Susan Metcalfe Casals (1878 – 1959) was an 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 married

Pau Casals Pau Casals i Defilló (Catalan: ; 29 December 187622 October 1973), usually known in English by his Castilian Spanish name Pablo Casals,

, the

cellist The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, D3 ...

. She was highly respected in

Lied In Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French s ...

er and concert recital.

Origins

She was born Susan S. Metcalfe in 1878 in

Florence, Italy Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, the daughter of Dr. Frank J. Metcalfe, a

Manhattan, New York City Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

physician. Her mother was Helene, a prominent member of

New Rochelle, New York New Rochelle (; older french: La Nouvelle-Rochelle) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the seventh-largest in the state of ...

society. In later years Dr Metcalfe practised in Florence, Italy, and Susan was born there in 1878 and educated in Conservatories in Italy and France. She also had a brother Louis and a sister Helen Frances Metcalfe (b. 1880), who married the American socialist architect Herman Kobbé. She also had another sister, Marie.

Connection with Pablo Casals

As a recitalist, Susan Casals made her debut in New York in 1897 and gave few, but very select recitals each year. In 1904 she met the cellist

Pablo Casals Pau Casals i Defilló (Catalan: ; 29 December 187622 October 1973), usually known in English by his Castilian Spanish name Pablo Casals,

, gave a recital with him (Casals accompanying her at the piano), and briefly developed a 'fervid' friendship,Biographical or Historical Note, University of North Carolina
which however was abated when Casals established his close relationship with

Guilhermina Suggia Guilhermina Augusta Xavier de Medim Suggia Carteado Mena, known as Guilhermina Suggia, (27 June 1885 – 30 July 1950) was a Portuguese cellist. She studied in Paris, France with Pablo Casals, and built an international reputation. She spent man ...

in 1906. In 1908 Metcalfe embarked on a European tour during which she sang for the British royal family. As the Suggia relationship became strained, Metcalfe and Casals corresponded. They met again after Casals had given a concert in Berlin, and were married on April 4, 1914, at New Rochelle. After this they moved together to Europe. The marriage lasted until 1928, when they were formally separated, but they did not divorce until 1957.

Recitals

During their artistic life together Casals and his wife often gave recitals together in which he accompanied her song sets at the piano and also performed cello sets in the same concert. For example at their farewell concert (their second recital of the season) in New York, April 1916, at the Aeolian Hall, Mme Casals sang a group of songs by Caldara, Caccini, Gluck and Mozart, and later a set of five Scots and Irish songs arranged by Beethoven. In a ''Maennerchor Artist Concert'' of January 1917 she sings a similar group in the first part, and songs by Schumann and

Emánuel Moór Emánuel Moór (; 19 February 1863 – 20 October 1931) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and inventor of musical instruments. Moór was born in Kecskemét, Hungary, and studied in Prague, Vienna and Budapest. Between 1885 and 1897 he toure ...

in the second. They gave concerts in America, Europe, England, Mexico and Cuba. The marriage with Casals was stormy, and following their separation in 1929, Mme. Metcalfe Casals lived in Paris. Her last known recital was at the École Normale de Musique there in 1951. Later she moved back to the U.S. to live with her sister, and died at

in 1959.

Recordings

Susan Metcalfe Casals made no fully commercial recordings, but she did record eight sides of 78 rpm records (yellow label

His Master's Voice His Master's Voice (HMV) was the name of a major British record label created in 1901 by The Gramophone Co. Ltd. The phrase was coined in the late 1890s from the title of a painting by English artist Francis Barraud, which depicted a Jack Russ ...

) for private distribution, with

Gerald Moore Gerald Moore Order of the British Empire, CBE (30 July 1899 – 13 March 1987) was an England, English classical music, classical pianist best known for his career as a Collaborative piano, collaborative pianist for many distinguished musicians. ...

accompanying, in 1937. These have been greatly admiredOne title was included in a study suggesting that the balance between voice and piano in the recording influenced perception of its musical value, see Renée Timmers, 'Perception of music performance on historical and modern commercial recordings', ''Journal of the Acoustical Society of America'' Volume 122, Issue 5, pp. 2872-2880 (November 2007)

/ref> and some titles have been included in re-issue compilations such as ''Schubert Lieder on Record'', etc. The titles were as follows: *

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...

: **''Lied der Mignon'' **''Nachtstück'' **''Die junge Nonne'' **''Liebesbotschaft'' **''Die Liebe hat gelogen'' *

Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...

: **''Lotosblume'' **''Schneeglockchen'' **''Zum Schluss'' **''Herzeleid'' **''Liebeslied'' *

Gabriel Fauré Gabriel Urbain Fauré (; 12 May 1845 – 4 November 1924) was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers ...

: **''Soir'' **''Nell'' **''Le secret'' **''Le don silencieux''

Notes and references

External links