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Marilyn Horne (b. January 16, 1934, Bradford, Pennsylvania
Bradford, Pennsylvania

Bradford is a small city located in rural McKean County, Pennsylvania, in the United States 78 miles south of Buffalo, New York. Settled in 1823, Bradford was chartered as a city in 1879 and emerged as a wild oil boomtown in the late 1800s....
) is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano

A mezzo-soprano is a type of European classical music female voice type whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above ....
 opera
Opera

Opera is an Performing arts in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work which combines a text and a musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition....
 singer who is particularly associated with the music of Rossini
Gioacchino Rossini

Gioachino Antonio Rossini was a popular Italian composer who created 39 operas as well as sacred music and chamber music. His best known works include Il barbiere di Siviglia , La Cenerentola and Guillaume Tell ....
 and Handel
George Frideric Handel

George Frideric Handel was an England Baroque music composer of Germany birth who is famous for his operas, oratorios, and concerto grosso. His life and music may justly be described as "cosmopolitan": he was born in Germany, trained in Italy, and spent most of his life in England....
. She began her career as a light lyric soprano; however, as the years progressed, the voice settled and matured into a mezzo-soprano instrument with a full and rich timbre equipped with extreme flexibility and great size. She specialized in roles requiring a large sound, beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura
Coloratura

Coloratura has several meanings. The word derives from the Italian colorare or colorazione .The term normally refers to a soprano who has the vocal ability to produce notes above C#6 and whose tessitura is A4-A5 or higher ....
 passages.

e was born in Bradford, Pennsylvania
Bradford, Pennsylvania

Bradford is a small city located in rural McKean County, Pennsylvania, in the United States 78 miles south of Buffalo, New York. Settled in 1823, Bradford was chartered as a city in 1879 and emerged as a wild oil boomtown in the late 1800s....
, but moved with her parents to Long Beach, California
Long Beach, California

Long Beach is a large city located in southern California, USA, on the Pacific Ocean coast. It is situated in Los Angeles County, about south of downtown Los Angeles....
 when she was 11.






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Marilyn Horne (b. January 16, 1934, Bradford, Pennsylvania
Bradford, Pennsylvania

Bradford is a small city located in rural McKean County, Pennsylvania, in the United States 78 miles south of Buffalo, New York. Settled in 1823, Bradford was chartered as a city in 1879 and emerged as a wild oil boomtown in the late 1800s....
) is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano

A mezzo-soprano is a type of European classical music female voice type whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above ....
 opera
Opera

Opera is an Performing arts in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work which combines a text and a musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition....
 singer who is particularly associated with the music of Rossini
Gioacchino Rossini

Gioachino Antonio Rossini was a popular Italian composer who created 39 operas as well as sacred music and chamber music. His best known works include Il barbiere di Siviglia , La Cenerentola and Guillaume Tell ....
 and Handel
George Frideric Handel

George Frideric Handel was an England Baroque music composer of Germany birth who is famous for his operas, oratorios, and concerto grosso. His life and music may justly be described as "cosmopolitan": he was born in Germany, trained in Italy, and spent most of his life in England....
. She began her career as a light lyric soprano; however, as the years progressed, the voice settled and matured into a mezzo-soprano instrument with a full and rich timbre equipped with extreme flexibility and great size. She specialized in roles requiring a large sound, beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura
Coloratura

Coloratura has several meanings. The word derives from the Italian colorare or colorazione .The term normally refers to a soprano who has the vocal ability to produce notes above C#6 and whose tessitura is A4-A5 or higher ....
 passages.

Biography

Horne was born in Bradford, Pennsylvania
Bradford, Pennsylvania

Bradford is a small city located in rural McKean County, Pennsylvania, in the United States 78 miles south of Buffalo, New York. Settled in 1823, Bradford was chartered as a city in 1879 and emerged as a wild oil boomtown in the late 1800s....
, but moved with her parents to Long Beach, California
Long Beach, California

Long Beach is a large city located in southern California, USA, on the Pacific Ocean coast. It is situated in Los Angeles County, about south of downtown Los Angeles....
 when she was 11. At the age of 13, she became part of the newly formed Los Angeles Concert Youth Chorus -- whose other members included a 14-year old Marni Nixon
Marni Nixon

Marni Nixon is an American soprano whose renown for dubbing the singing voices of featured actresses in well known movie musicals earned her the sobriquet "The Ghostess with the Mostess", and also "The Voice of Hollywood"....
 and a 19-year old Paul Salamunovich
Paul Salamunovich

Paul Salamunovich Order of St. Gregory the Great is an American choral conductor and educator.He is the Music Director Emeritus of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, after having served as Music Director from 1991 to 2001....
, among many others -- under famed conductor Roger Wagner
Roger Wagner

Roger Wagner was an United States choral musician, administrator and educator. For five decades championed and refined the art and propelled it forth around the world....
; this choir evolved into the Roger Wagner Chorale in 1948, and later into the Los Angeles Master Chorale
Los Angeles Master Chorale

The Los Angeles Master Chorale is a famous professional Choir in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1964 by Roger Wagner to be one of the three original resident companies of the Music Center of Los Angeles County....
 in 1964. She eventually graduated high school from Long Beach Polytechnic High School
Long Beach Polytechnic High School

Long Beach Polytechnic High School, founded in 1895 as Long Beach High School, is a secondary school located at 1600 Atlantic Avenue in Long Beach, California, California, United States....
.

She studied voice under William Vennard
William Vennard

William Vennard was a famous United States Vocal pedagogy who devoted his life to researching the human voice and its use in singing. He was one of the driving forces behind a major shift within the field of vocal pedagogy during the middle of the 20th century....
 at the University of Southern California
University of Southern California

The University of Southern California is a private university, nonsectarian, research university located in the University Park, Los Angeles, California neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, California, United States....
 School of Music
USC Thornton School of Music

The University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, founded in 1884 and dedicated in 1999, is one of the premier music schools in the United States....
 and participated in Lotte Lehmann
Lotte Lehmann

Lotte Lehmann was a Germany soprano opera and Lieder singer who was especially associated with German repertory. She gave memorable performances in the operas of Richard Strauss; the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier was considered her greatest role....
's vocal master classes.

Career

Horne's first major professional engagement was in 1954, when she dubbed the singing voice of Dorothy Dandridge
Dorothy Dandridge

Dorothy Jean Dandridge was an United States actress and popular singer. Dandridge was the first African American to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress....
 in the film Carmen Jones
Carmen Jones

Carmen Jones is a 1943 Broadway theatre musical theatre, later made into a 1954 musical film; the play also ran for a season in 1991 at London's Old Vic and most recently in London's Royal Festival Hall in the Southbank Centre in 2007....
. Until that point, she had worked as a background singer for several TV sitcoms, as well as recorded covers of popular songs of the early 1950s, which were sold in dimestores around the country for $1.98. She made an appearance on The Odd Couple
The Odd Couple (TV series)

The Odd Couple is a television situation comedy broadcast from September 24, 1970 to July 4, 1975 on American Broadcasting Company. It starred Tony Randall as Felix Unger and Jack Klugman as Oscar Madison....
 as a character named "Jackie," her own nickname, a meek and nervous would-be singer who develops into a full-blown diva and essays the role of Carmen with brilliant results; she also sang on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a late-night Talk/Chat show hosted by Johnny Carson under the The Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992....
. She made her Los Angeles debut the same year when she performed the role of Hata in The Bartered Bride
The Bartered Bride

The Bartered Bride is the second opera, a comedy in three acts, by Bedrich Smetana. The Czech libretto was written by Karel Sabina, who had also written the libretto for Brandenburgers in Bohemia....
 with the Los Angeles Guild Opera.

Her first major breakthrough came when her singing ability was recognized by Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was a Russian-born composer, considered by many to be the most influential composer of 20th century music. He was a quintessentially Cosmopolitanism Russian who was named by Time as one of the 100 most influential people of the century....
; her operatic career began when he invited her to perform in the 1956 Vienna festival. She remained in Europe for three seasons singing for the Gelsenkirchen Opera.

She was highly acclaimed for her performance as Marie in Alban Berg
Alban Berg

Alban Maria Johannes Berg was an Austrian composer. He was a member of the Second Viennese School with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and produced compositions that combined Gustav Mahler Romantic music with a personal adaptation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique....
's Wozzeck
Wozzeck

Wozzeck is the first opera by the Austrian composer Alban Berg. It was composed between 1914 and 1922 and first performed in 1925. Since then it has established a solid place for itself in the mainstream operatic tradition, and modern productions are consistently sold out....
 at the inauguration of Gelsenkirchen
Gelsenkirchen

Gelsenkirchen is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northern part of the Ruhr area. Its population in 2006 was c....
's new opera house on May 22 1960. In 1964, she returned to the United States to appear in Wozzeck at the San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera

San Francisco Opera is the second largest opera company in North America after the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola ....
.

For many years, Horne was associated with the Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
n soprano Dame Joan Sutherland
Joan Sutherland

Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, Order of Merit, Order of Australia, Order of the British Empire is an Australian voice type soprano noted for her contribution in the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire in the late 1950s, 1960s and 1970s....
 in their performances of the bel canto
Bel Canto

Bel Canto may refer to:*Bel canto, a opera term that literally means "beautiful singing"*Bel Canto , a novel by Ann Patchett*Bel Canto , a Norwegian pop/electronica band...
 repertoire. They first performed together in a concert version of Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Bellini

Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italy opera composer. Known for his flowing melodic lines for which he was named "the Swan of Catania", Bellini was the quintessential composer of Bel canto opera....
's Beatrice di Tenda
Beatrice di Tenda

Beatrice di Tenda, is a 'tragedia lirica', or tragic opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini, from a libretto by Felice Romani, after the play of the same name by Carlo Tedaldi-Fores....
 at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City located at 881 Seventh Avenue , occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street , two blocks south of Central Park....
 in February 1961. In 1965, they were paired again in a performance of Rossini's Semiramide
Semiramide

Semiramide is an opera in two acts by Gioachino Rossini.The libretto was written by Gaetano Rossi, based on Voltaire's tragedy Semiramis, which in turn was based on the legend of Semiramis of Babylon ....
 with the Opera Company of Boston
Opera Company of Boston

The Opera Company of Boston was founded by the United States conducting Sarah Caldwell in Boston, Massachusetts in 1958. At one time, the touring arm of the company was called Opera New England....
.

Horne made her debut at Covent Garden
Covent Garden

Covent Garden is a district in London, England, located on the easternmost parts of the City of Westminster and the southwest corner of the London Borough of Camden....
 in October 1964 as Marie in Wozzeck
Wozzeck

Wozzeck is the first opera by the Austrian composer Alban Berg. It was composed between 1914 and 1922 and first performed in 1925. Since then it has established a solid place for itself in the mainstream operatic tradition, and modern productions are consistently sold out....
. Her La Scala
La Scala

The Teatro alla Scala , in Milan, Italy, is one of the world's most famous opera houses. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778, under the name Nuovo Regio Ducal Teatro alla Scala with Antonio Salieri Europa riconosciuta....
 debut was as Jocasta in Stravinsky's opéra-oratorio, Œdipus rex on March 13 1969. Another of Horne's breakthroughs occurred that same year during a performance of Rossini's Le siège de Corinthe
Le siège de Corinthe

Le si?ge de Corinthe is an opera in three acts by Gioacchino Rossini to a French language libretto by Luigi Balocchi and Alexandre Soumet, based on Maometto II by Cesare della Valle....
 at La Scala, when Horne received a remarkable mid-act seven minute ovation. Horne made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera

The Metropolitan Opera Association of New York City, founded in April 1880, is a major presenter of all types of opera including Grand Opera. Peter Gelb is the company's general manager and James Levine is music director....
 in 1970 as Adalgisa in Bellini's Norma
Norma (opera)

Norma is a tragedia lirica or opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini with libretto by Felice Romani after Norma, ossia L'infanticidio by Alexandre Soumet....
 with Sutherland in the title role. She thereafter appeared regularly at the Met, opening the 1972-1973 season as Carmen. A great success there was in Meyerbeer's Le prophète, in John Dexter
John Dexter

John Dexter was an United Kingdom award-winning theatre, opera, and film director.Born in Derby, England, Dexter left school at the age of 14 to serve in the British army during World War II....
's production. In 1984, she sang the title role of Handel's opera seria
Opera seria

Opera seria is an Italian musical term which refers to the noble and "serious" style of Italian opera that predominated in Europe from the 1710s to ca....
 Rinaldo
Rinaldo (opera)

Rinaldo is an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel, now a part of the standard operatic repertoire. The Italian libretto was written by Giacomo Rossi based on episodes of Torquato Tasso's Gerusalemme liberata ....
 (directed by Frank Corsaro
Frank Corsaro

Frank Corsaro is one of America's foremost stage directors of opera and theatre. His Broadway productions include The Night of the Iguana ....
), the first Handel opera ever performed at the Met.

Although best known for her bel canto
Bel Canto

Bel Canto may refer to:*Bel canto, a opera term that literally means "beautiful singing"*Bel Canto , a novel by Ann Patchett*Bel Canto , a Norwegian pop/electronica band...
 and opera seria
Opera seria

Opera seria is an Italian musical term which refers to the noble and "serious" style of Italian opera that predominated in Europe from the 1710s to ca....
 roles, Horne also performed much American music, both contemporary music
20th century classical music

At the turn of the 20th century classical music was characteristically late Romantic music in style, while at the same time the Impressionist music movement, spearheaded by Claude Debussy was taking form....
, by composers such as William Bolcom
William Bolcom

William Elden Bolcom is an United States composer and piano. He has received the Pulitzer Prize, the National Medal of Arts, three Grammy Awards, and the Detroit Music Award....
, and traditional popular songs. She can be heard on the soundtrack of Flower Drum Song
Flower Drum Song

Flower Drum Song is a musical theatre written by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein, based on the 1957 novel of the same name by Chinese American author C....
 singing "Love, Look Away" and sings the role of Lady Thiang on the Philips recording of The King and I
The King and I

The King and I is a musical theatre by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II based on the book Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon....
 which stars Julie Andrews and Ben Kingsley.

Horne was married from 1960 to 1974 to the conductor
Conducting

Conducting is the act of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. Orchestras, choirs, concert bands and other musical ensembles often have conductors....
 Henry Lewis
Henry Lewis

Henry Jay Lewis was an African-American double-bassist and orchestral conductor....
, with whom she maintained a home in Echo Park
Echo Park, Los Angeles, California

Echo Park is a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California....
 for many years, and by whom she had a daughter, Angela.

In 1983 she published (with co-writer Jane Scovell) a candid autobiography, My Life, and a continuation volume, Marilyn Horne, The Song Continues, appeared in 2004.

Horne received many honors during her career. A particularly notable one was a New York Times article, penned by then editor of Opera News, Robert Jacobson, in celebration of the Met's 100th anniversary in 1983. Jacobson listed the 100 greatest singers to ever perform at the house. Horne was the only one still actively singing at that time. She is a recipient of Yale University
Yale University

Yale University is a private university in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1701 as the Collegiate School, Yale is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher education in the United States and is a member of the Ivy League....
's Sanford Medal.

In January of 1993, Horne performed "Make A Rainbow" by American singer/songwriter Portia Nelson, along with the Shaker hymn "Simple Gifts
Simple Gifts

"Simple Gifts" is an 1848 Shaker song by Joseph Brackett.It has endured many inaccurate descriptions. Though often classified as an anonymous Shaker hymn or as a work song, it is better classified as a dance song....
," at the inauguration of US President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton served as the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He was the fifteenth Democrat elected to that office....
.

Horne retired from the concert stage in 1999 with a recital at the Chicago Symphony Center. She still occasionally performs at pop concerts (most recently with cabaret star Barbara Cook
Barbara Cook

Barbara Cook is a Tony Award winning United States singer and actress who first came to prominence in the 1950s after starring in the original Broadway theatre musical theatre Candide and The Music Man among others....
), her voice undimmed by age. Horne has also established The Marilyn Horne Foundation to help preserve the art of vocal recitals. She teaches a series of annual Master Classes at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music
Oberlin Conservatory of Music

The Oberlin Conservatory of Music, located in Bibbins Hall, on the campus of Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, was founded in 1865 and is the oldest continuously operating conservatory in the United States....
, the University of Maryland College Park, and the University of Oklahoma
University of Oklahoma

University of Oklahoma, abbreviated OU, is a coeducational public university research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two became the state of Oklahoma....
.

It was reported in January 2006, shortly after Horne's 72nd birthday, that she had been diagnosed the previous month with localized pancreatic cancer, but her prognosis was good. In January 2007, she appeared at a public function for her Foundation.

Abridged Discography

  • Bellini: Norma (Sutherland, J. Alexander, Cross; Bonynge, 1964) Decca
  • Bernstein: West Side Story (Te Kanawa, Troyanos, Carreras; Bernstein, 1984) Deutsche Grammophon
  • Bizet: Carmen (Maliponte, McCracken, Krause; Bernstein, 1972) Deutsche Grammophon
  • Donizetti: Anna Bolena (Souliotis, J. Alexander, Ghiaurov; Varviso, 1968-69) Decca
  • Donizetti: Lucrezia Borgia (Sutherland, Aragall, Wixell; Bonynge, 1977) Decca
  • Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice (Lorengar, Donath; Solti, 1970) Decca
  • Handel: Semele (Battle, Ramey; Nelson, 1990) Deutsche Grammophon
  • Massenet: La navarraise (Domingo, Milnes, Zaccaria; Lewis, 1975) RCA
  • Meyerbeer: Le prophète (Scotto, McCracken, Hines; Lewis, c1976) Sony
  • Mozart: Don Giovanni (Sutherland, Lorengar, Krenn, Bacquier, Gramm; Bonynge, 1968) Decca
  • Ponchielli: La Gioconda (Tebaldi, Dominguez, Bergonzi, Merrill; Gardelli, 1967) Decca
  • Puccini: Suor Angelica (Scotto, Cotrubas; Maazel, 1976) Sony
  • Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia (Barbacini, Nucci, Dara, Ramey; R.Chailly, 1982) Sony
  • Rossini: Bianca e Falliero (Ricciarelli, Merritt; Renzetti, 1986) [live] Fonit Cetra
  • Rossini: L'italiana in Algeri (Battle, Ramey; Scimone, 1980) Erato
  • Rossini: Semiramide (Sutherland, Rouleau; Bonynge, 1965-66) Decca
  • Rossini: Tancredi (Cuberli, Zaccaria; Weikert, 1982) Sony
  • Roussel: Padmâvatî (Gedda, van Dam; Plasson, 1982-83) EMI
  • Thomas: Mignon (Welting, von Stade, Vanzo, Zaccaria; de Almeida, 1977) Sony
  • Verdi: Falstaff (Sweet, Lopardo, Panerai, Titus; C.Davis, 1991) RCA
  • Verdi: Requiem (Sutherland, Horne, Pavarotti, Talvela; Solti, 1967) Decca
  • Verdi: Il trovatore (Sutherland, Pavarotti, Wixell, Ghiaurov; Bonynge, 1976) Decca
  • Vivaldi: Orlando furioso (de los Ángeles, Valentini Terrani; Scimone, 1977) Erato


Abridged Videography


  • Corigliano: The Ghosts of Versailles (Stratas, Fleming; Levine, Graham, 1992) [live] Deutsche Grammophon
  • Rossini: L'italiana in Algeri (M.Merritt, Ahlstedt; Levine, Ponnelle, 1986) [live] Deutsche Grammophon
  • Rossini: Semiramide (Anderson, Ramey; Conlon, Copley, 1990) [live] Kultur
  • Verdi: Falstaff (Freni, Bonney, Lopardo, Plishka; Levine, Zeffirelli, 1992) [live] Deutsche Grammophon
  • Vivaldi: Orlando furioso (Behr, Pizzi, 1989) [live] Kultur


Works


  • Marilyn Horne: The Song Continues by Marilyn Horne and Jane Scovell | Baskerville Publishers; ISBN 1880909715
  • Marilyn Horne: My Life by Marilyn Horne and Jane Scovell | Atheneum Books; ISBN 068911401X


Sources


External links

  • (Capon's Lists of Opera Recordings)