Alice D'Hermanoy (born January 15, 1885 — died after 1932), born Alice Saintenoy, was a Belgian lyric

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

who sang with the

Chicago Civic Opera The Civic Opera Company (1922–1931) was a Chicago company that produced seven seasons of grand opera in the Auditorium Theatre from 1922 to 1928, and three seasons at its own Civic Opera House from 1929 to 1931 before falling victim to financia ...

in the 1920s.

Early life

Alice Saintenoy was born in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. Her family was of Walloon ethnicity. She trained to sing at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels."Affairs and Folks"
''National Magazine'' (August 1920): 217.

Career

D'Hermanoy sang with the Brussels opera for four seasons, and for three seasons in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, unable to return from France to Belgium, she went instead to Switzerland, where she sang with the Geneva Opera and volunteered as a Red Cross nurse, giving rise to her billing as "the Florence Nightingale of Song". She sang at the Belgian celebration of the end of war, and for a season at the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orch ...

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist sit ...

in 1920. She first sang with the Chicago Civic Opera in 1921, in ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the O ...

''. In 1922 she was in the cast of Massenet's ''

Manon ''Manon'' () is an ''opéra comique'' in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, based on the 1731 novel '' L'histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut'' by the Abbé Prévost. It was f ...

'' in New York, with

Tito Schipa Tito Schipa (; born Raffaele Attilio Amedeo Schipa; 2 January 1889 in Lecce16 December 1965) was an Italian tenor. Biography Schipa was born as Raffaele Attilio Amedeo Schipa on 27 December 1888 in Lecce in Apulia into an Arbëreshë famil ...

and Edith Mason. She toured with the Chicago Civic Opera's productions of ''Namiko-San'' (1925) in Chicago, with

Tamaki Miura , was a Japanese opera singer who performed as Cio-Cio-San in Puccini's ''Madama Butterfly''. Early life Miura was born the first daughter of Shibata Mōho and Shibata Towa () on February 22, 1884, in Tokyo, Japan. Shibata, a music lover had h ...

, ''La Traviata'' (1926, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930) with

Claudia Muzio Claudia Muzio (7 February 1889 – 24 May 1936) was an Italian operatic lyric soprano who enjoyed an international career during the early 20th century. Early years Claudina Emilia Maria Muzzio was born in Pavia, the daughter of Carlo Muzio, an ...

and Tito Schipa, ''

Rigoletto ''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play '' Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had c ...

'' (1926, 1927, 1928) with Charles Hackett and

Devora Nadworney Devora Nadworney (1895 – January 7, 1948) was an American operatic contralto singer. Early life Nadworney was born in New York City,Lucia di Lammermoor ''Lucia di Lammermoor'' () is a (tragic opera) in three acts by Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian-language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's 1819 historical novel '' The Bride of Lammermoor''. ...

'' (1926, 1930, 1931), and '' Il trovatore'' (1927, 1928, 1930). In 1931 she toured with the Chicago Civil Opera to California and the Pacific Northwest. Alice D'Hermanoy also kept poultry at her farm in Belgium. She attended poultry shows in the United States to buy birds, and reportedly sang arias for her chickens to improve them.

Personal life

Alice D'Hermanoy married opera conductor Charles Henri Lauwers in 1921. The couple lived in Los Angeles in 1931."Reseda News Notes"
''Van Nuys News'' (March 9, 1931): 5. via

Newspapers.com Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. It is owned by The ...

References

External links

* Edward C. Moore
''Forty Years of Opera in Chicago''
(H. Liveright 1930). via

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hermanoy, Alice D' 1885 births 20th-century deaths Musicians from Brussels Belgian operatic sopranos