Marie Decca
Marie Decca | |
|---|---|
 Portrait photo from A Woman of the Century | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Mary Sanders Johnston |
| Also known as | Marie Decca |
| Born | 1859 Georgetown, Ohio |
| Genres | lyric soprano |
| Occupation | operatic singer |
| Spouses |
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Marie Decca was the stage name of Mary Sanders Johnston (née Johnston; after first marriage, Chrisman; after second marriage, Smith; 1859-unknown), an American lyric soprano operatic singer.[1] She became known as the "Jenny Lind of America".[2] Loomis (1898) described her voice as having the remarkable range of three octaves, reaching to the phenomenal pitch of A natural in alt,[3] while Willard & Livermore (1893) described her as a soprano of flexible and remarkable range, reaching F natural, with exquisite tone and strength.[1] Her stage name was rendered as her veritable cognomen was Johnston, but Johnston and Italian don't mix well. So her music teacher made her sing a piece beginning d, e, c, c, a, and that "deccarated" her with a mellifluous name.[4]
Early life and education
[edit]Mary Sanders Johnston was born in Georgetown, Ohio.[5] She was the only daughter of Judge Sanders Walker Johnston and Amanda Malvina (née, Hamer),[6] of Washington, D.C., and a granddaughter of General Thomas L. Hamer, who served in the Mexican–American War.[3] She was of Scotch descent. Much of her early life was spent in Maysville, Kentucky .[1]
She was educated in the Sacred Heart Convent in New York City, and later studied music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During her school years, Marie had a preference and great fondness for the stage, and she would have made it her profession, had not her friends strongly opposed her.[1]
While studying in Philadelphia, she saw and heard Etelka Gerster, and Gerster heard Decca sing in Daughter of the Regiment. Gerster was delighted and exclaimed: "An Italian voice and an American girl!" Gerster advised Decca to go to Paris and take a thorough course, which she did under the tuition of Blanche Marchesi for four years.[3] Out of a class of sixteen, "John", as the pupils called her, was the only one who finished the course. Marchesi often said to Decca: "You have a well-fed voice, and it is good care, plenty of sleep and beefsteak, Marie, that gives you the advantage of all these extra half-hours."[1]
Career
[edit]Decca made her debut in London at the Covent Garden Theatre, and her success was instantaneous. She was at once engaged by Colonel James Henry Mapleson to sing the "Queen of Night" in Mozart's The Magic Flute, and scored a great success. She subsequently sang for two seasons with Her Majesty's Italian Opera Company throughout Great Britain and Ireland. Her Italian, French and English repertoire consisted of thirty-four operas, which include "Lucia," "Sonnambula," "Dinorah," "Lakme," "Hamlet," "Linda," "Rigoletto," "Faust," "Fra Diavolo," "Il Barbiere," "Don Pasquale," "Daughter of the Regiment," "Marriage of Figaro," (Cherubini), "Mignon" (Felina), "Masked Ball" (Oscar), "Magic Flute." She was also very successful in concerts and festivals in England and France.[3] She was triumphant in Europe in 1886.[7] She also sang one season with the Carl Rosa Opera Company.[1]
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Her first appearance in Boston, on February 5, 1891, at the Operatic Festival in Music Hall, was a triumph, the press being unanimous in enthusiastic admiration of her wonderful execution.[1] Decca was successful at the great Chautauqua Assembly in 1891, receiving the beautiful "Chautauqua Salute" from ten thousand people. Since then, she was engaged by the leading Chautauqua assemblies all over the U.S. Decca accompanied the United States Marine Band on its concert tour through the country in 1891. She accompanied them again in 1892 on their Western tour, and created a furore in every city, her reception on the Pacific Coast being a continuous ovation.[3] Her singing engagements in 1892 also included Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.[5] The Legislatures of two different States, Ohio and Kentucky, adjourned for the purpose of listening to Decca's singing.[3]
She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.[6]
Personal life
[edit]On January 27, 1892, she married Francis Leon Chrisman, newspaper correspondent.[5] They met at Lake Chautauqua, when Chrisman was reporting the Assembly proceedings for a New York paper, and Decca was engaged in singing for the attendees.[2] On July 19, 1893, Decca started a suit against her husband, charging him with puloining her property.[8][9]
After having divorced Mr. Chrisman, she married secondly, on April 23, 1896, Charles McCauley Smith.[10] They had a daughter, Marie Marchesi Smith.[11]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g Willard, Frances Elizabeth; Livermore, Mary Ashton Rice (1893). "DECCA, Marie". A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life. Charles Wells Moulton. pp. 236–37. Retrieved 18 February 2025.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ a b "Marie Decca sues her husband". Richmond Times-Dispatch. 8 April 1893. p. 7. Retrieved 19 February 2025 – via Newspapers.com. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ a b c d e f "Marie Decca". Loomis' Musical and Masonic Journal. 31 (10). New Haven, Conn.: C.M. Loomis: 181–82. May 1898. Retrieved 20 February 2025. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ "From London". The Current: Politics, Literature, Science and Art. 8. Current Company. 1887. Retrieved 20 February 2025. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ a b c "marriage Mme Marie ( Mary Johnson ) Decca Francis Leon Chrisman". Harrisburg Telegraph. 28 January 1892. p. 4. Retrieved 19 February 2025 – via Newspapers.com. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ a b Daughters of the American Revolution (1898). Lineage Book of the Charter Members of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Daughters of the American Revolution. p. 97. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ "Maggie Mitchell". The Washington Post. 6 December 1927. p. 143. Retrieved 19 February 2025 – via Newspapers.com. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ "Thirty Years Ago. Marie Decca suit against Francis Leon Chrisman, purloining her property". The Pittsburgh Post. 19 July 1923. p. 6. Retrieved 19 February 2025 – via Newspapers.com. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ "Marie Decca will not lose her home. Villa Decca saved by one of her friends". The Cincinnati Enquirer. 19 January 1895. p. 8. Retrieved 19 February 2025 – via Newspaperes.com. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ "1st anniversary - McCauley Smith & Marie Decca". Harrisburg Telegraph. 24 April 1897. p. 1. Retrieved 19 February 2025 – via Newspapers.com. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ "Charles McCauley Smith in town". Harrisburg Telegraph. 16 September 1908. p. 3. Retrieved 19 February 2025 – via Newspapers.com. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
External links
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Works related to Woman of the Century/Marie Decca at Wikisource
