-date=2025-06-18 |work=Mount Vernon Argus |pages=18 |via=Newspapers.com}}
In 1947, Italian writer Lanfranco Rasponi introduced her to Menotti, who was casting the role of the fraudulent psychic in his opera The Medium. The opera was staged on Broadway along with another one-act Menotti opera, The Telephone, or L'Amour à trois. Powers was noted for her dramatic performance as the phony psychic, and she repeated the role on live television in 1948 and in an expanded film production directed by Menotti in 1951. In 1950, Robert Wahls of the Daily News described Powers as "a first ranking contralto and one of the few singers with an unfailing sense of theatre."{{Cite news |last=Wahls |first=Robert |date=May 28, 1950 |title=Singer Needs Excitement Offstage |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-singer-needs-excitement-offst/174769793/ |access-date=June 18, 2025 |work=Daily News |pages=144 |via=Newspapers.com}}
Powers appeared in the 1957 Broadway revival of the musical Carousel, and as the Queen Mother in the original 1960 production of Becket with Laurence Olivier and Anthony Quinn. In 1964 she directed and sang in a production of The Medium at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore.{{Cite news |date=October 6, 1967 |title=Marie Powers Sends Baltimore Her Love |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-sun-marie-powers-sends-balti/174771121/ |access-date=June 18, 2025 |work=The Evening Sun |pages=24 |via=Newspapers.com}} She toured in Asian and Australia in 1966, performing on radio and television programs.
Personal life
Powers married Luigi Crescentini, an Italian count. In 1938, her husband died. Powers died of heart failure in 1973, in New York City, at the age of 71.{{cite web |date=December 31, 1973 |title=Marie Powers, Contralto, Dies; Noted for Menotti Opera Roles |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/12/31/archives/marie-powers-contralto-dies-noted-for-menotti-opera-roles.html |access-date=February 13, 2019 |website=New York Times |publisher=}}{{Cite news |last=Phillips |first=Harvey E. |date=January 13, 1974 |title=Marie Powers: A Farewell |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1974/01/13/148745622.html |access-date=June 18, 2025 |work=The New York Times |pages=134 |language=en |issn=0362-4331}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.allmusic.com/artist/marie-powers-mn0002095935 Marie Powers at allmusic.com]
- {{IMDb name|id=0694581|name=Marie Powers}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Powers, Marie}}
Category:American operatic contraltos
Category:Cornell University alumni
Category:People from Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania
Category:Singers from Pennsylvania