Merle "Ted" Puffer (15 October 1928 – 22 October 2003) was an American singer, voice teacher and translator. He taught the

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 ...

Dolora Zajick Dolora Zajick (born 24 March 1952) is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer who specializes in the Verdian repertoire. Zajick has been described as having "one of the greatest voices in the history of opera". Early life Born in Salem, Oregon, ...

when she was launching her career. With his wife Deena Puffer, he translated ''

The Merry Widow ''The Merry Widow'' (german: Die lustige Witwe, links=no ) is an operetta by the Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's attempt t ...

'' into English, producing a libretto favored by some singers. He was the founder of the

Nevada Opera The Nevada Opera was an American opera company located in Reno, Nevada. Founded in 1967 by Ted and Deena Puffer, the company staged more than 180 productions during its five decade history. The opera company behind Nevada Opera is one of the oldest ...

, and its artistic director through the 1998/99 season. He taught in the music department of the

University of Nevada, Reno The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a public land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada. It is the state's flagship public university and primary land grant institution. It was founded on October 12, ...

from 1966 to 1994, and served as chair of the department. In 1965, Puffer recorded two albums of ''

Charles Ives Charles Edward Ives (; October 20, 1874May 19, 1954) was an American modernist composer, one of the first American composers of international renown. His music was largely ignored during his early career, and many of his works went unperformed f ...

Songs'' on

Folkways Records Folkways Records was a record label founded by Moses Asch that documented folk, world, and children's music. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987 and is now part of Smithsonian Folkways. History The Folkways Records & Service ...

. From 1994 until his death in 2003 he was on the voice faculty of the

Manhattan School of Music The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory in New York City. The school offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition, as well as a bachelor's in mu ...

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 ...

. He also founded the Boston Comic Opera, The Milwaukee Opera, and the Salt Lake Opera in Logan, Utah. His nickname was Johnny "Opera" Seed for growing so many companies. The Puffers' daughter, Monica Harte, sings professionally and teaches singing, and co-directs the Remarkable Theater Brigade.

Selected discography

* ''Charles Ives Songs, Vol. 1: 1894-1915'' (Folkways, 1965) * ''Charles Ives Songs, Vol. 2: 1915-1925'' (Folkways, 1965)

References

External links

Puffer Selected Discography
at

Smithsonian Folkways Smithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was fou ...

1928 births 2003 deaths 20th-century American musicians 20th-century classical musicians American classical musicians Manhattan School of Music faculty Voice teachers {{US-classical-musician-stub