Geraldine Farrar

Farrar in Julien in 1914

Alice Geraldine Farrar<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> (February 28, 1882 – March 11, 1967) was an American lyric soprano who also frequently sang dramatic roles. She was noted for her beauty, acting ability, and "the intimate timbre of her voice."<ref name=1992Britannica>Template:Cite book</ref> In the 1910s, she also found success as an actress in silent films. Farrar had a large following among young women, who were nicknamed "Gerry-flappers".<ref>The New York Times, "Hail Farrar Queen as She Sings Adieu", April 23, 1922, p. 20 </ref><ref name = "R and W" />

Early life and education

Farrar was born in Melrose, Massachusetts, the daughter of baseball player Sidney Farrar, and his wife Henrietta Barnes. At age five, she began studying music in Boston and by 14 was giving recitals. Later she studied voice with the American soprano Emma Thursby in New York City, in Paris, and finally with the Italian baritone Francesco Graziani in Berlin.<ref name=1992Britannica/> Farrar created a sensation at the Berlin Hofoper with her debut as Marguerite in Charles Gounod's Faust in 1901 and remained with the company for three years, during which time she continued her studies with famed German soprano Lilli Lehmann.<ref name=1992Britannica/> (She had been recommended to Lehmann by another famous soprano of the previous generation, Lillian Nordica.) She appeared in the title roles of Giuseppe Verdi’s La traviata, Ambroise Thomas' Mignon and Jules Massenet's Manon, as well as Juliette in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette. Her admirers in Berlin included Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany, with whom she is believed to have had a relationship beginning in 1903.

Career in grand opera

After three years with the Monte Carlo Opera,<ref name=1992Britannica/> Farrar made her debut at the New York Metropolitan Opera in Roméo et Juliette on November 26, 1906.<ref>Geraldine Farrar's debut on November 26, 1906 at the Met Opera Archives Template:Webarchive.</ref> She appeared in the title role in the first Met performance of Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly in 1907 and remained a member of the company until her retirement in 1922, singing 29 roles there in 672 performances.<ref>Geraldine Farrar at the Met Opera Archives.</ref> She developed a great popular following, especially among New York's young female opera-goers, who were known as "Gerry-flappers".<ref name = "R and W">Rosenthal and Warrack (1979), p. 161</ref> Farrar created the title roles in Pietro Mascagni's Amica (Monte Carlo, 1905), Puccini's Suor Angelica (New York City, 1918), Umberto Giordano's Madame Sans-Gêne (New York, 1915), as well as the Goosegirl in Engelbert Humperdinck's Königskinder (New York, 1910), for which Farrar trained her own flock of geese. According to a review in the New York Tribune of the first performance, "at the close of the opera Miss Farrar caused 'much amusement' by appearing before the curtain with a live goose under her arm."<ref>Metropolitan Opera Archives, review from the New York Tribune by Template:Cite web Met performance CID 49510, World Premiere, in the presence of the composer.</ref>

According to her biographer: Template:Blockquote

Farrar recorded prodigiously for the Victor Talking Machine Company and was often featured prominently in that firm's advertisements.

Film career

Farrar also appeared in silent films, which were produced between opera seasons. Literary and film critic Edward Wagenknecht describes Geraldine Farrar as “the most illustrious artist Paramount brought to the screen.” The acquisition of Farrar by producer Jesse Lasky in 1915 was regarded as “the most sensational coup in motion-picture history” at the time.<ref>Wagenknecht, 1962 p. 170</ref> As a prima donna of the Metropolitan Opera, Farrar’s arrival in Hollywood was greeted with great anticipation and fanfare:

She starred in more than a dozen films from 1915 to 1920, including Cecil B. De Mille's 1915 adaptation of Georges Bizet's opera Carmen. The film’s premiere at Symphony Hall in Boston was preceded by a fulsome publicity campaign and garnered effusive reviews by critics.<ref>Wagenknecht, 1962 p. 170</ref> San Francisco Call & Post wrote:

For her performance, she came in first among the women in the 1916 "Screen Masterpiece" contest held by Motion Picture Magazine.<ref>Ahead of Marguerite Clark, Mary Pickford, and Theda Bara. Template:Cite journal</ref> One of her other notable screen roles —and the one that Farrar personally ranked her finest—was as Joan of Arc in the 1917 film Joan the Woman.<ref>Wagenknecht, 1962 p. 170-171: “...the only one of her films she ranks with her great achievements…”</ref>

In June 1931, Farrar made her debut radio broadcast over the National Broadcasting Company's nationwide "Red" network.<ref>Geraldine Farrar to Sing For Radio", New York Times, June 23, 1931, Section R, page 37.</ref>

In 1960, Farrar was awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in the music and film categories, located at 1620 and 1709 Vine Street.

Personal life

Farrar and husband Lou Tellegen in 1916.

Beginning in 1908, Farrar had a seven-year love affair with the Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini. Her ultimatum, that he leave his wife and children and marry her, caused Toscanini to abruptly resign his position as principal conductor of the Metropolitan Opera in 1915. Farrar was a close friend to the Met's star tenor Enrico Caruso and there has been speculation that they too had a love affair. It is said that Caruso coined her motto: Farrar farà ("Farrar will do it").<ref>Hart, Samantha. Hollywood Walk of Fame (Cry Baby Books, 2004), p. 140. Template:ISBN</ref>

Farrar's marriage to actor Lou Tellegen on February 8, 1916, was the source of considerable scandal. The marriage ended, as a result of her husband's numerous affairs, in a very public divorce in 1923. The circumstances of the divorce were brought again to public recollection in 1934, following Tellegen's bizarre suicide in Hollywood. When told of Tellegen's death, Farrar reportedly said "Why should that interest me?" Template:Citation needed

Farrar retired from opera in 1922 at the age of 40; her final Met performance was as Leoncavallo's Zazà. By this stage, her voice was in premature decline due to overwork. According to the American music critic Henry Pleasants, the author of The Great Singers from the Dawn of Opera to Our Own Time (first published 1967), she gave between 25 and 35 performances each season at the Met alone. They included 95 appearances as Madama Butterfly and 58 as Carmen in 16 seasons. The title role in Puccini's Tosca, which she had added to her repertoire in 1909, was another one of her favourite Met parts.

Within several weeks of announcing her retirement from opera, Farrar transitioned into concert performances, signing to appear at a recital at Hershey Park on Memorial Day 1922.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She continued to make recordings and give recitals throughout the 1920s and was briefly the intermission commentator for the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts during the 1934–35 season. In 1938, Farrar published an unusual autobiography, titled Such Sweet Compulsion. The book was written in alternating chapters purporting to be her own words and those of her deceased mother, with Mrs. Farrar rather floridly recounting her daughter's many accomplishments.

Geraldine Farrar died in Ridgefield, Connecticut of heart disease in 1967, at the age of 85; she was buried in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York. She had no children.

Filmography

The headstone of Geraldine Farrar in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York.

Year	Title	Role	Notes
Template:Sort	Carmen	Carmen
Template:Sort	Temptation	Template:Sort	Lost film
Template:Sort	Maria Rosa	Maria Rosa
Template:Sort	Joan the Woman	Jeanne d'Arc
Template:Sort	Template:Sort	Tecza (daughter of Montezuma)
Template:Sort	Template:Sort	Template:Sort	Incomplete film, only two of six reels survive
Template:Sort	Template:Sort	Template:Sort	Lost film
Template:Sort	Template:Sort	Template:Sort	Short Lost film
Template:Sort	Template:Sort	Template:Sort	undetermined/presumably Lost film
Template:Sort	Shadows	Template:Sort	Incomplete film, only one reel survives
Template:Sort	Template:Sort	Template:Sort	undetermined/presumably Lost film
Template:Sort	Template:Sort	Template:Sort
Template:Sort	Flame of the Desert	Template:Sort
Template:Sort	Template:Sort	Template:Sort
Template:Sort	Template:Sort	Template:Sort	undetermined/presumably Lost film

In popular culture

The American author Barbara Paul has written several murder mystery novels featuring Geraldine Farrar, Enrico Caruso, and the Metropolitan Opera.

References

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Rosenthal, H. and Warrack, J., "Farrar, Geraldine", The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera, 2nd Edition, Oxford University Press, 1979, p. 161. Template:ISBN.
• Wagenknecht, Edward. 1962. The Movies in the Age of Innocence. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma. OCLC: 305160

External links

• Template:Gutenberg author
• Template:Internet Archive author
• Template:IMDb name
• Template:YouTube Geraldine Farrar and tenor Enrico Caruso sing Giacomo Puccini's Vogliatemi bene from Madama Butterfly
• Geraldine Farrar recordings at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.
• Geraldine Farrar Collection, 1895-1943 at the Library of Congress
• Geraldine Farrar Memorabilia Template:Webarchive at the Newberry Library
• Geraldine Farrar at Virtual History
• Geraldine Farrar photo gallery (Univ. of Washington/Sayre Collection)
• The Story of My Life (Chapter 1) published in Photoplay, February 1919
• The Story of My Life (Chapter 2) published in Photoplay, March 1919
• The Story of My Life (Chapter 3) published in Photoplay, April 1919
• Motion Picture Magazine Feb 1917 page 99,"Geraldine Farrar: Gives Some Good Advice to Stage and Screen Aspirants" by Helen Batchelder Shute