- Patrice Munsel
Patrice Munsel (born
May 14 ,1925 ) is an Americancoloratura soprano , the youngest singer who ever starred at theMetropolitan Opera , nicknamed "Princess Pat".She was born in Spokane,
Washington . Munsel was coached by Giacomo Spadoni, and first sang at the Metropolitan at age 17, in March 1943. She made her official Metropolitan debut onDecember 4 ,1943 at the age of 18, singing Philine in "Mignon ". Perhaps best known for the role of Adele in "Die Fledermaus ", she performed 225 times at the Metropolitan. SirRudolf Bing called her a "superbsoubrette ", and implied that she was the world's best, thoughLily Pons performed the role of Adele in the 1950 recording of the Met production.Munsel played the title role of Dame
Nellie Melba in the film "Melba" (1953). She also had her own television series "The Patrice Munsel Show" (1956–57), and appeared on many other TV shows.In 1958 she ended her career as an opera singer, and began to perform in musical comedies.
She is married to Robert C. Schuler, with whom she had four children.
A personal letter from her father states that her name was originally spelled Munsil.
External links
* [http://www.life.com/Life/covers/1944/cv022144.html Cover of "Life" magazine,
February 21 , 1944]
* [http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19511203,00.html Cover of "Time" magazine,December 3 , 1951]
* [http://jcgi.pathfinder.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,889379,00.html Article in "Time" magazine,December 3 , 1951]
* [http://www.life.com/Life/covers/1952/cv030352.html Cover of "Life" magazine,March 3 , 1952]
* [http://www.metoperafamily.org/operanews/issue/article.aspx?id=1720&issueID=74 Metropolitan Opera's "Opera News Online"]
* [http://www.patricemunsel.com/other.htm Patrice Munsel personal website]References
* [http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0158086.html infoplease]
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