Eleanor Steber

Eleanor Steber (17 July 1914 [Note that the "New Grove Dictionary of Opera" lists her as being born in 1916] , Wheeling, West Virginia - 3 October 1990, Langhorne, Pennsylvania) was an American operatic soprano. Steber is noted as one of the first major opera stars to have achieved the highest success with training and a career based in the United States.

Career

Eleanor Steber debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 1940 and was one of its leading artists through 1961. She was known for her large, flexible silvery voice, particularly in the high-lying soprano roles of Richard Strauss. She was equally well-known for her lyrical portrayals of Mozart's heroines, many in collaboration with conductor Bruno Walter. Beyond Mozart and Strauss her repertoire was quite varied. She was noted for success in the music of Wagner, Alban Berg, Giacomo Puccini and also in French opera. Steber sang the lead in the world premiere of the American opera "Vanessa" by Samuel Barber. She was also featured in a number of Metropolitan Opera premieres, including Strauss’s "Arabella", Mozart’s "Die Entführung aus dem Serail", and Berg's "Wozzeck".

Outside the Metropolitan her career included a 1953 engagement at the Bayreuth Wagner Festival, where her performance as Elsa in "Lohengrin" was highly acclaimed and recorded by Decca Records. She sang with Toscanini in his 1944 NBC Symphony broadcast of Beethoven's "Fidelio". In 1954 at the Florence May Festival she sang a celebrated performance of Minnie in Puccini's "La Fanciulla del West" with conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos. With Serge Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra she sang the world premiere in 1948 of Samuel Barber's "Knoxville, Summer of 1915", a work which she commissioned.

Beyond the opera, Steber was popular with radio and television audiences in frequent appearances on "The Voice of Firestone", "The Bell Telephone Hour" and other programs. Her extensive recording output included many popular ballads and operetta tunes in addition to arias, art songs and complete operas. Steber's sense of fun and adventure endeared her to audiences across the spectrum. In the 1970's she even recorded an album for RCA of songs and arias at the Continental Baths in New York City where Bette Midler was then a regular performer. At the same time she was still heard in recital at Carnegie Hall and sang a noted late-career performance of Strauss's "Four Last Songs" with James Levine and the Cleveland Orchestra.

While known as an artist of the highest standards, Steber also developed a reputation for high living off the operatic stage. Some critics have observed that her reportedly tempestuous personal life eventually took a toll on her voice. In a well-known story, following a brilliant success in 1946 as the Countess in Mozart's "Le nozze di Figaro" at the Edinburgh Festival, HMV Records engaged her to record some Mozart and other popular arias. By the account of Walter Susskind, the conductor of both the Edinburgh performances and the proposed recordings, she arrived at the Abbey Road Studios not feeling well, having been up most of the night. She could not sing her standard arias, saying “I don’t feel like singing that.” Susskind, trying to save the recording session, asked, “What "do" you feel like singing?” Steber thought for a moment and said, “Let’s try ‘Depuis le jour’." Orchestra parts were found and the disc was cut in one take. It became a famous recording of the aria from "Louise", revealing a superb lyrical vocal line and an eloquent interpretation.

Upon retiring from singing, Steber taught on the faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music. She stands as one of America’s greatest native born and trained operatic sopranos. Her many recordings are still available, as are audio and visual tapes of her radio and television broadcasts for "The Voice of Firestone". No survey of American opera singing is complete without serious attention to Steber.

She died on October 3, 1990 in Langhorne, Pennsylvania following heart valve surgery and is interred at Greenwood Cemetery in her native Wheeling.

elected Discography

*Eleanor Steber sings Richard Strauss; VAI Audio; Karl Böhm (1st work), James Levine (2nd work, encore), conductors. Recorded: Munich, June 4, 1953, (1st work); Cleveland, May 5, 1970 (2nd work, encore)
*Eleanor Steber sings Mozart - Selections Voice of Firestone; VAI Audio; Robert Lawrence (1st-6th works), Wilfred Pelletier (7th) or Howard Barlow (8th-10th), conductor. Recorded Apr., 1960 (1st-6th works); from Voice of Firestone radio broadcasts, 1946-1952 (remainder).
*Eleanor Steber, her first recordings (1940); VAI Audio; Wilfrid Pelletier, conductor; Recorded May 30-31, 1940 and June 25-26, 1940, Town Hall, New York City; and June 17, 1940, Academy of Music, Philadelphia.
*The Eleanor Steber collection. Vol. 1, the early career, 1938-1951; Armand Tokatyan (3rd and 5th works); George Cehanovsky (6th work); Leonard Warren (6th work); Recorded 1938-1951.
*Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (Columbia Masterworks). Dumbarton Oaks Chamber Orchestra, William Strickland, conductor. Recorded November 7, 1950.
*Vanessa; RCA Victor Gold Seal; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus ; Dmitri Mitropoulos, conductor; Recorded February and April 1958 in Manhattan Center.
*Madama Butterfly; Sony Classical (Columbia originally); Jean Madeira, Suzuki ; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus; "1949 Metropolitan Opera Association Production".

References

ources

* "Steber, Eleanor" by Martin Bernheimer, in 'The New Grove Dictionary of Opera', ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1992) ISBN 0-333-73432-7
* Peter G. Davis in his book "American Opera Singers" offers a fine portrait of Steber.

ee also

* "Eleanor Steber: an autobiography" with Marcia Sloat; Wordsworth, 1992.
* "He loves me when I sing: remembering Eleanor Steber"; Judith Buffington and other friends; Cottrell Printing, 1993.
* "Mozart: Eight Operatic Arias for the Soprano Voice" by Rita Beatie. G. Schirmer, Inc. 80 pages. This compilation, authored by one of Steber's students, provides annotated music scores documenting Steber's interpretations of eight Mozart arias.
* [http://www.cantabile-subito.de/Sopranos/Steber__Eleanor/hauptteil_steber__eleanor.html Biography at Subito-cantabile.de. Includes photos and discography.]