Kathleen Howard Sang Dalila in Twentieth Sunday Night Concert

Summary: American mezzo-soprano Kathleen Howard sang Dalila in the Twentieth Sunday Night Concert, which the Metropolitan Opera presented April 3, 1921.

Kathleen Howard's Dalila, "As I Used to Dress It," in European productions of Samson et Dalila by Camille Saint-Saëns; K. Howard, Confessions of an Opera Singer (1918), page 172: Public Domain, via Project Gutenberg

American mezzo-soprano Kathleen Howard sang Dalila in the Twentieth Sunday Night Concert, which was presented Sunday, April 3, 1921, at the Metropolitan Opera House.

Kathleen Howard (July 27, 1884-April 15, 1956) 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). Her debut took place at New York City's Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM).

Four years four and two-thirds months later and with 32 opera role debuts in her Met Opera portfolio, she received her only opportunity through the Metropolitan Opera to appear as Dalila. Prior to her Met Opera career, Kathleen Howard had performed in European opera companies. Her European repertoire had included the female title role in Samson et Dalila by French Romantic Era composer Camille Saint-Saëns (Oct. 9, 1835-Dec. 16, 1921).

The Metropolitan Opera's Twentieth Sunday Night Concert was held Sunday, April 3, 1921, at the opera house. The program included selections from operas performed in the current season, 1920-1921.

The concert's conductor was Richard Hageman (July 9, 1881-March 6, 1966). The Dutch-born American conductor, composer and pianist had made his Met Opera debut Tuesday, Nov. 24, 1908, in the opera house's 257th performance of Faust by French composer Charles-François Gounod (June 17, 1818-Oct. 18, 1893).

The concert's pianist was Carlo Edwards (1891-Jan. 15, 1948). He had made his first Met Opera appearance Dec. 5, 1920, in the 1920-1921 season's Third Sunday Night Concert.

The concert opened with the overture from Oberon by German Romantic opera composer Carl Maria von Weber (Nov. 18/19, 1786-June 5, 1826). The opera in tre atti (three-act romantic comedy) had received two performances in the 1920-1921 season. The opera house was the venue for both performances (Saturday, Dec. 11, 1920; Thursday, Jan. 6, 1921).

The overture was followed by the concert's first vocal performance. Orville Harrold (Nov. 17, 1877-Oct. 23, 1933) sang "Che gelida manina" from Act I of La Bohème by Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini (Dec. 22, 1858-Nov. 29, 1924). The American operatic tenor had made his Met Opera debut Tuesday, Nov. 18, 1919, as Rodolfo in the opera house's 170th performance of Puccini's La Bohème.

La Bohème had received 11 performances in the 1920-1921 season. The opera house was the venue for the first three (Thursday, Nov. 25; Saturday, Dec. 4; Wednesday, Dec. 22) and fifth through 10th (Friday, Jan. 28; Thursday, Feb. 10; Monday, Feb. 21; Saturday, March 5; Friday, April 1; Friday, April 22) performances.The furth performance (Tuesday, Jan. 4) was held at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The 11th, closing performance took place at the Auditorium in Atlanta, Georgia.

Orville Harrold had reprised Rodolfo in two of the season's performances. He sang in the first, opening performance, and, after his appearances in the Twentieth Sunday Night Concert, he returned for the season's 11th, closing performance.

Kathleen Howard was scheduled for the concert's second vocal performance. She sang Dalila's Act II aria, "Mon coeur s'ouvre à ta voix."

Samson et Dalila had received six performances in the 1920-1921. The opera house was the venue for the first four (Wednesday, Nov. 24; Friday, Dec. 3; Thursday, Dec. 16; Saturday, Jan. 23) and the sixth, closing (Saturday, Feb. 26) performances. The fifth performance was held at New York City's Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM).

Margarete Matzenauer (June 1, 1881-May 19, 1963) sang Dalila in all six performances. The Hungarian Jewish mezzo-soprano had made her Met Opera debut Monday, Nov. 13, 1911, as Amneris in the opera house's 170th performance of Verdi's Aida.

Kathleen Howard's Dalila aria was followed by a selection from Zazà by Pagliacci-composer Ruggero Leoncavallo (April 23, 1857-Aug. 9, 1919). Pasquale Amato (March 21, 1878-Aug. 12, 1942) performed Cascart's Act IV aria, "Zazà, piccola zingara." The Italian operatic baritone had made his Met Opera debut Friday, Nov. 20, 1908, as Germont in the opera house's 67th performance of La Traviata by Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi (Oct. 10, 1813-Jan. 27, 1901).

The four-act lyric opera (opera lirica in quattro atti) had received eight performances in the 1920-1921 season. The opera house was the venue for the first three (Friday, Nov. 19; Saurday, Dec. 4; Wednesday, Dec. 15) and the last four (Saturday, Jan. 22; Monday, Jan. 31; Saturday, April 2; Thursday, April 21) performances. The fourth performance (Tuesday, Dec. 28) was held at New York City's Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM).

Kathleen Howard sang Anaide, concert hall singer Zazà's mother, in all eight performances. She had created the role in Zazà's Metropolitan Opera premiere, Friday, Jan. 16, 1920.

Although Pasquale Amato had created Met Opera's Cascart, Giuseppe De Luca (Dec. 25, 1876-Aug. 26, 1950) sang the role, as Met Opera's second Cascart, in all eight 1920-1921 season performances. The Italian baritone 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).

Austrian-born American composer and virtuoso violinist Fritz Kreisler (Feb. 2, 1875-Jan. 29, 1962) initiated the concert's instrumental music with Violin Concerto in A Minor, No. 24 by Italian composer and virtuoso violinist Giovanni Battista Viotti (May 12, 1755-March 3, 1824). Fritz Kreisler had made his first appearance in a Met Opera Sunday concert on March 2, 1902, in the 1901-1902 season's Tenth Grand Sunday Night Concert.

The concert continued with three instrumental pieces. Moments Musicaux and The Bee by Austrian late Classical and early Romantic composer Franz Peter Schubert (Jan. 31, 1797-Nov. 19, 1828) opened the segment that ended with Kreisler's Liebesfreud (Love's Joy).

Orville Harrold performed "The Eagle" by Polack; "The Lament of Ian the Proud" by American chamber, piano and vocal composer Charles Tomlinson Griffes (Sept. 17, 1884-April 8, 1920); and "Happiness" by the Twentieth Sunday Night Concert's conductor, Richard Hageman. His accompanist was the concert's pianist, Carlo Edwards.

The concert continued with violinist Fritz Kreisler and pianist Carl Lamson (born Charles Edwin Lamson; Nov. 27, 1878-March 6, 1966). Kreisler's long-time accompanist had first performed in a Met Opera Sunday concert on Dec. 20, 1914, in the 1914-1915 season's Fifth Sunday Concert. The violinist and pianist performed five works: "Song of India," from "Song of the Indian Guest," Scene 4, of Sadko by Russian composer Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (March 18, 1844-June 21, 1908); "La fille aux cheveux de lin," composed by French Impressionist composer Achille-Claude Debussy (Aug. 22, 1862-March 25, 1918) and arranged for violin and piano by Debussy-friend, American composer and violinist Arthur Martinus Hartmann (born Arthur Hartman; July 23, 1881-March 30, 1956); Waltz in A Major, composed by German Romantic period composer, conductor and pianist Johannes Brahms (May 7, 1833-April 3, 1897) and arranged by American virtuoso violinist David Hochstein (Feb. 16, 1892-October 1918); Kreisler's La Gitana; and the traditional "Molly on the Shore," arranged by Australian-born, naturalized (1918) American citizen Percy Aldridge Grainger (born George Percy Grainger; July 8, 1882-Feb. 20, 1961).

Carlo Edwards accompanied Kathleen Howard's second appearance in the concert. They performed "Homing" by English composer, pianist and violinist Teresa Clotilde del Riego (April 7, 1876-Jan. 23, 1968); "None But the Lonely Heart," romance for voice and piano by late Romantic Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (May 7, 1840-Nov. 6, 1893); and "Sing to Me Sing" by American operatic contralto Louise Beatty Homer's husband, American song composer Sidney Homer (Dec. 9, 1864-July 10, 1953).

Pasquale Amato sang the concert's final vocal piece, Rossini's "La Danza." The lyrics for La Danza were composed by Count Carlo Pepoli (July 22, 1796-Dec. 7, 1881), librettist for I Puritani by Italian opera composer Vincenzo Bellini (Nov. 3, 1801-Sept. 23, 1835).

The concert closed with the Bacchanale from Act III, scene 2, of Saint-Saëns's Samson et Dalila. Lilyan Ogden had performed the Danse Bacchanale in all eight 1920-1921 season's performances. She had made her Met Opera debut as the Doll in the opera house's Thursday, March 16, 1911, performance of Act I of Coppélia by French Romantic Era composer Clément Philibert Léo Delibes (Feb. 21, 1836-Jan. 16, 1891).

The takeaways for Kathleen Howard's singing Dalila in the Twentieth Sunday Night Concert are that the April 3, 1921, concert marked the American mezzo-soprano's only performance as Dalila at the Metropolitan Opera; that the Act II aria, "Mon coeur s'ouvre à ta voix," was the only piece from Samson et Dalila that Kathleen Howard performed at the Metropolitan Opera; and that, prior to her Met Opera career, she had performed the role as her active repertoire in European opera companies.

Kathleen Howard's Dalila, "As I Now Dress It," in European productions of Samson et Dalila by Camille Saint-Saëns; K. Howard, Confessions of an Opera Singer (1918), page 180: Public Domain, via Project Gutenberg

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Kathleen Howard's Dalila, "As I Used to Dress It," in European productions of Samson et Dalila by Camille Saint-Saëns; K. Howard, Confessions of an Opera Singer (1918), page 172: Public Domain, via Project Gutenberg @ https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32980/32980-h/images/ill_172.jpg; via Project Gutenberg @ https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32980/32980-h/32980-h.htm#page_076; via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/confessionsofope00howarich/page/n187/mode/1up

Kathleen Howard's Dalila, "As I Now Dress It," in European productions of Samson et Dalila by Camille Saint-Saëns; K. Howard, Confessions of an Opera Singer (1918), page 180: Public Domain, via Project Gutenberg @ https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32980/32980-h/images/ill_180.jpg; via Project Gutenberg @ https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32980/32980-h/32980-h.htm#page_076; via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/confessionsofope00howarich/page/n196/mode/1up

For further information:

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"Debut: Lilyan Ogden." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 50500 Hänsel und Gretel {58} Coppélia Act I. Matinee ed. Metropolitan Opera House: 03/16/1911.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=50500

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Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=52010

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"Debut: Pasquale Amato." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 42050 La Traviata {67} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/20/1908.
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"Debut: Richard Hageman." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 42110 Faust {257} Academy of Music, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: 11/24/1908.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=42110

"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

Dorris, George. "The Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Fresh Starts: Galli in Charge, 1919–1921." Dance Chronicle, vol. 36, no. 1 (2013): 77-102.
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Available via Google Books @ https://books.google.com/books?id=c_UDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA44

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

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/06/kathleen-howard-began-ended-met-opera.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/06/kathleen-howard-sang-boris-godunov-with.html

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Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=73730

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