Mme. Charles Cahier

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Portrait of Mme Charles Cahier, before 1912

Madame Charles Cahier , born Sara Jane Layton Walker ( January 8, 1870 in Nashville , Tennessee - April 15, 1951 in Manhattan Beach , California ), was an important song and opera singer of the early 20th century in the mezzo-soprano and alto voices . She was engaged by Gustav Mahler at the kk Hof-Operntheater in Vienna and after his death in 1911 she sang the world premiere of his Lied von der Erde in Munich.

life and work

Sara Jane Layton Walker was the daughter of an American general. She had a large, expressive voice and sang with more legato than usual today. The simple and clear voice guidance was predestined for sad or sentimental songs as well as for tragic and dramatic stage characters. The internalized portrayal of emotional life and parting thoughts in Rückert's texts, I have got lost in the world , found the congenial interpreter in it. The artist first studied with Ernestinoff in Indianapolis, then began a career as a church and oratorio singer in the United States and then went to Paris to continue her studies with Jean de Reszke . She also took lessons from Victor Capoul and Fidèle König in Paris, from Amalie Joachim in Berlin and from Gustav Walter in Vienna.

Her first marriage was to Morris Black.

Debut and first stations

The singer made her operatic debut in 1904 - as Orpheus in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice at the Opéra de Nice . The debut was a resounding success and the singer has received a number of flattering offers from several major European opera houses. On the advice of her teacher de Reszke, one of the most important tenors of the 19th century, who had only ended his career in 1901, she turned down all offers and went to Germany to study Wagnerian roles and perfect her singing technique. Her debut in Germany was not with Wagner, but with Verdi: She sang Amneris in Aida in Braunschweig. In 1905 she married the Swedish manor owner Charles Cahier and from then on called herself Mme Charles Cahier , rarely Sara Charles-Cahier . The unusual name, Mme Charles Cahier, was also featured on the cast slips and evening posters.

She made guest appearances at the Royal Court Opera in Berlin and in other German cities before she accepted the offer of the Vienna Court Opera Director Gustav Mahler in 1907 and became a member of the kk Hofoper ensemble . She remained committed to this house until 1911.

Gustav Mahler and the Vienna Court Opera

In Vienna she presumably made her debut on March 9, 1907 in the title role of Bizet's Carmen , with great success, and sang this role a further 22 times until April 1911. Presumably because the electronic repository of the Vienna State Opera has all the casts since 1955 completely, but the years before that are only recorded gradually. So the debut could have already taken place in another role. The following, already recorded roles are guaranteed: 17 times Mme Charles Cahier sang Amneris in Vienna, 16 times Erda in Siegfried , 15 times Ortrud, 7 times each time Dalila and the Countess in Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades and 3 times Adriano in Wagner's Rienzi . She also took over the Waltraute in the new production of Götterdämmerung on November 21, 1910, staged by Wilhelm von Wymetal , conducted by Felix von Weingartner . It is very likely that she also sang Fidès and Santuzza in the Haus am Ring, as well as probably the Brangäne and the Sesto in Mozart's La clemenza di Tito .

Gustav Mahler, who was incorruptible in his quality standards and in the selection of singers, was only to stay at the Court Opera in Vienna until November 1907 before he went to New York - worn down by the Viennese press and local intrigues. Mahler and Mme Charles Cahier's time together at the Vienna Court Opera was therefore limited to the period from March to November 1907. Unfortunately, the conductor is not listed on the 1907 cast, which is why it is difficult to determine retrospectively how often and in which roles Mme Charles Cahier has performed at the Vienna Court Opera under Mahler's baton. However, there are numerous indications that the singer has sung solo parts in numerous concerts conducted by Mahler in Munich, Vienna, Graz, Mannheim and other continental European cities parallel to her engagement in Vienna.

In addition, she sang Wagner roles at the Munich Opera Festival from 1909 to 1913 and made guest appearances in Paris and London. After Mahler's early death on May 18, 1911, she was invited by the conductor Bruno Walter to sing the world premiere of Maler's Song of the Earth with the tenor William Miller in Munich . This took place on November 20, 1911 in the Munich Tonhalle .

New York, Stockholm

At the end of the 1911/12 season, the singer made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City - as Azucena and a little later as Amneris. In addition, she later sang Fricka in Wagner's Walküre at the Met - although, according to Kutsch / Riemens, she is said to have sung all these roles in just one performance. She could also be heard in one of the Met's Sunday evening concerts.

During the First World War she stayed in Sweden, mostly at Helgerum Castle near Skatet, and from 1915 to 1918 she made guest appearances at the Royal Opera in Stockholm, with great success. During this time she also acquired Swedish citizenship. After the war she continued her international career, both on the opera stage and in the concert hall. Appearances as Azucena, Amneris and Carmen at the Zurich Opera House are noted for 1920 ; guest appearances in Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig, Munich and Amsterdam are also known, but not yet dated.

As a concert singer, recordings

Mme Charles Cahier gained a high reputation as a concert and oratorio singer. She has made guest appearances in concert halls in Germany, France, England and Italy, and was asked in particular to interpret the works of Bach , Liszt , Mahler and Schumann . She sang under famous conductors and composers such as Edvard Grieg , Willem Mengelberg and Richard Strauss . At the Mahler Festival in Amsterdam in 1920 she sang with the Concertgebouw Orchestra under Mengelberg, and in 1922 she again took over the alto solo in Lied von der Erde in New York , this time with the tenor Orville Harrold and the conductor Artur Bodanzky . While her opera appearances in America were limited, she was able to achieve great success in the concert halls of her home country. She often integrated works by contemporary composers into her programs, for example works by Gabriel Dupont , Reynaldo Hahn and Raoul Laparra . She also sang the American premiere of Stravinsky's Les Noces .

Kutsch / Riemens write: “Few records” and name a G&V, Ultraphon and a Swedish Odeon record as well as three HMV recordings. In 1992 Pearl reissued the 1930 recording of Mahler's Urlicht . Her design of the Fidès in Meyerbeer's Le prophète is available on YouTube . The recording shows very well the intimate concentration and the credible role design of the artist.

Farewell to the stage and concert hall

In 1927 she was still on stage, in 1931 she gave a concert in Berlin. In 1933 she separated from her husband. In the last decades of her life she was still in demand as a singing teacher, first in Nöresund in Sweden, later in Salzburg, and finally at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Her students included Marian Anderson , Else Brems , Göta Ljungberg and Rosette Anday . On her recommendation, Lauritz Melchior successfully switched from baritone to hero tenor . Nothing is known about the last years of her life. She died in her sleep at the age of 81.

Interpretations

On the opera stage :

Bizet :

Luck :

Mascagni :

Meyerbeer :

Saint-Saëns :

 



Verdi :

Wagner :

 

In the concert hall :

Bach :

Liszt
Mahler :

Schumann
Stravinsky :

Audio documents

A picture signed “Mme Charles Cahier”
  • Arias of Gluck, Verdi, Gounod, Bizet, Saint-Saëns, Massenet, Massé, Godard and Debussy; songs of Schumann, Hahn and Chaminade, sung by Jeanne Gerville-Réache (mezzo-soprano) / Arias of Donizetti, Meyerbeer and Bizet; Martini's Menuet, folk songs, spirituals, sung by Madame Charles Cahier (mezzo-soprano) PRICE 89737 TT: 77:29
  • Mahler's Decade in Vienna . Singers of the Court Opera 1897-1907, Marston 53004-2, therein two arias by the artist from Carmen (Habanera and Air des cartes, both recorded in 1907)

Image documents

In addition to the photographs shown here, there are numerous role models, for example one as Orpheus with a lute and another as Carmen with a hat. Both images are shown on the Forgotten Opera Singers website , the link to this page can be found here under web links. A number of other role models and portraits can be found on the Isoldes Liebestod website . Her presence at the opening of the women's clinic in Munich in 1911 is also documented there.

literature

  • Richard Dyer: Cahier, Mme Charles. In: Laura Williams Macy: The Grove Book of Opera Singers , Oxford University Press, 2008, p. 69
  • Karl-Josef Kutsch , Leo Riemens : Large singer lexicon . 4th edition, Volume 1: Aarden – Castles. Saur, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-598-44088-X , pp. 681-682 ( online via De Gruyter online , subscription access).
  • Henry Charles Lahee (1856–1953): The grand opera singers of to-day; an account of the leading operational stars who have sung during recent years, together with a sketch of the chief operational enterprises online , pp. 328–329, online: [1] accessed on August 29, 2016, with an illustration

Web links

Commons : Sara Cahier  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

References and comments

  1. ↑ a b Henry Charles Lahee: The grand opera singers of to-day , S. 328f.
  2. ↑ It has the same name as the Jesuit Charles Cahier (1807–1882), "auteur de travaux sur l'archéologie", who also worked under the pseudonym Achéri .
  3. ^ Encyclopedia.com , accessed August 29, 2016.
  4. ↑ According to the cited source gustav-mahler.eu, she is said to have been committed to Vienna as early as 1906.
  5. ↑ Götterdämmerung program booklet , Vienna State Opera, December 8, 2008
  6. ^ The New York Times , December 15, 1912 . Retrieved August 1, 2014
  7. ↑ Google groups . Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  8. ^ "Mme Sara Cahier," Toledo Blade , April 16, 1951 . Retrieved August 29, 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Cahier, Mme Charles
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Layton Walker, Sara Jane (maiden name); Charles-Cahier, Sara
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American-Swedish opera singer with a mezzo-soprano and alto voice
DATE OF BIRTH January 8, 1870
PLACE OF BIRTH Nashville , Tennessee
DATE OF DEATH April 15, 1951
Place of death Manhattan Beach , California