Prakseda Marcelina Kochańska (February 15, 1858 – January 11, 1935), known professionally as Marcella Sembrich, was a Polish dramatic coloratura soprano. She is known for her extensive range of two and a half octaves, precise intonation, charm, portamento, vocal fluidity, and impressive coloratura. Her voice was regarded as flute-like and pure. She had an international singing career, chiefly at the New York Metropolitan Opera and the Royal Opera House, in London.
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Prakseda Marcelina Kochańska (February 15, 1858 – January 11, 1935), known professionally as Marcella Sembrich, was a Polish dramatic coloratura soprano. She is known for her extensive range of two and a half octaves, precise intonation, charm, portamento, vocal fluidity, and impressive coloratura. Her voice was regarded as flute-like and pure. She had an international singing career, chiefly at the New York Metropolitan Opera and the Royal Opera House, in London.
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Early life Sembrich was born at Wisniewczyk which lies in the Polish region of Austro-Hungarian occupied Galicia, now part of Ukraine. The young Sembrich first studied violin and piano with her father, and earned money to support her family and pay for studies by playing for parties of nobility. She would often play in the town center, and became well known and liked by locals. An elderly man nicknamed Dziadek Lanowitch, took a liking to her and at age ten sent her to the Lemberg Conservatory in what was then Lwow, Poland.
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Career After less than a year of study with the younger of the two Lampertis, Sembrich made her debut in opera at Athens as Elvira in Bellini's I puritani on June 3, 1877. She sang not only I Puritani, but also Dinorah, Lucia di Lammermoor, Robert le diable and La sonnambula! It is a testament to her proper early training that a 19-year-old soprano could learn so many roles in a foreign language so quickly. Her letters indicate that she could speak English, Polish, German, French, and Italian. That year, she also married her piano teacher, Wilhelm Stengel. When in Athens, she first appeared under the name “Marcella Bosio”, because she felt that her last name was too hard for audiences to pronounce. Not long after she opted to adopt her mother's maiden name, Sembrich. After Athens, she was to appear with the Vienna Opera, but due to pregnancy she broke the contract. During her pregnancy and after the birth of her first son, Wilhelm Marcel, she continued her vocal studies, this time with Marie Seebach and Richard Lewey in Vienna. After a long and frustrating search for an opera engagement, she was hired as a guest at the Dresden…
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Death Sembrich died on January 11, 1935, at her home, 151 Central Park West in Manhattan, New York City.
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While at the Lemberg Conservatory, she studied piano with her future husband Wilhelm Stengel and violin with Sigismond Bruckmann. When she was sixteen years old, Stengel took her to perform for Franz Liszt in Weimar. Liszt encouraged her to develop her voice: ‘Sing, sing for the world, for you have the voice of an angel.’ This led Sembrich to pursue musical studies in Vienna and Milan. In the Autumn of 1875 she began her studies at the Vienna Conservatory, studying violin with Joseph Hellmesberger Sr., piano with Julius Epstein, and voice with Viktor Rokitansky. After a year she decided to fully devote her studies to voice lessons. She arrived in Milan in September 1876 to study with one of the most renowned vocal teachers on the continent, namely Giovanni Battista Lamperti, son of the eminent teacher Francesco Lamperti, with whom she would later study in 1885.
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Reception Sembrich's 1883 Met debut elicited praise from all who heard her. The New York Truth called Sembrich "an artist of the foremost rank among the living". The New York Journal dubbed her "queen of the opera season so far. Her Lucia is a marvel of voice, execution and magnetism. [She] sings deliciously. There seemed to be no limit to her vocalization: notes run out like pearls falling into a casket with infinite richness, and apparently no effort." Until her retirement at the end of the 1908–09 season, Sembrich captivated audience after audience. Her farewell gala and performance, one of the most lavish farewells in Met history, sold out within two hours of going on sale. At the gala, Sembrich's first entrance was met with a standing ovation lasting several minutes.
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The Victor Recordings Recorded in 1908–1919, the Victor Recordings feature Sembrich's renditions of arias from Rigoletto, Lucia di Lammermoor, Semiramide, Linda di Chamounix, I Vespri Siciliani, The Merry Widow, Ernani, La Traviata and Waltz Dream. James Camner, in his review of the album in Opera News, notes that Marcella was "past her prime" when recording technology came to popularity, but she was still one of the first of her time to produce full-length albums. But more important, according to ARSC Journal, is the access to her recordings. Richard LeSueur, reviewer for ARSC Journal, states that her recordings may have been controversial at the time, but it provides a broader picture of her art.
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Legacy Following her death, the New York Times and The Musical Times gave Sembrich obituaries that highlighted her time in the spotlight of the opera world. Fans across the world mourned her death and the loss of one of the great artists of the time; The New York Times states "her death removes one of the last remaining artists from the rapidly thinning ranks of those who form a link with the great traditions of the past. Fortunate are those who remember her in her days of artistic affluence." Off stage, she was a dedicated teacher and philanthropist, highlighted below:
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Over the summers Sembrich would retreat to her studio on Lake George in Bolton Landing, New York. She would house and host her students for the summer while they continued their studies with her. Today the studio serves as The Marcella Sembrich Opera Museum and contains many mementos from the diva's life. She made a substantial impression on both her teachers and students. Her former teacher Lamperti, dedicated his book about the art of singing to her. She was a great Polish patriot and humanitarian throughout her life. During World War One she was President of the American-Polish Relief Committee of New York. She was wholly devoted to raising money, food, and clothes for her suffering countrymen. The Kosciuszko Foundation, Inc., an American center for Polish culture in New York City, annually holds the "Marcella Sembrich Voice Competition". The competition is open to singers up to the age of 35 who are not under professional management. The American Council for Polish Culture [ACPC] also honors Sembrich with an annual vocal competition for singers of Polish descent, the "ACPC Marcella Kochańska Sembrich Vocal Competition". She also had organized concerts and activities to raise money for victim of the San Francisco earthquake.…
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The Marcella Sembrich papers, her extensive collection of scores and personal papers, are housed in the Music Division of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Website for the Marcella Sembrich Opera Museum Discography of Marcella Sembrich on Victor Records from the Encyclopedic Discography of Victor Recordings (EDVR) Broadcast audition “Marcelina Sembrich-Kochańska” (cycle “From collection of the rare recordings” by Maxim Malkov – in Russian). A photograph of Marcella Sembrich (by Jose Mora) Portrait of soprano Marcella Sembrich at a piano, Los Angeles, California, 1930. Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles. Owen, H. Goddard (1950). A recollection of Marcella Sembrich. Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-76141-6. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) “My favorite folk songs” compiled by Marcella Sembrich, Marcella Sembrich : Nimbus Records Marcella Sembrich :Victor recording 1904–08 Marcella Sembrich : Victor recording 1908–19 Stars of the Opera, personal interview with Marcella Sembrich The Sembrich Summer Festival 2020
