Nell Tangeman
{{short description|American opera singer}}
Nell Tangeman (21 December 1914 – 15 February 1965) was an American mezzo-soprano.
Life and career
Tangeman was born in Columbus, Ohio. After earning a degree in violin performance from Ohio State University, she pursued vocal studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music. She studied with Friedrich Schorr, Margaret Matzenaur, and Nadia Boulanger. In 1946, she made her New York debut singing the role of Jocasta in Igor Stravinsky's Oedipus rex with the New York Philharmonic under conductor Leonard Bernstein.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1946/11/26/archives/bernstein-plays-stravinsky-work-revives-at-the-city-center-oedipus.html?sq=%2522Nell+Tangeman%2522&scp=3&st=p|title=Bernstein Plays Stravinsky Work|work=The New York Times|date=November 26, 1946}} In 1947, she sang the New York premiere of Aaron Copland's In the Beginning with the Collegiate Chorale and conductor Robert Shaw.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1947/05/20/archives/shaw-and-chorale-give-2-new-works-apparebit-by-hindemith-and-in-the.html?sq=%2522Nell+Tangeman%2522&scp=5&st=p|title=Shaw and Chorale Give 2 New Works; ' Apparebit,' by Hindemith, and 'In the Beginning,' by Copland, Offered First Time Here|author=Howard Taubman|author-link=Howard Taubman|work=The New York Times|date=May 20, 1947}}
In 1951, Tangeman created the role of Mother Goose in the world premiere of Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress at La Fenice in Venice.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1951/09/23/archives/rakes-progress-creates-furor-new-opera-by-stravinsky-has-its.html?sq=%2522Nell+Tangeman%2522&scp=17&st=p|title='RAKE'S PROGRESS' CREATES FUROR; New Opera by Stravinsky Has Its Premiere Amid Great Excitement Master|author=Howard Taubman|author-link=Howard Taubman|work=The New York Times|date=September 23, 1951}} The following year, she performed the role of Dinah in the world premiere of Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti at Berstein's Festival of the Creative Arts on the campus of Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, to an audience of nearly 3,000 people.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1952/06/14/archives/bernstein-opera-has-its-premiere-trouble-in-tahiti-unveiled-at.html?sq=%2522David+Atkinson%2522&scp=12&st=p|title=Bernstein Opera Has Its Premiere|work=The New York Times|date=June 14, 1952|author=Howard Taubman|author-link=Howard Taubman}} In 1955, she performed the role of Teresa in the American Opera Society's production of Vincenzo Bellini's La sonnambula at Carnegie Hall.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1955/01/26/archives/opera-la-sonnambula-laurel-hurley-praised-gamson-conducts.html?sq=%2522Nell+Tangeman%2522&scp=35&st=p|title=Opera: 'La Sonnambula'; Laurel Hurley Praised -- Gamson Conducts|author=Howard Taubman|author-link=Howard Taubman|work=The New York Times|date=January 26, 1955}} As a recitalist, she championed new works by American composers, most notably Ned Rorem, who wrote several works with her voice in mind.
She died in Washington, D.C., aged fifty, of unknown causes.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k3165uj1pxUC&q=nell+tangeman+died&pg=PA184|author=Victoria Etnier Villamil|title=From Johnson's Kids to Lemonade Opera: The American Classical Singer Comes of Age|publisher=Northeastern University Press|year=2004|page=184|isbn=9781555536350}} She made one recording during her career, performing Arnold Schoenberg's Gurre-Lieder with conductor Rene Leibowitz in 1951.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gwyNCQP1i5wC&q=%22Nell+Tangeman%22&pg=PA37|title=Lies: A Diary 1986-1999|author=Ned Rorem|author-link=Ned Rorem|publisher=Da Capo Press|year=2002|page=37|isbn=0306811065}}
References
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Category:American operatic mezzo-sopranos
Category:20th-century American women opera singers
Category:Musicians from Columbus, Ohio
Category:Classical musicians from Ohio