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Merle Alcock, bornMerle Tillotson, (February 6, 1884 - March 1, 1975) was an Americancontralto who sang with theMetropolitan Opera in 236 performances from 1919 to 1929, officially signing in with them in 1924.[1]
Born Merle Tillotson inAndover, Missouri on February 6, 1884,[2] Merle Alcock was the daughter of the Reverend Elijah Tillotson and his wife Zulina "Zula" Hannah Hiner.[3] She spent much of her childhood inIowa.[4] Her first musical experiences were as a child performing as a soloist in her father’s church.[5] Her sister, Enid Tillotson, was a soprano who appeared on the concert stage.[6]
Tillotson studied first atDakota Wesleyan University (then Dakota University) inMitchell, South Dakota where she was actively performing in school concerts in 1902, 1903, and 1904.[7][8][9][10][11] Her voice teacher at the university was Grace Goodykoontz.[12][13] She performed at many public events in Mitchell in 1903;[14][15][16][17][18] including performing as a soloist in concerts given at theCorn Palace in May and August 1903.[19][20] She continued to perform at public events and concerts in Mitchell in 1904[21][22][23][24] and 1905,[25][26][27][28][29] and was a soloist of the Walter von Geltch Concert Company, a professional performing group in Mitchell.[11]
Tillotson trained further at the Drake Conservatory of Music atDrake University in Des Moines, Iowa.[2] where she began studies in the fall semester of 1905 after transferring to the school from Dakota University.[30][31][13][32][33] Her voice teacher at Drake was the school’s dean, Frederick Howard.[34] She graduated from the conservatory after one year of study in June 1906.[35][4] She later studied singing in New York City withBruno Huhn,[36] and privately withWilliam Wade Hinshaw, Paul Savage andHerbert Witherspoon.[2]
Tillotson began her performance career while a college student. In March 1906 she was the contralto soloist in the world premiere ofWilhelm Carl Ernst Seeboeck’s cantataAs the Season's Come and Go which was given in Des Moines.[37] In the summer of 1906 she was engaged as a concert soloist on theChautauqua circuit;[38][39] touring as a member of the Elma Smith Concert Company.[40]One of her fellow soloists in this troupe was her future husband, the tenor Bechtel Alcock.[41] She continued to tour with the company through March 1907;[42] performing in concerts in Indiana,[43] Iowa,[44] Massachusetts,[45] Michigan,[46] Illinois,[47] and Virginia.[42]
After completing her 1906-1907 tour schedule, Tillotson went to New York City to study voice with Paul Savage, a professor of voice at theMetropolitan College of Music in Manhattan. She performed at that music conservatory’s commencement in June 1907.[48] She was once again with the Elma Smith Company for the Fall of 1907, performing in Massachusetts[49] and Illinois.[50]
In 1908 Tillotson joined the La Scala Sextet, a classical vocal group which toured invaudeville.[51]The group toured in theOrpheum Circuit and Alcock adopted the stage name of Merle Mayew while performing with this group.[52] Some of the theaters where this group performed included theMajestic Theatre in Chicago,[53] B. F. Keiths Grand Opera House in Indianapolis,[54] the Majestic Theatre in Boston,[55] theColonial Theatre in New York City,[56] and the Columbia Theatre in Cincinnati.[57]
Tillotson returned to New York City where she worked as a paid church vocalist, first at Mount Morris Baptist Church on 126th st and then atMadison Avenue Baptist Church. She was still singing with the latter church as late as 1915.[5] In 1909 she made her first recording forColumbia Records, singing the songs “Sweet Genevieve” byHenry Tucker and “Bonnie Sweet Bessie” byJames L. Gilbert. They were released by Columbia in January 1910.[58]
On March 8, 1910 Tillotson married tenor Isaac Bechtel Alcock in Manhattan.[59] Merle and her husband would often perform together.[60] By 1912, she was still referred to by her maiden name in some newspapers,[61] but was also referred to as Merle Tillotson Alcock.[62] By 1914 she was using the name Merle Alcock on the stage,[63] and it is under this name that she became a famous singer.[2]
In February 1914 Alcock was a featured soloist in a concert of opera excerpts at theCentury Opera House in New York City.[64] The following June she made her European debut under the name Merle Tillotson Alcock singing a concert of Germanlieder with her husband atClaridge's in London as part of a concert series organized by sopranoMarta Cunningham.[65] This performance was erroneously described as her “concert debut” in both her obituary inThe New York Times[60] and theGroßes Sängerlexikon.[2][66] It was reported in theMitchell Daily Republican that she performed in an opera in Milan in the summer of 1914.[67]
Alcock was engaged as the contralto soloist for theNew York Symphony Orchestra‘s 1915 national tour.[68] From this point on she became a well knownoratorio soloist; and was particularly celebrated for her performances of music byGeorge Frideric Handel andJohann Sebastian Bach.[2] In October 1915 she performed in concerts at theWorcester Music Festival.[69] In December 1915 she was the contralto soloist in the New York premiere ofWalter Damrosch’sIphigenia in Aulis with the composer leading the New York Symphony Orchestra.[70] In December 1917 she performed with theBoston Symphony Orchestra and theHandel and Haydn Society under conductorEmil Mollenhauer as the contralto soloist in performances of Handel’sMessiah.[71]
She found a patron inMrs. Charles Schwab in 1916.[72] Mrs. Schwab was herself a singer as a young woman.
Alcock first sang at the Met in a performance of Verdi’s Requiem Mass on Dec. 14, 1919. Her opera debut was on Nov. 15, 1923, when she sang the role of the fiddler Beppe inL’amico Fritz. At the Met she created the role of Ase in the world premiere ofDeems Taylor’sThe King's Henchman in 1927. She also performed roles in the United States premieres of several operas at the Met, including Laldomine inLa cena delle beffe (1926), Elf inLa Campana Sommersa (1928) and Mother inFra Gherardo (1929).
Other roles she performed at the Met included Amneris inAida, Suzuki inMadama Butterfly, Maddalena inRigoletto, Cieca inLa Gioconda, the Shepherd inTosca, Lola inCavalleria rusticana, Kaled inLe Roi de Lahore, Amelfa inLe Coq d'or, Carmela inLa Vida breve, the shepherd boy inL'amore dei tre re, Albine inThaïs, the Nurse inBoris Godunov, the Goatherd inDinorah, the First Norn inGötterdämmerung, the Sandman inHansel and Gretel, and Mercédès inCarmen.
In 1924 she portrayed Ortrud inLohengrin at theRavinia Festival. In 1930 she toured America with theSan Carlo Opera Company as Carmen.
After retiring from the stage, Alcock worked as avoice teacher in New York City. Some of her more well known pupils included sopranosIsabel Bigley,Eileen Farrell,Helen George, andEthel Semser; tenorGeorge Maran;mezzo-sopranosMary Davenport andEleanor Wold; cabaret singerPage Morton; and actressBetsy von Furstenberg.[73]
Alcock moved toPhoenix, Arizona in 1963. She died at her home in Phoenix on March 1, 1975. She is buried in Wooster Cemetery inWooster, Ohio.[73]
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