Maxine Stellman

Maxine Elliot Stellman Caruso (May 13, 1906 – June 24, 1972) was an American opera singer, a soprano with the Metropolitan Opera in the 1930s and 1940s.

Maxine Stellman
A young white woman with short dark hair
Maxine Stellman, from a 1936 newspaper
Born
Maxine Elliot Stellman

May 13, 1906
Brattleboro, Vermont
DiedJune 24, 1972
Brattleboro, Vermont
Other namesMaxine Stellman Caruso
OccupationOpera singer

Early life and education

Stellman was from Brattleboro, Vermont,[1] the daughter of Wilhelm Elliot Stellman and Lillian Lucinda Miller Stellman. Her father was a machine manufacturer.[2] She graduated from Juilliard in 1934.[3] She stayed at Juilliard for graduate studies with Belle Julie Soudant,[4] Marcella Sembrich[5] and Florence Page Kimball.[6]

Career

Stellman was a featured soloist with the Chautauqua Institution's symphony orchestra as a young woman.[7] She was the female winner of the 1937 Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air, a talent contest program which awarded a cash prize and a singing role in a spring production.[6]

Stellman's appearances with the Metropolitan Opera included soprano roles in Orfeo ed Euridice (1936),[8] The Man Without a Country (1937), Aïda (1938),[9] Madama Butterfly (1940),[10] Die Walküre (1940),[11] Il Trovatore and The Marriage of Figaro (1941),[12] Manon (1942),[13] Lohengrin (1942),[14] Louise (1943),[15] Tannhäuser (1943),[16] Carmen (1943),[17] La Traviata (1943),[18] The Magic Flute (1945),[19] Rigoletto (1945),[20] Der Rosenkavalier (1945),[21] Lakmé (1946),[22] Faust (1947),[23] Hansel and Gretel (1947),[24] and Lucia di Lammermoor (1950).[25] She also toured with Met productions,[26] and was regularly heard in the Metropolitan Opera's radio broadcasts in the 1940s.[27] She made national headlines when she was called in to sing "Elsa" in Lohengrin in Boston in 1942, a role she had never performed before, when Astrid Varnay fell ill.[28][29][30]

Personal life

In 1933, Maxine Stellman married fellow opera singer Joseph W. Caruso, a Sicilian-born tenor with the Metropolitan Opera. The Carusos owned the William Harris House in Brattleboro, one of the oldest buildings in Vermont.[31] She died in 1972, at the age of 66.[32]

References
  1. Brattleboro Historical Society (2000-10-09). Brattleboro. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4396-1058-9.
  2. "Wilhelm E. Stellman". The New York Times. 1937-09-07. Retrieved 2023-08-26.
  3. "Girl Student Wins $1,000 Music Prize; Miss Maxine Stellman Gets Loeb Award at Graduation of the Juilliard School". The New York Times. 1934-06-03. Retrieved 2023-08-26.
  4. "Belle Julie Soudant Dead; Taught Voice at Juilliard". The New York Times. February 11, 1975. p. 42. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
  5. "To Study with Mme. Sembrich; Maxine Stellman Caruso Awarded Fellowship". Brattleboro Reformer. 1934-10-05. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-08-26 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. "Two Young Singers Win Opera Contest; Maxine Stellman and Thomas Thomas Chosen From 800 in Auditions of the Air". The New York Times. 1937-03-29. Retrieved 2023-08-26.
  7. "Festival at Chautauqua". The New York Times. August 8, 1937. p. 39. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
  8. "Is Engaged by Metropolitan; Maxine Stellman Caruso to Sing in Popular Season". Brattleboro Reformer. 1936-05-09. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-08-26 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. Taubman, H. Howard. "Role of Aida Sung by Zinka Milanov" The New York Times (February 3, 1938): 18.
  10. "Madama Butterfly Presented". The New York Times. February 29, 1940. p. 14. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
  11. "Die Walkuere at Opera". The New York Times. December 17, 1940. p. 32. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
  12. "Il Trovatore Is Given". The New York Times. January 12, 1941. p. 43. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
  13. "Manon Given at Metropolitan". The New York Times. December 24, 1942. p. 21. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
  14. "Stellman Wins Ovation As an Emergency Elsa" The New York Times (March 20, 1942): 24. via TimesMachine
  15. Thomson, Virgil (2014-10-16). Virgil Thomson: Music Chronicles 1940–1954 (LOA #258). Library of America. ISBN 978-1-59853-364-4.
  16. "Tannhaeuser at Metropolitan". The New York Times. February 11, 1943. p. 23. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
  17. "Carmen Is Repeated". The New York Times. July 17, 1943. p. 16. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
  18. "Third La Traviata Presented". The New York Times. January 16, 1943. p. 11. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
  19. "Thompson as Papageno; Baritone Essays Magic Flute Role at Metropolitan". The New York Times. January 25, 1945. p. 17. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
  20. "Warren is Heard as Rigoletto". The New York Times. January 4, 1945. p. 14. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
  21. "Final Rosenkavalier Given". The New York Times. March 30, 1945. p. 19. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
  22. "Knight Heard in Lakme". The New York Times. December 7, 1946. p. 26. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
  23. "Kirsten in Faust". The New York Times. March 6, 1947. p. 35. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
  24. "Opera to be Recorded". The New York Times. June 5, 1947. p. 32. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
  25. "Conley Sings Role of Edgardo", The New York Times (February 10, 1950): 32.
  26. Leiper, Bart Jr. (1946-04-14). "Maxine Stellman to Appear Here in Countess Role of Rigoletto". Chattanooga Daily Times. p. 11. Retrieved 2023-08-26 – via Newspapers.com.
  27. Jackson, Paul (1992). Saturday Afternoons at the Old Met: The Metropolitan Opera Broadcasts, 1931–1950. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 978-0-931340-48-2.
  28. "Maxine Stellman Tells of Swift Jump into Opera's Leading Role". Brattleboro Reformer. 1942-03-24. p. 5. Retrieved 2023-08-26 – via Newspapers.com.
  29. Haupt, Enid (1943-02-14). "Vigorous, Slenderized Singers Are Spotlighted in Metropolitan Opera Rejuvenation". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 87. Retrieved 2023-08-26 – via Newspapers.com.
  30. Freeman, Bernard (1942-04-12). "This Reads Like Novel". Akron Beacon Journal. p. 50. Retrieved 2023-08-26 – via Newspapers.com.
  31. William Harris House, nomination form, National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service.
  32. "Mrs. Joseph Caruso, Retired Singer, Dies". Brattleboro Reformer. 1972-06-26. p. 5. Retrieved 2023-08-26 – via Newspapers.com.
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