Rita Fornia (17 July 1878-27 October 1922 Paris) was an American
operaOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
singer. She began her career in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century singing
coloratura sopranoA 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. Early on in her career her voice darkened and dropped slightly causing her to focus more within the
mezzo-sopranoA mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice 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...
repertoire while still singing some soprano roles. She joined the
Metropolitan OperaThe 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. The music director is James Levine....
company in 1907 where she performed regularly in mostly supporting roles until her retirement in 1922.
Rita Fornia (17 July 1878-27 October 1922 Paris) was an American
operaOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
singer. She began her career in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century singing
coloratura sopranoA 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. Early on in her career her voice darkened and dropped slightly causing her to focus more within the
mezzo-sopranoA mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice 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...
repertoire while still singing some soprano roles. She joined the
Metropolitan OperaThe 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. The music director is James Levine....
company in 1907 where she performed regularly in mostly supporting roles until her retirement in 1922. She is best remembered today for portraying the role of the Abbess in the original production of Puccini's
Suor AngelicaSuor Angelica is an opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an original Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano. It is the second opera of the trio of operas known as Il trittico...
in 1918.
Career
Fornia was born in San Francisco with the name Regina Newman in 1878. Her parents were immigrants from
PrussiaPrussia was a historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries this state had substantial influence on German and European history...
and her father owned a successful business as a wholesale jeweller. At the age of 12, she attended
Adelina PattiAdelina Patti was one of the most highly regarded opera singers of the 19th century, earning huge fees at the height of her career....
's 1890 concert in San Francisco which inspired her to become an opera singer. Her father eventually allowed her to move to
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
in 1898 to pursue her desire.
While in New York, Fornia studied with Emil Fischer and
Sofia ScalchiSofia Scalchi was an Italian contralto. Born in Turin, she studied with Augusta Boccabadati, making her debut in Mantua in Un ballo in maschera in 1866. Her first major success came at Covent Garden, where on November 5, 1868, she made her debut as Azucena in Il trovatore. She appeared with the...
in New York City and then, under Fischer's advice, moved to Berlin in 1899 to study under Selma Nicklass-Kempner. Kempner, later the teacher of
Frieda HempelFrieda Hempel was a celebrated German soprano singer in operatic and concert work who had an international career in Europe and the United States....
, trained her as a coloratura soprano. She made her professional début with the
Hamburg State OperaThe Hamburg State Opera is one of the leading opera companies in Germany.Opera in Hamburg dates back to 2 January 1678 when the "Opern-Theatrum" was inaugurated with a performance of a biblical Singspiel by Johann Theile...
in 1901 as Eudoxie in
HalévyJacques-François-Fromental-Élie Halévy was a French composer. He is known today largely for his opera La Juive.-Early career:...
's
La JuiveLa Juive is a grand opera in five acts by Fromental Halévy to an original French libretto by Eugène Scribe; it was first performed at the Opéra, Paris, on February 23 1835.- Background :...
. Over the next two years she sang mostly coloratura soprano roles in Germany and France, largely with the Hamburg State Opera who offered her a contract. Her other roles in Hamburg included Rosina in
The Barber of SevilleThe Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini...
and the Queen of the Night in
The Magic FluteThe Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder...
. From the Fall of 1902 through the summer of 1903 she studied with
Jean de ReszkeJean de Reszke, born Jan Mieczyslaw, was a Polish tenor. He enjoyed international renown for the quality of his singing and the elegance of his bearing and he became the biggest male opera star of the late 19th century.-Biography:He was born in Warsaw in 1850...
in
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. Reszke was convinced the Fornia was actually a mezzo-soprano and trained her voice accordingly. Under Reszke's recommendation to
Henry SavageHenry Wilson Savage was an American theatrical manager. He was born in New York City and graduated from Harvard in 1880. He became president of the Henry W. Savage Company, Inc., and of the Castle Square Opera Company of Boston, and director of the National Association of Theatrical Producing...
, Fornia returned to America in August 1903 to join the Savage English Grand Opera Company where she sang both mezzo-soprano and soprano roles until 1906. Her first performance with the company was as Siébel in
Charles GounodCharles-François Gounod was a French composer, best known for his Ave Maria as well as his operas Faust and Roméo et Juliette.-Biography:...
's
FaustFaust is a grand opera in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
at the
Brooklyn Academy of MusicBrooklyn Academy of Music is a major performing arts venue in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City, known as a center for progressive and avant garde performance....
on 21 September 1903. Her other roles with Savage's company included Musetta in
Giacomo PucciniGiacomo 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 bohèmeLa bohème is an opera in four acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger. The world première performance of La bohème was in Turin on February 1, 1896 at the Teatro Regio and conducted by the young Arturo...
, Nedda in
PagliacciPagliacci is an opera consisting of a prologue and two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It recounts the tragedy of a jealous husband in a commedia dell'arte troupe...
, Santuzza in
Cavalleria rusticanaCavalleria rusticana is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from a play written by Giovanni Verga based on his short story. Considered one of the classic verismo operas, it premiered on May 17, 1890 at the Teatro...
, both Brünnhilde and Sieglinde in
The Valkyrie, both Elisabeth and Venus in Wagner's
TannhäuserTannhäuser is an opera in three acts, music and text by Richard Wagner, based on the two Germanic legends of Tannhäuser and the song contest at Wartburg...
, and both Leonora and Azucena in Verdi's
Il trovatoreIl trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Leone Emanuele Bardare and Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez....
.
In 1907
Heinrich ConriedHeinrich Conried was a theatrical manager and director of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City....
hired Fornia to join the roster at the
Metropolitan OperaThe 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. The music director is James Levine....
for the 1907—1908 season. Her first performance with the company was as the Geisha in Mascagni's
IrisIris is an opera in three acts by Pietro Mascagni to an original Italian libretto by Luigi Illica. Its first performance was at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 22 November 1898.The opera is through-composed and set in Japan during legendary times...
on December 6, 1907 where her name was billed as Rita Fornia for the first time. She notably sang with
Geraldine FarrarGeraldine Farrar was a soprano opera singer and film actress. She had a large following among young women, who were nicknamed "Gerry-flappers".- Early life and opera career :...
and
Enrico CarusoEnrico Caruso was an Italian tenor who sang to acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and North and South America...
in a performance
Faust for the opening of the new Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1908. Also of interest during this season was her last minute replacement of an ailing
Emma EamesEmma Eames was an American soprano. She sang lyric and lyric-dramatic roles in opera and enjoyed a brilliant career in New York, London and Paris during the last decade of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century.-Her Early Years:The daughter of an international lawyer, Eames was...
as Leonora in
Il trovatore in March 1908 which caused a sensation among New York audiences. The
New York American reported the following about her performance:
"To the amazement of those who had not heard the singer in important parts, Mme. La Fornia made a pronounced and brilliant hit. Though she had had no rehearsal, she sang admirably. In the dramatic passages she had power, and suggested passion. In her florid music, she had taste, charm, and remarkable facility. Her voice is fresh and of a delightful quality. She acts intelligently. And she is handsome. Why has the Metropolitan management kept a singer of Mme. La Fornia’s caliber in the background all these months?"
The success of this first season led Conried to offer Fornia a lengthy contract and she continued to perform with the company through 1922. She sang in more than 400 performances with the Metropolitan Opera, where she occasionally performed leading roles but more frequently was heard in a wide range of smaller supporting parts. Musicologist and biographer Mary Watkins Cushing said the following about Fornia's career with the company:
"In the period of opera which included many of the greatest singers the Metropolitan has ever known, Madame Fornia did not stand out, although she was gifted with an excellent and useful voice, artistic stamina, and a kindly and accommodating disposition. Were she a member of the company today, she would doubtless be considered a top-flight singer. She was, during her time, an invaluable asset; the sort of hard-working, uninspired, but competent artist every company needs……She was a pleasant, fairly placid woman, of no great personal distinction either on or off the scene. She was, in short, not the material of which the so-called stars of the musical world are made, but she was beyond all doubt a first-rate example of what the Europeans call a routinière."
Most notably, Fornia created the parts of Enya in the original 1912 production of
Horatio ParkerHoratio William Parker was an American composer and teacher. He was a central figure in musical life in New Haven, Connecticut in the late 19th century, and is best remembered as the teacher of Charles Ives....
's
MonaMona is an opera in three acts by composer Horatio Parker with an English libretto by Brian Hooker. The opera premiered at the Metropolitan Opera on 14 March 1912 after the work won the Met's composition competition in 1911.- Roles :...
, Giulia in the original 1915 production of
Umberto GiordanoUmberto Menotti Maria Giordano was an Italian composer, mainly of operas.He was born in Foggia in Puglia, southern Italy, and studied under Paolo Serrao at the Conservatoire of Naples...
's
Madame Sans-GêneMadame Sans-Gêne is an opera in three acts by Umberto Giordano. The libretto was taken from Victorien Sardou and Emile Moreau's play, adapted for the opera by Renato Simoni.-Performance history:...
and the Abbess in the original 1918 production of Puccini's
Suor AngelicaSuor Angelica is an opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an original Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano. It is the second opera of the trio of operas known as Il trittico...
. Her other roles with the company included Amarante in
La fille de Madame AngotLa fille de Madame Angot is an opéra comique in three acts by Charles Lecocq. The French text was by Clairville, Paul Siraudin and Victor Koning.-Performance history:...
, Barbarina in
Le Nozze di Figaro, Donna Elvira in
Don GiovanniDon Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered in the Estates Theatre in Prague on October 29, 1787...
, Eleanora in
Le Donne CurioseLe donne curiose is an opera in three acts by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari to a text by Luigi Sugana after Carlo Goldoni's play.-Performance history:...
, Eurydice in Monteverdi's
OrfeoL'Orfeo is one of the earliest works recognized as an opera, composed by Claudio Monteverdi with text by Alessandro Striggio for the annual carnival of Mantua...
, Flowermaiden in
ParsifalParsifal is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner. It is loosely based on Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, the 13th century epic poem of the Arthurian knight Parzival and his quest for the Holy Grail....
, Frasquita in
CarmenCarmen 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 influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
, Geltrude in
Il maestro di cappellaIl maestro di cappella is an intermezzo in one act by Domenico Cimarosa. The first known performance of the work was on July 2, 1793 in Berlin, Germany. However, it is likely that this was not the premier production. Music historians believe the opera debuted somewhere between 1786-1792...
, Gertrud in
Hänsel und Gretel, Giulietta in
Les Contes d'HoffmannLes contes d'Hoffmann is an opera by Jacques Offenbach. It was first performed in Paris, at the Opéra-Comique, on February 10, 1881....
, Gutrune in
Götterdämmerungis the last in Richard Wagner's cycle of four operas entitled Der Ring des Nibelungen . It received its premiere at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus on 17 August 1876, as part of the first complete performance of the Ring....
, Helmwige in
Die WalküreDie Walküre is the second of the four operas that comprise Der Ring des Nibelungen , by Richard Wagner...
, the Innkeeper's Daughter in
KönigskinderKönigskinder is a stage work by Engelbert Humperdinck that exists in two versions: as a melodrama and as an opera or more precisely a Märchenoper...
, Leonora in
Il TrovatoreIl trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Leone Emanuele Bardare and Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez....
, Marianne in
Der RosenkavalierDer Rosenkavalier is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel Les amours du chevalier de Faublas by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière’s comedy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac...
, Marzelline in
FidelioFidelio is a German opera in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto is by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly which had been used for the 1798 opera Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal by Pierre Gaveaux...
, Nedda in
PagliacciPagliacci is an opera consisting of a prologue and two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It recounts the tragedy of a jealous husband in a commedia dell'arte troupe...
, Pepa in
TieflandTiefland is an opera in a prologue and three acts by Eugen d'Albert, to a libretto in German by Rudolph Lothar. Based on the 1896 Catalan play Terra baixa by Àngel Guimerà, Tiefland was d'Albert's seventh opera, and is the one which is now the best known.-Performance History:Tiefland was first...
, Poussette in
ManonManon is an opéra comique in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, based on the 1731 novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost...
, the Priestess in
AidaAida is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
, Rosina in
Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Santuzza in
Cavalleria RusticanaCavalleria rusticana is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from a play written by Giovanni Verga based on his short story. Considered one of the classic verismo operas, it premiered on May 17, 1890 at the Teatro...
, the Second Lady in
Die Zauberflöte, the Shepherd in
TannhäuserTannhäuser is an opera in three acts, music and text by Richard Wagner, based on the two Germanic legends of Tannhäuser and the song contest at Wartburg...
, Siebel in
FaustFaust is a grand opera in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
, Stéphano in
Roméo et JulietteRoméo et Juliette is an opéra in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare...
, and Wellgunde in
Das RheingoldDas Rheingold is the first of the four operas that comprise Der Ring des Nibelungen , by Richard Wagner...
among others. Her last performance at the Met was in her most celebrated role, Suzuki in
Madama ButterflyMadama 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...
, on April 7, 1922.
In April 1909 Fornia married James P. Labey, a New York art dealer, with whom she enjoyed a happy marriage. According to her friend and colleague, renowned singer
Geraldine FarrarGeraldine Farrar was a soprano opera singer and film actress. She had a large following among young women, who were nicknamed "Gerry-flappers".- Early life and opera career :...
, Fornia began experiencing health problems in 1915. Her retirement in 1922 seems likely to have been related to her health as she underwent an operation in New York not too long after her last stage appearance. She died six months after her retirement during a visit to her sister's home in Paris, France on October 27, 1922.
Recordings
Fornia was among the first generation of musicians to be recorded. Her few recordings were all made by the
Victor Talking Machine CompanyThe Victor Talking Machine Company was an American corporation, the leading American producer of phonographs and phonograph records and one of the leading phonograph companies in the world at the time. It was headquartered in Camden, New Jersey....
and show a pleasing, well-managed voice and a sensitive style. Among the recordings she left are trio from
Madama Butterfly ("Lo so che alle sue pene") with
Antonio ScottiAntonio Scotti was an Italian baritone. He was a principal artist of the New York Metropolitan Opera for more than 30 years but also sang with great success at London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.-Life:...
and
Riccardo MartinRiccardo Martin was an American tenor.Born Hugh Whitfield Martin in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, Martin was granted an endowment which allowed him, in 1901, to go to Paris to study with Giovanni Sbriglia and Jean de Reszke; he later completed his studies with Vincenzo Lombardi in Florence. He debuted...
, Stéphano’s aria ("Que fais-tu, blanche tourterelle") from
Roméo et Juliette, Siebel's aria ("Faites-lui mes aveux") from
Faust, and a number of French and German art songs. Marston Records has recently released a number of these recordings on CD.
Sources