Arlene Saunders (

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, October 5, 1930 – April 17, 2020) was an American

spinto soprano A spinto soprano (also lirico-spinto, spinto lyric soprano, or pushed lyric) is a type of operatic soprano voice that has the limpidity and easy high notes of a lyric soprano, yet can be "pushed" on to achieve dramatic climaxes without strain. Thi ...

opera singer. After making her operatic debut as Rosalinde von Eisenstein, in ''Die Fledermaus'', with the National Opera Company in 1958, she made her first appearance with the

New York City Opera The New York City Opera (NYCO) is an American opera company located in Manhattan in New York City. The company has been active from 1943 through 2013 (when it filed for bankruptcy), and again since 2016 when it was revived. The opera company, du ...

in 1961, as Giorgetta in ''Il tabarro'' (conducted by

Julius Rudel Julius Rudel (6 March 1921 – 26 June 2014) was an Austrian-born American opera and orchestra conductor. He was born in Vienna and was a student at the city's Academy of Music. He emigrated to the United States at the age of 17 in 1938 after th ...

). With that company, she soon sang in ''Carmen'' (as Micaëla), ''La bohème'' (as Mimì), ''Louise'' (opposite

Norman Treigle Norman Treigle (né Adanelle Wilfred Treigle (March 6, 1927February 16, 1975) was an American operatic bass-baritone, who was acclaimed for his great abilities as a singing-actor, and specialized in roles that evoked villainy and terror. Biograp ...

as the Père), ''Die lustige Witwe'' and ''Don Giovanni'' (as Donna Elvira). In 1964, Saunders began a relationship with the Hamburg State Opera, with whom she made films of ''Le nozze di Figaro'' (as the Contessa, 1967), ''Der Freischütz'' (1968), and ''Die Meistersinger'' (with

Giorgio Tozzi Giorgio Tozzi (January 8, 1923 – May 30, 2011) was an American operatic bass. He was a mainstay for many years with the Metropolitan Opera, and sang principal bass roles in nearly every major opera house worldwide. Career Tozzi was born Georg ...

and

Richard Cassilly Richard Cassilly (December 14, 1927 – January 30, 1998) was an American operatic tenor who had a major international opera career between 1954–90. Cassilly "was a mainstay in the heldentenor repertory in opera houses around the world for 30 y ...

, 1970). With the company she also created the part of the music teacher in the world premiere of

Gian Carlo Menotti Gian Carlo Menotti (, ; July 7, 1911 – February 1, 2007) was an Italian composer, librettist, director, and playwright who is primarily known for his output of 25 operas. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept h ...

's '' Help, Help, the Globolinks!'' in 1968 (which was filmed the following year). For

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

, she recorded ''Il re pastore'' (with

Lucia Popp Lucia Popp (born Lucia Poppová; 12 November 193916 November 1993) was a Slovak operatic soprano. She began her career as a soubrette, and later moved into the light-lyric and lyric coloratura soprano repertoire and then the lighter Richard S ...

and

Reri Grist Reri Grist (born February 29, 1932) is an American coloratura soprano, one of the pioneer African-American singers to enjoy a major international career in opera. Biography Reri Grist was born in New York City, grew up in the East River Hous ...

), in 1967. In 1971, she created the title role in

Ginastera Alberto Evaristo Ginastera (; April 11, 1916June 25, 1983) was an Argentinian composer of classical music. He is considered to be one of the most important 20th-century classical composers of the Americas. Biography Ginastera was born in Buen ...

's ''

Beatrix Cenci ''Beatrix Cenci'' is an opera in two acts by Alberto Ginastera to a Spanish libretto by the composer and William Shand, based on the historical family of Beatrice Cenci, the ''Chroniques italiennes'' by Stendhal, and ''The Cenci'' by Percy Shelley. ...

'', which she repeated at the City Opera in 1973. She sang at the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

in 1976, as Eva in ''Die Meistersinger'', and in 1978, the soprano returned to the City Opera for ''La fanciulla del West''. She also appeared at Milan, London (

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...

), Paris, Vienna, Rome, Leeds (Senta in 1979) and Buenos Aires. In 1967, Miss Saunders was named a ''Kammersängerin'', in Hamburg. In 1985 she gave her Farewell as the Marschallin in ''Der Rosenkavalier'', at the

Teatro Colón The Teatro Colón (Spanish: ''Columbus Theatre'') is the main opera house in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is considered one of the ten best opera houses in the world by National Geographic. According to a survey carried out by the acousti ...

. In 1986, she married Dr. Raymond Adrian Raskin of New York and Santa Fe. She died in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on April 17, 2020, at the age of eighty-nine, from COVID-19.

References

* ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera'', by John Warrack & Ewan West, Oxford University Press, 1996.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saunders, Arlene 1930 births 2020 deaths American operatic sopranos Singers from Cleveland Classical musicians from Ohio 20th-century American women opera singers Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in New York (state)