Emma Fursch-Madi, also given as Emmy Fursch-Madi, (1847 – 21 September 1894) was a French operatic soprano. She was born in

Bayonne Bayonne (; eu, Baiona ; oc, label= Gascon, Baiona ; es, Bayona) is a city in Southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine re ...

, France, and studied at the Paris Conservatory and made her debut at the

Paris Opera The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be ...

in 1871 in

Gounod Charles-François Gounod (; ; 17 June 181818 October 1893), usually known as Charles Gounod, was a French composer. He wrote twelve operas, of which the most popular has always been ''Faust (opera), Faust'' (1859); his ''Roméo et Juliette'' (18 ...

's ''Faust''. At the end of her second season at the Grand Opera, she was chosen by

Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...

to be the first representative of ''

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 Europe. It opened at the Theatre Royal in Brussels and was a great success, running for 72 straight performances. In 1879, Fursch-Madi appeared at the

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 ...

, and the London Globe called her "…greatest dramatic prima donna of the present day." In 1882, she came to the United States, where she appeared under the management of

James Henry Mapleson James Henry Mapleson (Colonel Mapleson) (4 May 1830 – 14 November 1901) was an English opera impresario, a leading figure in the development of opera production, and of the careers of singers, in London and New York in the mid-19th century. Born ...

at the Academy of Music in New York City. She performed for the first season of the new Metropolitan Opera House in New York in 1883–84. She became a permanent fixture in various musical capacities in the United States; she was for a while the head of

Jeannette Thurber Jeannette Thurber (also known as Jeannette Meyers Thurber; January 29, 1850 in Delhi, New York – January 2, 1946 in Bronxville, New York) was amongst the first major patrons of classical music in the United States. Thurber established the Nation ...

's National Conservatory, and a member of the short-lived

American Opera Company The American Opera Company was the name of four different opera companies active in the United States. The first company was a short-lived opera company founded in New York City in February, 1886 that lasted only one season. The second company grew ...

. Her last appearance was as Ortrud in

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

's ''Lohengrin'' on 6 February 1894, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. She died at her home in the Warrenville section of

Warren Township, New Jersey Warren Township is a township in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. The township is a bedroom suburb of New York City in the much larger New York metropolitan area, located within the Raritan Valley region. As of the 2020 United State ...

.Coelho, Frank
"Warren once had its very own soprano"
''Independent Press'', 17 March 2010. Accessed 21 October 2015. "Her name was Emma Fursch-Madi. She lived, sang and performed during the mid-nineteenth century, and died on Sept. 21, 1894 at her summer home, right here in Warren. According to various sources, over the years Warren Township has had its share of residents who are counted among the giants of the world of music."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fursh-Madi, Emma 1847 births 1894 deaths French operatic sopranos People from Warren Township, New Jersey 19th-century French women opera singers