Rose Bampton
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rose Bampton is an American opera singer born November 28, 1907 (some sources claim 1908 or 1909), in Cleveland, Ohio.
Bampton was a mezzo-soprano, later a soprano, who made her debut as Siebel in Faust in 1929. She sang primarily at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City, but also at major opera houses worldwide. She sang the role of the Wooddove in Arnold Schoenberg's Gurre-Lieder in the first American performances by Leopold Stokowski in 1932. She frequently performed Schoenberg's Lied der Waldtaube from Gurre-Lieder and his Buch der hängenden Gärten, op. 15.
At the height of her popularity, Bampton, who was particularly noted for her three-octave range, performed in one week in New York the contralto role of Laura in La Gioconda at the Met, gave a recital at the Town Hall, and took the mezzo-soprano solo part in the Bach B Minor Mass with the New York Oratorio Society.
In 1944, Ms. Bampton performed the role of Leonore in conductor Arturo Toscanini's radio broadcast of Beethoven's only opera, Fidelio. Toscanini conducted the NBC Symphony Orchestra, and others in the cast included Jan Peerce and Eleanor Steber. The performance was released years later on LP and still later on CD.
In 1937, Bampton married noted Canadian conductor and pianist Wilfrid Pelletier, who died in 1982.
