GERALDINE FARRAR American soprano opera singer and film actress February 28, 1882 – March 11, 1967

 

GERALDINE FARRAR 

American soprano opera singer and film actress

February 28, 1882 – March 11, 1967

Geraldine Farrar (February 28, 1882 – March 11, 1967) was an American soprano opera singer and film actress, noted for her beauty, acting ability, and "the intimate timbre of her voice." She had a large following among young women, who were nicknamed "Gerry-flappers".

BIOGRAPHY

Farrar was born Alice Geraldine Farrar in Melrose, Massachusetts, the daughter of baseball player Sidney Farrar, and his wife, Henrietta Barnes. At 5 she began studying music in Boston and by 14 was giving recitals. Later she studied voice with the American soprano Emma Thursby in New York City, in Paris, and finally with the Italian baritone Francesco Graziani in Berlin. Farrar created a sensation at the Berlin Hofoper with her debut as Marguerite in Charles Gounod's Faust in 1901 and remained with the company for three years, during which time she continued her studies with famed German soprano Lilli Lehmann. (She had been recommended to Lehmann by another famous soprano of the previous generation, Lillian Nordica.). She appeared in the title roles of Ambroise Thomas' Mignon and Jules Massenet's Manon, as well as Juliette in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette. Her admirers in Berlin included Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany, with whom she is believed to have had a relationship beginning in 1903.

After three years with the Monte Carlo Opera, she made her debut at the New York Metropolitan Opera in Romeo et Juliette on November 26, 1906. She appeared in the first Met performance of Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly in 1907 and remained a member of the company until her retirement in 1922, singing 29 roles there in 672 performances. She developed a great popular following, especially among New York's young female opera-goers, who were known as "Gerry-flappers". Farrar created the title roles in Pietro Mascagni's Amica (Monte Carlo, 1905), Puccini's Suor Angelica (New York City, 1918), Umberto Giordano's Madame Sans-Gêne (New York, 1915), as well as the Goosegirl in Engelbert Humperdinck's Königskinder (New York, 1910), for which Farrar trained her own flock of geese. According to a New York Tribune review of the first performance, "at the close of the opera Miss Farrar caused 'much amusement' by appearing before the curtain with a live goose under her arm."

Geraldine Farrar as the Goosegirl, Metropolitan Opera, 1910. Farrar trained her own flock of live geese for the World Premiere, expressing hope that future performers would do the same.

She recorded extensively for the Victor Talking Machine Company and was often featured prominently in that firm's advertisements. She was one of the first performers to make a radio broadcast, in a 1907 publicity event singing over Lee De Forest's experimental AM radio transmitter in New York City. She also appeared in silent movies, which were filmed between opera seasons. Farrar starred in more than a dozen films from 1915 to 1920, including Cecil B. De Mille's 1915 adaptation of Georges Bizet's opera Carmen, for which she was extensively praised. "The resolution of Geraldine Farrar, the beautiful and gifted star, to employ her talents in the attaining of success in the films is one of the greatest steps in advancing the dignity of the motion pictures. Miss Farrar's 'Carmen' in the films is the greatest triumph the motion picture has yet achieved over the speaking stage," claimed the The San Francisco Call & Post. For her performance, she came in fourth place in the 1916 "Screen Masterpiece" contest held by Motion Picture Magazine, ahead of any other actress. Theda Bara's performance of the same role received 9,150 votes. One of her other notable screen roles was as Joan of Arc in the 1917 film Joan the Woman.

According to her biographer:

Unlike most of the famous bel canto singers of the past who sacrificed dramatic action to tonal perfection, she was more interested in the emotional than in the purely lyrical aspects of her roles. According to Miss Farrar, until prime donne can combine the arts of Sarah Bernhardt and Nellie Melba, dramatic ability is more essential than perfect singing in opera

— Elizabeth Nash

In 1960 Farrar was awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in the music and film categories. However, the Los Angeles Times, which has documented and photographed every star as part of its ongoing Hollywood Star Walk project, was unable to locate the star honoring her film career. (Her stars are present and accounted for at 1620 & 1709 Vine Street.)

PERSONAL LIFE

Farrar as Manon

Farrar had a seven-year love affair with the Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini. Her ultimatum, that he leave his wife and children and marry her, resulted in Toscanini's abrupt resignation as principal conductor of the Metropolitan Opera in 1915. Farrar was close friends with the star tenor Enrico Caruso and there has been speculation that they too had a love affair, but no conclusive evidence of this has surfaced. It is said that Caruso coined her motto: Farrar farà ("Farrar will do it").

Her marriage to cinema actor Lou Tellegen on February 8, 1916 was the source of considerable scandal. The marriage ended, as a result of her husband's numerous affairs, in a very public divorce in 1923. The circumstances of the divorce were brought again to public recollection by Tellegen's bizarre 1934 suicide in Hollywood. Farrar reportedly said "Why should that interest me?" when told of Tellegen's death.

Farrar retired from opera in 1922 at the age of 40. Her final performance was as Leoncavallo's Zazà. By this stage, her voice was in premature decline due to overwork. According to the American music critic Henry Pleasants, the author of The Great Singers from the Dawn of Opera to Our Own Time (first published 1967), she gave between 25 and 35 performances each season at the Met alone. They included 95 appearances as Madama Butterfly and 58 as Carmen in 16 seasons. The title role in Puccini's Tosca, which she had added to her repertoire in 1909, was another one of her favourite Met parts.

Farrar quickly transitioned into concert recitals, and was signed (within several weeks of announcing her opera retirement) to an appearance at Hershey Park on Memorial Day 1922. She continued to give recitals until 1931 and was briefly the intermission commentator for radio broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera during the 1934–35 season. Her autobiography, Such Sweet Compulsion, published in 1938, was written in alternating chapters purporting to be her own words and those of her mother, with Mrs. Farrar rather floridly recounting her daughter's many accomplishments.

Farrar died in Ridgefield, Connecticut of a heart attack in 1967, aged 85, and was buried in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York. She had no children.

FILMOGRAPHY

Advertisement for The Stronger Vow, a 1919 silent film starring Farrar.

The headstone of Geraldine Farrar

Carmen (1915)

Temptation (1915)

Maria Rosa (1916)

Joan the Woman (1916)

The Woman God Forgot (1917)

The Devil-Stone (1917)

The Turn of Wheel (1918)

The Bonds That Tie (1918) (*short)

The Hell Cat (1918)

Shadows (1919)

The Stronger Vow (1919)

The World and Its Woman (1919)

Flame of the Desert (1919)

The Woman and the Puppet (1920)

The Riddle:Woman (1920)

Postcard featuring an 1899 photograph of Farrar. Geraldine Farrar was born in Melrose, Massachusetts, 28th February 1882 and died Ridgefield, Connecticut, 11th March 1967. In 1884, at the age of 12, Farrar impersonated Jenny Lind in the Melrose May Carnival and within two years, she made her Boston recital debut. On 15 October 1901 aged 19 she made her Berlin debut as Marguerite in Faust ~ singing in Italian by special dispensation. In 1903 the great Lilli Lehmann accepted her as a pupil and they worked hard to perfect Farrar’s vocal technique and stage crafts. Geraldine Farrar retired from opera in 1922 at the age of 40 ~ her final performance being Leoncavallo's Zazà and she retired finally in 1931 when she sang her final Carnegie Hall recital and withdrew from further public performance. Geraldine Farrar created the title roles in – Pietro Mascagni's Amica ~ Monte Carlo 16th March 1905 Engelbert Humperdinck's Goose-girl in Die Königskinder ~ New York Met 28th Dec 1910 Umberto Giordano's Madame Sans-Gêne ~ New York Met 25th Jan 1915 Puccini's Suor Angelica ~ New York

Met 14th Dec 1918 During her time she developed a great popular following, especially among New York's young female opera-goers, who were known as "Gerry-flappers". Her performances with Caruso were always eagerly awaited. She made 15 silent movies in the period of c1915 to 1920 commencing with the opera Carmen directed by Cecil B. DeMille and finally The Riddle: Woman directed by Edward Jose.

Geraldine Farrar, the American soprano, was born in Melrose, Massachusetts in 1882. She studied in Boston, New York City, Paris, and Berlin; Lilli Lehmann was her most prominent teacher. Following successes at the Berlin Hofoper, Farrar spent three seasons with the Monte Carlo Opera.

She made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera in 1906 as Juliette, and sang nearly 700 performances with the Company, appearing frequently at the Old House on Broadway as well as on tour.

On February 11, 1907, Farrar sang Cio-Cio-San in the Metropolitan's first performance of Puccini's MADAMA BUTTERLY; Enrico Caruso was her Pinkerton, and Puccini traveled to New York from Italy for the occasion.   

Geraldine Farrar - Madama Butterfly - Act I excerpt (1909)

(Note: it takes a few seconds for the recording to start.)

In addition to her classic portrayals in TOSCA, MANON, and CARMEN, Farrar took on such disparate roles as Elizabeth in TANNHAUSER and Charlotte in WERTHER. She sang the only performances at The Met to date of Dukas' ARIANE ET BARBE-BLEUE, and she popularized three operas which have since nearly disappeared from the world's stages: Leoncavallo's ZAZA, Giordano's MADAME SANS-GÊNE, and Humperdinck's DIE KÖNIGSKINDER. In the last-named, Farrar appeared as the Goose Girl; having trained her own gaggle of geese, the soprano often took her bows with a goose tucked under each arm.

Farrar was one of the most beloved opera stars of all time; she had her adoring Gerry Flappers, and her appearances in silent films carried her fame beyond the opera house to a vast public. She is immortalized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In the two weeks leading up to her farewell appearance at The Met, Farrar sang a single performance each of five signature roles: Butterfly, Tosca, Manon, Carmen, and Zaza. On April 22nd, 1922, the diva took leave of her fans at a matinee performance of ZAZA. The event, which caused major traffic jams around the opera house, was described in one newspaper:

"At the close of the first act, Miss Farrar was showered with more than forty bouquets. The activities of the 'Gerry Flappers', however, were redoubled with the ending of each succeeding act. Among conspicuous tributes which found their way to the stage at the end of the second act was a banner bearing the words, 'None but you, Gerry!'

The demonstration came close to reaching its climax at the conclusion of the third act, when Miss Farrar was almost snowed under by flowers and wreaths aimed at her from all parts of the house. She also received a crown of pearls and emeralds, which she set upon her head, and a golden sceptre, this regal insignia being conveyed to her across the footlights upon a red velvet cushion. At this point, too, a flag-crowded basket of American Beauties and other floral tributes found their way to the stage.

The final climax came at the opera's close, as the band of five hundred 'Gerry Flappers' waved as many pennants bearing the name "Farrar" a huge white pennant proclaiming 'Hurrah, Farrar! Farrar, Hurrah' in black letters, was strung across the center of the auditorium and the seething throng which filled the theater shouted and cheered the singer repeatedly."

Farrar farewell