Geraldine Farrar

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From Wikipedia

Geraldine Farrar (February 28, 1882 - March 11, 1967) was an

American soprano opera singer and film actress, noted for her beauty, acting

ability, and "the intimate timbre of her voice." She had a large

following among young women, who were nicknamed "Gerry-flappers".

Farrar was born in Melrose, Massachusetts, the daughter of

baseball player Sidney Farrar, and his wife, Henrietta Barnes. At 5 she began

studying music in Boston and by 14 was giving recitals. Later she studied voice

with the American soprano Emma Thursby in New York, in Paris, and finally with

the Italian baritone Francesco Graziani in Berlin. Farrar created a sensation

at the Berlin Hofoper with her debut as Marguerite in Charles Gounod's Faust in

1901 and remained with the company for three years, during which time she

continued her studies with famed German soprano Lilli Lehmann. (She had been

recommended to Lehmann by another famous soprano of the previous generation,

Lillian Nordica.). She appeared in the title rôles of Ambroise Thomas' Mignon

and Jules Massenet's Manon, as well as Juliette in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette.

Her admirers in Berlin included Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany, with whom she

is believed to have had a relationship beginning in 1903.

She recorded extensively for the Victor Talking Machine

Company and was often featured prominently in that firm's advertisements. She

also appeared in silent movies, which were filmed between opera seasons. Farrar

starred in more than a dozen films from 1915 to 1920, including Cecil B. De

Mille's 1915 adaptation of Georges Bizet's opera Carmen. One of her most

notable screen roles was as Joan of Arc in the 1917 film Joan the Woman.

Farrar retired from opera in 1922 at the age of 40. Her

final performance was as Leoncavallo's Zazà. By this stage, her voice was in

premature decline due to overwork. According to the American music critic Henry

Pleasants, the author of The Great Singers from the Dawn of Opera to Our Own

Time (first published 1967), she gave between 25 and 35 performances each

season at the Met alone. They included 95 appearances as Madama Butterfly and

58 as Carmen in 16 seasons. The title role in Puccini's Tosca, which she had

added to her repertoire in 1909, was another one of her favourite Met parts.

Farrar died in Ridgefield, Connecticut of a heart attack in

1967, aged 85, and was buried in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York. She

had no children.

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