Kathleen Howard Shared Mârouf With Giuseppe De Luca and Frances Alda

Summary: Kathleen Howard shared Mârouf with Giuseppe De Luca and Frances Alda at Met Opera for 13 appearances, starting with Mârouf's United States premiere.

Giuseppe De Luca in title role of Henri Rabaud's Mârouf, which he created in Mârouf's U.S. premiere during Met Opera's 1917-1918 season; photo from ca. 1920 Bain News Service glass negative; George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington DC: No known restrictions on publication, via Library of Congress (LOC) Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC)

Kathleen Howard shared Mârouf with Giuseppe De Luca and Frances Alda at the Metropolitan Opera for 13 performances, beginning with the opera's United States premiere.

The Metropolitan Opera hosted the United States premiere of Mârouf by French composer and conductor Henri Benjamin Rabaud (Nov. 10, 1873-Sept. 11, 1949) on Wednesday, Dec. 19, 1917. Mârouf was staged with the original French libretto by French librettist and playwright Lucien Népoty (1878-Aug. 17, 1945). Népoty based his libretto upon the tale of Maruf the Cobbler of Cairo in the translation of One Thousand and One Nights, also known as Arabian Nights, by Armenian-French physician and translator Joseph-Charles Mardrus (Nov. 11, 1868-March 26, 1949).

Rabaud's opéra-comique en cinq actes (five-act comic opera) received six performances in the 1917-1918 season. The opera house was the venue for all six performances (Wednesday, Dec. 19, 1917; New Year's Eve, Monday, Dec. 31; Thursday, Jan. 10, 1918; Saturday, Feb. 16; Saturday, March 2; Friday, April 12).

In the next season, 1918-1919, Mârouf received five performances. The first, opening performance (Tuesday, Nov. 19, 1918) took place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The third performance (Saturday, Dec. 7) was held at New York City's Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). The Metropolitan Opera was the venue for the second (Friday, Nov. 22) and fourth (Monday, Dec. 16) through fifth, closing (Saturday, Jan. 11, 1919) performances.

The Metropolitan Opera skipped Mârouf in the following season, 1919-1920, but revived the opera for two performances in the 1920-1921 season. The opera house was the venue for both the season's first, opening performance (Saturday, Dec. 20, 1919) and second, closing performance (Friday, Jan. 2, 1920).

Pierre Benjamin Monteux (April 4, 1875-July 1, 1964) conducted the opera's first 11 performances, which were distributed over the opera's first two, successive seasons, 1917-1918 and 1918-1919. The French, later American, conductor had made his Met Opera debut Saturday, Nov. 17, 1917, in the opera house's 294th performance of Faust by 19th-century French composer Charles-François Gounod (June 17, 1818-Oct. 18, 1893).

Albert Louis Wolff (Jan. 19, 1884-Feb. 20, 1970) conducted Mârouf's 12th and 13th performances, which were offered in the 1919-1920 season. The Dutch-descended French composer and conductor had made his Met Opera debut Friday, Nov. 21, 1919, in the opera house's 310th performance of Gounod's Faust.

Richard Ordynski (Oct. 5, 1878-Aug. 13, 1953) directed the production's first 13 performances. The Polish film and theatre director had made his Met Opera debut Thursday, March 8, 1917, in the opera house's world premiere of The Canterbury Pilgrims by American composer Henry Louis Reginald De Koven (April 3, 1859-Jan. 16, 1920).

The production's set designer, Paris-born American artist Ernest M. Gros (1859-1930), and costume designer, Bruges-trained American scenic designer Livingston Platt (1874-1933?), were involved in Mârouf's first 13 performances. Both Gros and Platt made their Met Opera debut in the opera's U.S. premiere, Wednesday, Dec. 19, 1917.

According to the online Metropolitan Opera Archives Database (MetOpera Database), the production incorporated some costumes that had been designed by Georg Heil for the 1912-1913 neason's new production of Die Zauberflöte by Classical Era composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Jan. 27, 1756-Dec. 5, 1791). Heil had made his Met Opera debut November 18, 1911, in the opera house's United States premiere of Lobetanz by Austrian Munich School composer Ludwig Wilhelm Andreas Maria Thuille (Nov. 30, 1861-Feb. 5, 1907).

Kathleen Howard (July 27, 1884-April 15, 1956), Giuseppe De Luca (Dec. 25, 1876-Aug. 26, 1950) and Frances Alda (May 31, 1879-Sept. 18, 1952) created the love triangle roles of Fattoumah, Mârouf and Saamcheddine in the Metropolitan Opera's United States premiere of Rabaud's Middle Eastern-based operatic folk tale. Mârouf, a cobbler in Cairo, flees from his henpecking wife, Fattoumah. He sails to distant Khaïtân, where his childhood friend, Ali, convinces him to masquerade as a wealthy merchant. The Sultan of Khaïtân chooses Mârouf as husband for Princess Saamcheddine, but then the cobbler's ruse is discovered. But, fortuitously, Mârouf finds a magical ring whose wish-granting magician actualizes wealth for him. The Sultan pardons Mârouf, whose marriage to the Sultan's daughter ensues.

American mezzo-soprano Kathleen Howard made her Metropolitan Opera debut Tuesday, Nov. 14, 1916, as the Nurse in the opera house's 27th performance of Boris Godunov by Russian composer Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (March 21, 1839-March 28, 1881). Italian baritone Giuseppe De Luca had made his Met Opera debut Thursday, Nov. 25, 1915, in the title role of Figaro in the opera house's 84th performance of Il Barbiere di Siviglia by Italian composer Gioachino Rossini (Feb. 29, 1792-Nov. 13, 1868). New Zealand-born, Australian raised operatic soprano Frances Alda had made her Met Opera debut Monday, Dec. 7, 1908, as Gilda in the opera house's 59th performance of Rigoletto by Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi (Oct. 10, 1813-Jan. 27, 1901).

Kathleen Howard, Giuseppe De Luca and Frances Alda sang Fattoumah, Mârouf and Saamcheddine in the Met Opera's first 13 performances of Mârouf. Their last appearances in the triangle took place Friday, Jan. 2, 1920, in the opera house's 13 performance of Mârouf.

After the 1919-1920 season, the Metropolitan Opera did not stage Mârouf for 16 seasons (1920-1921 season through 1935-1936 season). In season 1932-1933, however, the opera house's Gala Program on Sunday, Dec. 18, 1932, offered Mârouf's Ballet Music, followed by another Middle Eastern-themed selection, "Bel raggio lusinghier" (Act I scene 1) from Rossini's Semiramide.

In the 1936-1937 season, the Metropolitan Opera revisited Mârouf for two performances, both sung in English. The opera house was the venue for the season's first, opening (Thursday, May 21, 1937) and second, closing (Wednesday, May 27) performances.

Thelma Votipka (Dec. 20, 1906-Oct. 24, 1972) sang Fattoumah in both performances. American mezzo-soprano had made her Met Opera debut Monday, Dec. 16, 1935, as Flora in the opera house's 207th performance of Verdi's Aida.

Mario Chamlee, stage name of Arthur Cholmondeley (May 29, 1892-Nov. 13, 1966), sang the title role in both performances. The American lyric tenor had made his Met Opera debut Monday, Nov. 22, 1920, as Cavaradossi in the opera house's 148th performance of Tosca by Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini (Dec. 22, 1858-Nov. 29, 1924).

Nancy McCord sang Saamcheddine in both performances. The American soprano's two appearances as the princess marked her Met Opera debut and her last Met Opera appearance, respectively. The "young soprano from Long Island" had preceded her Met Opera debut with musical comedy roles on Broadway, according to a review by New York Herald Times music critic Francis D. Perkins (1898?-Oct. 8, 1970) in the online Metropolitan Opera Archives Database (MetOpera Database).

The Metropolitan Opera has not staged Mârouf since the 1936-1937 season. The opera house's 15th and last performance of Mârouf took place Wednesday, May 27, 1937.

The takeaways for Kathleen Howard's sharing Mârouf with Giuseppe De Luca and Frances Alda are that the American mezzo-soprano created Fattoumah, whose henpecking initiates the opera's plot; that the Italian operatic baritone and the New Zealand-born operatic soprano created the love triangle's two happy roles; that Howard, De Luca and Alda shared the opera's first 13 performances, sung in French, at the Metropolitan Opera; and that the opera's 14th and 15th performances, which took place almost 17 years 5 months later, with different principals and sung in English, marked the Metropolitan Opera's last staging of Mârouf.

Frances Alda as Princess Saamcheddine, the role she created in Met Opera's U.S. premiere of Henri Rabaud's Mârouf during the 1917-1918 season; photo from ca. 1920 Bain News Service glass negative; George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington DC: No known restrictions on publication, via Library of Congress (LOC) Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC)

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Giuseppe De Luca in title role of Henri Rabaud's Mârouf, which he created in Mârouf's U.S. premiere during Met Opera's 1917-1918 season; photo from ca. 1920 Bain News Service glass negative; George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington DC: No known restrictions on publication, via Library of Congress (LOC) Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC) @ https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2014713962/

Frances Alda as Princess Saamcheddine, the role she created in Met Opera's U.S. premiere of Henri Rabaud's Mârouf during the 1917-1918 season; photo from ca. 1920 Bain News Service glass negative; George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington DC: No known restrictions on publication, via Library of Congress (LOC) Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC) @ https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2014713891/

For further information:

Arakelyan, Ashot. "Giuseppe De Luca (Baritone) (Rome 1876 - New York 1950)." Forgotten Opera Singers. Dec. 3, 2013.
Available @ http://forgottenoperasingers.blogspot.com/2013/12/giuseppe-de-luca-baritone-rome-1876-new.html

Clark, Peter. "French Opera at the Met." The Metropolitan Opera > Discover > Articles.
Available @ https://www.metopera.org/discover/archives/notes-from-the-archives/from-the-archives-french-opera-at-the-met/

"Debut: Albert Wolff." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 73060 Faust {310} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/21/1919.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=73060

"Debut: Frances Alda." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 42280 Rigoletto {59} Metropolitan Opera House: 12/7/1908.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=42280

"Debut: Kathleen Howard." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 64010 Boris Godunov {27} Academy of Music, New York, Brooklyn: 11/14/1916.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=64010

"Debut: Mario Chamlee." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 76080 Tosca {148} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/22/1920.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=76080

"Debuts: Ernest M. Gros, Livingston Platt." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 67430 United States Premiere Mârouf {1} Metropolitan Opera House: 12/19/1917.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=67430

"Debuts: Giuseppe De Luca, Giacomo Damacco, Pompilio Malatesta." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 61120 Il Barbiere di Siviglia {84} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/25/1915.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=61120

"Debuts: Nancy McCord, Enrico Manghi, Amedeo Mazzanti." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 121660 Mârouf {14} Metropolitan Opera House: 05/21/1937. In English.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=121660

"Debuts: Oscar Sannee, Hans Kautsky, Georg Heil." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 52050 United States Premiere Lobetanz {1} Matinee ed. Metropolitan Opera House: 11/18/1911.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=52050

"Debuts: Richard Ordynski, Homer F. Emens, Hildreth Meière." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 65390 World Premiere The Canterbury Pilgrims {1} Metropolitan Opera House: 03/8/1917.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=65390

"Debuts: Thelma Votipka, Gisella Caccialanza, Ruthanna Boris, Anatol Vilzak, Constantine Iolas, George Balanchine." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 118000 New production La Traviata {207} Metropolitan Opera House: 12/16/1935.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=65390

"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=65390

"Gala Program." MetOpera Database > [Met Concert/Gala] CID: 112380 Gala Program. Metropolitan Opera House: 12/18/1932.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=54513

Howard, Kathleen. Confessions of an Opera Singer. New York NY: Alfred A. Knopf, MCMXVIII (1918).
Available from University of California Libraries via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/confessionsofope00howarich
Available via Project Gutenberg @ https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32980/32980-h/32980-h.htm#page_076

Marriner, Derdriu. "Kathleen Howard Began, Ended Met Opera Career as Boris Godunov's Nurse." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, June 21, 2021.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/06/kathleen-howard-began-ended-met-opera.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Kathleen Howard Sang Boris Godunov With Adamo Didur and Fyodor Chaliapin." Earth and Space News. Monday, June 28, 2021.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/06/kathleen-howard-sang-boris-godunov-with.html

"New Production: Die Zauberflöte." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 54513 New Production Die Zauberflöte {27} Matinee ed. Metropolitan Opera House: 11/23/1912.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=54513

"United States Premiere: Marouf." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 67430 United States Premiere Mârouf {1} Metropolitan Opera House: 12/19/1917.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=67430