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Norman Treigle (né Adanelle Wilfred Treigle; 6 March, 1927 - 16 February 1975) was born in New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans, Louisiana

New Orleans is a major United States port city and the largest city in Louisiana. New Orleans is the center of the New Orleans metropolitan area metropolitan area, the largest metro area in the state....
, the fifth and final child of a poor carpenter and his wife. Following his 1946 marriage to the former Loraine Siegel, the bass-baritone
Bass-baritone

A bass-baritone is a high-lying Bass that shares certain qualities with the baritone voice type.The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three Richard Wagner roles: the Dutchman in The Flying Dutchman , Wotan/Der Wanderer in the Ring Cycle and Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger von N?rnbe...
 began vocal studies with the contralto Elisabeth Wood. In 1947, he made his operatic debut with the New Orleans Opera
New Orleans Opera

Opera has long been part of the musical culture of New Orleans, Louisiana. Operas have regularly been performed in the city since the 1790s, and for the majority of the city's history since the early 19th century, New Orleans has had a resident company regularly performing opera in addition to theaters hosting traveling performers and c...
 Association, as the Duke of Verona in Roméo et Juliette
Roméo et Juliette

Rom?o et Juliette is an opera in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French language libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carr?, based on The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare....
. Between 1949 and 1951, he attended Loyola University of the South's
Loyola University New Orleans

Loyola University New Orleans is a Private university, co-educational and Jesuit university located in New Orleans, Louisiana. Originally established as Loyola College in 1904, the institution was later chartered as a university in 1912....
 College of Music, while acquiring various roles with the local company.

In 1953, Treigle made his New York City Opera
New York City Opera

The New York City Opera was founded in 1943 with the aim of an opera company that would be financially accessible to a wide audience, innovative in its choice of repertory, and a home for United States singers and composers....
 debut, as Colline in La bohème
La bohème

La boh?me is an opera in four acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Sc?nes de la vie de boh?me by Henri Murger....
.






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Norman Treigle (né Adanelle Wilfred Treigle; 6 March, 1927 - 16 February 1975) was born in New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans, Louisiana

New Orleans is a major United States port city and the largest city in Louisiana. New Orleans is the center of the New Orleans metropolitan area metropolitan area, the largest metro area in the state....
, the fifth and final child of a poor carpenter and his wife. Following his 1946 marriage to the former Loraine Siegel, the bass-baritone
Bass-baritone

A bass-baritone is a high-lying Bass that shares certain qualities with the baritone voice type.The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three Richard Wagner roles: the Dutchman in The Flying Dutchman , Wotan/Der Wanderer in the Ring Cycle and Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger von N?rnbe...
 began vocal studies with the contralto Elisabeth Wood. In 1947, he made his operatic debut with the New Orleans Opera
New Orleans Opera

Opera has long been part of the musical culture of New Orleans, Louisiana. Operas have regularly been performed in the city since the 1790s, and for the majority of the city's history since the early 19th century, New Orleans has had a resident company regularly performing opera in addition to theaters hosting traveling performers and c...
 Association, as the Duke of Verona in Roméo et Juliette
Roméo et Juliette

Rom?o et Juliette is an opera in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French language libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carr?, based on The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare....
. Between 1949 and 1951, he attended Loyola University of the South's
Loyola University New Orleans

Loyola University New Orleans is a Private university, co-educational and Jesuit university located in New Orleans, Louisiana. Originally established as Loyola College in 1904, the institution was later chartered as a university in 1912....
 College of Music, while acquiring various roles with the local company.

In 1953, Treigle made his New York City Opera
New York City Opera

The New York City Opera was founded in 1943 with the aim of an opera company that would be financially accessible to a wide audience, innovative in its choice of repertory, and a home for United States singers and composers....
 debut, as Colline in La bohème
La bohème

La boh?me is an opera in four acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Sc?nes de la vie de boh?me by Henri Murger....
. Three years later, the bass-baritone scored his first great success, as the tormented Reverend Olin Blitch, in the New York premiere of Floyd's Susannah
Susannah

Susannah is an opera in two acts composed by USA opera composer Carlisle Floyd while he was on the piano faculty at Florida State University....
. In 1958, he made his European debut in this opera, at the Brussels World's Fair
Expo '58

Expo 58, also known as the Brussels World?s Fair, Brusselse Wereldtentoonstelling or Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Bruxelles, was held from 17 April to 19 October 1958....
.

In succeeding seasons, Treigle became the leading bass-baritone of the Americas, and was acclaimed as one of the world's greatest singing-actors, specializing in roles that evoked villainy and terror. He sang in many experimental productions and participated in several important premieres, in operas by Einem
Gottfried von Einem

Gottfried von Einem was an Austrian composer. He is known chiefly for his operas influenced by the music of Igor Stravinsky and Sergei Prokofiev, as well as by jazz....
, Copland
Aaron Copland

Aaron Copland was an American classical music composer of concert and film music, as well as an accomplished pianist. Instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, he was widely known as "the dean of American composers." Copland's music achieved a balance between modernism music and American folk styles....
, Moore, Floyd
Carlisle Floyd

Carlisle Floyd is an United States opera composer. The son of a Methodist minister, he based many of his works on themes from the South. His best known opera, Susannah , is based a story in the so-called Apocrypha, transferred to contemporary, rural Tennessee, and is set in a Southern dialect....
, Orff
Carl Orff

Carl Orff was a 20th-century Germany composer, most famous for his composition Carmina Burana . He has also become very influential in the field of music education for his pedagogy methods, which survive through Orff Schulwerk....
, Dallapiccola
Luigi Dallapiccola

Luigi Dallapiccola was an Italy composer known for his lyrical serialism compositions....
 and Ward
Robert Ward

Robert Ward is an United States composer....
 (The Crucible
The Crucible (opera)

The Crucible is an English language opera written by Robert Ward based on the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller. It won both the 1962 Pulitzer Prize for Music and the New York Music Critics Circle Citation....
). Perhaps his greatest roles were in Faust
Faust (opera)

Faust is an opera in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French language libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carr? from Carr?'s play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Goethe's Faust Part One....
 (as Méphistophélès), Carmen
Carmen

Carmen is a French op?ra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Hal?vy, based on the Carmen by Prosper M?rim?e, first published in 1845, itself influenced by the narrative poem "The Gypsies" by Pushkin....
 (as Escamillo), Susannah, Il prigioniero, Les contes d'Hoffmann
Les contes d'Hoffmann

Les contes d'Hoffmann is an opera by Jacques Offenbach. It was first performed in Paris, at the Op?ra-Comique, on February 10, 1881 in music....
 (the four Villains), Boris Godunov
Boris Godunov (opera)

Boris Godunov is an opera by Modest Mussorgsky . The work was composed between 1868 and 1874 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is Mussorgsky's only completed opera and is considered his masterpiece....
 and, especially, Mefistofele
Mefistofele

Mefistofele is an opera in a prologue, four acts and an epilogue, the only completed opera by the Italy composer-librettist Arrigo Boito.Boito began consideration of an opera on the Faustian theme after completing his studies at the Milan Conservatory in 1861....
.

In the fall of 1974, Treigle made his Covent Garden
Royal Opera House

The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in the London district of Covent Garden. The large building, often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", is the home of Royal Opera, London , Royal Ballet, London and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House....
 debut in a new production of Faust. On February 16, 1975, Treigle was found dead in his New Orleans apartment. He had been diagnosed as a chronic insomniac and it was determined that he had had an accidental overdose of sleeping pills. With his first wife, he had a son (who died in 1993) and a daughter, Phyllis. He had also adopted the daughter of his second wife, from whom he was separated at the time of his death.

Phyllis Treigle
Phyllis Treigle

Phyllis Treigle is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, and is a noted American soprano and the daughter of the great bass-baritone Norman Treigle....
 is a soprano who appeared with the New Orleans Opera and the New York City Opera.

Selected Discography of Studio Recordings


  • Copland: The Tender Land: abridged (Clements, Cassilly; Copland, 1965) Columbia Records
    Columbia Records

    Columbia Records is an American record label founded in 1888.Columbia is the oldest surviving brand name in pre-recorded sound, being the first record company to produce pre-recorded records as opposed to blank cylinders....
  • Handel: Giulio Cesare (Sills, Forrester; Rudel, 1967) RCA
    RCA

    RCA Corporation, founded as Radio Corporation of America, was an electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. Today, the RCA is owned by the France conglomerate Thomson SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Thomson....
  • Floyd: Pilgrimage: excerpts (Torkanowsky, 1971) Orion
  • Offenbach: Les contes d'Hoffmann (Sills, Marsee, Burrows; Rudel, 1972) Westminster (Deutsche Grammophon
    Deutsche Grammophon

    Deutsche Grammophon is a Germany classical record label, now part of the Universal Music Group. The company has long been known for its high standards of high fidelity....
    )
  • Boito: Mefistofele (Caballé, Domingo; Rudel, 1973) EMI
    EMI

    The EMI Group is a United Kingdom music company comprising the major record label EMI Music ? which operates several labels and is based in Kensington in London, England, United Kingdom ? and EMI Music Publishing, based in New York City....


Selected Approved "Live" Recordings


  • Puccini: La bohème (Albanese, Schuh, di Stefano, Valdengo; Cellini, 1959) VAI
  • Floyd: Susannah (Curtin, Cassilly; Andersson, 1962) VAI
  • Floyd: The Sojourner and Mollie Sinclair (Neway; Rudel, 1963) VAI
  • Floyd: Markheim (Schuh; Andersson, 1966) VAI
  • Handel: Giulio Cesare: excerpts (Sills; Richter, 1968) VAI


Commercial Videography


  • Floyd: Susannah: Revival Scene (Yestadt, Treigle, 1958) [live] Bel Canto Society


Bibliography


  • Strange Child of Chaos: Norman Treigle, by Brian Morgan, iUniverse, 2006. ISBN 0-595-38898-1


Trivia


  • A fragment of the Treigle voice is heard in the 2005 Warner Bros. film, Batman Begins
    Batman Begins

    Batman Begins is a 2005 superhero film based on the fictional DC Comics character Batman, directed by Christopher Nolan. It stars Christian Bale as Batman, along with Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Cillian Murphy, Morgan Freeman, Ken Watanabe, Tom Wilkinson, and Rutger Hauer....
    , directed by Christopher Nolan
    Christopher Nolan

    Christopher Allen James Nolan is a British-American filmmaker, screenwriter and Film producer. The son of an English people father and American mother, Nolan is a multiple citizenship of the United Kingdom and the United States....
    . The young Bruce Wayne and his parents are seen attending a performance of Mefistofele in Gotham City, and the recording used is EMI's 1973 set.

External links

  • (with Beverly Sills
    Beverly Sills

    Beverly Sills was an American operatic soprano who enjoyed success in the 1960s and 1970s. She was famous for her performances in coloratura soprano roles in operas around the world and on recordings....
    , 1968, audio only).