Anna Case (October 29, 1887 - January 7, 1984) was an American operatic soprano. She recorded with

Thomas Alva Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These invent ...

, who used her voice extensively in "tone tests" of whether a live audience could tell the difference between the actual singer and a recording. In addition to recordings for

Edison Records Edison Records was one of the early record labels that pioneered sound recording and reproduction, and was an important player in the early recording industry. The first phonograph cylinders were manufactured in 1888, followed by Edison's foun ...

on both

phonograph cylinder Phonograph cylinders are the earliest commercial medium for recording and reproducing sound. Commonly known simply as "records" in their era of greatest popularity (c. 1896–1916), these hollow cylindrical objects have an audio recording engr ...

and Diamond Disc, Case recorded for Victor and

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

, and made sound film for

Vitaphone Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone was the last major analog sound-on-disc system and the only one ...

. She was born in

Clinton, New Jersey Clinton is a town in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. It is located on the South Branch of the Raritan River in the Raritan Valley region. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the town's population was 2,719,Augusta Öhrström-Renard in New York. She made her debut in 1909 at the New Theatre in New York as the Dutch Boy in ''Werther'', and from 1909–1916 was a member of the

Metropolitan Opera Company The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

. In first American performances, she created the roles of Sophie in ''Der Rosenkavalier'' (1913) and Feodor in ''Boris Godunov'' (1913). She sang Olympia in ''Tales of Hoffmann'', Mimi in ''La Boheme,'' and Micaela in ''Carmen.'' She wrote music and lyrics to several songs during the 1910s and '20s. She made her film debut in the 1919 silent drama film '' The Hidden Truth,'' and sang one of her original songs in the 1926

short ''La Fiesta''. She also appeared in documentaries about sound recording. In 1930 she recorded "

Just Awearyin' for You "Just Awearyin' for You" is a parlor song, one of that genre's all-time hits. The lyrics were written by Frank Lebby Stanton and published in his ''Songs of the Soil'' (1894). The tune was composed by Carrie Jacobs-Bond and published as part ...

" by

Frank Lebby Stanton Frank Lebby Stanton (February 22, 1857 – January 7, 1927), frequently credited as Frank L. Stanton, Frank Stanton or F. L. Stanton, was an American lyricist. He was also the initial columnist for the ''Atlanta Constitution'' and became the ...

and

Carrie Jacobs-Bond Carrie Minetta Jacobs-Bond (August 11, 1862 – December 28, 1946) was an American singer, pianist, and songwriter who composed some 175 pieces of popular music from the 1890s through the early 1940s. She is perhaps best remembered for writing t ...

. On July 18, 1931, she married

ITT Corporation ITT Inc., formerly ITT Corporation, is an American worldwide manufacturing company based in Stamford, Connecticut. The company produces specialty components for the aerospace, transportation, energy and industrial markets. ITT's three businesse ...

executive

Clarence H. Mackay Clarence Hungerford Mackay (; April 17, 1874 – November 12, 1938) was an American financier. He was chairman of the board of the Postal Telegraph and Cable Corporation and president of the Mackay Radio and Telegraph Company. Early life He ...

at St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Roslyn, New York, and retired from the stage shortly afterwards. She began write songs more prolifically in 1936, penning over 50 in two years, and sang occasionally at social events. Her husband died in November, 1938, and Case died in New York City on January 7, 1984. Upon her death she bequeathed her 167.97-carat (33.59 g) Colombian emerald ring and

Boucheron Boucheron () is a French luxury jewellery and watches house located in Paris, 26 Place Vendôme, owned by Kering. History At the origins The House of Boucheron is a French family dynasty founded by Frederic Boucheron in 1858, with the opening ...

necklace to the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

.See

Clarence Mackay Clarence Hungerford Mackay (; April 17, 1874 – November 12, 1938) was an American financier. He was chairman of the board of the Postal Telegraph and Cable Corporation and president of the Mackay Radio and Telegraph Company. Early life He ...

. File:Gudonov 1912 11805u.jpg, 1912

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

premiere of

Boris Godunov Borís Fyodorovich Godunóv (; russian: Борис Фёдорович Годунов; 1552 ) ruled the Tsardom of Russia as ''de facto'' regent from c. 1585 to 1598 and then as the first non-Rurikid tsar from 1598 to 1605. After the end of hi ...

with Anna Case, Marie Duchène, Adamo Didur as

, and Leonora Sparkes File:82076r-La sonnambula.ogg, 1915 Edison recording of ''La sonnambula. Ah! Non credia mirarti'', performed by Anna Case

References

External links

* *
Anna Case papers, 1912-1969
Music Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
Anna Case recordings
at the

Discography of American Historical Recordings The Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) is a database of master recordings made by American record companies during the 78rpm era. The DAHR provides some of these original recordings, free of charge, via audio streaming, along with ...

.
Anna Case cylinder recordings
from the

UCSB Cylinder Audio Archive The Cylinder Audio Archive is a free digital collection maintained by the University of California, Santa Barbara Library with streaming and downloadable versions of over 10,000 phonograph cylinders manufactured between 1893 and the mid-1920s. The ...

at the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the ...

Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Case, Anna 1887 births 1984 deaths American operatic sopranos People from Clinton, New Jersey Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery Singers from New Jersey 20th-century American women opera singers American women songwriters Songwriters from New York (state)