Sári Petráss (born Sarolta Petráss; 5 November 1888 – 9 September 1930) was a Hungarian

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...

actress and singer. In the 1910s and 1920s, she played leading

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

parts in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and on Broadway. According to

Richard Traubner Richard Traubner (November 24, 1946 – February 25, 2013) was an American journalist, author, operetta scholar and historian, and lecturer on theatre and (mostly musical) film. His best-known book, ''Operetta: A Theatrical History'', was first pu ...

, Sári Petráss and

Sári Fedák Sári Fedák (Born Sarolta Klára Mária Fedák; 27 September 1879, Beregszász present-day Berehove, Ukraine – 05 May 1955, Budapest, Hungary) was a Hungarian actress and singer, one of the most well-known prima donnas of her time. Accordin ...

remain "the two best-remembered Hungarian female operetta stars of all time." Traubner, Richard (2003).
Operetta: a theatrical history
'. Routledge. . p. 331.

Biography

Petráss was born in Verőce, Hungary in 1888 and was a niece to

Bertha von Suttner Bertha Sophie Felicitas Freifrau von Suttner (; ; 9 June 184321 June 1914) was an Austrian-Bohemian pacifist and novelist. In 1905, she became the second female Nobel laureate (after Marie Curie in 1903), the first woman to be awarded the Nobel ...

, countess Kinsky.
Sari Petrass Has Prima Donna Role
'. The New York Times, August 26, 1916. Petráss debuted in as a lead singer in November 1911 in '' Leányvásár'' along with Sári Fedák. The show produced at the Király Színház (King Theater), Budapest became an international hit as was instantly picked up by

Carltheater The Carltheater was a theatre in Vienna. It was in the suburbs in Leopoldstadt at Praterstraße 31 (at that time called Jägerzeile). It was the successor to the Leopoldstädter Theater. After a series of financial difficulties, that theater had ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and by the English impresario

George Edwardes George Joseph Edwardes (né Edwards; 8 October 1855 – 4 October 1915) was an English theatre manager and producer of Irish ancestry who brought a new era in musical theatre to the British stage and beyond. Edwardes started out in theatre ma ...

. In 1912, Edwardes "imported" her and most of the original Budapest cast to London.Traubner, Richard (2003).
Operetta: a theatrical history
'. Routledge. . p. 252. Petráss quickly mastered singing in English and performed at the

Daly's Theatre Daly's Theatre was a theatre in the City of Westminster. It was located at 2 Cranbourn Street, just off Leicester Square. It opened on 27 June 1893, and was demolished in 1937. The theatre was built for and named after the American impresar ...

in Edwardes's English language version of

Franz Lehár Franz Lehár ( ; hu, Lehár Ferenc ; 30 April 1870 – 24 October 1948) was an Austro-Hungarian composer. He is mainly known for his operettas, of which the most successful and best known is ''The Merry Widow'' (''Die lustige Witwe''). Life ...

's '' Gipsy Love'' (1912) at

, which ran 299 performances. She then performed at Daly's in ''The Marriage Market'' (1913) and in a revival of ''

A Waltz Dream ' (''A Waltz Dream'') is an operetta by Oscar Straus with a German libretto by and , based on the novella ' (''Nux, the Prince Consort'') by Hans Müller-Einigen from his 1905 book ' (''Book of Adventures''). The young Jacobson presented Stra ...

'' (1913), all with

Gertie Millar Gertrude Ward, Countess of Dudley ( Millar; 21 February 1879 – 25 April 1952), known as Gertie Millar, was an English actress and singer of the early 20th century, known for her performances in Edwardian musical comedies. Beginning her care ...

and

Robert Michaelis Robert Armand René Michaelis (22 December 1878 – 29 August 1965) was a French-born actor and singer who worked in musical theatre, mainly in England, but he also made appearances on Broadway. By 1901, Michaelis and his parents had settled in ...

. Petráss was an expert horse rider, and rode a donkey called Jenny in the opening scenes of ''The Marriage Market''. In February 1916, the American media spread a rumour that Petráss had been executed in Budapest as a spy. Allegedly, after the outbreak of

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 returned from England to Hungary to spy against the

Central Powers The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,german: Mittelmächte; hu, Központi hatalmak; tr, İttifak Devletleri / ; bg, Централни сили, translit=Tsentralni sili was one of the two main coalitions that fought in ...

for the British. The exact origin of the rumour is unknown; later it was confirmed that she indeed returned from England to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and starred there in ''The Beautiful Unknown'' by Oscar Straus.

William Boosey William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Eng ...

wrote that the London show of '' The Gipsy Princess'' with Petráss failed owing to cast selection, despite a "phenomenal run everywhere".Boosey, William (1931).
Fifty Years of Music
'. 2008 reprint: Read Books, pg. 166; . In late 1916, she settled in New York City and starred at the

New Amsterdam Theatre The New Amsterdam Theatre is a Broadway theater on 214 West 42nd Street, at the southern end of Times Square, in the Theater District of Manhattan in New York City. One of the oldest surviving Broadway venues, the New Amsterdam was built from ...

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

praised her performance in the September 1916 premiere of ''

Miss Springtime Miss (pronounced ) is an English language honorific typically used for a girl, for an unmarried woman (when not using another title such as "Doctor" or " Dame"), or for a married woman retaining her maiden name. Originating in the 17th century, i ...

''. The show was originally billed as ''Little Miss Springtime'' but

A.L. Erlanger Abraham Lincoln Erlanger (May 4, 1859 – March 7, 1930) was an American theatrical producer, director, designer, theater owner, and a leading figure of the Theatrical Syndicate. Biography Erlanger was born to a American Jews, Jewish family

of New Amsterdam decided against "anything Little" by

Emmerich Kálmán Emmerich Kálmán ( hu, Kálmán Imre; 24 October 1882 – 30 October 1953) was a Hungarian composer of operettas and a prominent figure in the development of Viennese operetta in the 20th century. Among his most popular works are '' Die Csár ...

and

Jerome Kern Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over ...

: "a

prima donna In opera or commedia dell'arte, a prima donna (; Italian for "first lady"; plural: ''prime donne'') is the leading female singer in the company, the person to whom the prime roles would be given. ''Prime donne'' often had grand off-stage pers ...

new to these shores and destined to be a reigning favorite... in addition to her other talents, she is a clever actress. Miss Petrass is pretty and graceful and her voice, while not large, has a lovely quality and is used with great discretion." A few days later

Alexander Woollcott Alexander Humphreys Woollcott (January 19, 1887 – January 23, 1943) was an American drama critic and commentator for ''The New Yorker'' magazine, a member of the Algonquin Round Table, an occasional actor and playwright, and a prominent radio p ...

objected: "while Sári Petráss is an ingratiating and pretty vivacious prima donna, she can scarcely take first rank as a singer." In March 1917 Petráss married Felix Augustus Eugene Sommerhoff, a broker from

Cedarhurst, New York Cedarhurst is a village in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, on the South Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 6,592 at the 2010 census. The Incorporated Village of Cedarhurst is located in the region o ...

."Sari Marries: 'Light Opera Prima Donna Weds Felix A. E. Soerlmerhoff, Broker. Sari Petrass, light opera prima donna, and Felix Augustus Eugene Sommerhoff, a broker of Cedarhurst, L. I, were married ...", ''New York Times'', 7 March 1917.
/ref> She soon withdrew from ''Miss Springtime'' and toured the United States with ''The Beautiful Unknown''. In 1921, Petráss reprised her role in ''The Gipsy Princess'' at the

Prince of Wales Theatre The Prince of Wales Theatre is a West End theatre in Coventry Street, near Leicester Square in London. It was established in 1884 and rebuilt in 1937, and extensively refurbished in 2004 by Sir Cameron Mackintosh, its current owner. The theatre ...

, London. Traubner, Richard (2003).
Operetta: a theatrical history
'. Routledge, pg. 266; . Sari Petrass was buried at the "Old saint mary church churchyard in Deal , Kent UK ...

thumb The thumb is the first digit of the hand, next to the index finger. When a person is standing in the medical anatomical position (where the palm is facing to the front), the thumb is the outermost digit. The Medical Latin English noun for thumb ...

Petráss and a friend, Lady Horne, were killed in an accident in

Antwerp, Belgium Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

on 9 September 1930."General Cable News"
''

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...

'', 11 September 1930. Their chauffeur, attempting to drive the car onto a ferry bound for Sainte Anne, was blinded by the beam of a lighthouse and crashed the car into the

Scheldt The Scheldt (french: Escaut ; nl, Schelde ) is a river that flows through northern France, western Belgium, and the southwestern part of Netherlands, the Netherlands, with its mouth at the North Sea. Its name is derived from an adjective corr ...

."Lady Horne Drowned"
''The New York Times'', 9 September 1930. Both passengers drowned; Petráss was not identified until the next day.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Petrass, Sari 1888 births 1930 deaths 20th-century Hungarian women singers Hungarian actresses Road incident deaths in Belgium People from Pest County