Dorothy Kirsten | |
|---|---|
 Dorothy Kirsten with Bing Crosby | |
| Born | (1910-07-06)July 6, 1910 Montclair, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | November 18, 1992(1992-11-18) (aged 82) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Other names | Dorothy Kirsten French |
| Occupation | Operaticsoprano |
| Spouses | |
Dorothy Kirsten (July 6, 1910,Montclair, New Jersey – November 18, 1992,Los Angeles, California)[1] was an American operatic soprano who was the first singer in theMetropolitan Opera's history to perform on that stage for 30 consecutive years, and the first opera star to appear on the cover ofLife magazine.[2] In addition, Kirsten French was the founder of theJohn Douglas French Alzheimer's Foundation, named in honor of her husband, John "Jack" Douglas French, MD, who died fromAlzheimer's disease in 1989.[2]
Kirsten was born in Montclair, N.J., and as a child she studied piano.[2] Her mother was an organist and music teacher, her grandfather was a conductor, and her great-aunt,Catherine Hayes, was also an opera singer. She left high school at age 16 and worked for theSinger Corporation sewing machine company and forNew Jersey Bell, studying voice in her spare time. Her teacher, Louis Darnay, eventually employed her as a secretary and maid.[3]
By the late 1930s she had an ongoing professional career as a radio singer onWINS, a member of theKate Smith Chorus, and as a vocalist for pop orchestras. She mentored underGrace Moore from 1938, who had her study in Rome with Astolfo Pescia. Her time in Europe was cut by the outbreak of World War II, and she returned in 1939, debuting at theNew York World's Fair.[3] Roles followed at theChicago Opera Company (Manon, 1940),San Carlo Opera Company (1942),New York City Opera (1943),San Francisco Opera (1945), andNew York Philharmonic (1945). Her radio program "Keepsakes" ran for a year in 1943–44.[citation needed]
Kirsten joined the roster of principal sopranos at thePhiladelphia La Scala Opera Company (PLSOC) in 1943 and spent much of her time performing there through 1947. She made her debut with the company in an out-of-town performance at theSyria Mosque in Pittsburgh on May 18, 1943 as Mimì inGiacomo Puccini'sLa bohème withNino Martini as Rodolfo, Carlo Morelli as Marcello, and Armand Balendonck conducting.[citation needed]
In the 1943–1944 PLSOC season at theAcademy of Music she portrayed Mimì many times and sang Nedda inPagliacci withGiovanni Martinelli as Canio. She also toured with the company to Detroit in October 1943, singing Mimì toArmand Tokatyan's Rodolfo. Kirsten opened the PLSOC's 1944–1945 season singing Micaëla inGeorges Bizet'sCarmen withBruna Castagna in the title role. She also toured with company to Cleveland singing Mimì.
In February 1946 she traveled with PLSOC to Washington D.C. to perform Marguerite inCharles Gounod'sFaust. In December 1949 she recordedManon Lescaut with the tenorJussi Björling. Her final year performing with the PLSOC was the 1946–1947 season, portraying Cio-cio-san inMadama Butterfly and Juliette inRoméo et Juliette.[citation needed]
Kirsten debuted at theMetropolitan Opera with the role of Mimi inLa bohème on December 1, 1945, and continued to sing with the Met for the next thirty years.[2] While she performed primarily in the United States, she did perform in Europe at times, and gave performances in the USSR in 1962, singing Violetta inLa traviata at theBolshoi Opera.[3] She sang in the American premieres ofWilliam Walton'sTroilus and Cressida andFrancis Poulenc'sDialogues of the Carmelites in San Francisco.[citation needed] Her last performance with the Met was on February 10, 1979 as the title role inTosca.
In addition to her operatic activities, she sang on radio withFrank Sinatra (co-starring with him inLight-Up Time[4]),Bing Crosby,Nelson Eddy, Jack Benny, Gordon MacRae, andPerry Como.[5] She also appeared in two films,Mr. Music (1950) andThe Great Caruso (1951). In 1965, she appeared on the Firestone album seriesYour Favorite Christmas Music, Volume 4, singing "I Wonder as I Wander" and "Joy to the World".
In 1982, Kirsten's husband, John "Jack" Douglas French, MD, a neurosurgeon who co-founded and served as the first director of theUCLA Brain Research Institute,[6][7] was diagnosed withAlzheimer's disease.[2][8] Kirsten ended her operatic career, and spent the rest of her life working to find a cure for her husband's degenerative brain disorder.[8]
In 1983, Kirsten founded the John Douglas French Alzheimer's Foundation, named in honor of her husband, with a goal to raise money for a disease that affects approximately 5.8 million Americans.[7] Kirsten and the French Foundation raised money for and built the first residential facility for Alzheimer's patients in the United States, which opened in 1987.[2][7][9] Dr. French, Kirsten's husband, died at the John Douglas French Center for Alzheimer's Disease in 1989.[2][7]
In 2020, the John Douglas French Alzheimer's Foundation established an endowed neurology chair at theDavid Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.[7]
Kirsten French was married three times. Her first marriage was to Edward MacKayes Oates, a radio executive, with a divorce in 1949.[2] She married Eugene Chapman, the assistant dean of theUCLA Medical School, in 1951, who died three years later.[2] In 1955, she married John "Jack" Douglas French, MD, a neurosurgeon, who died in 1989.[2]
Kirsten French suffered a stroke on November 5, 1992 and died of complications on November 18, 1992.[2][3] She is interred atForest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, and is survived by two sisters, Ethel Anderson and Eleanor Parker, and a brother, George Kirsten.[2] Her papers are housed at theHoward Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University.[10]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1929 | Happy Days | Chorus Woman | |
| 1950 | Mr. Music | Dorothy Kirsten | |
| 1951 | The Great Caruso | Louise Heggar |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
