Susan Metcalfe Casals (1878 – 1959) was an American

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano (, ), or mezzo ( ), is a type of classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A bel ...

who married renowned

cellist The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

Pau Casals Pau Casals i Defilló (Catalan: ; 29 December 187622 October 1973), known in English as Pablo Casals,Lied In the Western classical music tradition, ( , ; , ; ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German and Dutch, but among English and French speakers, is often used interchangea ...

er and concert recital.

Origins

She was born Susan S. Metcalfe in 1878 in

Florence, Italy Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence was a centre of medieval European t ...

, the daughter of Dr. Frank J. Metcalfe, a

Manhattan, New York City Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the smallest county by area in the U.S. state of New York. Located almost entire ...

physician. Her mother was Helene, a prominent member of

New Rochelle, New York New Rochelle ( ; in ) is a Political subdivisions of New York State#City, city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States. It is a suburb of New York City, located approximately from Midtow ...

society. In later years Dr Metcalfe practised in Florence, Italy, and Susan was born there in 1878 and educated in Conservatories in Italy and France. She also had a brother Louis and sisters Marie and Helen Frances Metcalfe (b. 1880), who married the American socialist architect Herman Kobbé.

Connection with Pablo Casals

As a recitalist, Susan Casals made her debut in New York in 1897 and gave few, but very select recitals each year. In 1904 she met the cellist

Pablo Casals Pau Casals i Defilló (Catalan: ; 29 December 187622 October 1973), known in English as Pablo Casals,Biographical or Historical Note, University of North Carolina
which however was abated when Casals established his close relationship with

Guilhermina Suggia Guilhermina Augusta Xavier de Medim Suggia Carteado Mena, known as Guilhermina Suggia (27 June 1885 – 30 July 1950) was a Portuguese cellist. She studied in Paris with Pablo Casals, and built up an international reputation. She spent many years ...

in 1906. In 1908 Metcalfe embarked on a European tour during which she sang for the British royal family. As the Suggia relationship became strained, Metcalfe and Casals corresponded. They met again after Casals had given a concert in Berlin, and were married on April 4, 1914, at New Rochelle. After this they moved together to Europe. The marriage lasted until 1928, when they were formally separated, but they did not divorce until 1957.

Recitals

During their artistic life together Casals and his wife often gave recitals together in which he accompanied her song sets at the piano and also performed cello sets in the same concert. For example at their farewell concert (their second recital of the season) in New York, April 1916, at the Aeolian Hall, Mme Casals sang a group of songs by Caldara, Caccini, Gluck and Mozart, and later a set of five Scots and Irish songs arranged by Beethoven. In a ''Maennerchor Artist Concert'' of January 1917 she sings a similar group in the first part, and songs by Schumann and

Emánuel Moór Emánuel Moór (; 19 February 1863 – 20 October 1931) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and an inventor of musical instruments. Life Moór was born in Kecskemét, Hungary, and studied in Prague, Vienna and Budapest. Between 1885 and 1897 ...

in the second. They gave concerts in America, Europe, England, Mexico and Cuba. The marriage with Casals was stormy, and following their separation in 1929, Mme. Metcalfe Casals lived in Paris. Her last known recital was at the École Normale de Musique there in 1951. Later she moved back to the U.S. to live with her sisters, and died at

Bergen County, New Jersey Bergen County is the List of counties in New Jersey, most populous County (United States), county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.

Recordings

Susan Metcalfe Casals made no fully commercial recordings, but she did record eight sides of 78 rpm records (yellow label

His Master's Voice His Master's Voice is an entertainment trademark featuring a dog named Nipper, curiously peering into the horn of a wind-up gramophone. Painted by Francis Barraud in 1898, the image has since become a global symbol used across consumer elect ...

) for private distribution, with

Gerald Moore Gerald Moore (30 July 1899 – 13 March 1987) was an English classical pianist best known for his career as a collaborative pianist for many distinguished musicians. Among those with whom he was closely associated were Dietrich Fischer-Diesk ...

accompanying, in 1937. These have been greatly admiredOne title was included in a study suggesting that the balance between voice and piano in the recording influenced perception of its musical value, see Renée Timmers, 'Perception of music performance on historical and modern commercial recordings', ''Journal of the Acoustical Society of America'' Volume 122, Issue 5, pp. 2872-2880 (November 2007)

/ref> and some titles have been included in re-issue compilations such as ''Schubert Lieder on Record'', etc. The titles were as follows: *

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...

: **''Lied der Mignon'' **''Nachtstück'' **''Die junge Nonne'' **''Liebesbotschaft'' **''Die Liebe hat gelogen'' *

Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...

: **''Lotosblume'' **''Schneeglockchen'' **''Zum Schluss'' **''Herzeleid'' **''Liebeslied'' *

Gabriel Fauré Gabriel Urbain Fauré (12 May 1845 – 4 November 1924) was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers. ...

: **''Soir'' **''Nell'' **''Le secret'' **''Le don silencieux''

Notes and references

External links