Orville Harrold

Edit links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Orville Harrold in 1919
Orville Harrold in Faust

Orville Harrold (17 November 1877 – 23 October 1933) was an American operatic tenor and musical theatre actor. He began his career in 1906 as a performer in operettas in New York City, and was also seen during his early career in cabaret, musical theatre, and vaudeville performances. With the aid of Oscar Hammerstein I, he branched out into opera in 1910 as a leading tenor with Hammerstein's opera houses in New York City and Philadelphia. While his career from this point on primarily consisted of opera performances, he periodically returned to operetta and musical theatre throughout his career. He notably created the role of Captain Dick Warrington in the world premiere of Victor Herbert's operetta Naughty Marietta in November 1910.

As an opera singer, Harrold specialized in the

gramophone records during his career; including recordings for Edison Records, Columbia Records (1913–1916) and the Victor Talking Machine Company (1920–1924).[1]

Early life

Born in

vocal quartet. He also won a local music competition. In 1893 he performed at the Chicago World's Fair. In 1894 he and his family returned to Cowan, Indiana. He played in a band in Muncie where he also began taking violin lessons and sang in church choirs. In 1898 he married Euphamia Evelyn “Effie” Kiger with whom he had three children. They divorced in 1913.[2] His second wife was a fellow singer, Lydia Locke; they married in 1913 and divorced in 1917.[3]

Education and early career

After being encouraged to pursue a singing career by

Casino Theatre. The following year he portrayed Lord Drinkwell in the original production of Julian Edwards and Stanislaus Stange's The Belle of London Town at the Lincoln Square Theatre. In 1908 he performed in the touring vaudeville show Wine, Women, & Song.[4]

After appearing in several

Victoria Theater. Hammerstein took the singer in hand and put him under the tutelage of voice teacher Oscar Saenger; paying for the singing lessons himself. Harrold later pursued further studies in Paris in 1912–13.[1]

In 1910 Harrold joined the roster of singers at both Hammerstein's

Manhattan Opera House and Hammerstein's Philadelphia Opera Company; making his debut with both companies in the Spring of 1910 as Canio in Ruggero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci with Mario Sammarco as Tonio and Giuseppe Sturani conducting. He sang in one more role with those companies, a triumphant success as the Duke of Mantua in Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto with Giovanni Polese in the title role and Luisa Tetrazzini as Gilda, before they went bankrupt later that year.[4]

In November 1910 Harrold returned to performing the operetta repertoire when he starred as Captain Dick Warrington in the first production of

La Traviata, Arnold Melchtal in Gioachino Rossini's William Tell, the Duke of Mantua, Edgardo in Gaetano Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, Ferrando in Donizetti's La favorite, Jean Grenicheux in Robert Planquette's Les cloches de Corneville, Romeo in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, and the title role in Charles Gounod's Faust.[4]

Singing in Chicago and in other American cities

Harrold was one of the leading tenors in the city of Chicago from 1912 to 1922. He sang with the

Cavalleria Rusticana, Win-San-Lui in Franco Leoni's L’oracolo, and the title roles in The Tales of Hoffmann and L'amico Fritz.[4]

In 1913 Harrold sang at the Indianapolis Wagner Festival. He returned to New York City in 1914-1915 to perform with the

Robin Hood. In the Spring of 1919 he toured the United States with the Scotti Opera Company, singing Pinkerton, Turiddu, and Win-San-Lui.[4]

Later career at the Metropolitan Opera and later life

Harrold was one of the leading tenors at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City from 1919 to 1924. He made his debut at the Met as Prince Leopold in Fromental Halévy's La Juive with Enrico Caruso as Eléazar and Rosa Ponselle as Rachel. The following year he created the role of Meïamoun in the world premiere of Henry Kimball Hadley's Cleopatra's Night. He sang in several United States premieres at the Met, including starring turns in Erich Wolfgang Korngold's Die tote Stadt (1921, opposite Maria Jeritza) and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's The Snow Maiden (1922, as the Tsar). He also performed the role of Julien in the Met's first staging of Gustave Charpentier's Louise in January 1921 with Geraldine Farrar in the title role. Some of the other roles he sang at the Met were Almaviva, Dmitri, Don José, Edgardo, Faust, the Italian Singer in Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier, Nicias in Massenet's Thaïs, Pinkerton, Rodolfo, Turiddu, Win-San-Lui, and the title roles in Richard Wagner's Lohengrin and Wagner's Parsifal.[1]

Harrold also made several appearances at

Lyric Theatre
. He continued to perform in vaudeville up into the late 1920s.

He died in 1933 in Norwalk, Connecticut.[5]

Legacy

His son

buffo tenor with the New York City Opera.[1]

References

  1. ^
    Operissimo concertissimo
    .
  2. ^ "Young Orville - July 2010 MusicWeb-International". www.musicweb-international.com.
  3. ^ "Harrold Seeks Divorce" New York Times (July 8, 1917): 3.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Known High Points In The Career Of Orville Harrold". www.musicweb-international.com.
  5. New York Times
    . October 24, 1933.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Orville Harrold.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Orville_Harrold&oldid=1134663455"