Jennie Tourel

Jennie Tourel (22 June 1900 (N.S.) [The dates 18 June 1900, 26 June 1900 and 22 June 1910 also appear in sources. It has also been claimed that she was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.] - 23 November 1973) was a Russian-American operatic mezzo-soprano, known for her work in both opera and recital performances.

Born in Russia with a surname of Davidovich, as a young girl she played the flute, then studied piano. After the Revolution, her family left Russia and settled temporarily near Danzig. They later moved to Paris, where she continued to study piano and contemplated a concert career. She then began to take voice lessons with Anna El-Tour, and decided to devote herself to professional singing. She allegedly changed her last name to Tourel by transposing the syllables of her teacher’s name.

Jennie Tourel made her European operatic debut at the Opéra Russe in Paris in 1931, and subsequently sang at the Opéra-Comique in Paris as Carmen (1933) and, later, Cherubino ("The Marriage of Figaro") and Charlotte ("Werther").

She made her American début at the Chicago Civic Opera in Ernest Moret’s "Lorenzaccio" in 1930. Her career at the Metropolitan Opera was brief: she made her debut in May 1937, as Mignon, and appeared for a few seasons in the 1940's as Rosina, Adalgisa and Carmen.

In 1937, just before the occupation of Paris by Nazi troops, she went to Lisbon, and eventually emigrated to the United States. She became a naturalized American citizen in 1946. In 1951 she created the role of Baba the Turk in Stravinsky's "The Rake's Progress". She gave the first performances of songs by Leonard Bernstein (including the song cycles "I Hate Music", 1943, and "La Bonne Cuisine", 1949), Francis Poulenc and Paul Hindemith (notably the revised "Marienleben" cycle, 1949).

In later years, Jennie Tourel devoted herself to recitals and orchestra engagements, excelling particularly in French repertoire. She also taught at the Juilliard School of Music in New York, and at the Aspen School of Music in Colorado. Her last opera performance was as Doña Marta in the world premiere of Thomas Pasatieri's "Black Widow" at the Seattle Opera in 1972. She died on November 23, 1973, in New York City.

References

*GroveOnline|Jennie Tourel|Bernheimer, Martin|12 June|2007

* Citation
last1 = Slonimsky
first1 = Nicholas
last2 = Kuhn, ed.
first2 = Laura
authorlink = Nicholas Slonimsky
title = Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of 20th Century Classical Musicians
publisher = Schirmer Books
date = 1997
isbn = 0028712714

Notes