Jean Madeira, née Jean Browning (born November 14, 1918, in

Centralia, Illinois Centralia is a city in Clinton, Jefferson, Marion, and Washington counties in the U.S. state of Illinois with the largest portion in Marion County. The city is the largest in three of the counties; Clinton, Marion, and Washington, but is not a co ...

; died on July 10, 1972, in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

) was an American

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 ...

, particularly known for her work in late-romantic German repertoire such as the operas of

Richard 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 ...

and

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...

. When she was a child her family moved to

East St. Louis, Illinois East St. Louis is a city in St. Clair County, Illinois. It is directly across the Mississippi River from Downtown St. Louis, Missouri and the Gateway Arch National Park. East St. Louis is in the Metro-East region of Southern Illinois. Once a b ...

, where she attended high school, and she later studied with

Florence Kimball Florence Page Kimball (April 26, 1888 – November 24, 1977) was an American soprano who became a celebrated voice teacher at the Juilliard School where she taught for 46 years. She taught hundreds of students, and many of her pupils had success ...

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 el ...

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 ...

. She made her debut in opera in

Chatauqua Chautauqua ( ) was an adult education and social movement in the United States, highly popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Chautauqua bro ...

, as Nancy in ''Martha'', by

Flotow Friedrich Adolf Ferdinand, Freiherr von Flotow /flo:to/ (27 April 1812 – 24 January 1883) was a German composer. He is chiefly remembered for his opera ''Martha'', which was popular in the 19th century and the early part of the 20th. Life ...

. In 1955, the singer and actress successfully sang the title role in ''Carmen'' with the

Vienna State Opera The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August S ...

. She sang approximately 300 times 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 forty-one roles, between 1948 and 1971. Her last appearance there was in ''Elektra'', opposite

Birgit Nilsson Märta Birgit Nilsson (17 May 1918 – 25 December 2005) was a celebrated Swedish dramatic soprano. Although she sang a wide répertoire of operatic and vocal works, Nilsson was best known for her performances in the operas of Richard Wagner a ...

and Leonie Rysanek.Erik Eriksson
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Abridged discography

* Bizet: ''Carmen'' as Carmen (Filacuridi; Dervaux, 1957) Pathé * Britten: ''Peter Grimes'' (Jon Vickers; 1967) Immortal Performances * Falla: ''Three Cornered Hat'' (Vienna Symphony) Tuxedo Music * Mozart: ''Le nozze di Figaro'' as Marcellina (Siepi, Conner, Valdengo, de los Angeles; Met, Fritz Reiner, 1952) Myto * Mozart: ''Requiem in D Minor, K.626'' (NBC Symphony, Arturo Toscanini, 1950) RCA Victor * Pochielli: ''La Gioconda'' as La Cieca (Milanov, Warren, Barbieri, Siepi; Met, Cleva, 1953) Gala * Puccini: ''Madama Butterfly'' as Suzuki (Steber, Tucker, Valdengo; Met, Rudolf, 1949)

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

* Puccini: ''Manon Lescaut'' (Kirsten, J.Björling, Valdengo; Met, Antonicelli, 1949) Myto * Saint-Saëns: ''Samson et Delilah'' as Delilah (Del Monaco; Teatro di San Carlo, Molinari-Pradelli, 1959) Hardy Classic * Strauss: ''Elektra'' as Clytemnestra (Borkh, Schech, Uhl, Fischer-Dieskau; Böhm, 1960) DG * Strauss: ''Elektra'', as Clytemnestra (Nilsson, Rysanek, Nagy, Stewart; Met, Bohm, 1971
Met On Demand
* Verdi: ''Aida'' as Amneris (Rysanek, London, Frick, Hopf; Vienna State Opera, Kubelik, 1955)

Orfeo Orfeo Classic Schallplatten und Musikfilm GmbH of Munich was a German independent classical record label founded in 1979 by Axel Mehrle and launched in 1980. It has been owned by Naxos since 2015. History The Orfeo music label was registered ...

* Verdi: ''Requiem'' (Vienna Symphony, Erich Kleiber 1955) Melodram * Verdi: ''Un ballo in maschera'' as Ulrica (Bergonzi, Rysanek, Merrill; Santi, 1962)

Living Stage Living or The Living may refer to: Common meanings *Life, a condition that distinguishes organisms from inorganic objects and dead organisms ** Living species, one that is not extinct *Personal life, the course of an individual human's life * Hu ...

* Wagner: ''Das Rheingold'' as Erda (Flagstad, London; Solti, 1958)

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...

*Wagner: ''Die Walkure'' as Fricka (Nilsson, Rysanek, Ludwig, Hotter, Frick, Suthaus; La Scala, Karajan, 1958) Myto; IDIS * Wagner: ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' as Erda, Rossweisse & First Norn (Bayreuth, Knappertsbusch, 1956)

* Wagner ''Parsifal'' (Svanholm, Varnay, London, Hotter; Met, Stiedry, 1954)

Adonis In Greek mythology, Adonis, ; derived from the Canaanite word ''ʼadōn'', meaning "lord". R. S. P. Beekes, ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, 2009, p. 23. was the mortal lover of the goddess Aphrodite. One day, Adonis was gored by ...

References

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on the MetOpera Database

External links

Villecco, Tony. A Voice Like Velvet; Remembering Contralto Jean Madeira. ''Classical Singer Magazine'' Oct. 2012. * (1958). * (1958).
Jean Madeira fan page on FacebookJean Madeira's Final Opera Performance (alongside Birgit Nilsson and Leonie Rysanek in Elektra, 27 February 1971)Francis Madeira Dies At 100
{{DEFAULTSORT:Madeira, Jean American operatic mezzo-sopranos 1918 births 1972 deaths Juilliard School alumni 20th-century American women opera singers