Florence Page Kimball (April 26, 1888 – November 24, 1977) was an American soprano who became a celebrated

voice teacher A voice teacher or singing teacher is a musical instructor who assists adults and children in the development of their abilities in singing. Typical work A voice teacher works with a student singer to improve the various skills involved in singi ...

at the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...

where she taught for 46 years. She taught hundreds of students, and many of her pupils had successful performance careers. Her most famous student was soprano

Leontyne Price Mary Violet Leontyne Price (born February 10, 1927) is an American soprano who was the first African American soprano to receive international acclaim. From 1961 she began a long association with the Metropolitan Opera, where she was the first Af ...

. As a soprano Kimball was primarily active as a recitalist. In 1929 she performed

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 ...

arias in a touring

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

production.

Life and career

Born in

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

, Kimball was educated at a boarding school before going to Paris to study singing with Sarah Robinson‐Duff, the teacher of

Mary Garden A Mary garden is a small sacred garden enclosing a statue or shrine of the Virgin Mary, who is known to many Christians as the Blessed Virgin, Our Lady, or the Mother of God. In the New Testament, Mary is the mother of Jesus of Nazareth. Mary ...

, and Frank King Clark. She later studied the piano with Mary Alport, Carlo Buonamici and

Arthur Shepherd Arthur Shepherd (February 19, 1880 – January 12, 1958) was an American composer and conductor in the 20th century. Life and career Shepherd was born in Paris, Idaho, into a Mormon family. His family loved to sing and his father, William N. ...

in the United States. 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 ...

she entertained American and French troops as a member of the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams (philanthropist), Georg ...

's Over There League. While in France she was awarded the

Ordre national du Mérite The Ordre national du Mérite (; en, National Order of Merit) is a French order of merit with membership awarded by the President of the French Republic, founded on 3 December 1963 by President Charles de Gaulle. The reason for the order's estab ...

in 1917 for her volunteer musical service during the war. In 1919 she assisted in taking care of refugee children in

Soissons Soissons () is a commune in the northern French department of Aisne, in the region of Hauts-de-France. Located on the river Aisne, about northeast of Paris, it is one of the most ancient towns of France, and is probably the ancient capital o ...

, France. In the 1920s, Kimball moved back to America to study singing with

Marcella Sembrich Prakseda Marcelina Kochańska (February 15, 1858 – January 11, 1935), known professionally as Marcella Sembrich, was a Polish coloratura soprano. She is known for her extensive range of two and a half octaves, precise intonation, charm, port ...

at the

in New York City. In 1927 Kimball replaced Sembrich at Juilliard when she retired. Kimball continued to teach at Juilliard until her retirement 45 years later in 1972. She had hundreds of voice students during her tenure; many of whom had successful careers, including: Annamary Dickey, Martha Flowers, Sung Sook Lee,

Jean Madeira Jean Madeira, née Jean Browning (born November 14, 1918, in Centralia, Illinois; died on July 10, 1972, in Providence, Rhode Island) was an American contralto, particularly known for her work in late-romantic German repertoire such as the operas ...

Joyce Mathis Joyce Mathis (1944 – before April 2009) was an American soprano who was a concert artist, recitalist, and opera singer from the 1960s into the early 1990s. She is considered a part of the first generation of black classical singers to achieve ...

, Mariquita Moll,

Regina Sarfaty Regina Sarfaty (born 1934), later "Regina Sarfaty Rickless" after her marriage to Elwood A. Rickless in 1963, is an American operatic mezzo-soprano who had an active career during the 1950s through the 1980s. Sarfaty first rose to prominence throu ...

, Nigi Sato, Wilma Shakesneider and Veronica Tyler. Notably among her students is Patrica Carey, mother and vocal teacher to Mariah Carey. Her most famous pupil was

whom she began teaching in 1949. Price developed an extremely close relationship to Kimball, and her teacher continued to work closely with her on preparing her roles for 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 oper ...

; even helping her select her costumes and think through stage movements in addition to working on the music material. In a 1983 interview, Price stated of her association with Florence Kimball:

It was the most important relationship of my life. Like sex it was pure chemistry... She told me there was an innate quality of dignity in my voice, and that I moved like I sounded.

Kimball continued to perform periodically while teaching. She made her New York debut on December 3, 1925, at Aeolian Hall while studying with Sembrich. During her years as a teacher at Juilliard she also gave recitals at The Town Hall and made recital tours. In 1929 she starred in the Cal Levance Show, a vaudeville style production featuring multiple kinds of entertainments including Kimball performing Verdi arias, which started in Chicago and then toured to other cities including a stop at the

Cincinnati Music Hall Music Hall, commonly known as Cincinnati Music Hall, is a classical music performance hall in Cincinnati, Ohio, completed in 1878. It serves as the home for the Cincinnati Ballet, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Opera, May Festival Ch ...

. Kimball died at

Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Centers Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers of New York d/b/a as Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Centers (Saint Vincent's, or SVCMC) was a healthcare system, anchored by its flagship hospital, St. Vincent's Hospital Manhattan, locally referred to a ...

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

at the age of 87. She was a friend of composer Samuel Barber, who dedicated his choral work "To Be Sung on the Water" (1968) to her.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kimball, Florence 1888 births 1977 deaths American operatic sopranos Juilliard School alumni Juilliard School faculty Musicians from Salt Lake City Recipients of the Ordre national du Mérite Vaudeville performers Voice teachers