Olive Fremstad ( March â€" April ) was the stage name of Anna Olivia
Rundquist, a celebrated Swedish-American opera diva who sang in both
the mezzo-soprano and soprano ranges.Born in Stockholm, she was
adopted by an American couple living in Minnesota, taking on their
surname of Fremstad. She received her early education and musical
training in Christiania, Norway. When she was years of age her
parents moved to America, settling in Minneapolis. Even before leaving
Christiania, her progress on the piano had been such that she had
appeared as an infant prodigy. She began her vocal training in New
York City with Frederick Bristol in after singing in church choirs,
then studied in Berlin with Lilli Lehmann before making her operatic
debut as a mezzo-soprano as Azucena in Verdi's Il trovatore at the
Cologne Opera in . She remained there for at least three years, before
going on to Vienna, Munich, Bayreuth and London.She appeared at the
Metropolitan Opera in New York City from until , specializing in
Wagnerian roles. By that time she was singing as a dramatic soprano.
Fremstad appeared before the public times as a member of the Met's
stellar roster, most frequently as Venus in Tannhäuser, Kundry in
Parsifal, Sieglinde, Isolde and Elsa in Lohengrin. American audiences
never warmed much to her interpretation of the title role in Bizet's
Carmen, but she had sung the role opposite Enrico Caruso in San
Francisco the night before the city was wrecked by the San Francisco
earthquake and ensuing fire. (She and Caruso escaped the disaster
unharmed.)Later in her career, Fremstad experienced difficulties with
the top notes of the dramatic soprano range. She retired from
professional singing in and briefly attempted teaching, but her
patience for anything less than perfection in her pupils proved to be
slim. One "lesson" involved the close examination of a dissected human
head preserved in a jar. She was mystified when her few students fled
in horror, unwilling to study the human larynx in such a setting. She
used this head as a tool for determining whether or not prospective
students had the "mettle" for an opera career. For Fremstad herself
this wasn't anything special; when studying for the role of Salome in
the Metropolitan's premier production, she had gone to the morgue in
New York to find out just how much she should stagger under the weight
of the head of John the Baptist.
Rundquist, a celebrated Swedish-American opera diva who sang in both
the mezzo-soprano and soprano ranges.Born in Stockholm, she was
adopted by an American couple living in Minnesota, taking on their
surname of Fremstad. She received her early education and musical
training in Christiania, Norway. When she was years of age her
parents moved to America, settling in Minneapolis. Even before leaving
Christiania, her progress on the piano had been such that she had
appeared as an infant prodigy. She began her vocal training in New
York City with Frederick Bristol in after singing in church choirs,
then studied in Berlin with Lilli Lehmann before making her operatic
debut as a mezzo-soprano as Azucena in Verdi's Il trovatore at the
Cologne Opera in . She remained there for at least three years, before
going on to Vienna, Munich, Bayreuth and London.She appeared at the
Metropolitan Opera in New York City from until , specializing in
Wagnerian roles. By that time she was singing as a dramatic soprano.
Fremstad appeared before the public times as a member of the Met's
stellar roster, most frequently as Venus in Tannhäuser, Kundry in
Parsifal, Sieglinde, Isolde and Elsa in Lohengrin. American audiences
never warmed much to her interpretation of the title role in Bizet's
Carmen, but she had sung the role opposite Enrico Caruso in San
Francisco the night before the city was wrecked by the San Francisco
earthquake and ensuing fire. (She and Caruso escaped the disaster
unharmed.)Later in her career, Fremstad experienced difficulties with
the top notes of the dramatic soprano range. She retired from
professional singing in and briefly attempted teaching, but her
patience for anything less than perfection in her pupils proved to be
slim. One "lesson" involved the close examination of a dissected human
head preserved in a jar. She was mystified when her few students fled
in horror, unwilling to study the human larynx in such a setting. She
used this head as a tool for determining whether or not prospective
students had the "mettle" for an opera career. For Fremstad herself
this wasn't anything special; when studying for the role of Salome in
the Metropolitan's premier production, she had gone to the morgue in
New York to find out just how much she should stagger under the weight
of the head of John the Baptist.
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