Sophie Braslau (August 16, 1892 – December 22, 1935) was a

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, typica ...

prominent in United States opera, starting with her debut in

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 ...

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 oper ...

in 1913 when she was 21.

Biography

Braslau was born on August 16, 1892 in Manhattan, New York City to Abel Braslau and Alexandra Goodelman Braslau. As a child, Braslau studied piano. Her vocal talent was discovered by voice teacher

Arturo Buzzi-Peccia Arturo Buzzi-Peccia (13 October 1854 – 29 August 1943) was an Italian singing instructor and song composer. Biography Buzzi-Peccia was born 13 October 1854 in Milan, Italy, to Antonio and Clotilde Peccia. In 1868, he was accepted at the ...

, a family friend, who heard the little girl humming while she practiced piano. Braslau herself claimed to be inspired to a singing career after hearing

Alma Gluck Alma Gluck (May 11, 1884October 27, 1938) was a Romanian-born American soprano. Biography Gluck was born as Reba Feinsohn to a Jewish family in Iași, Romania, the daughter of Zara and Leon Feinsohn. Gluck moved to the United States at a you ...

, another student of Buzzi-Peccia. She studied with Buzzi-Peccia for three years and then with a number of other instructors. She auditioned for New York's

in April 1913, was promptly signed to a contract, and debuted in November of that year. Her first leading role was in 1918 as

Shanewis ''Shanewis'' (or ''The Robin Woman'') (1918) is an opera in one act and two scenes by American composer Charles Wakefield Cadman with an English-language libretto by Nelle Richmond Eberhart. They collaborated with Tsianina Redfeather Blackstone ...

. Braslau also sang in concert and toured widely and frequently, first in the United States and Canada, then in Europe in the 1920s, using a repertoire which included works in English, French, German, Italian, Russian, and Yiddish. She retired from her full-time opera career in the late 1920s and performed very little as frail health brought her life to an early close. Sophie Braslau died of cancer on December 22, 1935 in Manhattan. At her funeral

Sergei Rachmaninoff Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one o ...

was an honorary

pallbearer A pallbearer is one of several participants who help carry the casket at a funeral. They may wear white gloves in order to prevent damaging the casket and to show respect to the deceased person. Some traditions distinguish between the roles o ...

; the eulogy was delivered by

Olin Downes Edwin Olin Downes, better known as Olin Downes (January 27, 1886 – August 22, 1955), was an American music critic, known as "Sibelius's Apostle" for his championship of the music of Jean Sibelius. As critic of ''The New York Times'', he ex ...

, music critic for ''

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 ...

''.

Recordings

Braslau made a number of recordings for the

Victor Talking Machine Company The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer that operated independently from 1901 until 1929, when it was acquired by the Radio Corporation of America and subsequently operated as a subsidi ...

and

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

, often featuring her longtime accompanist Louise Bloch; some of the recordings were reissued on LP and CD. Her friendship with

George Gershwin George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...

led her to record " The Man I Love" for Columbia.

Note

References

External links

*, her rendition of "

Just Awearyin' for You "Just Awearyin' for You" is a parlor song, one of that genre's all-time hits. The lyrics were written by Frank Lebby Stanton and published in his ''Songs of the Soil'' (1894). The tune was composed by Carrie Jacobs-Bond and published as part ...

"
Sophie Braslau
in ''Discography of American Historical Recordings'' at UC Santa Barbara {{DEFAULTSORT:Braslau, Sophie 1892 births 1935 deaths American operatic contraltos American people of Russian-Jewish descent Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Jewish American musicians Jewish classical musicians Singers from New York City 20th-century American women opera singers Classical musicians from New York (state) 20th-century American Jews