Hulda Lashanska Made Her Only Met Opera Appearance March 17, 1918

Summary: Hulda Lashanska made her only Met Opera appearance on Sunday, March 17, 1918, as one of two singers in the Metropolitan Opera House's Eighteenth Sunday Concert.

According to The New York Public Library Archives and Manuscripts, which houses Hulda Lashanska's papers, Warsaw, Poland-born pianist and piano teacher Alexander Lambert (Nov. 1, 1863-Dec. 31, 1929) arranged in 1911 for Hulda Lashanska to study with Polish operatic soprano Marcella Sembrich (Feb. 15, 1858-Jan. 11, 1935): The Sembrich @TheSembrich, via Facebook March 13, 2019.

Hulda Lashanska made her only Met Opera appearance on Sunday, March 17, 1918, in the Metropolitan Opera House's Eighteenth Sunday Concert.

The Met Opera Eighteenth Sunday Concert's program featured orchestral, piano and vocal music. The concert was held at the Metropolitan Opera House.

Met Opera assistant conductor and pianist Willy Tyroler was the concert's conductor. The overture from Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor by German composer and conductor Carl Nicolai (June 9, 1810-May 11, 1849) opened the program.

Two vocal solos followed the overture. American baritone Thomas Hardie Chalmers (Oct. 20, 1884-June 11, 1966) and American soprano Hulda Lashanska (March 15, 1893-Jan. 17, 1974) performed as the concert's vocal soloists.

Thomas Chalmers appeared first. He sang "Scintille diamant," the bass-baritone aria from Act II of Les Contes d'Hoffmann by German-born French composer Jacques Offenbach (June 20, 1819-Oct. 5, 1880). Thomas Chalmers had made his Met Opera debut Sunday, Nov. 17, 1917, as Valentin in the opera house's 294th performance of Faust by French composer Charles-François Gounod (June 17, 1818-Oct. 18, 1893).

Hulda Lashanska sang the program's second vocal piece, "Depuis le jour," the third-act aria from Louise by French composer Gustave Charpentier (June 25, 1860-Feb. 18, 1956). The Metropolitan Opera Archives Database (MetOpera Database) noted "only appearance" after Hulda Lashanska's name.

Ethel Leginska then played Piano Concerto in E-flat Minor by Russian composer and pianist Sergei Liapunov (Lyapunov; Nov. 30, 1859-Nov. 8, 1924). The Eighteenth Sunday Concert marked Ethel Leginska's second Met Opera Sunday concert. Almost five years earlier, she had been in the March 9, 1913, program of the Seventeenth Sunday Concert of a previous Met Opera series. Ethel Leginska, stage name of British composer, conductor and pianist Ethel Liggins (April 13, 1886-Feb. 26, 1970), had played Concerto in D Minor by Russian Jewish composer, conductor Anton Rubinstein (Nov. 28, 1829-Nov. 20, 1894) for the Seventeenth Sunday Concert.

Italian opera and symphony conductor Vincenzo Bellezza (Feb. 17, 1888-Feb. 8, 1964) conducted Suite Siciliana by Italian composer and conductor Gino Marinuzzi (March 24, 1882-Aug. 17, 1945). The MetOpera Database noted the concert as Maestro Bellezza's first Met Opera appearance. Eight years and almost seven and two-thirds months passed between his first appearance and his Met Opera debut. Vincenzo Bellezza's Met Opera debut occurred Thursday, Nov. 4, 1926, in the opera house's ninth performance of I Gioielli della Madonna by Italian composer Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari (Jan. 12, 1876-Jan. 21, 1948).

The program's next segment began with Hulda Lashanska as vocalist and S. A. Dietsch as accompanist. S.A. Dietsch's performance in the Eighteenth Sunday Concert comprises her only listing in the MetOpera Database.

Hulda Lashanska performed three songs. She began with "A Spirit Flower" by American composer Louis Campbell-Tipton (Nov. 21, 1877-May 1, 1921). Her second offering was "Comment disaient-ils" by Hungarian composer, conductor and pianist Franz Liszt (Oct. 22, 1811-July 31, 1886). She closed her segment with "Ouvre tes yeux bleus" by French Romantic Era composer Jules Massenet (May 12, 1842-Aug. 13, 1912).

Thomas Chalmers then appeared with Wilfred Pelletier (Joseph Louis Wilfrid Pelletier; June 20, 1896-April 9, 1982) on piano. The Canadian composer, conductor and pianist had made his first Met Opera appearance Sunday, Dec. 16, 1917, as a Met Opera accompanist in the current series' Fifth Sunday Concert. He made his last Met Opera appearance Monday, May 15, 1950, as conductor in the opera house's 482nd performance of Gounod's Faust.

Baritone Chalmers performed two songs. His first piece was the 1877 serenade, "Dormi pure," by Salvatore Scuderi (1845-1927). He closed his segment with "Aprile" by Italian, later British, composer Francesco Paolo Tosti (April 9, 1846–Dec. 2, 1916).

Met Opera's Eighteenth Sunday Concert ended with piano music. Ethel Leginska played Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 8.

The takeaways for Hulda Lashanska's only Met Opera appearance are that the American soprano sang March 17, 1918, in the opera house's Eighteenth Sunday Concert; that the program offered orchestral, piano and vocal music; that Hulda Lashanska appeared as one of the concert's two vocalists; that she performed four pieces; that American baritone Thomas Chalmers performed three pieces; and that the concert ended with British composer, conductor and pianist Ethel Leginska's playing Hungarian composer Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 8.

ca. 1915-1920 Bain News Service photograph of Hulda Lashanska seated at piano; George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress (LOC) Prints and Photographs Division, Washington DC: LOC Prints and Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC) via LOC

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

According to The New York Public Library Archives and Manuscripts, which houses Hulda Lashanska's papers, Warsaw, Poland-born pianist and piano teacher Alexander Lambert (Nov. 1, 1863-Dec. 31, 1929) arranged in 1911 for Hulda Lashanska to study with Polish operatic soprano Marcella Sembrich (Feb. 15, 1858-Jan. 11, 1935): The Sembrich @TheSembrich, via Facebook March 13, 2019, @ https://www.facebook.com/TheSembrich/photos/a.481908958541300/2068070476591799/

ca. 1915-1920 Bain News Service photograph of Hulda Lashanska seated at piano; George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress (LOC) Prints and Photographs Division, Washington DC: LOC Prints and Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC) via LOC @ https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2014705785/

For further information:

"Debuts: Juan Casanova, Vincenzo Bellezza." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 94040 I Gioielli della Madonna {9} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/4/1926.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=94040

"Debuts: Marcella Sembrich, Giuseppe Kaschmann, Achille Augier, Amadeo Grazzi, Imogene Forti, Vincenzo Fornaris." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 1010 Metropolitan Opera Premiere Lucia di Lammermoor {1} Metropolitan Opera House: 10/24/1883.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=1010

"Debuts: Thomas Chalmers, Pierre Monteux, Joseph Urban." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 67050 New production Faust {294} Matinee ed. Metropolitan Opera House: 11/17/1917.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=67050

"Eighteenth Sunday Concert." MetOpera Database > [Met Concert/Gala] CID: 68480 Eighteenth Sunday Concert. Metropolitan Opera House: 03/17/1918.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=68480

"Hulda Lashanska Papers." New York Public Library Archives and Manuscripts > Collections in Music Division.
Available @ http://archives.nypl.org/mus/20211

Marriner, Derdriu. "Gustave Charpentier, Born June 25, 1860, Composed Louise and Julien." Earth and Space News. Monday, June 24, 2019.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/06/gustave-charpentier-born-june-25-1860.html

perceval78 @perceval78. "Alliance franco-Américaine 1919 Louise -- Hulda Lashanska commentaire du Monde des artistes 11 02 1900 https://youtube.com/watch?v=TatBGEVW4fI." Twitter. Nov. 13, 2016.
Available @ https://twitter.com/perceval78/status/797760896433061888

The Sembrich @TheSembrich. "Hulda Lashanska (1893-1974) studied with Mme. Sembrich for two years and spent several summers here at #TheSembrich studio and Bay View. In January, 1918, The New York Post Wrote: 'From Sembrich, who has taught her for two years, she has acquired not only the art of easy and pure tone production, but also the secrets of style and correct phrasing dependent largely, on her splendid breathing control. She is an oasis in the desert of voices.' Autographed photo with the message, 'To my good angel, Madame Sembrich, the embodiment of everything beautiful in womanhood from her devoted pupil Hulda. 1918.'" Facebook. March 13, 2019.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/TheSembrich/photos/a.481908958541300/2068070476591799/

The Sembrich @The_Sembrich. "Hulda Lashanska, a Sembrich pupil, summered at Bay View. Called 'an oasis in the desert of voices' by @nytimes in 1918, she sang across the US." Twitter. March 13, 2019.
Available @ https://twitter.com/The_Sembrich/status/1105818375656275968

"Seventeenth Sunday Concert." MetOpera Database > [Met Concert/Gala] CID: 54648 Seventeenth Sunday Concert. Metropolitan Opera House: 03/09/1913.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=54648

"Wilfred Pelletier First Appearance." MetOpera Database > [Met Concert/Gala] CID: 67400 Fifth Sunday Concert. Metropolitan Opera House: 12/16/1917.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=67400

"Wilfred Pelletier Last Appearance." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 153860 Faust {482} Eastman Theatre, Rochester, New York: 5/15/1950.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=153860