Claramae Turner
Claramae Turner | |
---|---|
Born | Claramae Haas October 28, 1920 opera singer |
Years active | 1942–1974 |
Spouse(s) | Robert Turner; Frank Hoffmann |
Children | 3 |
Claramae Turner (
Early life
Born in the great Central Valley, outside Dinuba, California, she began her career at the Bush Street Music Hall in San Francisco, where she sang the contralto leads in Gilbert and Sullivan operettas; at the same time she joined the chorus of San Francisco Opera.[2]
Career
She made her San Francisco Opera principal debut as The Voice in The Tales of Hoffmann in 1945, and sang with the Metropolitan Opera from 1946 to 1950, appearing in Faust (as Marthe, opposite Raoul Jobin), Boris Godunov (as the Hôtesse, with Ezio Pinza), Aida (as Amneris), Hansel and Gretel (as Gertrud), Roméo et Juliette (as Gertrude, with Jussi Björling and Bidu Sayão), The Marriage of Figaro (as Marcellina), Siegfried (as Erda, with Lauritz Melchior and Astrid Varnay), Cavalleria rusticana (as Lucia), The Barber of Seville (as Berta, opposite Giuseppe Valdengo and Lily Pons), Peter Grimes (as Auntie), and Gianni Schicchi (as Zita).
Turner then sang with the New York City Opera from 1953 to 1969, in The Medium, Hansel and Gretel (now as The Witch), Œdipus rex (as Jocasta, with Richard Cassilly, conducted by Leopold Stokowski), Suor Angelica (as the Zia Principessa, conducted by Julius Rudel), Carmen, Louise (as the Mère), The Ballad of Baby Doe (as Augusta, with Beverly Sills), Dialogues of the Carmelites (as Madame de Croissy), Bomarzo (as Diana Orsini, opposite Salvador Novoa, directed by Tito Capobianco), Iolanthe (as the Queen of the Fairies), Lady Jane in Patience[3] and The Mikado (as Katisha), among others.[2]
She created the role of Madame Flora in
For
In 1956, Turner appeared in her only film, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel (with Shirley Jones), based on the successful stage musical. In the film, she played the role of Nettie Fowler.
She sang the role of Nettie again in a Command Records studio cast recording of Carousel, starring Alfred Drake and Roberta Peters, recorded in 1962.
The song "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" was written for Turner, and it was she, not Tony Bennett, who originally sang it. However, it was Bennett who first recorded it.[7]
In 1965 Turner sang the role of Ma Moss in an abridged recording of Aaron Copland's opera The Tender Land with the New York Philharmonic conducted by the composer (Columbia records MS6814).
In 1970, Turner collaborated with Scott McKenzie, making a cameo appearance while McKenzie was performing at the Great American Music Hall. Together, they sang "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)" as a duet. Fans praised Turner's version of the song, prompting her to record her own version in 1971, making it her first and only pop tune.
Albums have been released of Turner in complete live recordings of Verdi's La forza del destino, starring Zinka Milanov, Mario Del Monaco, and Leonard Warren, in a New Orleans performance conducted by Walter Herbert, and the Verdi Requiem, conducted by Guido Cantelli.
Death
Turner retired in the 1980s and moved to a rural area, where she lived for the rest of her life. She died of natural causes on May 18, 2013, at her home in Santa Rosa, California. She was 92 years old.[8] Turner is buried in Eureka, California.[9]
References
- ^ Fox, Margalit (June 7, 2013). "Claramae Turner, 92, Singer and Heart of a Song". The New York Times.
- ^ a b "Claramae Turner, 92, Great American Contralto, Has Died", Opera News, May 31, 2013
- ^ Klein, Howard."City Opera Company Presents Patience", The New York Times, April 16, 1965, p. 34
- ^ "Omnibus Does An Hour Of Opera". The Tampa Times (Tampa, Florida). Feb 14, 1959. Retrieved 12 Aug 2022.
- ^ The Metropolitan Opera
- ^ "Toscanini: Recordings". home.earthlink.net. Archived from the original on 18 December 2000. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
- ^ "I Left My Heart In San Francisco". globalia.net.
- ^ "Claramae Turner". pressdemocrat.com.
- ISBN 978-0-7864-7992-4.