Helen Traubel facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Helen Traubel
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Traubel in a 1945 publicity photograph for Columbia Records
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Helen Francesca Traubel
June 16, 1899 St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
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| Died | July 28, 1972 (aged 73) Santa Monica, California, U.S.
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| Occupation | Opera singer |
| Years active | 1937–1967 |
| Spouse(s) | Louis Franklin Carpenter (1922–1938) (divorced) William L. Bass (1938–1972) (her death) |
Helen Francesca Traubel (born June 16, 1899 – died July 28, 1972) was a famous American opera and concert singer. She had a very powerful voice, known as a dramatic soprano. She was most famous for singing in operas by Richard Wagner, especially the roles of Brünnhilde and Isolde.
Helen Traubel was born and grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. She started her career singing in concerts. Later, she became a star at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City from 1937 to 1953. In the 1950s, she also began singing in nightclubs and on TV. She even appeared in movies and stage musicals. Helen Traubel spent her later years in Santa Monica, California, where she passed away at age 73.
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Early Life and Musical Start
Helen Traubel was born into a well-off family of German background in St. Louis, Missouri. Her father, Otto Ferdinand Traubel, was a pharmacist. She began studying singing in St. Louis with Louise Vetta-Karst. Later, she continued her studies in New York City with other teachers, including Giuseppe Boghetti.
She first performed as a concert singer with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra in 1923. In 1926, she got an offer to join the famous Metropolitan Opera company. This happened after she sang a part from Wagner's opera Tristan und Isolde at the Lewisohn Stadium. However, she decided to turn down the offer at that time. She wanted to continue her studies and focus on her concert singing career first.
Becoming an Opera Star
Helen Traubel made her first appearance on the opera stage on May 12, 1937. Composer Walter Damrosch asked her to sing the role of Mary Rutledge. This was for the very first performance of his opera, The Man Without a Country, at the Metropolitan Opera.
Later that year, she also sang with the Chicago City Opera Company. She stayed with them until the company closed in 1939. In 1940, she joined the Chicago Opera Company and remained a member until it also closed in 1946. She made her debut with the San Francisco Opera on October 9, 1945. She sang the role of Brünnhilde in Die Walküre, with Lauritz Melchior also performing. She sang there several more times in 1945 and 1947.
At first, it was hard for Helen Traubel to find her main roles at the Met. This was because the Metropolitan Opera already had two other top Wagnerian singers, Kirsten Flagstad and Marjorie Lawrence. Helen's first regular role with the company was Sieglinde in Die Walküre in 1939.
Things changed when Flagstad left the U.S. in 1941 to visit Norway and couldn't return because of World War II. In the same year, Lawrence became ill, which limited her career. This opened the door for Traubel to become the Met's leading Wagnerian soprano.
On February 22, 1941, the famous conductor Arturo Toscanini led Helen Traubel and tenor Lauritz Melchior in a live radio concert. They performed parts from Wagner's operas. Traubel later had great success in other Wagner operas like Tannhäuser and Tristan und Isolde.
She was known for her incredibly powerful voice. People often described it as a "gleaming sword." Her ability to sing for a long time and the clear sound of her voice were unmatched. This was especially true when she sang as Brünnhilde and Isolde. Even though she wanted to sing Italian operas, she never performed one on stage. However, she often included Italian songs in her solo concerts. Towards the end of her time at the Met, she briefly added the role of the Marschallin from Richard Strauss's opera Der Rosenkavalier to her performances.
Life Beyond Opera
In 1948, while she was a big star at the Met, US President Harry S. Truman asked her for a special favor. He wanted her to advise his daughter, Margaret Truman, who hoped to become a classical singer. Helen Traubel wrote about this experience in her 1959 book, St. Louis Woman. She explained that she felt this role might have hurt her standing in the music world.
Helen Traubel's time with the Metropolitan Opera ended in 1953. The general manager, Rudolf Bing, decided not to renew her contract. He didn't approve of her appearing on radio and TV shows with entertainers like Jimmy Durante. He also didn't like her desire to expand her career into popular supper and night clubs.
After leaving the Met, Traubel performed at famous places like the Copacabana. She also made many short appearances on television. She even acted on Broadway in a musical called Pipe Dream, which didn't do very well.
Additionally, she appeared in several films, including Deep in My Heart, The Ladies Man, and Gunn. She also performed with Groucho Marx in a TV show. Helen Traubel's last nightclub performance was with Jimmy Durante in 1964.
Personal Life and Legacy
Helen Traubel was a big fan of baseball. She even owned a part of her hometown team, the St. Louis Browns, for a while. She also wrote a mystery short story called The Ptomaine Canary. This story was published in US newspapers in 1950. She followed it up with a full-length mystery novel, The Metropolitan Opera Murders (1951). This book featured a soprano singer who helps solve a mystery.
In her later years, she focused on caring for her second husband and former business manager, William L. Bass. They had married in 1938. Her first husband was Louis Franklin Carpenter, whom she married in 1922.
Helen Traubel passed away from a heart attack in Santa Monica, California, at the age of 73. She was buried in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.
For her important contributions to the music world, Helen Traubel has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It is located at 6422 Hollywood Blvd. In 1994, she was also honored by being inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame.
Images for kids
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Helen Traubel at Chitose Air Base, Japan, 1952.
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Helen Traubel as Fauna.
See also
In Spanish: Helen Traubel para niños
