Maria Jeritza Sang Title Role in U.S. Turandot Premiere at Met Opera

Summary: Czech soprano Maria Jeritza sang the title role in the U.S. Turandot premiere at Met Opera in 1926 and held the role for four consecutive seasons.

Austrian American designer Gretel Urban and Italian artist Umberto Brunelleschi costumed Czech soprano Maria Jeritza for the title role in the U.S. premiere of Puccini’s Turandot during Met Opera’s 1926-1927 season: Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Twitter Nov. 12, 2015

Czech soprano Maria Jeritza (Oct. 6, 1887-July 10, 1982) sang the title role in the U.S. Turandot premiere at the Metropolitan Opera in 1926 and held the role in Giacomo Puccini’s last opera for four consecutive seasons.

Turandot opened Nov. 16, 1926, as a U.S. premiere at the Metropolitan Opera. Italian conductor Tullio Serafin (Sept. 1, 1878-Feb. 2, 1968) conducted. Italian tenor Giacomo Lauri-Volpi (Dec. 11, 1892-March 17, 1979) appeared as riddle-solving Prince Calaf. American soprano Martha Attwood (October 1886-April 7, 1950) and Czech bass Pavel Ludikar (March 3, 1882-Feb. 19, 1970) made their Met Opera debuts in the roles of self-sacrificing servant Liu and Prince Calaf’s blind, deposed father, Timur, respectively.

Viennese stage director Wilhelm von Wymetal Sr. (1862-Nov. 11, 1937) directed the premiere production. His design team comprised Austrian American set designer Joseph Urban (May 26, 1872-July 10, 1933), Joseph’s costume designer daughter Gretel (Jan. 7, 1898-Dec. 6, 1997) and Italian costume designer Umberto Brunelleschi (June 21, 1879-Feb. 16, 1949).

Including Turandot, Joseph Urban designed eight productions that premiered with Maria Jeritza in principal roles. In addition to Turandot, two operas also opened as U.S. premieres at the Metropolitan Opera. Violanta by Austrian American composer and conductor Erich Korngold (May 29, 1897-Nov. 29, 1957) premiered Nov. 5, 1927, with Maria Jeritza in the title role. Die Ägyptische Helena by German late Romantic and early modern composer Richard Strauss (June 11, 1864-Sept. 8, 1949) premiered Nov. 6, 1928, with Maria Jeritza in the title role.

Two of the eight Urban-designed productions opened as Metropolitan Opera premieres with Maria Jeritza in the title roles. Boccaccio by Austrian Romantic Era composer Franz von Suppé (April 18, 1819-May 21, 1895) premiered Jan. 2, 1931. Von Suppé’s Donna Juanita premiered Jan. 2, 1932.

Three of the eight Urban-designed productions opened as new productions of operas already in the Metropolitan Opera’s repertoire. Thaïs by French Romantic Era composer Jules Massenet (May 12, 1842-Aug. 13, 1912) opened Dec. 14, 1922, with Maria Jeritza in the title role, and with Gretel’s costumes. Tannhäuser by German composer Richard Wagner (May 22, 1813-Feb. 13, 1883) opened Feb. 1, 1923, with Maria Jeritza in the principal role of Elisabeth. (Metropolitan Opera Archives Database lists Mathilde Castel-Bert as costume designer but notes: “Company records suggest that Joseph Urban may have designed some costumes for this production.”) Fedora by Italian composer Umberto Giordano (Aug. 28, 1867-Nov. 12, 1948) opened Dec. 8, 1923, with Maria Jeritza in the title role.

Maria performed principal roles in revivals of new productions designed by Joseph Urban. Wilhelm von Wymetal’s new production of Carmen by French Romantic Era composer Georges Bizet (Oct. 25, 1939-June 3, 1875) debuted Nov. 22, 1923, with Joseph’s set designs and Gretel’s ballet costume designs, and with English dramatic soprano Florence Easton (Oct. 25, 1882-Aug. 13, 1955) in the title role. The 1927-1928 season’s revival featured Maria Jeritza in the title role. Viennese American stage manager Samuel Thewman’s (Feb. 27, 1872-March 22, 1940) new production of Wagner’s Lohengrin debuted Feb. 2, 1921, with Joseph’s designs and with Florence Easton in the principal role of Elsa. The next season’s revival opened Nov. 16, 1921, with Florence Easton as Elsa. The role switched to Maria Jeritza as of the next performance, Dec. 27, 1921.

Maria Jeritza enjoyed a 10-year career at the Metropolitan Opera. She debuted Nov. 19, 1921, at the Metropolitan Opera as Marie/Marietta in Korngold’s Die Tote Stadt (“The Dead City”). Her last Metropolitan Opera role was as Elisabeth in the 1931-1932 season’s production of Richard Wagner’s Tannhäuser. Her final performance as Elizabeth occurred Feb. 12, 1932.

Maria Jeritza returned to the opera house 19 years later to give a special last performance Feb. 22, 1951, in a Benefit for the Metropolitan Opera Fund. She appeared as Rosalinde in an English language version of Die Fledermaus by Austrian light music composer Johann Strauss II (Oct. 25, 1925-June 3, 1899).

The takeaway for Maria Jeritza’s title role in the U.S. Turandot premiere at the Metropolitan Opera is that Puccini’s last opera reunited the Czech soprano with Met Opera’s father-daughter design team of Joseph Urban and Gretel Urban.

Gretel Urban and Umberto Brunelleschi designed costumes for Maria Jeritza as Princess Turandot and Giacomo Lauri-Volpi as Prince Calaf in U.S. Turandot premiere in 1926 at Met Opera: Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Twitter Nov. 16, 2017

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Austrian American designer Gretel Urban and Italian artist Umberto Brunelleschi costumed Czech soprano Maria Jeritza for the title role in the U.S. premiere of Puccini’s Turandot during Met Opera’s 1926-1927 season: Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Twitter Nov. 12, 2015, @ https://twitter.com/MetOpera/status/664869985001594880

Costumes for Maria Jeritza as Princess Turandot and Giacomo Lauri-Volpi as Prince Calaf in U.S. Turandot premiere in 1926 at Met Opera were designed by Gretel Urban and Umberto Brunelleschi: Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Twitter Nov. 16, 2017, @ https://twitter.com/MetOpera/status/931194730570027008

For further information:

“Debuts: Maria Jeritza, George Meader.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 79050 United States Premier Die Tote Stadt {1} Matinee ed. Metropolitan Opera House: 11/19/1921.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=79050

Italian Genealogical Group and German Genealogy Group. "Samuel Thewman in the New York, New York, U.S., Extracted Death Index, 1862-1948." Ancestry.com > New York, New York, U.S., Extracted Death Index, 1862-1948 [database online]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.
Available via Ancestry @ https://search.ancestrylibrary.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=9131&h=4020416

“Maria Jeritza [Last performance].” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 156130 Die Fledermaus {22} Metropolitan Opera House: 02/22/1951.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=156130

Marriner, Derdriu. “Gretel Urban Designed Costumes for U.S. Turandot Premiere at Met Opera.” Earth and Space News. Monday, July 30, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/07/gretel-urban-designed-costumes-for-us.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Joseph Urban Designed Sets for 14 U.S. Premieres at Met Opera.” Earth and Space News. Monday, July 23, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/07/joseph-urban-designed-sets-for-14-us.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Joseph Urban Designed Sets for Two World Premieres at Met Opera.” Earth and Space News. Monday, July 16, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/07/joseph-urban-designed-sets-for-two.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Mar-a-Lago Architect Joseph Urban Also Designed Sets at Met Opera.” Earth and Space News. Monday, July 9, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/07/mar-lago-architect-joseph-urban-also.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Turandot Is March 24, 2018, Met Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast." Earth and Space News. Monday, March 19, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/03/turandot-is-march-24-2018-met-opera.html

Metropolitan Opera ‏@MetOpera. “#TBT Maria Jeritza as the proud princess in the US premiere of Puccini's Turandot @ the Met.” Twitter. Nov. 12, 2015.
Available @ https://twitter.com/MetOpera/status/664869985001594880

Metropolitan Opera ‏@MetOpera. “#TBT Turandot premiered at the Met #OTD in 1926 starring Maria Jeritza in the title role and Giacomo Lauri-Volpi as Calàf. Turandot is on stage tonight.” Twitter. Nov. 16, 2017.
Available @ https://twitter.com/MetOpera/status/931194730570027008

“United States Premiere: Turandot.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 94190 United States Premiere Turandot {1} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/16/1926.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=94190

U.S. National Archives. "Samuel Thewman." Ancestry.com > New York, U.S., State and Federal Naturalization Records, 1794-1943 [database online]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.
Available via Ancestry @ https://search.ancestrylibrary.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=2280&h=3980662