Jarmila Novotná
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Jarmila Novotná (born September 23, 1907, in Prague; died February 9, 1994, in New York City) was a celebrated Czech soprano and, from 1940 to 1956, a star of the Metropolitan Opera.
A student of Emmy Destinn, Novotná made her operatic debut at the Prague Opera House, on June 28, 1925, as Marenka in Smetana's The Bartered Bride. Six days later, she sang there as Violetta in Verdi's La traviata. In 1928 she starred in Verona as Gilda opposite Giacomo Lauri-Volpi in Verdi's Rigoletto and at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples as Adina opposite Tito Schipa in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore. In 1929 she joind the Kroll Opera in Berlin, where she sang Violetta as well as the title roles of Puccini's Manon Lescaut and Madama Butterfly.
In 1934 she left Berlin for Vienna, where she created the title role in Lehár's Giuditta. Her immense success in that role led to a contract with the Vienna State Opera, where she was named Kammersängerin.
On January 5, 1940, she made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera, as Mimí in Puccini's La bohème. She also appeared in twelve other roles at the Met: Euridice, Violetta, Cherubino, Massenet's Manon, Marenka, Donna Elvira, Pamina, Octavian, Antonia, Freia, Mélisande, and Count Orlofsky, the role of her farewell performance on January 15, 1956. Of her 208 appearances at the Met, 103 were in the breeches roles of Count Orlofsky, Cherubino, and Octavian.
She appeared in several films, including Max Ophuls's 1932 version of The Bartered Bride. In 1948, she won acclaim for playing the non-singing role of a young mother looking for her son after being a prisoner at Auschwitz, in The Search, starring Montgomery Clift.
[edit] Bibliography
- The Last Prima Donnas, by Lanfranco Rasponi, Alfred A Knopf, 1982. ISBN 0-394-52153-6
[edit] External links
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