LINEAGE
FRANCESCO LAMPERTI (1813-1892) was the most famous and sought-after teacher of the old Italian school in Italy during the 19th century.
The son of an Italian prima donna of some reputation, Lamperti began his legendary career as a vocal maestro at age twelve by accompanying singers in Antonio Trivulzi's studio at the Conservatory of Milan. After inculcating Trivulzi's method for eight years, Lamperti created his own opera agency. His immediate success made him known as the "Key of the Throat." Though he later taught at the Conservatory in Milan, his private students were his chief occupation. Adjusted for inflation, Lamperti’s fee for lessons was over $400.00.
Lamperti wrote several books on singing, but his best-known work, A Treatise on the Art of Singing (1877), was translated into English.
“Ah is the father of vowels.” — Francesco Lamperti
His many students included Salvatore Patti and Caterina Barilli, Adelina Patti's parents, and Adelina's sister, Clotilde. He also taught Edith Abell, Emma Albani, Alboni, Aldigheri, Alvary, Angeleri, Mrs. Hugh Angier, Aramburo, Désirée Artot, Albert Bach, Albert Bach, Adèle Laeis Baldwin, Lillie Berg, Wanda von Bogdani, Vilma Bognár-Balász, Herman Brag, George Cathcart Bronson, Friedrich Caliga-Reh, Campanini, Luisa Cappiani, Cravelli, Derevis, Lena Doria Devine, Julie Dumont-Suvanny, Ignacy Dygas, José Echeverria, Carlotta Elliot, Camille Everaldi, José Ferenczy, Franz Ferenczy, Hjalmar Frey, Daniel Filleborn, Barrington Foote, Filip Forstén, Galassi, Jan Karol Gall, Galli, Gayarre, Mary A. B. Girard, Hope Glenn, Joseph Pasquale Goldberg, Gaston L. Gottschalk, Anna Caroline de la Grange, Marie Grass, Carlotta Grossi, Friederike Grün, Helene Hastreiter, Minni Hauk, Helena Herman, Julius Hey, Cornélia Hollósy-Lonovicz, Louis-Alphonse Holtzhem, Mieczyslaw Horowski, Agnes Huntington, Juliani (Jules Ropiquet), Klementine Kalasovà, Paul Kalisch, Benno Koebke, Albert Konewka, Thorwald Lammers, Giovanni Battista Lamperti, Isidore de Lara (Cohen), Durward Lely, Ludwika Lesniewska, Sophie Lowe, Justyna Rafaela Machwic, Mariani, Frances Roena Medini, Jane Meyerheim, Wladyslaw Miller, Angelic Moro, Alfredo Mutel, Nachbauer, Naudin, Oscar Niemann, Bernard Noeldechen, Agalja Orgeni, George L. Osgood, Melita Otto-Alvsleben, Trifari Paganini, Palmermi, Angela Peralti Castera, Perotti, Isabel Reddick, Albin R. Reed, Sim Reeves, Theodor Reichmann, Risarelli, Adolf Robinson, Mila Rodani, Franziska Rummel, E. Rung, Wally Schauseil, Anna Eugénie Schoen-René, Edward Scovel, Albert P. Shack, William Shakespeare, William W. Shaw, Melvin Singer, Elisa Stefanini-Donzelli, Leopoldo Stiatesi, Stolz, Francis Stuart, Hortense Synnerberg, Emilia Taliana, Tavary, Herbert Thorndyke, Emma Thursby, Ortolani Tiberini, Giulia Valda (Julia Wheelock), Malvina Walden, Antonin Vávra, Vialletti, Waldmann, Susanna Weber-Bell, Mary Weiner, Charles Willeby, Herbert Witherspoon, Woeldechen, Walery Wysocki, Marie van Zandt, and Cornelia van Zanten.
PAULINE VIARDOT-GARCÍA (1821-1910) was the youngest child of the Romantic tenor and vocal pedagogue Manuel García I (1875-1832), who died when she was eleven.
Viardot-Garcia’s sister was the legendary mezzo-soprano Maria Malibran, and her brother Manuel García II was the 19th century’s most famous vocal pedagogue. He considered Viardot-García “the real genius of the family.” She spoke nine languages fluently without an accent.
Viardot-García originally wanted to become a concert pianist and studied with Franz Liszt before turning her attention towards the voice at the insistence of her mother Maria-Joaquína García-Sitchez (1780-1854), who became her teacher.
“A teacher can only help you a little. In the end, you must do it yourself.” — Pauline Viardot-Garcia
With an extended range like her sister Maria, Viardot-García was a mezzo-soprano who also sang soprano repertoire. Renowned for her prodigious vocal technique and dramatic interpretation, Viardot-García created the role of Fidés in Meyerbeer’s Le prophéte and revived the role of Orpheus in Gluck’s Orfeo e Euridice in which she appeared 150 times. A consummate artist, she was known to fellow musicians as The Oracle of Paris for her wise counsel.
Her students included Ada Adini, Désirée Artot, Anna Schultzen von Asten, Lilian Bailey, Emi de Bidoli, Marianne Brandt, Annie Louise Cary, Elizabeth Colton, Caroline Doherty, Selma Ek, Johannes Elmblad, Emma Engdahl-Jägerkiöld, Albert Garcia, Jeanne Gerville-Réache, Hope Glenn, Carlotta Grossi, Marie Hanfstängal, Jessica Haskell, Natalia Iretskaya, Lydia Iretskya, Nellie Gertrude Judd, Henrietta T. Jones, Katharine Evans von Klenner, Antonia Kufferath, Helene Kugelmann, Pauline L'Allemand, Yelizaveta Andreyevna Lavrovskaya, Elisabeth Leisinger, Agnes Leyhecker, Marie Lipsius, Marie Litta, Félia Litvinne, Emilie Mechelin, Louise Meisslinger, Emily Milton, Raimund von zur-Mühlen, Mathilde de Nogueiras, Aglaja Orgéni, Eleanora Petrielli, Maram Philippi, Louise Pyk, Mila Rodani, Elisabeth Roediger, Mafalda Salvatini, Amélie Schmautz-Schütky, Anna E. Schoen-René, Antoinette Sterling, Lydia Torrigi-Heiroth, Sophie Traubmann, Elina Vandàr (Elin Fohström-Tallqvist), Jenny Vally, Louise Héritte-Viardot, Susanna Weber-Bell, Maria Wilhelmj, and Maria Zamoyska.
MANUEL GARCÍA II (1805-1906) was the son of the Romantic tenor Manuel Garcia I (1775-1832) and published his father’s singing method in the groundbreaking book A Complete Treatise on the Art of Singing. Published in two parts, the first in 1840 and the second in 1847, Garcia became world-renowned in 1855 after being the first to observe and study the action of the vocal folds during singing, utilizing a primitive laryngoscope made from two dental mirrors.
García's contribution to vocal pedagogy cannot be overstated. Thanks to his father's studies with the famous tenor Giovanni Anzani, a student of the great 18th-century voice teacher Nicola Porpora, García could preserve the principles of the old Italian school in physiological terms. His dedication to singing has left an indelible mark on the world of music, and his legacy continues to inspire aspiring singers today.
“If you can speak, you can sing.” — Manuel Garcia
García taught at the Paris Conservatoire and then at the Royal Academy of Music in London. His earlier teaching was later condensed in Hints on Singing (1894).
His students included Agnesi, Marion Alber, Arnoldi, Jules Barbot, Charles Bataille, Charles Battaile, Saint Yves Bax, Jessie Bond, Prosper-Alphonse Bussine, Adolf Brömme, Julia Ettie Crane, Alexander Dodonov, Dove Boetti-Dolby, Mary Duff, Camille Everardi, Erminia Frezzolini, Malvina Garrigues, Gustave Garcia, Julius Günther, Catherine Hayes, Louis-Alphonse Holtzhem, Johanna Jachman-Wagner, Felix Jaeger, Klein, Agnes Larkom, John Mewburn Levien, Jenny Lind, Sterling Mackinlay. Mathilde Marchesi, Salvatore Marchesi, Cécile Eugénie Mayer, Salvatore Marchesi, Hans von Milde, William Nicholl, Christina Nilsson, Henrietta Nissen, John O’Neal, G. W. Pratt, Gustave-Hippolyte Roger, Erminia Rudersdorff, Charles Santley, Emil Scaria, Anna E. Schoen-René, Georgina Schubert, Antoinette Sterling, Julius Stockhausen, Marie Tempest, Charles E. Tinney, Frank Herbert Tubbs, J. Harry Wheeler, Lyman Warren Wheeler, and Henry Wood.
ANNA EUGÉNIE SCHOEN-RENÉ (1864-1942) was a German-born soprano student of Anna Schultzen von Asten at the Royal Academy of Music in Berlin. After graduating, Schoen-René studied with Francesco Lamperti, then von Asten’s teacher—Pauline Viardot-García.
Having been prepared for an operatic career by Viardot-García and singing in Germany for a few years, Schoen-René traveled to New York City in 1892 for her debut at the Metropolitan Opera the following season. But fate intervened. Schoen-René became seriously ill with typhoid fever after a private concert in Manhattan. She spent the next three years recovering at her sister’s house in Minneapolis, where she began teaching voice. Schoen-René created and conducted a choral union, which led to the foundation of the University of Minnesota's music department. She also acted as impresario to famous European musicians and began taking her students to Viardot-García in Paris. Viardot-García subsequently sent Schoen-René to her brother Manuel in London in 1901 for a special course in teaching men, which resulted in Schoen-René becoming García's leading exponent. She later prided herself on adhering to what she had been given by the Garcías and the success their imprimatur gave her, declaring: “I did not change one iota of the García’s teachings! Why would I? It can not be improved upon.”
“Singing is seventy-five percent technique.” — Anna Eugénie Schoen-René
Schoen-René became an American citizen in 1906, taught in Berlin until the First World War, returned to New York City in 1919, and joined the Juilliard School faculty in 1925. Schoen-René published her memoir America's Musical Inheritance: Memories and Reminiscences in 1941.
Considered the leading voice teacher of her time, Schoen-René taught classical and popular singers, including Mable Alley, Helene Augay, Florence Austral, Marshall Bartholomew, Jane Beats, Donald Beltz, Ruth Berg, Lillian Blauvelt, Charles Bowes, Karin Branzell, Elizabeth Day, George Britton, Mady Christians, Hall Clovis, Florencio Constantino, Arthur de Voss, Elizabeth Delius, Arturo di Fillipi (Sol Tauziewicz), Judith Doniger, Celius Dougherty, Florence Easton, Serine Einsteinsen-Stoeve, Sonia Essin, Evan Evans, Lillian Flickinger, Eva Gauthier, Robert Geis, Frosia Gregory, George Griffin, Putman Griswold, Helen Hall, Mack Harrell, Margaret Harshaw, Kitty Carlisle Hart, Clifford Harvout, Alice Howland, William Horne, Julius Huehn, Nellie Gertrude Judd, Lucile Kellogg, Anny Konetzni, Charles Kullman, Maude Lambert, Ruth Lee, Richard Malkin, Lucie Manén, Robert Marshall, Alberta Masiello, Ronald Marsilia, George Meader, Hamilton Nason, Agnes Nering, Robert Parker, Georgia Peters, Viola Philo, Jane Pickens, Pauline Pierce, Cornelia Rider-Possart, Paul Robeson, Lanny Ross, Ruth Schaffner, Harry Hadley Schyde, Alice Sjoselius, Eleanor Reynolds, Roswitha Cranston Smith, Florence Sovereign, Eleanor Steele, Risé Stevens, Hallie Stiles, Hugh Thompson, Marie Tiffany, Olive Timmons, Minna Tulchin, Maria von Maximovitch, Thelma Votipka, George Walker, Charles Welch, Ludwig Wüllner, and Minna Ysaeva.
MARGARET HARSHAW (1909-1997) was born in Narberth, Pennsylvania, just outside Philadelphia. In 1934, she made her professional debut as Azucena in Giuseppe Verdi’s Il Trovatore with The Philadelphia Operatic Society.
She entered the graduate program at The Juilliard School in 1936, where she studied with Anna Eugénie Schoen-René, who had been a student of three legendary voice teachers: Pauline Viardot-García, Manuel García, and Francesco Lamperti. The great conductor Walter Damrosch heard Harshaw sing the role of Dido in Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas at Juilliard and prophesied: “My child, one day you will be Brünhilde!”
Harshaw won the Metropolitan Opera’s ‘Auditions on the Air’ in 1942 and debuted as the second Norn in Richard Wagner’s Götterdämmerung, twelve days after the death of her teacher.
“There are two divine sensations in life, and one of them is singing!” — Margaret Harshaw
Gifted with an extended range, Harshaw sang mezzo-soprano roles for nine seasons before entering the soprano territory in 1950, when she sang the role of Senta in The Flying Dutchman. By 1954, she had inherited the mantel of Kirsten Flagstad and Helen Traubel, singing all the leading Wagnerian dramatic-soprano roles, including Isolde, Brünhilde, Elisabeth, Kundry, and Sieglinde. Harshaw retired from the Metropolitan Opera in 1964, having sung 38 roles in 375 performances over 22 consecutive seasons—and more Wagnerian roles—14 in all—than anyone in history.
Harshaw became a professor of voice at Indiana University in 1962, where she taught until 1993. She also taught at the Curtis Institute of Music and Westminster Choir College, which bestowed an Honorary Doctorate upon Harshaw in 1989.
Among her many students are Nancy Adams, Laura Aiken, Norman Andersson, David Arnold, Bruce Baumer, Sharon Beckendorf, Richard Best, Daniel Brewer, William Burden, Gary E. Burgess, Elizabeth Byrne, Elizabeth Cannis, Alan Cemore, Katherine Ciesinski, Shirley Close, Alexandra Coku, Vinson Cole, Kathryn Bouleyn Day, Jeffrey Dowd, Jane Dutton, Brent Ellis, Elem Eley, Pablo Elvira, Julia Faulkner, Constance Fee, Thomas Faracco, Joseph Frank, Alberto Garcia, Franz Grundheber, Caroline Murdock Kheele, David Langan, Kevin Langan, Evelyn Lear, Shirley Love, Mark Lundberg, Nancy Maultsby, Emily Magee, Mark McCrory, Robert McFarland, Rodney Miller, Elias Mokole, Stephen Morsheck, Harry Musselwhite, Ronald Naldi, Gayletha Nichols, Jan Opalach, Paula Page, Larry Paxton, Ron Peo, Walter Plant, Matthew Polenzani, Ashley Putnam, John Reardon, Randall Reid-Smith, Gianna Rolandi, Christopher Schauldenbrand, Alan Seale, Jane Shaulis, Scharmal Schrock, Bill Schumann, Nadine Secunde, Martha Sheil, Glenn Siebert, Philip Skinner, David Smalley, Alma Jean Smith, James A. Smith, Jr., Gregory Stapp, Theresa Stratas, Sharon Sweet, Michael Sylvester, Randal Turner, Rebecca Turner, Benita Valente, Carol Vaness, Anastasios Vrenios, Christine Weidinger, Felicia Weathers, Laura Brooks-Rice, Sally Wolf, and Meredith Zara.