#Pauline Donalda

[opera-ghosts]

Interview with Pauline Donalda (in french)/March 16, 1966.

Pauline Donalda (née Lightstone), was a Montreal-born opera singer of international renown who was made an Officer of the Order of Canada for her contributions to Canadian arts and culture.

Born into a family of Eastern European immigrants, Donalda studied opera at the Paris Conservatory with financial support from the influential politician Donald Smith (Lord Strathcona). In honor of his sponsorship, she later adopted the stage name “Donalda.” After a successful debut in Nice, France, in 1904, her artistic career quickly took off. In 1905, she sang at London’s Covent Garden for the Queen of England and at The Brussels Royal Opera House. In 1906, she sang alongside tenor Enrico Caruso in a Verdi opera. These performances earned her tremendous acclaim. In the same year, she joined the Manhattan Opera House, founded by the American musical comedy composer and producer Oscar Hammerstein. When World War I broke out, she suspended her career and organized benefit concerts to support the war effort.

From 1922 on, she devoted herself to teaching voice. Twenty years later, in 1942, she founded the Opera Guild of Montreal, which went on to stage the first Canadian performances of many operas.

Donalda was among the first women to promote opera. In so doing, she helped promote both Canada and the Jewish community worldwide.

[todayclassical]

March 05 in Music History

1735 FP of G. F. Handel's Organ Concertos Op. 4, nos. 2-3. Was intermission feature during a revival performance of Handel's oratorio Esther at the Covent Garden Theater in London.

1748 Birth of English composer William Shield in Whickham. 

1774 Birth of German composer Christoph Ernst Friedrich Weyse in Altona. 

1778 Death of English composer Thomas Arne in London. 

1782 Birth of tenor Raffaele Monelli in Fermo. 

1805 Birth of French composer and harpsichordist Theodore LaBarre in Paris. 

1818 FP of G. Rossini's opera Mosè in Egitto 'Moses in Egypt' at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples.

1824 Birth of soprano Anne-Arsene Charton-Demeur in Saujon.  

1835 Birth of William Steinway son of piano manufacturer.

1850 Birth of American composer Daniel Brink Towner. 

1853 Birth of American composer Arthur Foote, in Salem, MA.  1853 Founding of piano company by H. E. Steinway and his sons in NYC.

1856 Covent Garden Opera House in London was destroyed by fire. 1868 FP of Boito's opera Mefistofele at the Teatro de la Scala in Milan.

1873 Death of French composer Alexis De Castillon in Paris.

1877 Death of German conductor and composer Ernst Julius Otto in Dresden. 

1878 Birth of American ragtime composer Egbert Van Alstyne. 

1882 Birth of soprano Pauline Donalda in Montreal.  

1887 Birth of Brazilian composer Heitor VillaI-Lobos in Rio de Janiero.  1893 Birth of tenor Alessio de Paolis in Rome.  1899 Birth of English composer Patrick Hadley in Cambridge. 

1900 Birth of tenor Josef Gostic in Stara Loka, Slovenia. 

1904 FP of Anatole Liadov's symphonic poem Baba Yaga. 1904 FP of Maurice Ravel's String Quartet, by the Heymann Quartet, in Paris.

1905 FP of Frederick S. Converse's The Mystic Trumpeter. Philadelphia Orchestra, Fritz Scheel conducting.

1907 Dr. Lee De Forest becomes first DeeJay playing Rossini's William Tell Overture on a radio signal sent from Telharmonic Hall at Broadway and 40th Street in NYC, to the receiver at the US Naval Yard.

1915 Birth of baritone Gregorio Fiasconaro in Palermo.

1929 Birth of soprano Sylvia Stahlman in Nashville. 

1931 Birth of English composer Anthony Hedges in Bicester.

1931 Birth of Australian conductor and horn player Barry Tuckwell in Melbourne, Australia.

1932 Birth of baritone John Lawrenson in Fleetwood. 

1933 FP of Samuel Barber's Dover Beach for medium voice and string quartet, with mezzo-soprano Rose Bampton and the New York Art Quartet at the French Institute in NYC.

1933 FP of Malipiero's Violin Concerto No. 1, in Amsterdam.

1938 Birth of bass Dimiter Petkov in Sofia, Bulgaria. 

1940 FP of Aaron Copland's John Henry. CBS radio, Columbia Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra, Howard Barlow conducting.

1942 FP of John Cage's The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs with text by James Joyce, in New York.

1942 FP of Shostakovich Symphony No. 7 Leningrad in Kuybyshev.  1943 Death of tenor Louis Treumann in Vienna. 1944 FP of Walter Piston's Symphony No. 2. National Symphony, Hans Kindler conducting, in Washington D.C.

1947 FP of Leonard Bernstein's Facsimile at the Broadway Ballet Theater, choreographed by Jerome Robbins, with the composer conducting in NYC.  1947 Death of Italian composer Alfredo Casella, in Rome.  1948 Birth of English conductor Richard Hickox. 1950 Birth of American-Australian composer Becky Llewellyn.

1950 Birth of American violinist Eugene Fodor in Turkey Creek, CO.

1952 Death of bass-baritone Nikolai Speransky. 

1953 Death of Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev in Moscow.   1954 Birth of American composer Jack Stamp in College Park, MD.

1961 Death of baritone Richard Bitterauf.

1973 Death of Polish born, Swiss conductor Paul Kletzki. 1984 Death of Italian baritone Tito Gobbi. 

1990 FP of David Ward-Steinman's Intersections II: Borobudur. Canberra Institute of the Arts with percussionist Daryl Pratt, composer at the piano in Australia.

2000 Death of tenor Alexander Young. 

2003 FP of Bright Sheng's Tone Poem for Pipa, Sheng, Cello, Piano, and Orchestra Song and Dance of Tears with Wu Man, pipa; Wu Tong, sheng; Yo-Yo Ma, cello and Emanuel Ax, piano. New York Philharmonic, David Zinman conducting.

2004 FP of Gerard Schurmann´s Trio by Richard Hawkins, clarinet; Peter Rejto, cello; Christiana Dahl, piano. Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival in Tucson, AZ.

2005 Death of Romanian-American conductor Sergiu Comissiona in Oklahoma City, OK.

[stupendousunknownstrawberry]

Przeciwna imigracji senator zjawiła się w autralijskim parlamencie w burce. To fanka Donalda Trumpa Australijska senator Pauline Hanson, szefowa antyimigracyjnej partii Jeden Naród, pojawiła się w czwartek w parlamencie w ... burce. Miało to być mocnym akcentem jej kampanii przeciwko zasłaniającym twarz muzułmańskim ubiorom dla kobiet.

[opera-ghosts]

Madame Pauline Donalda, soprano, sings a famous aria from Faust: "Air des bijoux" ("Je ris de me voir si belle"). This was recorded in London in 1908 but not issued for decades, finally appearing on an IRCC disc.

[opera-ghosts]

Soprano Pauline Donalda Speaks About Her Recordings (1960s?) Pauline Donalda (1882–1970), Canadian soprano, and tireless promoter of Canadian opera, teacher, administrator. Donalda was born Pauline Lightstone in Montreal into a Jewishly active East European immigrant home. As a child she attracted attention for the quality of her voice and studied music on scholarship at the Royal Victoria College. In 1902 she went to Paris on a grant from Donald Smith (Lord Strathcona), after whom she adopted the professional surname of Donalda. She made her London debut at Covent Garden in 1905 singing Micaela under the direction of Andre Messager, her Canadian debut in 1906 singing with her husband (Paul Seveilhac) in the Montreal Arena, and her New York debut later that same year in Faust. In the spring of 1910 Donalda opened the Covent Garden season and returned in 1912 singing in both Les Huguenots and I Pagliacci, again with her husband. She was about to leave Canada for a European tour when World War i broke out. She remained in Canada, often giving benefit concerts in support of the war effort. In 1917 she returned to Paris, where she sang in Balfe's Le Talisman, sharing the stage with her new husband, Mischa Leon (b. Haurowitz). Pauline Donalda's parents were Jews from Poland and Russia who immigrated to Montreal, changing the family name from Lichtenstein to Lightstone. The quality of Pauline's voice attracted attention, and she was awarded a music scholarship at the Royal Victoria College. When Sir Donald Smith, Lord Strathcona, gave Pauline a grant to study in Europe, she adopted the name "Donalda" in his honor. After her London debut in 1905, she sang frequently, often when Nellie Melba required a replacement (in this way, Donalda sang Mimi with Caruso). She married the French baritone, Paul Seveilhac, a cast member in the 1905 production of Faust in which Donalda sang Marguerite. She toured Russia, North America, and Europe. In February 1914, she had a huge success in Carmen in Nice.

During World War I, Donalda stayed in Canada where she organized the Donalda Sunday Afternoon Concerts. When the war ended, she returned to Paris where she married the Danish tenor Mischa Léon in 1918, after a divorce from her first husband. Subsequent to retiring from the stage, she opened a teaching studio in 1922 and taught hundreds of pupils. Donalda continued her teaching career in Montreal in 1937 and founded the Opera Guild (1942) over which she presided until 1969; the guild presented 29 operas during this time. Although her performing career was relatively short, Donalda had a great impact in the musical world as a teacher and promoter of opera. She was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1967 for her contributions to music.

In 1922 Donalda left the stage to devote her life to teaching, opening a studio in Paris. She returned to Montreal in 1937, where she opened a studio, and in 1942 founded the Opera Guild, the company she directed until 1969. During her relatively short performing career, Donalda was recognized for the purity of her voice and for her musicality, fine diction, and powerful stage presence. She is remembered for the unfailing energy with which she promoted opera in Montreal and encouraged talented young Canadian singers. Donalda also was very active in support of Jewish music in Montreal and the study of music at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.