Selma Kronold (18 August 1861 — 9 October 1920) was an American operatic soprano and pianist. Her repertoire included more than forty-five operas in three different languages. She took part in the musicals ''
The Magic Melody, or Fortunnio's Song'' and ''
At the Lower Harbor.''
Life and career
Selma Kronold, was born in
Kraków
, officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...
to a family with Jewish roots. Her father was Adolph Kronold, her mother was Louise (Hirschberg) Kronold, and she was the sister of cellist
Hans Kronold (1872–1922); and a cousin of Polish pianist and composer
Moritz Moszkowski
Moritz Moszkowski (23 August 18544 March 1925) was a German-Polish composer, pianist, and teacher.[Arthur Nikisch
Arthur Nikisch (12 October 185523 January 1922) was a Hungary, Hungarian conducting, conductor who performed internationally, holding posts in Boston, London, Leipzig and—most importantly—Berlin. He was considered an outstanding interpreter ...](_blank)
at the
Royal Conservatory in Leipzig and later with
Désirée Artôt
Désirée Artôt (; 21 July 1835 – 3 April 1907) was a Belgian soprano (initially a mezzo-soprano), who was famed in German and Italian opera and sang mainly in Germany. In 1868 she was engaged, briefly, to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, who may h ...
at the
Conservatoire de Paris
The Conservatoire de Paris (), or the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (; CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue Jean Ja ...
,
[ where she began her association with conductor Anton Seidl.][ She subsequently engaged with impresario Angelo Neumann's Wagner Opera Company between 1882 and 1883,][ when she apparently moved to the United States around 1885, joining the Metropolitan Opera Company.][ After that she traveled back to Berlin where she studied for two more years, adding about thirty other operas to her repertoire.]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 ...
, and The Castle Square Opera Company among others. She retired from the stage life in 1904, shortly after engaging herself in charity work, helping thus found and establish the Catholic Oratorio Society of New York in order to bring understanding and promote oratorios in their religious ideal.
Repertoire
* ''Der Freischütz
' (Friedrich Wilhelm Jähns, J. 277, Opus number, Op. 77 ''The Marksman'' or ''The Freeshooter'') is a German List of operas by Carl Maria von Weber, opera with spoken dialogue in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber with a libretto by Johann Fried ...
'' as Agatha (1877)
* '' Der Trompeter von Säkkingen'' as Marie (1889)
* ''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 ...
'' as Micaëla (1889)
* ''Cavalleria Rusticana
''Cavalleria rusticana'' (; ) is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from an 1880 Cavalleria rusticana (short story), short story of the same name and subsequent ...
'' as Santuzza (1891)
* ''Die Walküre
(; ''The Valkyrie''), Wagner-Werk-Verzeichnis, WWV 86B, is the second of the four epic poetry, epic music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's Literary cycle, cycle ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (English: ''The Ring of the Nibelung''). It was ...
'' as Helmwige (1891)
* ''Guillaume Tell
William Tell (, ; ; ; ) is a legendary folk hero of Switzerland. He is known for Shooting an apple off one's child's head, shooting an apple off his son's head.
According to the legend, Tell was an expert mountain climber and marksman with a cro ...
'' as Mathilde (1891)
* '' Fra Diavolo'' as Marguerite (1891)
* '' Il trovatore'' as Leonora (1891)
* ''Martha
Martha (Aramaic language, Aramaic: מָרְתָא) is a Bible, biblical figure described in the Gospels of Gospel of Luke, Luke and Gospel of John, John. Together with her siblings Lazarus of Bethany, Lazarus and Mary of Bethany, she is descr ...
'' as Lady Harriet Durham (1891)
* '' La gioconda'' as La gioconda (1891)
* ''Aida
''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is a tragic opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 De ...
'' as Aida (1891)
* ''Fidelio
''Fidelio'' (; ), originally titled ' (''Leonore, or The Triumph of Marital Love''), Opus number, Op. 72, is the sole opera by German composer Ludwig van Beethoven. The libretto was originally prepared by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of ...
'' as Leonore (1891)
* ''Tannhäuser
Tannhäuser (; ), often stylized "The Tannhäuser", was a German Minnesinger and traveling poet. Historically, his biography, including the dates he lived, is obscure beyond the poetry, which suggests he lived between 1245 and 1265.
His name ...
'' as Elisabeth (1892) and as Venus (1894)
* ''L'Africaine
''L'Africaine'' (''The African Woman'') is an 1837 five-act French ''grand opéra'' by Giacomo Meyerbeer, with a libretto by Eugène Scribe. By 1852, the plot had been revised to depict fictional events in the life of Portuguese explorer Vasco da ...
'' as Selika (1892)
* ''Don Giovanni
''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; full title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanish legen ...
'' as Donna Anna (1892) and as Donna Elvira (1896)
* ''L'amico Fritz
''L'amico Fritz'' () is an opera in three acts by Pietro Mascagni, premiered in 1891 to a libretto by P. Suardon ( Nicola Daspuro) (with additions by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti), based on the 1864 French novel ' by Émile Erckmann and Alexandr ...
'' as Suzel (1892)
* '' Un ballo in maschera'' as Amelia (1892)
* ''La juive
''La Juive'' (, ) is a grand opera in five acts by Fromental Halévy to an original French libretto by Eugène Scribe; it was first performed at the Opéra National de Paris, Opéra de Paris, on 23 February 1835.
Composition history
''La Juive'' ...
'' as Rachel (1892)
* ''Der fliegende Holländer
' (''The Flying Dutchman''), Wagner-Werk-Verzeichnis, WWV 63, is a German-language opera, with libretto and music by Richard Wagner. The central theme is redemption through love. Wagner Conducting, conducted the premiere at the Königliches Hofthe ...
'' as Senta (1892)
* ''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 ...
'' as Marguerite (1892)
* ''Les Huguenots
() is an opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer and is one of the most popular and spectacular examples of grand opera. In five acts, to a libretto by Eugène Scribe and Émile Deschamps, it premiered in Paris on 29 February 1836.
Composition history
'' ...
'' as Valentine (1892)
* ''Le nozze di Figaro
''The Marriage of Figaro'' (, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna ...
'' as La contessa d’Almaviv (1892)
* ''Lucrezia Borgia
Lucrezia Borgia (18 April 1480 – 24 June 1519) was an Italian noblewoman of the House of Borgia who was the illegitimate daughter of Pope Alexander VI and Vannozza dei Cattanei. She was a former governor of Spoleto.
Her family arranged ...
'' as Donna Lucrezia Borgia (1892)
* '' I Pagliatti'' as Nedda'' (1893)
* ''Ernani
''Ernani'' is an operatic ''dramma lirico'' in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on the 1830 play ''Hernani (drama), Hernani'' by Victor Hugo.
Verdi was commissioned by the Teatro La Fenice in Ve ...
'' as Elvira (1893)
* ''Götterdämmerung
' (; ''Twilight of the Gods''), Wagner-Werk-Verzeichnis, WWV 86D, is the last of the four epic poetry, epic music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's Literary cycle, cycle ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (English: ''The Ring of the Nibelung''). I ...
'' as Gutrune (1894)
* '' Gabriella'' as Gabriella (1894)
* ''Manon Lescaut
''The Story of the Chevalier des Grieux and Manon Lescaut'' ( ) is a novel by Antoine François Prévost. It tells a tragic love story about a nobleman (known only as the Chevalier des Grieux) and a common woman (Manon Lescaut). Their decisio ...
'' as Manon Lescaut (1894)
* ''Lohengrin
Lohengrin () is a character in German Arthurian literature. The son of Parzival (Percival), he is a knight of the Holy Grail sent in a boat pulled by swans to rescue a maiden who can never ask his identity. His story, which first appears in Wo ...
'' as Elsa von Brabant
Elsa von Brabant is a figure from the Middle High German Swan knight legend from the late 13th century. She is a marginal figure in Wolfram von Eschenbach's epic ''Parzival''. She gained new fame as the main female protagonist in Richard Wagner' ...
(1895)
* ''Hänsel und Gretel
"Hansel and Gretel" (; ) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 as part of ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' (KHM 15).
Hansel and Gretel are siblings who are abandoned in a forest and fall into the hands of a witch ...
'' as Knusperhexe (1895)
* ''Otello
''Otello'' () is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on William Shakespeare, Shakespeare's play ''Othello''. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, first performed at the La Scala, Teatro alla Scala, M ...
'' as Desdemona (1896)
* ''Das Rheingold
''Das Rheingold'' (; ''The Rhinegold''), Wagner-Werk-Verzeichnis, WWV 86A, is the first of the four epic poetry, epic music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's Literary cycle, cycle ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (English: ''The Ring of the Nib ...
'' as Woglinde (1899)
* '' At the Lower Harbor'' as Maria (1900)
* '' The Magic Melody, or Fortunnio's Song'' as (1900)[According to music critic Jim McPherson in ''The Opera Quarterly'', vol. 18, no. 4 (autumn 2002), p. 524 (The Savage Innocents: Part I, King of the Castle: Henry W. Savage and the Castle Square Opera Company), ]Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach (; 20 June 18195 October 1880) was a German-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s to the 1870s, and his uncompleted opera ''The Tales of Hoffmann''. He was a p ...
's ''Le pont des soupirs'' was "rejigged" in America as ''The Magic Melody, or Fortunnio's Song.''
Notes
References
External links
Opera in Philadelphia – Performance Chronology 1875–1899
Research by John Curtis (1867-1927) — Edited by Frank Hamilton
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kronold, Selma
1861 births
1920 deaths
Musicians from Kraków
19th-century American women opera singers
20th-century American women opera singers
Polish operatic sopranos
University of Music and Theatre Leipzig alumni
Conservatoire de Paris alumni
Deaths from pneumonia in New York City
Emigrants from Congress Poland to the United States
19th-century Polish Jews
Polish emigrants to the United States