- Thelma Votipka
Thelma Votipka (
December 20 ,1906 –October 24 ,1972 ) was an Americanmezzo-soprano who sang 1,422 performances with theMetropolitan Opera , more than any other woman in the company’s history (her nearest rival,Mathilde Bauermeister , sang 1,062).Born in Cleveland,
Ohio , and educated atOberlin College , Votipka specialized incomprimario roles. She made her Metropolitan debut onDecember 16 ,1935 , as Flora in Verdi’s "La traviata ", a role she sang 101 times with the company.Other frequent roles with the Met included Giovanna in Verdi’s "
Rigoletto " (139 performances), Marthe in Gounod’s "Faust " (128), Alisa in Donizetti’s "Lucia di Lammermoor " (116), Frasquita in Bizet’s "Carmen " (112), Marianne in Strauss’s "Der Rosenkavalier " (109), the Priestess in Verdi’s "Aida " (101), Gerhilde in Wagner’s "Die Walküre " (93), and Mamma Lucia in Mascagni’s "Cavalleria rusticana " (72). Mamma Lucia was the role of her final performance, in Dallas, onMay 11 ,1963 .Votipka shared the stage with many artists on the occasions of their Metropolitan debuts:
Marjorie Lawrence ,Zinka Milanov ,Rose Pauly ,Eleanor Steber ,Astrid Varnay ,Robert Merrill ,Victoria de los Angeles ,Hilde Gueden ,Charles Anthony ,Mattiwilda Dobbs ,Nicolai Gedda , andJoan Sutherland .She returned to the Met on
April 16 ,1966 , to sing in the quintet from "Carmen" as part of the gala farewell performance at the opera house at Broadway and 39th Street.She died in New York in 1972.
External links
* [http://www.naxos.com/artistinfo/4875.htm Thelma Votipka's page at Naxos.com]
* [http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/frame.htm MetOpera database]
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