Beverly Bower
Encyclopedia
Beverly Bower was an American
opera
tic soprano
who had an active international opera career from the mid 1950s through the early 1970s. She began her opera career at the New York City Opera
where she sang between 1956-1963. She later worked mainly as a freelance artist with important opera companies throughout the United States and with a few opera companies in Europe.
Possessing a warm lyrical voice with a considerable amount of power and dexterity, Bower was able to sing an unusually broad repertoire. She tackled coloratura soprano
roles like Fiordiligi in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
's Così fan tutte
and Violetta in Giuseppe Verdi
's La traviata
, lyric soprano
roles like Micaëla in Georges Bizet
's Carmen
and Hanna Glawari in Franz Lehár
's The Merry Widow
, and spinto soprano
roles like the title heroines in Giacomo Puccini
's Madama Butterfly
and Tosca
. She even spent three years at the Metropolitan Opera
singing mainly Wagnerian soprano roles.
in 1925, Beverly was the daughter of Archie and Esther Bowser. Her first musical experiences were at the First Presbyterian Church of Olean where her family attended. At the young age of three she was already singing solos during church services. Bower's family further fostered her musical talent by enrolling her in piano and voice lessons at the age of seven with Olean native Henry Hill.
In 1941 Bower won a scholarship to the famed Chautauqua Institute. In 1943 she moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
to study voice privately under Clarence Reinhart, one of her principal teachers over the next sixteen years. During this time she also studied foreign languages, drama, and opera at the University of Pennsylvania
and was mentored by famed soprano Helen Jepson
who bequeathed many of her costumes to Bower after her retirement from the stage.
on The Tonight Show
. She made her professional opera debut in 1956 as Violetta in Verdi's La traviata
at the New York City Opera
(NYCO) with Barry Morell
as Alfredo. The NYCO became her principle home through 1963. Her many roles at that house included Diana in Jacques Offenbach
's Orpheus in the Underworld
, Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni
, Fiordiligi in Mozart's Così fan tutte
, Hanna Glawari in Lehár's The Merry Widow
, Konstanze in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail
, Micaëla in Bizet's Carmen
, Miss Pinkerton in Gian Carlo Menotti
's The Old Maid and the Thief
, Musetta in Giacomo Puccini
's La Bohème
, Rosalinde in Richard Strauss
's Die Fledermaus
, and the title role in Menotti's Amelia Goes to the Ball
among others. She also notably portrayed The Woman in the first professional production of Mark Bucci
's Tale for a Deaf Ear
at the NYCO on April 6, 1958.
While singing at the NYCO, Bower would also occasionally perform with other opera companies and musical organizations. In 1959 she was one of the main featured artists at the Summer Music Festival at the Brevard Music Center
. In 1961 she made her debut with the Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company
as Musetta with Nicoletta Panni as Mimì, Angelo Lo Forese as Rodolfo, and Benjamin Rayson as Marcello. She left the NYCO to sing at the Vienna State Opera
under Herbert von Karajan
for the 1963-1964 season. She also made her debut with the Santa Fe Opera
in the summer of 1963 as Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus
. In 1964 she made her debut with the Central City Opera
in the title role of Puccini's Madama Butterfly
.
In 1965 Bower was invited by Rudolf Bing to join the roster of sopranos at the Metropolitan Opera
. She made her debut with the company on February 22, 1965 as Ortlinde in Richard Wagner
's Die Walküre
with Birgit Nilsson
as Brünnhilde, Jon Vickers
as Siegmund, Leonie Rysanek
as Sieglinde, George London as Wotan, and Irene Dalis
as
Fricka. She remained at the Met for three years, singing such roles as Senta in Wagner's Der Fliegende Holländer, Micaëla, and Musetta. She notably sang the role of Minnie in La Fanciulla del West
for the first public performance at the new Metropolitan Opera House
at Lincoln Center on April 11, 1966. The production was attended by 3,000 high school students. Her voice is preserved on one Metropolitan Opera radio broadcast
from 4 February 1967 in which she sang Musetta to the Mimi of Teresa Stratas
, Rudolpho of Gianni Raimondi
, and Marcello of Mario Sereni
.
Bower joined Sarah Caldwell
's American National Opera Company for their 1967-1968 tour where she sang Alice Ford in Verdi's Falstaff
and the title role in Tosca
with Tommy Rall
as Cavaradossi and George Fourie as Scarpia. She also sang Tosca for Caldwell's Opera Company of Boston
in 1968 with Ray Abizu as Cavaradossi.
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
tic soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
who had an active international opera career from the mid 1950s through the early 1970s. She began her opera career at the New York City Opera
New York City Opera
The New York City Opera is an American opera company located in New York City.The company, called "the people's opera" by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...
where she sang between 1956-1963. She later worked mainly as a freelance artist with important opera companies throughout the United States and with a few opera companies in Europe.
Possessing a warm lyrical voice with a considerable amount of power and dexterity, Bower was able to sing an unusually broad repertoire. She tackled coloratura soprano
Coloratura soprano
A coloratura soprano is a type of operatic soprano who specializes in music that is distinguished by agile runs and leaps. The term coloratura refers to the elaborate ornamentation of a melody, which is a typical component of the music written for this voice...
roles like Fiordiligi in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
's Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed in 1790. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte....
and Violetta in Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's La traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
, lyric soprano
Lyric soprano
A lyric soprano is a type of operatic soprano that has a warm quality with a bright, full timbre which can be heard over an orchestra. The lyric soprano voice generally has a higher tessitura than a soubrette and usually plays ingenues and other sympathetic characters in opera. Lyric sopranos have...
roles like Micaëla in Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet formally Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, was a French composer, mainly of operas. In a career cut short by his early death, he achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, became one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertory.During a...
's Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
and Hanna Glawari in Franz Lehár
Franz Lehár
Franz Lehár was an Austrian-Hungarian composer. He is mainly known for his operettas of which the most successful and best known is The Merry Widow .-Biography:...
's The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow is an operetta by the Austro–Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's attempt to keep her money in the principality by finding her the right husband – on an 1861 comedy play,...
, and spinto soprano
Spinto soprano
A spinto soprano is a category of operatic soprano voice that has the limpidity and easy high notes of a lyric soprano, yet can be "pushed" on to achieve dramatic climaxes without strain. This type of voice may possess a somewhat darker timbre, too, than the average lyric soprano...
roles like the title heroines in Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...
's Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...
and Tosca
Tosca
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
. She even spent three years at the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
singing mainly Wagnerian soprano roles.
Early life and education
Born in Olean, New YorkOlean, New York
Olean is a city in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. Olean is the largest city in Cattaraugus County, and serves as the financial, business, transportation and entertainment center of the county. It is one of the principal cities of the Southern Tier region of New York.The city is...
in 1925, Beverly was the daughter of Archie and Esther Bowser. Her first musical experiences were at the First Presbyterian Church of Olean where her family attended. At the young age of three she was already singing solos during church services. Bower's family further fostered her musical talent by enrolling her in piano and voice lessons at the age of seven with Olean native Henry Hill.
In 1941 Bower won a scholarship to the famed Chautauqua Institute. In 1943 she moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
to study voice privately under Clarence Reinhart, one of her principal teachers over the next sixteen years. During this time she also studied foreign languages, drama, and opera at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
and was mentored by famed soprano Helen Jepson
Helen Jepson
Helen Jepson was an American lyric soprano noted for being a "stunning blond beauty" as well as for her voice....
who bequeathed many of her costumes to Bower after her retirement from the stage.
Career
Bower began her professional career singing on radio and television during the 1950s, including making appearance with Jack PaarJack Paar
Jack Harold Paar was an author, American radio and television comedian and talk show host, best known for his stint as host of The Tonight Show from 1957 to 1962...
on The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. It is the longest currently running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running show on NBC, after Meet the Press and Today.The Tonight Show has been hosted by...
. She made her professional opera debut in 1956 as Violetta in Verdi's La traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
at the New York City Opera
New York City Opera
The New York City Opera is an American opera company located in New York City.The company, called "the people's opera" by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...
(NYCO) with Barry Morell
Barry Morell
Barry Morell was an American operatic tenor particularly associated with the Italian and French repertoire.He was born in New York City and studied at the Juilliard School with Giuseppe Danise...
as Alfredo. The NYCO became her principle home through 1963. Her many roles at that house included Diana in Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach was a Prussian-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss, Jr....
's Orpheus in the Underworld
Orpheus in the Underworld
Orphée aux enfers is an opéra bouffon , or opéra féerie in its revised version, by Jacques Offenbach. The French text was written by Ludovic Halévy and later revised by Hector-Jonathan Crémieux....
, Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
, Fiordiligi in Mozart's Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed in 1790. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte....
, Hanna Glawari in Lehár's The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow is an operetta by the Austro–Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's attempt to keep her money in the principality by finding her the right husband – on an 1861 comedy play,...
, Konstanze in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Die Entführung aus dem Serail is an opera Singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Christoph Friedrich Bretzner with adaptations by Gottlieb Stephanie...
, Micaëla in Bizet's Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
, Miss Pinkerton in Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti was an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular...
's The Old Maid and the Thief
The Old Maid and the Thief
The Old Maid and the Thief is an opera in one act by Italian-American composer Gian Carlo Menotti. The work uses an English language libretto by the composer which tells a twisted tale of morals and evil womanly power...
, Musetta in Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...
's La Bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
, Rosalinde in Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
's Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée.- Literary sources :...
, and the title role in Menotti's Amelia Goes to the Ball
Amelia Goes to the Ball
Amelia Goes to the Ball is an opera buffa in one act composed by Gian Carlo Menotti. Menotti also wrote the original Italian libretto. Composed when he was twenty-three, it was Menotti's first mature opera and his first critical success...
among others. She also notably portrayed The Woman in the first professional production of Mark Bucci
Mark Bucci
Mark Bucci was an American composer, lyricist, and dramatist. Influenced by Giacomo Puccini, his work is composed in a contemporary yet lyrical style which frequently employs marked rhythms and memorable harmonies and melodies.-Career:Bucci studied music composition with Tibor Serly in New York...
's Tale for a Deaf Ear
Tale for a Deaf Ear
Tale for a Deaf Ear is an opera in one act with music and lyrics by Mark Bucci, sung in three languages and based on a story by Elizabeth Enright that appeared in the April 1951 edition of Harper's Magazine. The work was commissioned by Samuel Wechsler for performance at the 1957 Tanglewood Music...
at the NYCO on April 6, 1958.
While singing at the NYCO, Bower would also occasionally perform with other opera companies and musical organizations. In 1959 she was one of the main featured artists at the Summer Music Festival at the Brevard Music Center
Brevard Music Center
The Brevard Music Center is a summer institute and festival located in Brevard, North Carolina. It enrolls about four hundred students, age fourteen and older, who participate in orchestra and other large ensembles, an opera program, play chamber music, study composition, and take private lessons....
. In 1961 she made her debut with the Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company
Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company
The Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company was an American opera company located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that was active between 1958 and 1974. The company was led by a number of Artistic Directors during its history, beginning with Aurelio Fabiani. Other notable Artistic Directors include Julius...
as Musetta with Nicoletta Panni as Mimì, Angelo Lo Forese as Rodolfo, and Benjamin Rayson as Marcello. She left the NYCO to sing at the Vienna State Opera
Vienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera is an opera house – and opera company – with a history dating back to the mid-19th century. It is located in the centre of Vienna, Austria. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera . In 1920, with the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy by the First Austrian...
under Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan was an Austrian orchestra and opera conductor. To the wider world he was perhaps most famously associated with the Berlin Philharmonic, of which he was principal conductor for 35 years...
for the 1963-1964 season. She also made her debut with the Santa Fe Opera
Santa Fe Opera
The Santa Fe Opera is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe in the U.S. state of New Mexico, headquartered on a former guest ranch of .-General history:...
in the summer of 1963 as Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée.- Literary sources :...
. In 1964 she made her debut with the Central City Opera
Central City Opera
Central City Opera is the fifth-oldest opera company in the United States, founded in 1932. Each festival is presented in the 550-seat historic Central City Opera House built in 1878 in the gold mining era town of Central City, Colorado. Pelham G...
in the title role of Puccini's Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...
.
In 1965 Bower was invited by Rudolf Bing to join the roster of sopranos at the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
. She made her debut with the company on February 22, 1965 as Ortlinde in Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
's Die Walküre
Die Walküre
Die Walküre , WWV 86B, is the second of the four operas that form the cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen , by Richard Wagner...
with Birgit Nilsson
Birgit Nilsson
right|thumb|Nilsson in 1948.Birgit Nilsson was a celebrated Swedish dramatic soprano who specialized in operatic and symphonic works...
as Brünnhilde, Jon Vickers
Jon Vickers
Jonathan Stewart Vickers, CC , known professionally as Jon Vickers, is a retired Canadian heldentenor.Born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, he was the sixth in a family of eight children. In 1950, he was awarded a scholarship to study opera at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto...
as Siegmund, Leonie Rysanek
Leonie Rysanek
Leopoldine "Leonie" Rysanek was an Austrian dramatic soprano.-Biography:Rysanek was born in Vienna and made her operatic debut in 1949 in Innsbruck. In 1951 the Bayreuth Festival reopened and the new leader Wieland Wagner asked her to sing Sieglinde...
as Sieglinde, George London as Wotan, and Irene Dalis
Irene Dalis
Irene Dalis is an American mezzo-soprano born in San José, California. She made her debut in 1953 as Eboli in Don Carlo by Giuseppe Verdi in Germany. She made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, also as Eboli in Don Carlo, on March 16, 1957, earning fine reviews. That was the first of ...
as
Fricka. She remained at the Met for three years, singing such roles as Senta in Wagner's Der Fliegende Holländer, Micaëla, and Musetta. She notably sang the role of Minnie in La Fanciulla del West
La fanciulla del West
La fanciulla del West is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Guelfo Civinini and Carlo Zangarini, based on the play The Girl of the Golden West by the American author David Belasco. Its highly-publicised premiere occurred in New York City in 1910...
for the first public performance at the new Metropolitan Opera House
Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center)
The Metropolitan Opera House is an opera house located on Broadway at Lincoln Square in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Part of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the theater opened in 1966. It replaced the former Metropolitan Opera House at Broadway and 39th St...
at Lincoln Center on April 11, 1966. The production was attended by 3,000 high school students. Her voice is preserved on one Metropolitan Opera radio broadcast
Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts
The Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts are a regular series of weekly broadcasts on network radio of full-length opera performances. They are transmitted live from the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City...
from 4 February 1967 in which she sang Musetta to the Mimi of Teresa Stratas
Teresa Stratas
Teresa Stratas, OC , is a retired Canadian operatic soprano. She is especially well-known for her award-winning recording of Alban Berg's Lulu.-Early life and career:...
, Rudolpho of Gianni Raimondi
Gianni Raimondi
Gianni Raimondi was an Italian lyric tenor, particularly associated with the Italian repertory.Born in Bologna, Raimondi studied at the Music Conservatory of his native city with Antonio Melandri, and Gennaro Barra-Caracciolo and in Mantua with Ettore Campogalliani...
, and Marcello of Mario Sereni
Mario Sereni
Mario Sereni is an Italian baritone, who sang leading roles at the New York Metropolitan Opera for many years.Sereni was born in Perugia, Italy. He attended the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome and the Accademia Chigiana in Siena where he was a pupil of Mario Basiola...
.
Bower joined Sarah Caldwell
Sarah Caldwell
Sarah Caldwell was a notable American opera conductor, impresario, and stage director of opera.- Life :Caldwell was born in Maryville, Missouri, and grew up in Fayetteville, Arkansas. She was a child prodigy and gave public performances on the violin by the time she was ten years old...
's American National Opera Company for their 1967-1968 tour where she sang Alice Ford in Verdi's Falstaff
Falstaff (opera)
Falstaff is an operatic commedia lirica in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, adapted by Arrigo Boito from Shakespeare's plays The Merry Wives of Windsor and scenes from Henry IV. It was Verdi's last opera, written in the composer's ninth decade, and only the second of his 26 operas to be a comedy...
and the title role in Tosca
Tosca
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
with Tommy Rall
Tommy Rall
Thomas Edward "Tommy" Rall is an American ballet dancer, tap dancer and acrobatic dancer who was a prominent featured player in 1950s musical comedies...
as Cavaradossi and George Fourie as Scarpia. She also sang Tosca for Caldwell's Opera Company of Boston
Opera Company of Boston
The Opera Company of Boston was an American opera company located in Boston, Massachusetts that was active during the late 1950s through the early 1990s. The company was founded by American conductor Sarah Caldwell in 1958 under the name Boston Opera Group. At one time, the touring arm of the...
in 1968 with Ray Abizu as Cavaradossi.
Later life
In the early 1970s Bower retired from the stage due to health reasons. After her retirement she worked as a voice teacher and was a longtime board member of the New Jersey Pro Arte Chorale. She was married for many years to John C. Kaufmann with whom she had one son, Mark D. Kaufmann. She died of cancer in 2002, aged 76 at her home in Washington Township, New JerseyWashington Township, New Jersey
Washington Township is the name of several municipalities in the U.S. state of New Jersey:*Washington Township, Burlington County, New Jersey*Washington Township, Gloucester County, New Jersey*Washington Township, Morris County, New Jersey...
.