The Garcia School: Marie Tiffany
Marie Berg Tiffany (July 8, 1881 - April 12, 1948) was an American operatic soprano. She was a member of the Metropolitan Opera in Manhattan, New York City, from 1916 to 1928; making 208 appearances at the Met throughout her career. She created roles in several world premieres at the Met and was the only performer to appear in all three one act operas at the premiere of Giacomo Puccini's Il Trittico in 1918. — Wikipedia
Marie Tiffany was also a student of Anna Eugénie Schoen-René, studying with the musical daughter of the Garcias while in New York and during the summers when Schoen-Rene traveled to her studio in Berlin.[1, 2]
Marie Berg Tiffany (1881-1948)
Listen to Tiffany sing “Psyche” in 1920, “Solveig's Song” (circa 1918), “Kiss Me Again” in 1918, and “La ci darem la mano” with Mario Laurenti (circa 1920). (The note to “Psyche” contains excellent biographical information.)
What does the listener hear?
An intensely focused voice. One that is equalized, clear, and secure in its upper range. Tiffany also exhibits a characteristic of the teaching of Schoen-René and the Garcias: the chest voice is melded into the middle voice. Schoen-René called this “mittlestimme.” The listener hears the lower range emitted in a full, rich manner rather than being produced in a raw chest.
Interview with the Journal & Tribune
Maybe you’ve heard of Marie Tiffany, the noted operatic and concert soprano at the Metropolitan Opera, maybe you’ve heard her at one of her triumphal concerts in American cities, if you are a traveler. You may have heard her in Paris before the war. And surely you have heard her re-creations for the New Edison.
“No one who has won success has toiled more earnestly and applied himself more assiduously than the operatic star of today,” said Miss Tiffany. “The young student who plans to be a great artist, to succeed some day must be a continuous toiler.
“The student who applies himself half heartedly, who does not give his heart and soul to the study of music, cannot become a great musician.
“Almost every place I go some vocal student comes to ask me with whom she should study when she goes to New York. If I have the time, I usually ask the student to sing for me. In nine cases out of ten I find that the student has had a very elementary training and a very superficial knowledge of music. She could learn much more in her own home town if she cared to apply herself. Often a mother requests me to hear her daughter sing. Usually the mother prefaces the daughter’s performance by an explanation similar to this: ‘She has such a sweet voice,’ or ‘she sings beautifully when she thinks no one is around to hear her.’ ‘I would rather have my daughter sing than anything in the world.’ Of course, because of the mother’s attitude, the daughter gets the idea that she is thoroughly trained and ready for an artistic career. The first thing I try to do with mothers of this character is to impress upon them the importance of patience, years of hard work and constant application, and how they must teach their children to concentrate their thoughts upon a future of the hardest kind of work.
“Very often these girls have no musical background whatever and usually have a knowledge only of English and often an inadequate knowledge of that. But they are all sure that they are now ready for New York and success. Harmony is Greek to them and the piano is also an unknown quality.
“In these days of reproduced sound, it is an easy matter to become conversant with a foreign language, even if there is no teacher of foreign languages in one’s home town. The operatic singers especially must know foreign languages.
“I cannot emphasize too much the importance of continuous work and a thorough education in all branches of music. When the time comes, one must be prepared for success. The opportunity always presents itself. When one learns how to think and to discriminate for one’s self, he or she has learned the big secret of success.
“The greatest fault with the American vocal student is lack of patience. No student of music can succeed without continuously practicing patience.
“In the study of music, or any other art, one of the most important factors in winning success is learning to think correctly. I use my mind far more than my vocal organs in the study of music. For instance, when I am learning a new aria, I always study the music without the piano for a long time. I memorize the song before I sing it. and one always must remember that the voice must not be overworked.
“I often study new selections by listening to them on the phonograph and I often practice with the phonograph. The importance of the phonograph Mr. Edison invented and perfected cannot be over emphasized in the study of music. The student may live in a small town, or, for other reasons, may not have the opportunity to hear great artists, but can always hear a phonograph and study with it. Of course, the artist who becomes great has expended much money during her student career but the lack of money is not a serious hindrance to young students. Where there is a will, there is a way.
“America is crowded with opportunities for the young who want to earn their own way and the history of music shows us that some of the greatest musicians the world has ever known succeeded despite poverty, ill health and many other disadvantages that hindered but did not stop them on the way to progress.
“Courage, patience, industry, contact application, right living and right thinking and willingness to sacrifice now for the benefit of the future make the great singer, the great musician, just as made the Lincolns, the Napoleons, and the Disraelis.
—Roy T. Burke, “Singer Practices with Phonograph, Marie Tiffany Stresses Need of Stick to It-iveness. Artists Must Be Familiar With Foreign Tongues. No Easy Road to Operatic Success, Declares Noted Metropolitan Soprano.” The Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, Tennessee), Sunday, February 22, 1920, p. 40.
The Tiffany Voice
The Tiffany voice has been spoken of as “a soprano of breadth. A substantial fibre and tonally burnished perfection of expression that takes one back to Nordica to find its equal. Glorious in every register, its chest notes have an organ fulness, its middle section is rich and even in its velvet softness and its high scale includes an unusual coloratura virtuosity.”
Her recital her at the Academy of Music Thursday night, September 29, will be looked forward to with keenest anticipation by all discriminating music lovers.
—The Wilmington Star, Sunday, September 25, 1921, p 20.
Edison Musical Magazine
This picture looks like those marble busts of old Greek Philosophers you see in museums, doesn’t it? Well, there’s nothing old of Greek about Miss Tiffany. She’s an American girl to her finger-tips, and just as sweet and lovable as she looks. It’s mighty hard to interview her, because there’s something a little stiff and artificial about an interview, and Miss Tiffany is so natural and friendly that you forget all about interview etiquette, and just “visit.”
That last time I went to see her, in her charming little apartment on 72nd Street, she was recovering from an attack of bronchitis. She had on a panne velvet negligeé of a delicate greenish blue shade that looked good enough to eat, and she was knitting a wide white scarf. We talked about everything under the sun, from apartments and the high cost of phoning, to the début of the latest Chicago Opera Star, but finally we settled down to business.
“I was born in Chicago,” Miss Tiffany informed me “But we moved to Los Angeles when I was very little. I may have studied music in Chicago, but the first lessons I remember were in Los Angeles. I studied in the West and in New York, and then I went abroad. I was over there in 1914, and fully intended to stay longer, but I heard rumors of the coming excitement, and I managed to precede the first war news home by a few days.”
“Did you go back to California then?” I asked. “Yes, I went straight home. I didn’t expect to come to New York for a long time. I did a lot of singing in Los Angeles and Pasadena that year and expected to remain there indefinitely.
“How did you happen to come away so soon?” “My accompanist, whose home was in Chicago, got married. When I came to Chicago for the wedding, someone suggested that I’d better go on to New York, and sing for Mr. Gatti. I did—and I never went back! That was three years ago. He engaged me at once, and I’ve been at the Metropolitan since.”
“Oh, yes. I’m giving a lot of concerts, of course. I’ve always been busy, and I don’t suppose I’ll ever stop.”
“What do you do when you take a vacation?” I asked.
“Out home we used to swim or motor all the time, But I haven’t taken a vacation lately.”
How do you amuse yourself in New York?”
“Oh, the usual things—cards, and the theatre. Have you seen "‘The Better ‘Ole?’”
“Yes, and it’s splendid,” I said, enthusiastically. “You certainly must see it.”
Then I sternly returned to the interview.
Do you enjoy the theater?” I asked her.
“Oh, yes, very much. But I like best to have little parties here. I want a bigger apartment, where I can entertain my friends—”
(There we were! Back on apartments again!)
“And I want a kitchenette, too. I love to cook. I can’t do any real cooking here. Now what I’d like—”
You see, the interview was over. Even for half an hour, Miss Tiffany couldn’t forget she was a regular person long enough to be just a Metropolitan star!
—Along Broadway; the Edison Musical Magazine, May 1919, page 3.
[1] “Miss Tiffany has joined the general migration to Europe and sailed from Quebec June 13 direct to Hamburg, going from there to Berlin where she expects to do some special study…” The Musical Monitor: The Official Magazine of the Federation of Musical Clubs, vol 11, 1921-22, p. 294. Schoen-René was Garcia’s representative in Berlin from 1909 to 1925, spending six months in Berlin and another six months in Minneapolis and New York City.
[2] Anna Eugénie Schoen-René Papers, Yale University.
