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The American Opera Company was the name of four different opera companies active in the United States. The first company was a short-lived opera company founded in New York City in February, 1886 that lasted only one season.[1] The second company grew out of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, and was active from the mid-1920s up until 1930 when it went bankrupt not too long after the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The third opera company was a short lived company located in Trenton, New Jersey that was active in 1937. The fourth and last opera company was actively performing in Philadelphia from 1946 through 1950.

Jeannette Thurber's American Opera Company

The first American Opera Company was founded in 1886 by well known arts patron Jeannette Meyers Thurber who had just founded the National Conservatory of Music of America a few months earlier. Based in New York City, the American Opera Company was under the musical direction of Theodore Thomas, with Gustav Hinrichs and Arthur Mees as his assistant conductors, and Charles E. Locke was the business manager.[2] It rented the premises of the Academy of Music in New York City for local performances during 1886. It also toured, playing in April, May, and June 1886 in, among other cities, Boston, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, and St. Louis. The repertoire included Verdi's Aida, Wagner's Lohengrin, and Gounod's Faust. In August, the company announced an ambitious plan to travel to Paris, a trip that never came about.[3]

A succinct statement of Thurber's vision for the American Opera Company appeared in August, 1886, when she was cited as

... [recognizing] the fact that the true conception of a national opera is opera sung in a nation's language and, as far as practicable, the work of a nation's composers, [and that she hoped]…in time to develop and patronize American composers.[4]

Financial difficulties led to a reorganization and name change to the "National Opera Company" in December 1886[5] and, ultimately, bankruptcy in March, 1887.[6]

Rochester's American Opera Company

In the mid-1920s, a professional touring opera company emerged from the innovative productions of Vladimir Rosing and Rouben Mamoulian at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester. Its mission was to perform operas in English to popular audiences nationwide. First known as the Rochester American Opera Company, the group made its New York City debut in April 1927 at the Guild Theatre.[7] It won the support of many wealthy and influential backers, including financier Otto Kahn, opera stars Mary Garden and Marcella Sembrich, and socialite Edith Rockefeller McCormick. By the time the company performed for President Coolidge and 150 members of Congress at Washington D.C.'s Poli's Theater in December 1927, the company was known as the American Opera Company.

The American Opera Company strictly adhered to a non-star policy, developing instead a unity of ensemble whereby a singer might have a leading role one night and a supporting role the next.[8] A number of important singers emerged out of the company, including future Metropolitan Opera stars John Gurney (bass-baritone), Helen Oelheim, Thelma Votipka, Charles Kullman, Nancy McCord and Gladys Swarthout. Future 1930s Broadway stars Natalie Hall and Bettina Hall were also among the principals, as was Hollywood's George Houston (actor). The company was known for the youth and attractiveness of its performers.

During January and February 1928 the American Opera Company brought seven weeks of opera to Broadway at New York's Gallo Opera House, including a notable adaptation of Faust with a new libretto by music critic for The New Yorker Robert A. Simon and sets by designer Robert Edmond Jones.[9]

In addition to new English productions of familiar operas, the company subsequently premiered several works composed by American composers, including The Sunset Trail by Charles Wakefield Cadman, The Legend of the Piper by Eleanor Everest Freer, and Yolanda of Cyprus by Clarence Loomis.

Three ambitious North American tours were completed, with the opera company performing in 42 cities across the United States and Canada, but the Crash of 1929 caused bookings for the Fall 1930–31 season to disappear.

The American Opera Company won an official endorsement from President Herbert Hoover in February 1930 in a letter to the Speaker of the House, calling for it to become "a permanent national institution", but Presidential support was not enough as the country sank further into the Great Depression.[10]

Among the company's last performances were a two week run at the famous Casino Theatre on Broadway just before the beloved New York theater's demolition in early 1930.[11]

Trenton's American Opera Company

The American Opera Company in Trenton was founded in 1937 by conductor H. Maurice Jacquet. It presented two performances only that year before disbanding.

Philadelphia's American Opera Company

The American Opera Company in Philadelphia was founded in 1946 by conductor Vernon Hammond. It closed in 1950.

Notes and references

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