Monday, February 19, 2024

Met Opera First Performed Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in April 1913


Summary: The Metropolitan Opera first performed Beethoven's Ninth Symphony Sunday, April 13, 1913, as last of the 1912-1913 season's 22 Sunday night concerts.


German concert and operatic German lyric coloratura soprano Frieda Hempel sang the soprano role in the Metropolitan Opera's first performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, which was held at the Metropolitan Opera House April 13, 1913, as the last of the 1912-1913 season's 22 Sunday Night Concerts; undated portrait of animal lover Frieda Hempel with her Pomeranian, Pitti, in H.C. Lahee, The Grand Opera Singers of To-Day (1922), opposite page 456: Internet Archive Book Images, Public Domain, via Flickr

The Metropolitan Opera's first performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 took place Sunday, April 13, 1913, as the last of 22 Sunday night concerts held in the Metropolitan Opera House in the opera company's 1912-1913 season.
Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Opus 125, by German composer and pianist Ludwig van Beethoven (bapt. Dec. 17, 1770-March 26, 1827) received two performances in the 1912-1913 season. The symphony's first Met Opera performance took place as a night concert Sunday, April 13, 1913. The second performance was offered as a matinee performance on Friday, April 18.
Arturo Toscanini (March 25, 1867-Jan. 16, 1957) conducted the Ninth Symphony's debut and second performances. The Parma, Emilia-Romagna region-born Italian conductor had made his Met Opera debut Monday, Nov. 16, 1908, in the opera company's 126th performance of Aida by 19th-century Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi (Oct. 10, 1813-Jan. 27, 1901). The maestro held his position as Met Opera's conductor for seven seasons. He made his last appearance as Met Opera's conductor on Wednesday, April 14, 1915, in the opera company's 11th performance of Iris by Italian opera composer Pietro Mascagni (Dec. 7, 1863-Aug. 2, 1945).

Italian maestro Arturo Toscanini conducted the Metropolitan Opera's first performance of Beethoven's Sympony No. 9 in D Minor, which took place in the opera company's April 13, 1913, Sunday Night Concert; (top left to right) cantabile, cadenza; (center left to right) allegro agitato; (bottom left to right) sostenuto, maestoso; "Characteristic Poses of Toscanini While Conducting," drawn by American illustrator and painter Arthur I. (Ignatius) Keller (July 4, 1867-Dec. 2, 1924), engraved by R. Varley, in Max Smith, "Toscanini at the Baton," The Century Magazine, vol. LXXXV, no. 5 (March 1913): 700: Not in copyright, via Internet Archive

Beethoven's Ninth Symphony transforms from an orchestral work into a work for chorus and four vocal soloists in the fourth, final movement. Beethoven set the symphony's vocal portion to an adaptation of "An die Freude" ("Ode to Joy"), a lyric poem written in 1785 by 18th-century German physician, philosopher and poet Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (Nov. 10, 1759-May 9, 1805).
Frieda Hempel (June 26, 1885-Oct. 7, 1955) appeared as the symphony's soprano. The German Frieda Hempel (26 June 1885 – 7 October 1955). The German concert and operatic lyric coloratura soprano had made her Met Opera debut Friday, Dec. 27, 1912, as Marguerite de Valois in the opera company's 120th performance of Les Huguenots by German Jewish opera composer Giacomo Meyerbeer (Sep. 5, 1791-May 2, 1864)..

American contralto Louise Homer sang the mezzo-soprano role in the Metropolitan Opera's debut performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, held Sunday, April 13, 1913, as the 1912-1913 season's 22nd and last Sunday Night Concert; 1909 portrait of Louise Homer by Bain News Service, George Grantham Bain Collection Library of Congress, Washington DC: No known copyright restrictions, via Library of Congress (LOC) Prints & Photographs Online (PPOC)

Louise Homer (Louise Dilworth Beatty; April 30, 1871-May 6, 1947) appeared as the symphony's mezzo-soprano. The American operatic contralto had made her Met Opera debut Wednesday, Nov. 14, 1900, as Amneris in the opera house's 55th performance of Aida by 19th-century Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi (Oct. 10, 1813-Jan. 27, 1901).
Carl Jörn (also Karl Jörn; Jan. 5, 1873-Dec. 19, 1947) appeared as the symphony's tenor. The German-American operatic tenor had made his Met Opera debut Friday, Jan. 22, 1909, as Walther von Stolzing in the opera company's 96th performance of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg by 19th-century German composer and librettist Richard Wagner (May 22, 1813-Feb. 13, 1883).

German-American operatic tenor Carl (also Karl) Jörn sang the tenor role in the Metropolitan Opera's first performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, held Sunday, April 13, 1913, as the 1912-1913 season's 22nd and last Sunday Night Concert; portrait of Carl Jörn with a camera, ca. 1920-1925 by Bain News Service, George Grantham Bain Collection Library of Congress, Washington DC: No known copyright restrictions, via Library of Congress (LOC) Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC)

Putnam Griswold (Dec. 23, 1875-Feb. 26, 1914) appeared as the symphony's bass. The American operatic bass had made his Met Opera debut Thursday, Nov. 23, 1911, as Hagen in the opera company's 72nd performance of Wagner's Götterdämmerung.
The April 13, 1913, Sunday Night Concert's program opened with Richard Wagner's Eine Faust Ouvertüre (Faust Ouverture). Wagner originally completed the piece in 1840 as the first movement of a Faust Symphony, but he revised the work in 1855 as a single-movement concert overture. Till Eulenspiegels Lustige Streiche (Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks), Opus 28, a tone poem by German late Romantic and early modern composer Richard Strauss (June 11, 1864-Sep. 8, 1949), followed Wagner's Faust Overture. Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D Minor closed the three-piece concert.
The Metropolitan Opera's 1912-1913 season featured 22 Sunday night concerts. The concerts were held at the Metropolitan Opera House on 22 successive Sunday evenings, beginning with the First Sunday Concert on Sunday, Nov. 17, 1912, and finishing with the Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D Minor Concert on Sunday, April 13, 1913. The first 20 concerts were identified sequentially as First Sunday Concert through Twentieth Sunday Concert in the Metropolitan Opera Archives (MetOpera Database). The 21st concert, offered Sunday, April 6, was entitled Wagner Concert.
Met Opera's Feb. 24, 2024, Saturday radio matinee airs at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time as "Mozart and Beethoven in Concert at the Met," under the conductorship of Met Opera's maestro,Yannick Nézet-Séguin. The Saturday broadcast plays the performance of Mozart's Requiem from Friday, Feb. 24, 2023, and the finale of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 from Monday, March 14, 2022.
"Listeners' Choice: Great Met Broadcasts" airs March 2 at 1:00 p.m. as the 2023-2024 season's 13th Saturday matinee radio broadcast. The Saturday, March 2, radio matinee is scheduled to play a TBA (to be announced) opera.
Verdi's La Forza del Destino broadcasts Saturday, March 9, at 12:00 p.m. noon as the 2023-2024 season's 14th Saturday radio matinee. A new production of Verdi's fate-themed opera under the directorship of Polish opera, theatre and film director Mariusz Treliński (born March 28, 1962) debuts in the 2023-2024 season.

American operatic bass Putnam Griswold sang the bass role in the Metropolitan Opera's first performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, held April 13, 1913, as the last of the 1912-1913 season's 22 Sunday Night Concerts; portrait of Putnam Griswold, ca. 1912, by Mishkin Studio, New York, in opposite page 340: Internet Archive Book Images, Public Domain, via Flickr

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

Image credits:
German concert and operatic German lyric coloratura soprano Frieda Hempel sang the soprano role in the Metropolitan Opera's first performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, which was held at the Metropolitan Opera House April 13, 1913, as the last of the 1912-1913 season's 22 Sunday Night Concerts; undated portrait of animal lover Frieda Hempel with her Pomeranian, Pitti, in H.C. Lahee, The Grand Opera Singers of To-Day (1922), opposite page 456: Internet Archive Book Images, Public Domain, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/14595165340/; via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/grandoperasinger02lahe/page/n568/mode/1up; No known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Frieda_Hempel_(with_autograph).jpg
Italian maestro Arturo Toscanini conducted the Metropolitan Opera's first performance of Beethoven's Sympony No. 9 in D Minor, which took place in the opera company's April 13, 1913, Sunday Night Concert; (top left to right) cantabile, cadenza; (center left to right) allegro agitato; (bottom left to right) sostenuto, maestoso; "Characteristic Poses of Toscanini While Conducting," drawn by American illustrator and painter Arthur I. (Ignatius) Keller (July 4, 1867-Dec. 2, 1924), engraved by R. Varley, in Max Smith, "Toscanini at the Baton," The Century Magazine, vol. LXXXV, no. 5 (March 1913): 700: Not in copyright, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/centuryillustra01conggoog/page/700/mode/1up
American contralto Louise Homer sang the mezzo-soprano role in the Metropolitan Opera's debut performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, held Sunday, April 13, 1913, as the 1912-1913 season's 22nd and last Sunday Night Concert; 1909 portrait of Louise Homer by Bain News Service, George Grantham Bain Collection Library of Congress, Washington DC: No known copyright restrictions, via Library of Congress (LOC) Prints & Photographs Online (PPOC) @ https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2014681848/; No known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Louise_Homer_LCCN2014681848.jpg
German-American operatic tenor Carl (also Karl) Jörn sang the tenor role in the Metropolitan Opera's first performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, held Sunday, April 13, 1913, as the 1912-1913 season's 22nd and last Sunday Night Concert; portrait of Carl Jörn with a camera, ca. 1920-1925 by Bain News Service, George Grantham Bain Collection Library of Congress, Washington DC: No known copyright restrictions, via Library of Congress (LOC) Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC) @ https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2014713576/
American operatic bass Putnam Griswold sang the bass role in the Metropolitan Opera's first performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, held April 13, 1913, as the last of the 1912-1913 season's 22 Sunday Night Concerts; portrait of Putnam Griswold, ca. 1912, by Mishkin Studio, New York, in H.C. Lahee, The Grand Opera Singers of To-Day (1922), opposite page 340: Internet Archive Book Images, Public Domain, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/14778712591/; via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/grandoperasinger02lahe/page/n418/mode/1up; No known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Putnam_Griswold_by_Herman_Mishkin.jpg

For further information:
Arakelyan, Ashot. "Karl Jörn (Tenor) (Riga, Latvia 1873 - Denver, Colorado 1947)." Forgotten Opera Singers. May 23, 2015.
Available @ https://forgottenoperasingers.blogspot.com/2015/05/karl-jorn-tenor-riga-latvia-1873-denver.html
Burgwyn, Diana. "The Wonderful World of Opera Dogs: Frieda Hempel -- Opera Star & Dogcatcher." OperaWire. June 23, 2021.
Available @ https://operawire.com/the-wonderful-world-of-opera-dogs-frieda-hempel-opera-star-dogcatcher/
"Concert: Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor." MetOpera Database > [Met Concert or Gala] CID: 54693 Concert Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor Metropolitan Opera House, Sun, April 13, 1913 Concert Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor (1) Metropolitan Opera House April 13, 1913.
Available @ https://archives.metopera.org/MetOperaSearch/record.jsp?dockey=0362031
"Concert: Beethooven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor." MetOpera Database > [Met Concert or Gala] CID: 54699 Concert Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor Metropolitan Opera House, Fri, April 18, 1913 Matinee Concert Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor (2) Metropolitan Opera House April 18, 1913 Matinee.
Available @ https://archives.metopera.org/MetOperaSearch/record.jsp?dockey=0362037
"Debut: Arturo Toscanini, Emmy Destinn, Giulio Rossi, Angelo Badà, Lenora Sparkes, Gina Torriani, Mario Sala, Angelo Parravicini." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 42010 Opening Night {24}, New Production, General Manager: Giulio Gatti-Casazza Aida Metropolitan Opera House, Mon, November 16, 1908. Debut: Arturo Toscanini, Emmy Destinn, Giulio Rossi, Angelo Badà, Lenora Sparkes, Gina Torriani, Mario Sala, Angelo Parravicini. Aida (126) Giuseppe Verdi / Antonio Ghislanzoni.
Available @ https://archives.metopera.org/MetOperaSearch/record.jsp?dockey=0360836
"Debut: Carl Jörn, Erik Schubert, Arthur Triebner, Josef Sundermann." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 42870 Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg Metropolitan Opera House, Fri, January 22, 1909. Debut: Carl Jörn, Erik Schubert, Arthur Triebner, Josef Sundermann. Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (96) Richard Wagner / Richard Wagner.
Available @ https://archives.metopera.org/MetOperaSearch/record.jsp?dockey=0360922
"Debut: Frieda Hempel, Eva Swain." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 54556 Les Huguenots Metropolitan Opera House, Fri, December 27, 1912. Debut: Frieda Hempel, Eva Swain. In Italian. Les Huguenots (120) Giacomo Meyerbeer / Eugène Scribe / Émile Deschamps.
Available @ https://archives.metopera.org/MetOperaSearch/record.jsp?dockey=0361894
"Debut: Louise Homer." MetOpera Database > [Met Tour] CID: 25050 Aida San Francisco, California, Wed, November 14, 1900. Debut: Louise Homer. Aida (55) Giuseppe Verdi / Antonio Ghislanzoni.
Available @ https://archives.metopera.org/MetOperaSearch/record.jsp?dockey=0359374
"Debut: Louise Homer." MetOpera Database > Met Performance] CID: 25050 Aida {55} San Francisco, California: 11/14/1900.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=25050
"Debut: Putnam Griswold." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 52100 Götterdämmerung Metropolitan Opera House, Thu, November 23, 1911. Debut: Putnam Griswold. Götterdämmerung (72) Richard Wagner / Richard Wagner.
Available @ https://archives.metopera.org/MetOperaSearch/record.jsp?dockey=0361636
"Debuts: Emmy Destinn, Giulio Rossi, Angelo Badà, Lenora Sparkes, Gina Torriani, Arturo Toscanini, Mario Sala, Angels." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 42010 New Production Aida {126} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/16/1908. (Opening Night {24} Giulio Gatti-Casazza, General Manager.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=42010
Lahee, Henry C. (Charles). "Frieda Hempel." Pages 456-459. The Grand Opera Singers of To-day: An Account of the Leading Operatic Stars Who Have Sung During Recent Years, Together With a Sketch of the Chief Operatic Enterprises. Chapter I: The Metropolitan Opera Company 1912-1922, pages 455-497. Boston [MA]: The Page Company, MDCCCCXXII [1922].
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/grandoperasinger02lahe/page/456/mode/1up
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Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/grandoperasinger02lahe/page/339/mode/1up
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Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/centuryillustra01conggoog/page/691/mode/1up
Available via Google Books @ https://books.google.com/books?id=DhoMAAAAMAAJ&newbks=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA691


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