Lenora Beatrice Sparkes (1878 - June 8, 1969) was a British-American

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano or mezzo (; ; meaning "half soprano") is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middle C ...

who performed 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 ...

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 ...

in the 1910s.

Biography

She was born in 1878 in Gloucestershire, England to Jacob Sparkes and Elizabeth Mountain.

Andreas Dippel Andreas Dippel (30 November 1866 – 12 May 1932) was a German-born operatic tenor and impresario who from 1908 to 1910 was the joint manager (with Giulio Gatti-Casazza) of the New York Metropolitan Opera. Biography Born Johann Andreas Dippel i ...

heard her sing at

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 offered her a contract at the

in 1908. She appeared in the American premiere of ''

Boris Godunov Borís Fyodorovich Godunóv (; russian: Борис Фёдорович Годунов; 1552 ) ruled the Tsardom of Russia as ''de facto'' regent from c. 1585 to 1598 and then as the first non-Rurikid tsar from 1598 to 1605. After the end of his ...

'' at the

as Tsarevna Xenia Borisovna of Russia on March 19, 1913 with

Arturo Toscanini Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orch ...

conducting. She sang with

Enrico Caruso Enrico Caruso (, , ; 25 February 1873 – 2 August 1921) was an Italian operatic first lyrical tenor then dramatic tenor. He sang to great acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and the Americas, appearing in a wide variety of roles (74) ...

three times, including in the Met's production 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 1913. Her career was primarily spent in London and New York, but she also sang in Paris. She died in

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 a ...

aged 90.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sparkes, Leonora 1870s births American operatic mezzo-sopranos 1969 deaths British mezzo-sopranos 20th-century British women opera singers British emigrants to the United States Musicians from Gloucestershire 20th-century American women opera singers