Anna Case | |
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| Background information | |
| Born | October 29, 1887 Clinton,New Jersey,U.S. |
| Origin | United States |
| Died | January 7, 1984(1984-01-07) (aged 96) New York City,New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Opera singer |
| Years active | 1909–1931 |
Anna Case (October 29, 1887 - January 7, 1984) was an American operaticlyric soprano. She recorded withThomas Alva Edison, who used her voice extensively in "tone tests" of whether a live audience could tell the difference between the actual singer and a recording. In addition to recordings forEdison Records on bothphonograph cylinder andDiamond Disc, Case recorded forVictor andColumbia Records, and made sound film forVitaphone.
Case was born inClinton, New Jersey, on October 29, 1887,[1][2][3][4] and educated by vocal trainerAugusta Öhrström-Renard in New York. Case made her debut in 1909 at theNew Theatre in New York as the Dutch Boy inWerther, and from 1909 to 1916 was a member of theMetropolitan Opera Company. In her first American performances, she created the roles of Sophie inDer Rosenkavalier (1913) and Feodor inBoris Godunov (1913).[5] She sang Olympia inTales of Hoffmann, Mimi inLa Boheme, and Micaela inCarmen.[6]
Case wrote the music and lyrics to several songs during the 1910s and 20s.[6][7] She made her film debut in the 1919 silent drama filmThe Hidden Truth,[8] and sang one of her original songs in the 1926Vitaphone shortLa Fiesta.[7] She also appeared in documentaries about sound recording. In 1930, she recorded "Just Awearyin' for You" byFrank Lebby Stanton andCarrie Jacobs-Bond.[9]
On July 18, 1931, Case marriedITT Corporation executiveClarence H. Mackay at St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church inRoslyn, New York, and retired from the stage shortly afterwards.[10][11] She began to write songs more prolifically in 1936, penning over 50 in two years,[12][7] and sang occasionally at social events. Her husband died in November, 1938, and Case died in New York City on January 7, 1984, aged 96.[11]
Upon her death, she bequeathed her 167.97-carat (33.59 g)Colombian emerald ring and Cartier necklace containing more than 2,000 diamonds, 35 emeralds and an oval cabochon-cut Columbian emerald of 167.97 carat to theSmithsonian Institution.[13]
Boris Godounoff, the Russian opera by Moussorgsky, will be the feature of next week's repertoire at the Metropolitan Opera House, where it will have its first American hearing on Wednesday evening. It will be conducted by Mr. Toscanini, and the cast will include MadamesHomer, Case,Sparkes, Maubourg, andDuchene, and Messrs.Didur,Althouse, Rothier, Reiss, Bada, De Segurola, Rossi, Audisi, Reschiglian, and Kreidler.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain:Pratt, Waldo Selden; Boyd, Charles N., eds. (1920).Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians: American Supplement. Philadelphia: Theodore Presser Company. p. 156.
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