Devora Nadworney (1895 – January 7, 1948) was an American operatic

contralto A contralto () is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare; similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typically b ...

singer.

Early life

Nadworney was born 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 ...

,"Devora Nadworney Has Distinct Honor"
''Morning Call'' (December 29, 1928): 20. via

Newspapers.com Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. In November 2018, ...

. Accessed 25 March 2020. the daughter of Russian immigrants. She lived in

Bayonne, New Jersey Bayonne ( ) is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Located in the Gateway Region, Bayonne is situated on a peninsula located between Newark Bay to the west, the Kill Van Kull to the south, and New York Bay to the east. As of ...

, and attended the Bayonne High School. She went on to attend

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admi ...

, where she received her

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

She later taught elementary school while studying music in New York at the Aborn School of Opera."Long List of Promising Singers in Personnel of Aborn Opera Classes"
''Musical America'' (August 31, 1918): 32. She also studied with Johanna Bayerlee and

Estelle Liebling Estelle Liebling (April 21, 1880 – September 25, 1970) was an American soprano, composer, arranger, music editor, and celebrated voice teacher and vocal coach. Born into the Liebling family of musicians, she began her professional opera car ...

. She sang on benefit programs with opera stars during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. In 1921, she won a prize from the Tri-City Convention of the

National Federation of Music Clubs The National Federation of Music Clubs (NFMC) is an American non-profit philanthropic music organization that promotes American music, performers, and composers. NFMC endeavors to strengthen quality music education by supporting "high standards o ...

. A year later, in 1922, she was given the National Prize for Voice.

Career

Nadworney was a

singer."Cast for Grand Opera 'Aida' From KSD Tomorrow Night"
''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' (October 31, 1926): 61. via

. Accessed 25 March 2020. "Few young contraltos at present before the public can rival the equipment of Devora Nadworney", commented one publication in 1918. She was under the management of Annie Friedberg in 1918, and sang at

Liberty Loan A liberty bond (or liberty loan) was a war bond that was sold in the United States to support the Allied cause in World War I. Subscribing to the bonds became a symbol of patriotic duty in the United States and introduced the idea of financi ...

fundraisers and gave concerts for the troops stationed near New York City during

. She sometimes gave concerts of Russian folk songs while dressed in traditional embroidered costume. She was also popular as a church soloist, in oratorios. In 1921 she made a recording for the

Victor Talking Machine Company The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer that operated independently from 1901 until 1929, when it was acquired by the Radio Corporation of America and subsequently operated as a subsidia ...

. Nadworney had the distinction of being the first singer heard over a radio network in the United States, in 1928. Through the 1920s and into the 1930s she was especially active in radio. She sang the lead in ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...

'' on air in 1925, and ''

Aida ''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 December ...

'' in 1926, both with the WEAF Grand Opera Company, under conductor Cesare Sodero."World's Series and Great Array of Super-Concerts on WCAE Radio Schedule"
''Pittsburgh Press'' (October 24, 1925): 84. via

She was associated with the

Chicago Civic Opera The Civic Opera Company (1922–1931) was a Chicago company that produced seven seasons of grand opera in the Auditorium Theatre from 1922 to 1928, and three seasons at its own Civic Opera House from 1929 to 1931 before falling victim to financia ...

from 1925 until at least 1934. In 1945 she sang at a noon concert at New York City's

Town Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

Personal life and legacy

Devora Nadworney married lawyer Herman Spingarn in 1935; and they divorced in 1941. She died in 1948, aged 52 years, in New York. Her obituary listing in ''

Billboard Magazine ''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the music ...

'' described her as a "pioneer radio contralto... one of the first singers to perform over radio." The National Federation of Music Clubs offers the Devora Nadworney Award for young composers.NFMC Devora Nadworney Award
Scholarship Library.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nadworney, Devora 1895 births 1948 deaths American women in World War I Musicians from Bayonne, New Jersey 20th-century American singers American operatic contraltos Singers from New York City 20th-century American women singers Singers from New Jersey Classical musicians from New Jersey