Jenny Dufau
Photograph of a white woman, smiling over one shoulder; her dark hair is parted and dressed up with a tiara at the crown; she is wearing a gown with a low back.
Jenny Dufau, from a 1916 publication.
Born18 July 1878
Rothau, Alsace-Lorraine, German Empire
Died29 August 1924
Pau, France
Other namesJennie Dufau
OccupationOpera singer

Jenny Dufau (18 July 1878 – 29 August 1924) was an opera singer born in Germany who found her success in Chicago.

Early life and education

Dufau was born on 18 July 1878 in Rothau, Alsace-Lorraine,[1] the daughter of linen merchant Alfred Dufau.[2] As a girl, she trained to work as a potter, her father's trade.[3] She studied music in Berlin with Etelka Gerster and made her debut in 1906 at Weimar as Queen in Les Huguenots. She also studied with Mathilde Marchesi, Paul Vidal, and Alessandro Guagni Benvenuti.[4][5]

A program from 1905, for a concert in Rothau featuring Jenny Dufau and Albert Schweitzer.

Career

Dufau began her career in 1910 in Italy at the Teatro Vittorio Emanuele in Ancona, as Filina in Mignon. In 1910 and 1911 she performed in various Italian houses and at Lirico of Bucharest and Royal of Atene. At the end of 1911 she went to the United States, engaged by Andreas Dippel for the Chicago Grand Opera Company.[6]

In Chicago, Dufau was a lead soprano, nicknamed the "smallest soprano". She performed in operas such as Die Walküre, The Barber of Seville, and I gioielli della Madonna. In 1914, she sang the title role in Massenet's Manon for the Boston Opera Company.[7] In 1916, Dufau moved to New York, and shifted her focus to singing concerts nationwide,[8] notably at the Ravinia Festival, Hamilton Park (Chicago), and Symphony Hall, Boston. The American composer Frank La Forge wrote songs for her, which she performed at these concerts.[9][10] Dufau wrote songs for her concerts, including "A Soldier I Shall Be", a patriotic wartime anthem.[11]

Dufau also participated in a burgeoning art form called "Cinema Concerts", in which she sang with silent films. In 1916, she performed with the film The Law Decides. She wrote at least one silent film scenario, My Prince Charming.[8]

Dufau returned to Europe following the end of World War I and she performed in 1918 at Royal of Madrid in Barbiere di Siviglia. Her last tracked performance was in Lucia di Lammermoor given at Teatro Toselli of Cuneo.

Personal life

Dufau was visiting her family in Alsace in 1914, when she narrowly escaped execution as a spy.[12][13] She died on 29 August 1924 in Pau, France.[1] There is an archive of her papers at the Newberry Library in Chicago.[14]

References

  1. 1 2 "Music". The Nebraska State Journal. 1924-10-05. p. 28. Retrieved 2020-07-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ↑ "Diva Called a Spy". The Fredonia Daily Herald. 1914-10-16. p. 4. Retrieved 2020-07-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ "Mlle. Jenny Dufau, Clayworker". Brick and Clay Record. 40: 212. March 1, 1912.
  4. ↑ International Who's who in Music and Musical Gazetteer. Current Literature Publishing Company. 1918. p. 162.
  5. ↑ Kutsch, Karl-Josef; Riemens, Leo (2012-02-22). Großes Sängerlexikon (in German). Walter de Gruyter. pp. 1244–1245. ISBN 978-3-598-44088-5.
  6. ↑ "Dippel's Plans". New York Clipper. October 7, 1911. p. 8. Retrieved July 13, 2020 – via Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections.
  7. ↑ "Joseph Urban Papers, 1893–1998", Columbia University Libraries: Rare Book & Manuscript Library
  8. 1 2 de Valdor, Joseph (October 6, 1916). "Jenny Dufau". The Music News. 8: 3.
  9. ↑ "Mme. Jenny Dufau". The Musical Leader. 34: 8. July 5, 1917 – via HathiTrust.
  10. ↑ "Jenny Dufau in Recital". The Music News. 9: 22. October 19, 1917.
  11. ↑ Dufau, Jenny. "A soldier I shall be". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  12. ↑ "LINED UP TO BE SHOT, WOMEN WERE SAVED; Miss Dufau, Father, and Sister Near Execution as Spies by Germans. SPARED BY AN OFFICER Mrs. Thomas J. Preston, Jr., with Her Children, Arrives from Italy on the Savola". The New York Times. 1914-10-02. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  13. ↑ Russell, Thomas Herbert (1917). America's War for Humanity: Including a Complete History of the World War Up-to-date ... Homewood Press. p. 251.
  14. ↑ "MMS Collection Abstract: Jenny Dufau Papers". The Newberry Library. Archived from the original on 2020-07-13. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
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