Jean Madeira

Jean Madeira, née Jean Browning (born November 14, 1918, in Centralia, Illinois; died on July 10, 1972, in Providence, Rhode Island) was an American mezzo-soprano, particularly known for her work in late-romantic German repertoire such as the operas of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss.

When she was a child her family moved to East St. Louis, Illinois, where she attended the high school, and she later studied at the Juilliard School in New York City. She made her debut in opera in Chatauqua, as Nancy in Martha, by Flotow. In 1955, the singer and actress successfully sang the title role in Carmen with the Vienna State Opera. She sang approximately 300 times at the Metropolitan Opera in forty-one roles, between 1948 and 1971. Her last appearance there was in Elektra, opposite Birgit Nilsson. Jean Madeira was a second-cousin of the composer Amy Beth Kirsten.

Abridged Discography

• Bizet: Carmen as Carmen (Filacuridi; Dervaux, 1957) Pathé
• Britten: Peter Grimes (Jon Vickers; 1967) Immortal Performances
• Falla: Three Cornered Hat (Vienna Symphony) Tuxedo Music
• Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro (Valdengo, de los Angeles; Fritz Reiner) Myto Historical
• Pochielli: La Gioconda (Milanov, Cehanovsky, de Paolis; Met, Cleva) Gala
• Puccini: Madama Butterfly as Suzuki (Steber, Tucker, Valdengo; Met, Rudolf, 1949) Sony
• Puccini: Manon Lescaut (Antonicelli, Bjoerling, Valdengo; Met) Myto
• Saint-Saëns: Samson et Delilah (San Carlo theater Orchestra, Pradelli) Hardy Classic
• Strauss: Elektra as Clytemnestra (Borkh, Schech, Uhl, Fischer-Dieskau; Böhm, 1960) DG
• Verdi: Aida as Amneris (Rysanek, London, Frick, Hopf; Vienna State Opera, Kubelik 1955) Orfeo
• Verdi: Requiem (Vienna Symphony, Erich Kleiber 1955) Melodram
• Verdi: Un ballo in maschera (Rysanek, Bergonzi, Merill; Santi 1962) Living Stage
• Wagner: Das Rheingold as Erda (Flagstad, London; Solti, 1958) Decca Records
• Wagner: Die Walkure as Fricka (Nilsson, Rysanek, Ludwig, Hotter, Frick, Suthaus; La Scala, Karajan 1958) Myto; IDIS
• Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen as Erda, Rossweisse & First Norn (Bayreuth, Knappertsbusch 1956) Orfeo
• Wagner Parsifal (Varnay, London, Hotter; Friz Reiner 1954) Adonis

References

• Madeira, Jean (Mezzo-soprano) on the MetOpera Database

External links

Villecco, Tony. A Voice Like Velvet; Remembering Contralto Jean Madeira. Classical Singer Magazine Oct. 2012.

• Jean Madeira as Erda, in an excerpt from Das Rheingold on YouTube (1958).
• Jean Madeira as Fricka, with Herbert von Karajan on YouTube (1958).
• Jean Madeira fan page on Facebook