Kathleen Howard Created Agramente With Geraldine Farrar as Orlanda

Summary: Kathleen Howard created Agramente with Geraldine Farrar as Orlanda Friday, Jan. 24, 1919, in Met Opera's U.S. premiere of Leroux's La Reine Fiammette.

Geraldine Farrar's Orlanda in Leroux's La Reine Fiammette ("Queen Little Flames") complies with her husband Giorgio's barter of her crown as Queen of Bologna in exchange for her lover Danilo's life, but papal nephew Cardinal César Sforza demands her execution for interest in Lutheranism: 1919 image from Bain News Service glass plate 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 created Agramente with Geraldine Farrar as Orlanda in the Metropolitan Opera's United States premiere of Leroux's La Reine Fiammette on Friday, Jan. 24, 1919.

The Metropolitan Opera's United States Premiere of La Reine Fiammette by French composer Xavier Henry Napoléon Leroux (Oct. 11, 1863-Feb. 2, 1919) took place Friday, Jan. 24, 1919, at the opera house. The opera, based upon the same-named play by French Jewish librettist, playwright and poet Abraham Catulle Mendès (May 22, 1841-Feb. 8, 1909), received five performances in the 1918-1919 season. In addition to the premiere, the opera house was the venue for the opera's second through fourth performances (Monday, Feb. 3; Saturday, March 1; Thursday, March 13). The fifth, closing performance (Tuesday, March 18) was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Geraldine Farrar (Feb. 28, 1882-March 11, 1967) created Met Opera's Orlanda, Queen of Bologna, whose interest in Lutheranism earns her the nickname of fiammette ("little flames") from papal nephew Cardinal César Sforza. She sang the title role in all five performances in the opera's premiere season, 1918-1919. The American lyric soprano had made her Met Opera debut Monday, Nov. 26, 1906, in the title role of Juliette in the opera house's 102nd performance of Roméo et Juliette by 19th-century French composer Charles-François Gounod (June 17, 1818-Oct. 18, 1893).

Kathleen Howard (July 27, 1884-April 15, 1956) created Met Opera's Mère Agramente, prioress of the convent in Assisi where Orlanda has been staying incognito as Madame Hélèna. She sang Agramente in all five performances in the 1918-1919 season. The American mezzo-soprano had 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).

Pierre Benjamin Monteux (April 4, 1875-July 1, 1964) conducted all five premiere season performances of La Reine Fiammette. The French, later American, conductor had made his Met Opera debut Saturday, Nov. 17, 1917, in the opera house's 294th performance of Gounod's Faust.

Richard Ordynski (Oct. 5, 1878-Aug. 13, 1953) directed the production of La Reine Fiammette. 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).

Russian Jewish, then naturalized American (1926), painter and theater designer Boris Izraïlevitch Anisfeld (Oct. 14, 1878-Dec. 4, 1973) designed the production's costumes and sets. The opera's premiere Friday, Jan. 24, 1919, marked his Met Opera debut.

The Metropolitan Opera has not staged La Reine Fiammette since the opera's premiere season. The 1918-1919 season's fifth, closing performance (Tuesday, March 18, 1919) marked the opera house's last performance of La Reine Fiammette.

Geraldine Farrar and Kathleen Howard coincided in role creations in three operas at the Metropolitan Opera. Their first overlap in Met Opera role creations occurred in the 1916-1917 season's Metropolitan Opera premiere of Thaïs by French Romantic Era composer Jules Massenet (May 12, 1842-Aug. 13, 1912). The 1918-1919 season's United States premiere of La Reine Fiammette numbered as the second instance of their coincident Met Opera role creations. The 1919-1920 season's Metropolitan Opera premiere of Zazà by Italian opera composer and librettist Ruggero Leoncavallo (April 23, 1857-Aug. 9, 1919) marked the third overlap in Met Opera role creations for Geraldine Farrar and Kathleen Howard.

The Metropolitan Opera premiere of Massenet's Thaïs took place Friday, Feb. 16, 1917, with Geraldine Farrar in the title role and Kathleen Howard as Albine, abbess of the convent where Christianity convert Thaïs lives and dies. Geraldine Farrar sang Thaïs to Kathleen Howard's Albine in the opera's first 13 performances. They sang in all six premiere season performances (premiere; Monday, Feb. 26; Wednesday, March 7; Tuesday, March 13; Thursday, March 22; Saturday, April 21). They returned for all seven performances (Thursday, Feb. 14, 1918; Saturday, Feb. 16; Monday, March 11; Friday, March 29; Saturday, April 13) in the following season, 1917-1918. Their last overlaps in Thaïs occurred in the last three (Monday, March 3, 1919; Friday, March 21; Saturday, April 5) of the following, 1918-1919 season's six performances.

The Metropolitan Opera premiere of Leoncavallo's Zazà took place Monday, Jan. 16, 1920, with Geraldine Farrar in the title role and Kathleen Howard as Anaide, Zazà's alcoholic mother. Geraldine Farrar and Kathleen Howard sang their created roles in the opera's 23 performances, distributed over three seasons, at the Metropolitan Opera. The opera house's 23rd and last performance of Zazà, which occurred Saturday, April 22, 1922, also marked Geraldine Farrar's last Met Opera performance.

The takeaways for Kathleen Howard's creation of Agramente with Geraldine Farrar as Orlanda in the Metropolitan Opera's United States premiere of Xavier Leroux's La Reine Fiammette in 1918-1919 season are that their coincident Met Opera role creations in La Reine Fiammette numbered as the second of their three shared Met Opera premieres; that their first role creation overlap occurred in the 1916-1917 season's Metropolitan Opera premiere of Massenet's Thaïs; that their third role creation overlap took place in the 1919-1920 season's Metropolitan Opera premiere of Leoncavallo's Zazà; and that the opera house's 23rd and last performance of Zazà, which occurred in the 1921-1922 season, also marked Geraldine Farrar's last Met Opera performance.

Geraldine Farrar's Orlanda wears crown as Queen of Bologna in Leroux's La Reine Fiammette ("Queen Little Flames"); ca. 1919 photo of Bain News Service glass plate 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:

Geraldine Farrar's Orlanda in Leroux's La Reine Fiammette ("Queen Little Flames") complies with her husband Giorgio's barter of her crown as Queen of Bologna in exchange for her lover Danilo's life, but papal nephew Cardinal César Sforza demands her execution for interest in Lutheranism: 1919 image from Bain News Service glass plate 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/2014713902/; via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Farrar_-_%22Fiamette%22_LCCN2014713902.jpg

Geraldine Farrar's Orlanda wears crown as Queen of Bologna in Leroux's La Reine Fiammette ("Queen Little Flames"); ca. 1919 photo of Bain News Service glass plate 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/2014713887/; via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Farrar_-_%22Reine_Fiamette%22_LCCN2014713887.jpg

For further information:

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

"Debut: Boris Anisfeld." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 70870 United States Premiere La Reine Fiammette {1} Metropolitan Opera House: 01/24/1919.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=70870

"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

"Debuts: Geraldine Farrar, Charles Rousselière, Jules-Charles Simard." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 38000 Roméo et Juliette {102} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/26/1906. Opening Night {22} Heinrich Conried, General Manager.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=38000

"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: 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

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

Leroux, Xavier; and Catulle Mendès. Metropolitan Opera House Grand Opera Libretto: La Reine Fiammette. New York NY: Fred Rullman, 1918.
Available from University of California Libraries via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/lareinefiammette00lero/

Marriner, Derdriu. "Kathleen Howard Began, Ended Met Opera Career as Boris Godunov's Nurse." Earth and Space News. Monday, 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

Marriner, Derdriu. "Myrtle Schaaf Debuted as Mercédès With Geraldine Farrar as Carmen." Earth and Space News. Monday, June 7, 2021.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/06/myrtle-schaaf-debuted-as-mercedes-with.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Myrtle Schaaf Sang in 54 Performances in Her Two Seasons at Met Opera." Earth and Space News. Monday, June 14, 2021.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/06/myrtle-schaaf-sang-in-54-performances.html

"Metropolitan Opera Premiere: Zazà." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 73730 Metropolitan Opera Premiere Zazà {1} Metropolitan Opera House: 01/16/1920.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=73730

"United States Premiere: La Reine Fiammette." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 70870 United States Premiere La Reine Fiammette {1} Metropolitan Opera House: 01/24/1919.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=70870