Original 1944 Carnegie Hall Program

Original and very rare program from the notoriously awful soprano's 1944 Carnegie Hall recital - her final and only public performance. Dated October 25, 1944. Jenkins, assisted by her regular pianist, Cosmé McMoon, performed songs and arias by Gluck, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and others (some in costume) and a world-premiere by André Kostelanetz, commissioned for the recital. The sold-out audience included Lily Pons, Kostelanetz, Cole Porter, Marge Champion, Kitty Carlisle, Gian-Carlo Menotti and others. She died only a month after the recital. We have only seen one other example of this rare program and are very pleased to offer this example around the time of the release of the French film "Marguerite" loosely based on the singer's life, and of the hotly anticipated Meryl Streep film "Florence Foster Jenkins," also out this summer.  15 pp. Very light vertical crease, overall in fine condition.

"Jenkins achieved renown [...] for the vocal recitals she began to present annually from the 1930s in New York and the surrounding area. These immensely popular invitation-only events featured multiple elaborate costumes, semi-staging, and a program of art songs and opera arias drawn from the coloratura and dramatic soprano repertoires. In 1941 she recorded a number of arias and songs with Melotone Studios; RCA Victor later collected and released these recordings as albums. Much of her fame rests with these recordings, the best known of which is the Queen of the Night’s “Der Hölle Rache” from Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. [...] Jenkins’s recordings reveal a thin coloratura voice with pervasive inconsistencies of tone and pitch. By all accounts, however, she remained unaware of her vocal limitations, which likely contributed to her appeal. On 25 October 1944 she presented a sold-out recital at Carnegie Hall, accompanied by her regular pianist Cosme McMoon. Although the concert was thoroughly excoriated by critics, her popularity remained undiminished." (Ryan Ebright, Grove Online.) (13823)

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Program, unsigned

Classical Music

Opera

• Sold