Marie Rappold

              1908

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MARIE RAPPOLD
American Prima Donna Soprano
Metropolitan Opera Company, N.Y.
Management
Metropolitan Musical Bureau, Aeolian Hall. N.Y.



Marie Rappold
MARIE RAPPOLD is to-day one of the foremost concert artists in America and has given song recitals in practically every State in the Union.  Her beauty of voice, her method of singing, her carefully selected and exquisitely rendered programmes, together with her appealing personality, have united to establish her as a conspicuous favorite on the concert stage.

It was in 1906 that Mme. Rappold first provoked the interest of the musical cognoscenti at a modest festival concert in the Montauk Theatre, Brooklyn.  Previously she had studied with Oscar Saenger, America's most famous vocal instructor, who cherished ambitions for her.

Heinrich Conried, Metropolitan Opera impresario, happened to be present on this occasion and immediately recognized that here was a voice and a personality of outstanding promise.  He invited Mme. Rappold to sing for him at the Opera House, but she was unable to do so at that time.

In the autumn of that year, Conried had planned a gala production of The Queen of Sheba and to secure the leading soprano for the title role he scoured

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 Europe.  When negotiations with Nordica were broken off, he returned to America disconsolate.

In the meanwhile Mr. Saenger had persuaded his pupil that there was a career for her on the operatic stage.  Knowing that Mr. Conried was in search of a Sulamith, the principal character in the opera, he contrived to secure a copy of the score, although there were very few in existence at that time.  He procured one, however, and Mme. Rappold studied it secretly throughout the summer.  In the fall, as Mr. Saenger had divined, Conried sent for Mme. Rappold.

He handed her a copy of the Goldmark music and coaxingly said, Just try a few bars for me.  Oh, I don't need that, answered Mme. Rappold, I know the role by heart!  If Conried was astonished at this reply, what was his amazement to hear the young singer travel through the intricate mazes of the role with the skill of an experienced prima donna?  The great impresario was dumbfounded.

You're engaged!  he shouted, and rushed about like a madman.

In vain, Mme. Rappold pleaded that she must first discuss the matter with her husband, her instructor, her friends.  Conried would not hear of it, nor would he allow her to leave the building until she had affixed her signature to a contract.

Music lovers frequently recall the debut of Marie Rappold at the premier performance of The Queen of Sheba.  It was one of the sensational nights at the opera which will never be forgotten.




Marie Rappold
Since that first season, Mme. Rappold has added many roles to her repertoire.  Her voice has a peculiar silver timbre, which admits of her singing parts for the lyric as well as the dramatic soprano.  She has enjoyed great success as Aida; Desdemona in Otello; Marguerite in Faust; Leonora in Il Trovatore; Euridice in Gluck's Orfeo; Elsa in Lohengrin; Inez in L'Africaine; Venus and Elizabeth in Tannhauser; Eva in Die Meistersinger; Micaela in Carmen; the Forest Bird in Siegfried, and the Princess in Lobetanz.

In 1908, after a brilliant season of opera in Bucharest, Mme. Rappold received the medal of Arts and Sciences from Queen Carmen Sylva, an honor never before bestowed upon a singer.

Each year, when not engaged at the Opera House, Mme. Rappold has filled recital, concert and oratorio engagements throughout the country.  Her lovely voice, 
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 which shows to particular advantage in song recital, is known and loved wherever it has been heard, as witness the glowing tributes in the following criticisms:



Press Comment

Mme. Rappold again proved that she possesses one of the most beautiful voices now heard on the operatic stage.—
New York Tribune.


Mme. Rappold's voice is a wonderfully beautiful one and her singing is always enriched by a spirit of pleasure which she takes in her work.—
Utica Press.


Mme. Rappold was in fine form and excellent voice, bringing to each of her well-chosen numbers a wealth of interpretation, remarkable for its intellectual side and its qualities of heart and voice.—
Milwaukee Sentinel.


Her voice always possesses a brilliance and purity altogether enviable.—
Chicago Inter Ocean.


Mme. Rappold's voice is a brilliant one, and she sings with full roundness of tone, perfect diction and a sense of vocalization which indicate a union of musical intelligence and arduous study.—
Buffalo Enquirer.


She has a great and glorious dramatic soprano voice that pours forth melody with astounding ease.—
Rochester Times.


Her voice is clear in color, with a liquid quality soothing to the ear, and she uses it with ease and grace.—
Chicago Post.


Her singing was an example of art in its best form.—
New York Herald.


Without exception a better voice than Mme. Rappold's has not been heard in this city for many years.  It is a gem for beauty,—there is no suggestion of work, there is no sign of friction in the handling of the voice, and the flexibility meets every demand.—
Trenton Gazette.




Marie Rappold on the New Edison

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HERE is a picture of Mme. Rappold, proving by an actual test that there is no difference between her living voice and the New Edison's Re-Creation of it.

Mme. Rappold is one of the many great artists who have toured this country, participating in these wonderful tests of the fidelity of the New Edison's Re-Creation of their voices.

After a Tone Test recently given by Mme. Rappold at Carnegie Hall, New York, the New York Tribune said: Edison Snares the Soul of Music—Mme. Rappold stepped forward, and, leaning one arm on the phonograph, began to sing an air from 'La Tosca;' then the phonograph began to sing at the top of its mechanical lungs, with exactly the same accent and intonation as Mme. Rappold.

The music critics of more than five hundred of the principal newspapers in this country have admitted that they were unable to detect the real voices of Mme. Rappold and other great artists from the New Edison's Re-Creation of their voices.


Below is a list of the Edison Re-Creations of Mme. Rappold's voice


Ave Maria, Bach-Gounod, in Latin, with Albert Spalding, Violin
82536


Agnus Dei, in Latin
83041


Das süsse Lied Verhallt—Lohengrin, with Jacques Urlus, Tenor, in German
83054


Dich, theure Halle—Tannhäuser, in German
82114


Ich liebe dich, and Lenz, in German
83062


Inflammatus—Stabat Mater, in Latin, with Chorus
82101


O patria mia—Aïda, in Italian
82102


O terra addio—Aïda, with Giovanni Zenatello, Tenor, and Grand Opera Chorus, in Italian
83066


Praise Ye—Attila, with Karl Jörn and Arthur Middleton, Tenor and Baritone
83046


Ritorna Vincitor—Aïda, in Italian
82115


Stille Nacht!  Heilige Nacht!  in German
83063


Vissi d'arte—Tosca
82107


Whispering Hope, with Christine Miller, Contralto
82543