Risë Stevens obit

Opera Singer Rise Stevens Dies at 99

 

She was not on the list.

Rise Stevens, well-known for her 23-year career with the Metropolitan Opera, died on Wednesday, The New York Times reports. She was 99, only three months shy of becoming a centenarian.

Stevens, who sang as a mezzo-soprano with the Met from 1938 to 1961, died in her Manhattan home. She was celebrated for her take on Carmen and also lent her voice to radio and film, including Journey Back to Oz, Going My Way and The Chocolate Soldier.

Stevens was married to actor Walter Szurovy until his death in 2001 and is survived by her son Nicolas Surovy.

Stevens was a part of a number of Hollywood productions, her most memorable being in the Oscar-winning film Going My Way alongside costars Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald.

Stevens was born Risë Gus Steenberg in New York City, the daughter of Sarah "Sadie" (née Mechanic) and Christian Carl Steenberg, an advertising salesman. Her father was of Norwegian descent and her mother was Jewish (of Polish and Russian descent). She had a younger brother, Lewis "Bud" Steenberg, who died in World War II. She studied at New York's Juilliard School for three years, and with Anna Eugenie Schoen-René (1864–1942). She went to Vienna, where she was trained by Marie Gutheil-Schoder and Herbert Graf. She made her début as Mignon in Prague in 1936 and stayed there until 1938, also singing in guest appearances at the Vienna State Opera.

Stevens was engaged as a member of the Vienna State Opera ensemble at the Teatro Colón in 1938 (as Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier) and was invited to the Glyndebourne Festival in 1939 where she was heard as Dorabella and Cherubino. In 1938 she made her début with the Metropolitan Opera on tour in Philadelphia as Octavian opposite Lotte Lehmann as the Marschallin. Three weeks later at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, she sang Mignon in a Saturday matinee broadcast in a cast that included Richard Crooks as Wilhelm Meister and Ezio Pinza as Lothario. Stevens appeared in a few Hollywood films, including The Chocolate Soldier (1941) with Nelson Eddy. She played an opera singer in Going My Way (1944) with Bing Crosby, wherein she is credited as a contralto; she is featured performing the "Habanera " from Bizet's opera Carmen, "Going My Way" with the Robert Mitchell Boys Choir, and the Schubert "Ave Maria" with Bing Crosby and the choir. Disliking acting in films and the Hollywood scene in general, Stevens returned exclusively to opera.

Her other operatic roles included Fricka in Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung, Marfa in Mussorgsky's Khovanshchina, Giulietta in The Tales of Hoffmann, and Prince Orlovsky in Die Fledermaus.

Stevens' acclaimed RCA Victor recording of the complete opera Carmen, conducted by Fritz Reiner and co-starring Jan Peerce, Robert Merrill and Licia Albanese remains a best-seller and has been continuously available since its original 1951 release. She also appeared in Paris, London, and the London Palladium. Stevens' farewell performance at the Metropolitan Opera was as Carmen in 1961.

Stevens toured the U.S. annually for several decades singing recitals. In 1962, she recorded the voice of Glinda for Journey Back to Oz, but the production ran out of money and was halted for more than four years. It was only after the Filmation studio had made profits on their numerous television series that the project was completed (which was copyrighted 1971, released in 1972 in the United Kingdom and in 1974 in the United States). After her retirement from the operatic stage, Stevens served as General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera National Company until 1966 and later coached the new generation of singers at the Met. Stevens made occasional television appearances, including a guest-starring role on NBC's The Martha Raye Show.

 

 

    1974 – Journey Back to Oz as Glinda the Good Witch, (voice)

    1958 – Little Women (TV movie) as Margaret March

    1958 – Hansel and Gretel (TV movie) as Mother

    1956 – Producers' Showcase (TV series) as Carmen in Carmen excerpt

    1955 – The Chocolate Soldier (TV movie) as Nadina

    1952 – Carmen (TV movie) as Carmen

    1949 – Der Rosenkavalier (TV movie) as Octavian

    1944 – Going My Way as Genevieve Linden

    1941 – The Chocolate Soldier as Maria Lanyi, Karl's Wife