Turiddu
He sang as a boy soprano in the choir of his
hometown's Episcopal Church. He received his first voice lessons at the church
from Evelyn Essick. He studied music at Bucknell
University and then singing privately
with Perley Dunn Aldrich in Philadelphia and
Oscar Saenger and Percy Rector Stevens in New York. He made his professional opera
debut with the Philadelphia-Chicago Grand Opera Company as the title hero in
Charles Gounod's Faust in an out of town engagement in New York City.
Althouse debuted at the Metropolitan opera in a
small role in The Magic Flute on November 23, 1912. His first major assignment
with that company came on March 19, 1913 as Grigory in the United States
premiere of Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov under the baton of Arturo Toscanini. He
was notably the first American tenor without European experience to sing at the
Met.
Althouse remained at the Met through 1920,
during which time he participated in the world premieres of Victor Herbert's
Madeleine (François, 1914), Umberto Giordano’s Madame Sans-Gêne (Neipperg,
1915), Reginald de Koven's The Canterbury Pilgrims (Squire, 1917), Charles
Wakefield Cadman’s Shanewis (Lionel, 1918) and Joseph Carl Breil’s The Legend
(Stephen, 1919). His other roles at the house during these years included:
Cavaradossi in Tosca, Froh in Das Rheingold, the Italian Singer in Der
Rosenkavalier, Nicias in Thaïs, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Turiddu in
Cavalleria Rusticana, Uin-San-Lui in Franco Leoni's L'Oracolo, Walther in
Tannhäuser, Vladimir in Prince Igor, and the title role in Oberon.
Althouse spent much of the 1920s dedicated to
concert performances. After a five year absence from opera, he appeared as
Faust in San Francisco
in 1925. He joined the roster of singers at the Philadelphia Civic Opera Company
(PCOC) that year, making his debut with the company as Avito in L'amore dei tre
re. He also sang Samson in Samson and Delilah and Don José in Carmen with the
company that year. He visited the Bayreuth Festival in the summer of 1925, and
decided he wanted to train as a Heldentenor. He made his first foray into that
heavier repertoire at the PCOC as Tristan in Tristan und Isolde on March 25,
1926. He continued to perform with the PGOC annually through 1929 in such roles
as Canio in Pagliacci, Pinkerton, Radamès in Aida, Siegmund in Die Walküre, and
Walther von Stolzing in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.
In 1929 Althouse made his first appearances at
major European opera houses, appearing at the Berlin State Opera, the
Staatsoper Stuttgart, and the Royal Swedish Opera, mainly as Turiddu and as
Canio. That same year he also performed in concerts with the Eaton Choral
Society in Toronto.
In 1930 he sang at the Chicago Civic Opera as Tannhauser and Siegmund. In 1931
he sang the title role in Stravinsky's Oedipus rex with the Philadelphia
Orchestra under conductor Leopold Stokowski. He sang Tristan and Siegfried in
concert with the orchestra the following year. In 1933 he sang Tristan
in San Francisco.
After a thirteen year absence, Althouse
returned to the Met on February 26, 1933 for a special concert honoring Giulio
Gatti-Casazza. He next appeared on stage as Siegmund in Die Walküre on February
3, 1934 with Frida Leider as Brünnhilde. He appeared annually at Met for the
next six years, singing such roles as Aegisth in Elektra, Loge in Das
Rheingold, Pinkerton, Tristan, Walther von Stolzing, and the title role in
Lohengrin. His last appearance at the Met was in a concert evening on February
18, 1940.
Althouse retired from the stage in 1945, after
which he dedicated himself to teaching. Amongst his pupils were Richard Tucker,
Eleanor Steber, Astrid Varnay, and Léopold Simoneau.
Chronology
of some appearances
1912-1920 New
York Metropolitan Opera
1925 San Francisco Opera House
1926-1929 Philadelphia
Civic Opera Company
