Jerome A. Hines (November 8, 1921 – February 4, 2003) was an American

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

tic

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

who performed at the

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

from 1946 to 1987. Standing 6'6", his stage presence and stentorian voice made him ideal for such roles as Sarastro in ''

The Magic Flute ''The Magic Flute'' (, ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. It is a ''Singspiel'', a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue. The work premiered on ...

'', Mephistopheles in ''

Faust Faust ( , ) is the protagonist of a classic German folklore, German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a deal with the Devil at a ...

'', Ramfis in '' Aida'', the Grand Inquisitor in '' Don Carlos'', the title role of '' Boris Godunov'' and King Mark in ''

Tristan und Isolde ''Tristan und Isolde'' (''Tristan and Isolde''), WWV 90, is a music drama in three acts by Richard Wagner set to a German libretto by the composer, loosely based on the medieval 12th-century romance ''Tristan and Iseult'' by Gottfried von Stras ...

''.

Early life and education

Hines was born Jerome Albert Link Heinz in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

. He studied mathematics and chemistry at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

, while also studying voice with Vladimir Rosing.

Music

Hines made his operatic debut at the

San Francisco Opera The San Francisco Opera (SFO) is an American opera company founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola (1881–1953) based in San Francisco, California. History Gaetano Merola (1923–1953) Merola's road to prominence in the Bay Area began in 1906 wh ...

in 1941 as Monterone in ''

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 ...

''. He changed his surname to Hines at the suggestion of his manager

Sol Hurok Sol Hurok (also Solomon Israilevich Hurok; born Solomon Izrailevich Gurkov, Russian language, Russian Соломон Израилевич Гурков; April 9, 1888March 5, 1974) was a 20th-century American impresario. Early life Hurok was born ...

to avoid the anti-German feelings prevalent during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In 1946, Hines made his debut at the

as the Sergeant in '' Boris Godunov''. He went on to sing for a record 41 seasons there, including becoming the first US-born singer to tackle the title role of Boris Godunov in 1954. In 1953, he made his European debut with

Glyndebourne Festival Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an annual opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England. History Under the supervision of the Christie family, the festival has been held annually since 1934, e ...

as Nick Shadow at the

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of Arts festival, arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the ...

in the first British performances of Stravinsky's '' The Rake's Progress''. In 1958, he made his debut at

La Scala La Scala (, , ; officially , ) is a historic opera house in Milan, Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as (, which previously was Santa Maria della Scala, Milan, a church). The premiere performa ...

in the title role of

George Frideric Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel ( ; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concerti. Born in Halle, Germany, H ...

's ''Hercules''. From 1958 to 1963, he sang at

Bayreuth Bayreuth ( or ; High Franconian German, Upper Franconian: Bareid, ) is a Town#Germany, town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtel Mountains. The town's roots date back to 11 ...

in the roles of Gurnemanz, King Mark and Wotan. In 1961, he first appeared at the San Carlo in the title role of

Arrigo Boito Arrigo Boito (; born Enrico Giuseppe Giovanni Boito; 24 February 1842 10 June 1918) was an Italian librettist, composer, poet and critic whose only completed opera was ''Mefistofele''. Among the operas for which he wrote the libretto, libretti ar ...

's ''

Mefistofele ''Mefistofele'' () is an opera in a prologue and five acts, later reduced to four acts and an epilogue, the only completed opera with music by the Italian composer-librettist Arrigo Boito (there are several completed operas for which he was lib ...

''. In 1962, he sang Boris Godunov at the Bolshoi in Moscow, famously for Soviet leader

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...

on the eve of the resolution of the

Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis () in Cuba, or the Caribbean Crisis (), was a 13-day confrontation between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union, when American deployments of Nuclear weapons d ...

. He turned to

coaching Coaching is a form of development in which an experienced person, called a ''coach'', supports a learner or client in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing training and guidance. The learner is sometimes called a ''coa ...

later in his career, founding the Opera-Music Theatre Institute of

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

in 1987, but he continued performing virtually until the end of his life; among his last appearances was a concert performance as the Grand Inquisitor with the Boston Bel Canto Opera in 2001 at the age of 79. Hines composed an opera on the life of Jesus, ''I Am the Way''. He sang the role of Jesus at the Met in 1968 (though not in a staged production of his opera) and performed the work many times around the world. Hines wrote a memoir, ''This is My Story, This is My Song'' (1969) , and two books on singing, ''The Four Voices of Man'' (1997) and ''Great Singers on Great Singing'' (1982) .

Mathematics

In the 1950s, Hines contributed the following scholarly articles to ''

Mathematics Magazine ''Mathematics Magazine'' is a refereed bimonthly publication of the Mathematical Association of America. Its intended audience is teachers of collegiate mathematics, especially at the junior/senior level, and their students. It is explicitly a j ...

'': * 1951: "On approximating the roots of an equation by iteration", ''Mathematics Magazine'' 24(3):123–7 * 1952: "Foundations of Operator Theory", ''Mathematics Magazine'' 25:251–61 * 1955: "Operator Theory II", ''Mathematics Magazine'' 28(4):199–207 * 1955: "Operator Theory III", ''Mathematics Magazine'' 29(2):69–76 * 1956: "A Generalization of the S-Stirling numbers", ''Mathematics Magazine'' 29:200–3 Hines did not accept the theory of

transfinite number In mathematics, transfinite numbers or infinite numbers are numbers that are " infinite" in the sense that they are larger than all finite numbers. These include the transfinite cardinals, which are cardinal numbers used to quantify the size of i ...

s that had been put forward by

Georg Cantor Georg Ferdinand Ludwig Philipp Cantor ( ; ; – 6 January 1918) was a mathematician who played a pivotal role in the creation of set theory, which has become a foundations of mathematics, fundamental theory in mathematics. Cantor establi ...

. As '' Opera News'' reported in 1991, he was collaborating with Henry Pollack, formerly of

Bell Labs Nokia Bell Labs, commonly referred to as ''Bell Labs'', is an American industrial research and development company owned by Finnish technology company Nokia. With headquarters located in Murray Hill, New Jersey, Murray Hill, New Jersey, the compa ...

, on "a new look at the philosophy of mathematics".

Personal life

Hines was married to the

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 ...

Lucia Evangelista from 1952 until her death from

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or—in the United States—Lou Gehrig's disease (LGD), is a rare, Terminal illness, terminal neurodegenerative disease, neurodegenerative disorder that results i ...

in 2000. They had four children. He was a born-again Christian and a member of the Salvation Army. Hines became a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

in 1972. It was later reported that he strayed from his vegetarian diet by eating chicken and fish.

Death

A resident of Scotch Plains, New Jersey, Hines died of undisclosed causes in 2003 at age 81 at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan.Portantiere, Michael
"Opera and Musical Theater Star Jerome Hines Dies at 81"
Theatermania.com, February 5, 2003; accessed October 1, 2015. "A resident of Scotch Plains, New Jersey, Hines appeared frequently at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn in recent years."

References

External links

Discography of opera recordings
(Capon's Lists of Opera Recordings)

by Bruce Duffie, December 12, 1991

by Joseph Shore, November 3, 1993 {{DEFAULTSORT:Hines, Jerome 1921 births 2003 deaths 20th-century American male opera singers 20th-century Methodists American operatic basses American Salvationists Classical musicians from California Classical musicians from New Jersey Singers from Los Angeles Musicians from Hollywood, Los Angeles People from Scotch Plains, New Jersey Singers from New Jersey University of California, Berkeley alumni