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February 1917, New York. "Frieda Hempel." The German soprano and Metropolitan Opera star. 4x6 glass negative, Bain News Service. View full size.
New York Times/March 28, 1914:
Frieda Hempel appeared at the Metropolitan Opera House last night in the role of Eva in "Die Meistersinger" for the first time here, and achieved great success. It was also the first appearance this season of Mme. Homer as Magdalene, and of Herbert Witherspoon as Pogner. The rest of the cast was familiar, including as it did Rudolf Berger as Walther, Hermann Weil as Plans Sachs, Otto Goritz as Beckmesser, and Albert Reiss as David.
I wonder if she actually ever sang Eva in my least favorite Wagner opera. Die Meistersinger is supposed to be a comedy!
Our opera star was only 31 years old at the time of this photograph.
She was an amazing coloratura soprano! Some coloraturas are great at singing the runs, but their voices don't have much substance for anything else. Frieda's was amazing, no matter what she was singing!
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