Florence Louise Pettitt
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Florence Louise Pettitt was one of the first American female Opera conductors, and probably the first to simultaneously conduct and direct a fully staged, fully orchestrated opera. This latter feat she accomplished repeatedly and unstintingly over four decades, advancing the careers of a great range of performers ( including several internationally known ), while broadending the life of opera in the United States.
[edit] Born to a musical family
Mrs Pettitt's mother had already lost four children in childbirth when the last came into this world.
She was raised as an only child, and perhaps may derived some onus of responsibility from her pedagogical singularity.
When she was four years old, her maternal grandfather suffered a fatal seizure while he was playing Christmas music in her presence. She was rushed to another room.
Her father was a cellist who played in various orchestras in the New England region over the years. Even as a small child she was brought to countless orchestra rehearsals. This was an environment she thrived in for over 80 years.
She was a diligent student, and became valedictorian.
[edit] Trained to be a Professional Classical Singer
Although as a teenager she applied her musical aptitude to the cello and became a proficient pianist and cellist, she ultimately found that she preferred to express herself musically as a singer.
Although she devoted more hours over her life to producing opera than to her vocal performances, and gained more recognition as a conductor and director, she always considered herself to be a singer first. During the many years of operatic conducting and directing, she still devoted time each week to her voice students and her own vocal performances.
Her training was primarily in Boston, though she also studied in New York and Providence.
She trained in voice with Gladys Miller in Boston Massachusetts at the New England Conservatory, several of whose students went on to sing for the Vienna, Paris, and New York Metropolitan opera companies. She also received instruction from Margaret Armstrong Gow of the Harvard Musical Association, and others, and gradually became a leading soprano in the Boston area.
[edit] Gained performance experience
She gave regular solo performances of arias at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston and elsewhere. She performed in many area churches and other venues as a classical soloist in oratorios, light opera, and mixed programs. She sang at Old South Church, Trinity, St Paul's and many others.
She gradually gained experience in stage acting. One of her earliest acting credits was a local production called "Aunt Emma Sees It Through" ( performed January 24, 1936 ). She played soprano roles in Gilbert and Sullivan productions in Massachusetts. She and her husband performed Gilbert and Sullivan repertoire professionally for various women's clubs under contract to "Flora Flame" of Boston in the 1950s.
When the faculty of Wheaton College ( Massachusetts ) formed its own Gilbert and Sullivan troupe in 1945, she became a perennial female lead. Eventually, after having been operatic director several years, also became director of the Wheaton group.
[edit] Boston Opera in Crisis: the late 1950s
The great Boston Opera house that had been built by Wheelwright ( who built Jordan Hall, the Longfellow Bridge, and other great Boston buildings ) was sold to Northeastern University, and promptly made into a parking lot. It had stood between Symphony hall and the Museum of Fine Arts, near New England Conservatory, Boston Conservatory and the Handel and Hayden Society.
At about this time, Sarah Caldwell started the Opera Company of Boston, and Louise Pettitt started the Chaminade Opera Group.
[edit] Founding of Chaminade Opera Group
In 1959, Mrs Pettitt founded the Chaminade Opera Group in Massachusetts, which commenced its first season with Humperdinck's "Hansel and Gretel". From her first season to her last with Chaminade, she always served simultaneously in two roles: conductor and stage director. She may have been the first American woman to do so, and probably did it the longest.
Much later, the Taunton Gazette wrote that "Long before Sarah Caldwell in Boston or New York's Beverly Sills directed opera companies, there was Louise Pettitt in Attleboro" ( Taunton Daily Gazette, Sat Feb 23, 1991, by Nancy C Doyle ). This praise was somewhat overdone. Caldwell had become an opera director at Boston University circa 1953. In Chicago, Carol Fox was running the Lyric Opera and engaging artists like Maria Callas beginning in 1954. But few women in the US were running opera companies when Mrs Pettitt took the helm of Chaminade. Also her longevity was notable. And perhaps no other woman in America consistently performed both as conductor and director for 40 years. Caldwell herself often did not conduct the orchestra in her productions.
The New England Conservatory's alumni notes claim that Caldwell was "the second woman ever to conduct the New York Philharmonic (1974), and the third woman ever to lead an American opera company" ( see Caldwell alumni profile ).
In the next three seasons Mozart's "Cosi Fan Tutti," "Magic Flute," and "Marriage of Figaro" were featured.
By 1964, she was able to incorporate members of Boston Ballet company into her production of "Song Of Norway", an opera about Edvard Grieg ( "Providence Journal," November 8, 1964 ).
Pettitt's later productions included works by Puccini, Verdi, Johann Strauss and other more daring choices. Her productions were notable for the use of full orchestration. Many of her performers studied under Boris Goldovsky, and some performed with Sarah Caldwell.
[edit] The Roaring 70's
After more than a dozen years of experience, the Chaminade Opera Group was reaching new heights in the 1970s, recruiting well established professionals and receiving praise in the press.
By the early 1970's, turnout was often standing room only, and the group was forced to added extra performances to accommodate the rising interest ( Attleboro Sun Chronicle, December 7, 1973 ). The participation of a Miss Massachusetts - Deborah O'Brien - was probably an asset.
Greater Boston's "Patriot Ledger" newspaper compared Mrs Pettitt's 1977 production of "Mephistopheles" favorably to those of Sarah Caldwell ( Patriot Ledger, Wednesday December 14, 1977 ). Critic Sue Cromwell wrote that "Sarah Caldwell fans, presumably waiting patiently for the Opera Company of Boston's new season to begin, missed the kind of performance that is their meat and drink," adding that "Sarah's seasoned fans would have torn the house down." John Bates, of Caldwell's "Opera Company of Boston" served as Pettitt's young "Wagner" in the Chaminade effort. Cromwell noted that "...the same kinds of strengths and weaknesses appear to prevail with both the professional Caldwell company and the semi-pro Chaminade."
Peter Feldman, who played a key role in "Mephistopheles", personally translated his entire role from the original Italian libretto for the performance. Feldman toured six times with the Goldovsky Institute ( see Boris Goldovsky), soloed with the Baltimore Symphony, and appeared on radio and television.
[edit] 1990: Pettitt takes mantle from the faltering Caldwell
In 1990, when Sarah Caldwell's opera company was in process of folding in Boston, Mrs Pettitt's company was called upon to take up some of the slack ( see "Sarah Caldwell, Indomitable Director of the Opera Company of Boston, Dies at 82" article by Anthony Tommasini, New York Times March 25, 2006 ). In January of that year, the Boston Opera Company ( not Caldwell's "Opera Company of Boston" ) featured Mrs Pettitt's production of Bizet's "Pearl Fishers" in the Strand theater in Boston. Among the professional performers onstage was Deborah Sasson, who became an opera star in Germany ( see Boston Globe Jan 20, 1990 p11 ).
Mrs Pettitt continued to conduct for many years after, and even staged several Chaminade Operas in the new millenium.
The critics were not always entirely favorable. At one point Anthony Thomasini of the New York Times reviewed one production in the 1990s and found it charming, but riddled with weakness. The tenor had a weak high range. The woodwinds seemed underrehearsed. He left before the third act.
She produced many Oratorios, featuring professional operatic soloists, some of whom had experienced significant national exposure via other companies. Among her varied oratorio productions ( with full orchestra ) were "Elijah," "Carmina Burana," several requiems. Her favorite was the Brahms, also known as the German Requiem.
Although age and illness gradually began to affect her productiveness after 2000, she maintained an incontrovertible optimism and resolve. Her teaching and rehearsal schedules exhibited the same relentless diligence as previously. On the day she passed away, she was awaiting a several voice students, and was planning an upcoming concert.
She died on March 25, 2006 at her home in Massachusetts ( Boston Globe obituary, April 2, 2006 ). She outlived Sarah Caldwell - a very similar woman - by exactly two days.
[edit] Her conducting credits with Chaminade include the following:
The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart, The Magic Flute by Mozart, Cosi Fan Tutte by Mozart, Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss II, Eine Nacht in Venedig - A Night in Venice by Johann Strauss II, The Tales of Hoffman by Offenbach, La Perichole by Offenbach, La Traviata by Verdi, Otello by Verdi, The Pearl Fishers by Bizet, Carmen by Bizet, The Gondoliers by Gilbert & Sullivan, The Mikado by Gilbert & Sullivan, Turandot by Puccini, L'Elisir d'Amore by Donizetti, The Merry Widow by Lehár, The Bartered Bride by Smetana, Manon by Massenet, Mephistopheles by Boito, Faust by Gounod, The Ballad of Baby Doe by Douglas Moore, The Merry Wives of Windsor by Carl Otto Nicolai , The Song of Norway by Robert Wright and George Forrest (see Grieg), Hansel & Gretel by Humperdinck.
[edit] Chaminade Actors include
Jack Bates of Caldwell's Opera Company of Boston;
Peter Feldman. Peter toured six seasons with Boris Goldovsky's of Goldovsky Institute; He studied at Boston University's opera program 1957-1961. He performed under stage direction by Sarah Caldwell and Boris Goldovsky. He performed at the New York City Opera, among others. He received a positive review from the New York Times in May of 1964.
Deborah Sasson;
James Van Der Post;
Randall Kulunis of Boston Conservatory;
Deborah O'Brien ( a former Miss Massachusetts and an associate of the Opera Company of Boston );
Sarah Pelletier, and others.
[edit] Reviews and Articles include:
"Patriot Ledger" Dec 14, 1977 review of "Mephistopheles" by Sue Cromwell; "Providence Journal-Bulletin" review of "Otello" by Roberta Furie; "Providence Journal-Bulletin" review of "Tales of Hoffman" Jan 5 1979 W5; William Miranda's review of "Otello" in "The Jewish Advocate" Thur Jun 30, 1977; "Sun Chronicle" review of "Mikado", Wed Dec 9, 1992; "Boston Globe" article concerning the Pettit's Boston production of Bizet's "Pearl Fishers", by Richard Dyer, Sat Jan 20, 1990. "Providence Journal" preview of 'Song of Norway' November 8, 1964 by Gertrude McBrien. The Sun Chronicle and Providence Journal reviews are too numerous to fully list here.
