Kathleen Howard Sang Carmen in Europe But Never at Metropolitan Opera

Summary: American mezzo-soprano Kathleen Howard sang Carmen in Europe but never at the Metropolitan Opera, where her 40-opera repertoire included 17 premieres.

Kathleen Howard's Carmen, "Carmen As I Now Dress It," in European productions of Carmen by Georges Bizet; K. Howard, Confessions of an Opera Singer (1918), page 76: Public Domain, via Project Gutenberg

American mezzo-soprano Kathleen Howard sang Carmen in Europe but never at the Metropolitan Opera, where her Carmen-less 12-season career featured 40 roles, of which she created 17.

Prior to her Met Opera career, Kathleen Howard (July 27, 1884-April 15, 1956) honed her operatic talents in pre-World War I (July 28, 1914-Nov. 11, 1918) Europe. She trained in Paris, France, and Berlin, Germany.

One of her teachers was Jacques-Joseph-André Bouhy (June 18, 1848-Jan. 24, 1929). The Belgian baritone famously had sung the Toreador Song in his creation of the role of Escamillo in the premiere of Carmen by French Romantic Era composer Georges Bizet (Oct. 25, 1838-June 3, 1875). Carmen's premiere had taken place Wednesday, March 3, 1875, at Opéra-Comique in Paris.

In her autobiography, Confessions of an Opera Singer (1918), Kathleen Howard described her conscientious immersion in her studies: "The personalities of Amneris, Carmen, Dalila, Azucena in turn, all in their French version of course, occupied my mind waking and sleeping" (page 35).

Kathleen Howard signed her first contract with the municipal opera house in the historic Alsace-Lorraine garrison town of Metz, then part of the German Empire. Her first role as first contralto in the nine-month season (September through June) was Azucena in Il Trovatore by Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi (Oct. 10, 1813-Jan. 27, 1901). In her autobiography, Confessions of an Opera Singer (1918), she recalled: "I had to sing Azucena, my first part on any stage, without rehearsal" (page 100).

Carmen by French Romantic Era composer Georges Bizet (Oct. 25, 1838-June 3, 1875) numbered as the second unrehearsed part that she sang in Metz. Because the "soprano had failed in it," the offer of the season's role to Kathleen Howard was conditioned upon her singing Carmen without rehearsal (ohne probe). Her nerve-quaking, yet successful performance on Christmas Day earned her both the nickname of "Die schoene Carmen" (the beautiful Carmen) and the season's role every Sunday (page 109).

After two years in Metz, Kathleen Howard negotiated a three-year contract (instead of the five years offered) with the director of the Hoftheater in Darmstadt, capital of the Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine (Großherzogtum Hessen und bei Rhein), known colloquially as Hesse-Darmstadt, then (1871-1918) a federal state in the German Empire. She had selected Carmen, Martha's Nancy and a third yet-undetermined role to fulfill the standard contractual requirement of a specified number of trial, or guest, performances (gastieren). Queen Victoria's (May 24, 1819-Jan. 22, 1901) grandson Ernst Ludwig (Nov. 25, 1868-Oct. 9, 1937), reigning as Hesse-Darmstadt's last Grand Duke (March 13, 1892-Nov. 9, 1918), engaged Kathleen Howard after hearing her sing the first act of Carmen (pages 158-159).

Kathleen Howard's immersion in her roles impelled her toward the historical accuracy of the costumes that she was required to supply for her roles. Her costumes were designed by Parisian costumer Marie Muelle. Viewing her Carmen costumes as "very Opéra Comique and not at all Spanish gipsy," she carefully researched "Spanish cigarette girls and those of gipsy blood." She expressed her dissatisfaction with "satin princess dresses" with Marie Muelle, who then duplicated costumes famously designed by Spanish painter Ignacio Zuloaga y Zabaleta (July 26, 1870-Oct. 31, 1945) for Swiss dramatic soprano Lucienne Breval's (Nov. 4, 1869-Aug. 15, 1935) impressive, startling Carmen at Opéra Comique in 1909.

Kathleen Howard's confidence in her redesigned Carmen costumes allowed her to be unfazed by criticism about the performance she gave before Queen Victoria's grandson Prince Henry of Prussia (Aug. 14, 1862-April 20, 1929) in Darmstadt. The prince rejected her skirts as "too long, no Spanish woman wore them so long," Yet, Kathleen knew ". . . that they were the right length, and any one can see by studying Zuloaga's paintings that the soubrette length skirt is not worn on the proud, swinging hips of the Spanish girl." Additionally, Spaniards had complimented her as ". . . an exact reproduction of a Spanish gipsy as Carmen . . ." Although she understood that Merimée's and Bizet's Carmen has been described, perhaps rightly, as "not Spanish," Kathleen Howard discerned that a "real" model should inspire portrayal (pages 174-175).

Kathleen Howard's farewell opera in Darmstadt was Carmen. Innumerable curtain calls and a "stage . . . filled from side to side with flowers" marked Kathleen Howard's farewell opera, Carmen, in Darmstadt. She described her three years in Darmstadt as "ideal": "These are not perhaps great triumphs, but they make an artist's life very happy, and the life I led for those three years, comes very near being the ideal one for an opera singer" (pages 236-237).

Kathleen Howard began and ended her 12-season Met Opera career as the Nurse in Boris Godunov by Russian composer Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (March 21, 1839-March 28, 1881). Her Met Opera debut took place Tuesday, Nov. 14, 1916, in the opera's 27th performance at the opera house. Her last Met Opera appearance, in her 37th impersonation of the Nurse, occurred Thursday, April 12, 1928, in the opera's 82nd performance at the opera house.

Although containing no roles from Carmen, Kathleen Howard's Met Opera portfolio held other triumphs. In her 12 seasons (1916-1917 through 1927-1928) at the Metropolitan Opera, Kathleen Howard accumulated 40 roles in her Met Opera portfolio. She created 17 of the 39 roles in her Met Opera portfolio.

She ended her autobiography with the description of the Metropolitan Opera as ". . . the most absorbingly interesting house with which I have ever been connected, and which is the greatest school of all" (page 269).

The takeaways for Kathleen Howard's singing Carmen in Europe but never at the Metropolitan Opera are that the American mezzo-soprano's pre-Met Opera experiences in Europe gave her an appreciation of historically accurate costumes; that her European appearances as Carmen were well-received; and that her 12-season Met Opera portfolio contained a 40-role repertoire that included 17 role creations.

Kathleen Howard's Carmen, "Carmen As I Now Dress It," in European productions of Carmen by Georges Bizet; K. Howard, Confessions of an Opera Singer (1918), page 84: 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 Carmen, "Carmen As I Now Dress It," in European productions of Carmen by Georges Bizet; K. Howard, Confessions of an Opera Singer (1918), page 76: Public Domain, via Project Gutenberg @ https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32980/32980-h/images/ill_076.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/n82/mode/1up

Kathleen Howard's Carmen, "Carmen As I Now Dress It," in European productions of Carmen by Georges Bizet; K. Howard, Confessions of an Opera Singer (1918), page 84: Public Domain, via Project Gutenberg @ https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32980/32980-h/images/ill_084.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/n92/mode/1up

For further information:

"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: Margarete Matzenauer." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 52010 Aida {170} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/13/1911.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=52010

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. "Carmen Is the Feb. 2, 2019, Met Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast." Earth and Space News. Monday, Jan. 28, 2019.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/01/carmen-is-feb-2-2019-met-opera-saturday.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Monday, February 6, 2017 Carmen Is the Feb. 11, 2017, Metropolitan Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast." Earth and Space News. Monday, Feb. 6, 2017.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/02/carmen-is-feb-11-2017-metropolitan.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Carmen Opened Jan. 5, 1884, as 16th Opera in Met Opera's First Season." Earth and Space News. Monday, Jan. 4, 2021.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/01/carmen-opened-jan-5-1884-as-16th-opera.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Carmen Was Franco Zeffirelli’s 10th Met Opera Production." Earth and Space News. Monday, Aug. 24, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/08/carmen-was-franco-zeffirellis-10th-met.html

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. "Minnie Hauk Sang Her Third, Last Met Opera Carmen March 4, 1891." Earth and Space News. Monday, March 15, 2021.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/03/minnie-hauk-sang-her-third-last-met.html

"Metropolitan Opera Premiere Thaïs." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 65150 Metropolitan Opera Premiere Thaïs {1} Metropolitan Opera House: 02/16/1917.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=65150