Jeanne Jomelli (May 18, 1879 – August 29, 1932) was a Dutch soprano opera singer, concert singer, and music educator.
Early life
editJeanne Jomelli was born in Amsterdam.[1] She studied voice under Mathilde Marchesi in Paris.[2]
Career
editJomelli made her American debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1906.[3] In 1909 an aria, "The Call of Râdha" by Harriet Ware, with lyrics by Sarojini Naidu, was dedicated to Jomelli.[4] Jomelli herself set a Heinrich Heine poem, "Oft I wept while dreaming", to music in 1912.[5] "Mme. Jomelli had a pure soprano voice of singularly clear, steady, musical quality, and she was an accomplished vocalist," recalled Herman Klein, who worked with her on improving her English diction.[6]
She was in Belgium at the start of World War I and lost nineteen trunks of costumes and other possessions in the rush to leave ahead of German advances.[7] Instead she toured western Canadian cities with composer Hallett Gilberté during the war, giving benefit concerts for wounded veterans.[8] In 1917, she gave a concert in Los Angeles singing songs by Charles Wakefield Cadman, with Cadman himself accompanying her on piano.[9]
For the 1917/1918 academic year, Jomelli was engaged to teach at Cornish School of Music in Seattle, Washington.[10] However, she needed surgery for tonsillitis in September 1917,[11] which brought long-term health complications, and she taught while seated thereafter.[12]
Jomelli moved to Oakland, California, in 1918, and taught voice at the University of California in Berkeley.[13] She stayed in the San Francisco Bay area for most of her remaining years, [14] though she also spent significant time teaching in Honolulu, Hawaii, at the Punahou School.[15]
Personal life
editJeanne Jomelli was first married in 1901, to a French tapestry maker, Nicolas Hernance.[16] They divorced amicably in 1913.[17] Her second husband was her manager, W. Orrin Backus. She died in August 1932, aged 53 years, in San Francisco, California.[18] Very soon after Jomelli's death, Orrin Backus remarried; when his new wife left him, in fear of his violent threats, he died in November 1932 by suicide.[19]
References
edit- ^ Arthur A. Greene, "Jeanne Jomelli, Former Queen of Grand Opera, Recalls Golden Days" The Honolulu Advertiser (August 23, 1931): 3. via Newspapers.com
- ^ Untitled news item, Pacific Coast Musical Review (April 9, 1921): 12.
- ^ "Once Star of Met Dies in Obscurity" Pittsburgh Press (August 30, 1932): 13. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "The Call of Râdha" IMSLP: Petrucci Music Library.
- ^ "Oft I wept while dreaming" The LiederNet Archive.
- ^ Hermann Klein, Herman Klein and the Gramophone: Being a Series of Essays on the Bel Canto (1923), the Gramophone and the Singer (1924–1934), and Reviews of New Classical Vocal Recordings (1925–1934), and Other Writings from the Gramophone (Hal Leonard Corporation 1990): 302. ISBN 9780931340185
- ^ "Jeanne Jomelli Plans Busy Season" Oakland Tribune (February 2, 1919): 6. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Discriminating Listeners Everywhere, says Gilberté" Musical America (June 23, 1917): 21.
- ^ "Los Angeles Gamut Club Gives Annual Dinner" Musical America (June 23, 1917): 40.
- ^ "Mme. Jomelli Joins Faculty of Cornish School in Seattle" Musical America (September 22, 1917): 18.
- ^ A. M. G., "Sings Children's Songs" Musical America (September 29, 1917): 19.
- ^ "Applause: The Memoirs of Mme. Jeanne Jomelli" Honolulu Star-Bulletin (March 1, 1930): 41. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Jomelli a Welcome Addition to California" Pacific Coast Musical Review (December 21, 1918): 26.
- ^ "Famous Singer to be Featured in Sacred Concert" San Francisco Chronicle (February 11, 1921): 4. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Madame Jomelli has Great Hopes of Developing Hawaiian Voices at Punahou School" Honolulu Star-Bulletin (August 30, 1919): 13. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Applause: The Memoirs of Mme. Jeanne Jomelli" Honolulu Star-Bulletin (October 19, 1929): 47. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Jomelli Seeks Divorce" The New York Times (September 14, 1913): C1. (subscription required)
- ^ "Mme. Jeanne Jomelli, Once Opera Star, Dead" The New York Times (August 30, 1932): 18. (subscription required)
- ^ "W. O. Backus Kills Himself as Bride Flees" Woodland Daily Democrat (November 16, 1932): 4. via Newspapers.com
External links
edit
- The Library of Congress has a photograph of Jeanne Jomelli from the 1910s, in the George Grantham Bain Collection.
- The Boston Public Library has a photograph of Jeanne Jomelli taken by Aimé Dupont in 1911, in the Philip Hale Photograph Collection.