Blanche Thebom

[Dorme Riposa]

On the "other group," I read that Miss Thebom has died.

She was the first Carmen I saw on stage, in 1951, with Ramon Vinay as
Don Jose. I vividly remember her voice and her presence on that
occasion. She wore a white satin gown in Act 4 that stood out as the
only white costume on stage, not that she needed the costume to stand
out. The stillness of her duet with Escamillo was a high point of the
opera for me, as it has been ever since.

There was a spread in Life magazine about her -- mainly about her
never-cut, floor-length dark hair -- that my family and I loved to
look at repeatedly. I was not a fan of movie magazines, so this was
the closest I got to that sort of fanzine thing.

Soon, the Tristan recording came out with her as Brangaene, but I
didn't get to know those discs well until much later.

I have a half-hour VHS tape of her reminiscing in her home in San
Francisco. Until a few years ago I didn't know she lived here. It was
like coming full circle.

dav

[EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)]

Sorry to hear that, although she certainly had a long, full life. I
first heard her in person when the Met came to Minneapolis in one of its
first tours after WW2. (Back when they traveled with all-star casts.)
The occasion was the first opera I ever heard - Walkure with Varnay as
Sieglinde, Traubel as Brunhilde, and Thebom as an unforgettably regal
Fricka. (I don't remember any of the male singers, although I know they
were equally stellar.)

I remember at least one vocal recital in St. Paul (under the aegis of
their Schubert Club), and a truly stellar Amneris (with a far from
stellar Aida in orange makeup, whose name I can't recall). Although
Traubel was my idol (I had been told my voice was a "Wagnerian"
soprano), it was really the ultra glamorous Thebom who inspired me to
seek an operatic career!

Post by Dorme Riposa
On the "other group," I read that Miss Thebom has died.
She was the first Carmen I saw on stage, in 1951, with Ramon Vinay as
Don Jose. I vividly remember her voice and her presence on that
occasion. She wore a white satin gown in Act 4 that stood out as the
only white costume on stage, not that she needed the costume to stand
out. The stillness of her duet with Escamillo was a high point of the
opera for me, as it has been ever since.
There was a spread in Life magazine about her -- mainly about her
never-cut, floor-length dark hair -- that my family and I loved to
look at repeatedly. I was not a fan of movie magazines, so this was
the closest I got to that sort of fanzine thing.
Soon, the Tristan recording came out with her as Brangaene, but I
didn't get to know those discs well until much later.
I have a half-hour VHS tape of her reminiscing in her home in San
Francisco. Until a few years ago I didn't know she lived here. It was
like coming full circle.
dav

[Edward Cowan]

Here is the cast-list from the Met's website (also in the 1985 _Annals_,
p.561):

Milwaukee, Wisconsin
April 29, 1945


DIE WALKÜRE {342}

Brünnhilde..............Helen Traubel
Siegmund................Emery Darcy
Sieglinde...............Astrid Varnay
Wotan...................Herbert Janssen
Fricka..................Blanche Thebom
Hunding.................Emanuel List

(other singers as well)

Conductor...............Paul Breisach

(NOTE: A search on the Met's website under "Traubel" did not turn up a
listing for this performance. I found it only in the complete listing of
performances under "Die Walküre".)

Blanche Thebom recorded the Fricka/Wotan scene in the Met's abridged
recording made for the Metropolitan Opera Record Club (set MO 728, two
LP's), cond. Dimitri Mitropoulos. The brief portion beginning "So ist es
denn aus" was included on vol.1 of the Met's "The Ring" excerpts, part
of their "Great Operas at the Met" series, on CD: MET 519, two CD's,
with excerpts from _Das Rheingold_ and _Die Walküre_. Hermann Uhde is
heard here as Wotan.

A truly "starry" _Walküre_ in 1945 would have included Melchior as
Siegmund, but by 1945 he was in considerable vocal decline even though
he could still sing the music, and Siegmund's music lies low for most
tenors.

Tenor Emery Darcy recorded with Traubel the Siegmund/Sieglinde scene
from act 1 for Columbia 78's (set M 618, also on LP in set SL 5, with
Act 3 of _Die Walküre_) both with NYPO, cond. Artur Rodzinsky. SL 5 was
reissued on Odyssey 32 26 0018, two LP's, in ghastly electronic stereo.
Janssen is the Wotan in the set of Act 3. I don't know of any Columbia
or Sony CD reissue of either of these sets. Note, btw., that RCA-Victor
published on LP a live broadcast of the Siegmund/Sieglinde scene with
Melchior and Traubel, cond. Arturo Toscanini. This was issued on CD in
BMG/RCA's complete Toscanini series. The great set of Act 1 remains the
recording with Melchior, Lehmann, and List, cond. Bruno Walter, which
has been reissued on CD by several labels, including EMI. --E.A.C.

Post by EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)
Sorry to hear that, although she certainly had a long, full life. I
first heard her in person when the Met came to Minneapolis in one of its
first tours after WW2. (Back when they traveled with all-star casts.)
The occasion was the first opera I ever heard - Walkure with Varnay as
Sieglinde, Traubel as Brunhilde, and Thebom as an unforgettably regal
Fricka. (I don't remember any of the male singers, although I know they
were equally stellar.)

[gggg gggg]

Post by Dorme Riposa
On the "other group," I read that Miss Thebom has died.
She was the first Carmen I saw on stage, in 1951, with Ramon Vinay as
Don Jose. I vividly remember her voice and her presence on that
occasion. She wore a white satin gown in Act 4 that stood out as the
only white costume on stage, not that she needed the costume to stand
out. The stillness of her duet with Escamillo was a high point of the
opera for me, as it has been ever since.
There was a spread in Life magazine about her -- mainly about her
never-cut, floor-length dark hair -- that my family and I loved to
look at repeatedly. I was not a fan of movie magazines, so this was
the closest I got to that sort of fanzine thing.
Soon, the Tristan recording came out with her as Brangaene, but I
didn't get to know those discs well until much later.
I have a half-hour VHS tape of her reminiscing in her home in San
Francisco. Until a few years ago I didn't know she lived here. It was
like coming full circle.
dav

Her Lebendige V. recording is on Youtube: