Florence Foster Jenkins

Infobox musical artist |
Name = Florence Foster Jenkins


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Background = solo_singer
Born = July 19, 1868
Died = death date|1944|11|26|mf=y
Origin = Pennsylvania, U.S.
Genre = Outsider
Occupation = Teacher, pianist, singer
Years_active = 1910s-1940s

Florence Foster Jenkins (July 19, 1868–November 26, 1944) was an American soprano who became famous for her complete lack of rhythm, pitch, tone, and overall singing ability.

Early life

Born Florence Foster on July 19, 1868 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania to Charles Dorrance Foster and Mary Jane Hoagland, [ [http://www.wargs.com/other/jenkins.html Ancestry of Florence Foster Jenkins ] ] Jenkins received music lessons as a child, and expressed a desire to go abroad to study music. Her wealthy father refused to pay the bill, so she eloped to Philadelphia with Frank Thornton Jenkins, a medical doctor, who became her husband (the two divorced in 1902). She earned a living there as a teacher and pianist. Upon her father's death in 1909, Jenkins inherited a sum of money which allowed her to take up the singing career that had been discouraged by her parents and former husband. She became involved in the musical life of Philadelphia, and later New York City founding and funding the Verdi Club, took singing lessons, and began to give recitals, her first in 1912. Her mother's death in 1928 gave her additional freedom and resources to pursue singing.

Career

From her recordings, it is apparent that Jenkins had little sense of pitch and rhythm and was barely capable of sustaining a note. Her accompanist can be heard making adjustments to compensate for her tempo variations and rhythmic mistakes. Her dubious diction, especially in foreign language songs, is also noteworthy. Nonetheless, she became tremendously popular in her unconventional way. Her audiences apparently loved her for the amusement she provided rather than her musical ability. Critics often described her work in a backhanded way that may have served to pique public curiosity.

Despite her patent lack of ability, Jenkins was firmly convinced of her greatness. She compared herself favorably to the renowned sopranos Frieda Hempel and Luisa Tetrazzini, and dismissed the laughter which often came from the audience during her performances as coming from her rivals consumed by "professional jealousy." She was aware of her critics, however, saying "People may say I can't sing, but no one can ever say I didn't sing."

The music Jenkins tackled in her recitals was a mixture of the standard operatic repertoire by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Giuseppe Verdi and Johann Strauss (all of them well beyond her technical ability), "Lieder" (including works by Johannes Brahms and Joaquín Valverde's "Clavelitos" [Carnations] , a favorite encore), and songs composed by herself or her accompanist, Mr.Cosmé McMoon who reportedly made faces at Jenkins behind her back to get laughs.

Jenkins often wore elaborate costumes that she designed herself, sometimes appearing in wings and tinsel, and, for "Clavelitos", throwing flowers into the audience while fluttering a fan and sporting more flowers in her hair. After each performance Cosmé McMoon would collect these flowers from the auditorium in readiness for redistribution at the next one.

After a taxicab crash in 1943 she found she could sing "a higher F than ever before." Instead of a lawsuit against the taxicab company, she sent the driver a box of expensive cigars.

In spite of public demand for more appearances, Jenkins restricted her rare performances to a few favorite venues, and her annual recital at the Ritz-Carlton ballroom in New York City. Attendance at her recitals was always limited to her loyal clubwomen and a select few others — she handled distribution of the coveted tickets herself. At the age of 76, Jenkins finally yielded to public demand and performed at Carnegie Hall on October 25, 1944. So anticipated was the performance that tickets for the event sold out weeks in advance. Jenkins died a month later.

Dissenters

There have been claims that Jenkins's entire 32-year career was an elaborate joke on the public, which seems to be in contradiction with another claim that her death after the Carnegie Hall performance was a result of derision by her critics. However, there is little evidence for either claim. All indications are that Florence Foster Jenkins died with the same happy, confident sense of fulfillment that pervaded her entire artistic life.

Recordings

Jenkins recorded nine arias on five 78-rpm records, which have been reissued on three CDs. "The Muse Surmounted: Florence Foster Jenkins and Eleven of Her Rivals" (Homophone Records) contains only one Jenkins' performance, Valse Caressante, for voice, flute & piano, but it includes an interview with the composer, who was also her accompanist, Mr. Cosmé McMoon. "The Glory (????) of the Human Voice" (RCA Victor) contains the other 8 arias, all accompanied by Mr. McMoon. "Murder on the High C's" (Naxos Records) contains all 9 arias plus performances by others, but it lacks the interview with McMoon.

Theatre plays

In 2001, a play about Jenkins by Chris Ballance had a run at the Edinburgh Fringe. Another play about Jenkins' life, "Souvenir", by Stephen Temperley, opened on Broadway in November 2005, and starred Judy Kaye as Jenkins. Meanwhile, a new play about Jenkins, "Glorious!" by Peter Quilter, opened in September 2005 in England. It starred Maureen Lipman, who, in the words of the "New York Times" reviewer, provided the requisite "terrible singing." The show transferred in November 2005 to London's West End where it ran for over 200 performances and was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award as Best New Comedy. There have since been hit productions of the show in more than 20 countries worldwide including a current (29 February–30 March 2008) production at the Kavinoky Theatre in Buffalo, New York. "Glorious!" is currently enjoying its New Zealand premiere in Blenheim's Civic Theatre, directed by Gavin Richards. Peter Quilter's "Glorious!" was translated into German by Horst Johanning and premiered at the Contra-Kreis-Theater in Bonn, Germany, on Date|2007-05-10. Johanning directed, Foster Jenkins was portrayed by Doris Bierett, McMoon by Daniel Große Boymann. The play has also been translated into French, "La Casta Flore", and been played at the Théâtre Jean-Duceppe, in Montréal, Canada, in January 2008, starring Pierrette Robitaille and Benoît Brière. This play was also translated into Polish by Elżbieta Woźniak and premiered at the Teatr Polonia in Warsaw, Poland, on Date|2007|04-27; Andrzej Domalik directed, Foster Jenkins was portrayed by Krystyna Janda, McMoon by Maciej Stuhr. It is currently playing in a total of 21 countries and 13 languages.

Personal life

She lived with her manager of 36 years, St. Clair Bayfield, an American stage actor.

ound sample

listen
filename = Florence Foster Jenkins Hölle Rache.ogg
title = "Der Hölle Rache" (Queen of the Night aria)
description = Jenkins singing "Der Hölle Rache" from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "Die Zauberflöte"|

References

*F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre, " [http://www.nydailynews.com/city_life/big_town/v-bigtown_archive/story/205301p-177226c.html Happy in her work] "', "New York Daily News", June 23, 2004.

Footnotes

External links

* [http://catnyp.nypl.org/record=b6739817 Florence Foster Jenkins ephemera] , a scrapbook kept for Jenkins and her husband, Bayfield, in the [http://www.nypl.org/musicdiv Music Division] of [http://www.nypl.org/research/lpa/lpa.html The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts] .
* [http://www.studiotheatre.org/plays/plays_details.php?plays_id=101 Souvenir: A Fantasia on the Life of Florence Foster Jenkins at The Studio Theatre]
* [http://www.skylightopera.com/2005-06/souvenir.html Souvenir: A Fantasia on the Life of Florence Foster Jenkins at The Skylight]
* [http://www.maxbass.com/Florence-Foster-Jenkins.htm Liner-notes from the RCA CD, photos, and an article on Jenkins by Daniel Dixon]
* [http://radio.cbc.ca/programs/asithappens/entertainment/010807_florence.html Interview with Chris Ballance about his Jenkins play]
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,11710,1607323,00.html "Playing the diva of din" article from The Guardian]
* [http://listproc.ucdavis.edu/archives/mlist/log0402/0004.html Interview with Mr. Cosme McMoon about Ms. Jenkins, 26 May 1991]
* [http://www.smh.com.au/news/arts/glorious/2007/10/03/1191091190877.html SMH article October 5, 2007]