Peters, Roberta

Roberta was born in the Bronx , was the only child in the family of Solomon Piterman (1908-2001) and Ruth Hersh (1909-1972) - from the families of Jewish emigrants from the Austro-Hungarian Empire ^[7] . My father was busy in the shoe trade, my mother worked as a milliner. Roberta began to study music at the age of 13 on the advice of tenor Jean Pierce . Her first teacher was William Herman, known for his exactingness and special teaching methodology. Under the leadership of Herman, Peters studied foreign languages ​​and solfeggio. After six years of training, Herman, with the assistance of impresario Sol Juroka, gave Roberta an audition with Rudolf Bing , director of the Metropolitan Opera . Bing made Roberta sing the second Queen of the Night aria from The Magic Flute , with her four Fs of the third octave , seven times listening from different parts of the room to make sure that she could fill the room with sound. In February 1951, Bing nominated Peters for this role.

However, Robert had to debut earlier. On November 17, 1950, Bing called her to replace the sick Nadine Conner as Zerlina in Don Giovanni . Peters, who knew the role, but had never performed on stage and never sang with the orchestra, agreed. That evening, Fritz Rainer conducted, he encouraged and supported her on stage. The audience met the debut performance of Roberta Peters with enthusiasm, and the stage career of the singer started.

Roberta Peters had a pleasant voice, very mobile in coloratura, as well as a pretty appearance. The singer became the darling of the American public and attracted many new listeners to opera music. Peters quickly established herself in the role of sub-portrait and in the theater’s color repertoire. Among her roles in the Metropolitan Opera are Susannah ( Mozart's “ Figaro 's Wedding ”), Despin (“ All Mozart’s Do It”), Queen of the Night (Mozart’s Magic Flute), Cupid ( Orpheus and Eurydice Gluck ), Marcelina ( Fidelio “ Beethoven ”, Rosina (“ Barber of Seville ” by Rossini ), Adina and Norina (“ Love drink ” and “ Don Pasquale ” by Donizetti ), Oscar and Nanetta (“ Masquerade Ball ” and “ Falstaff ” Verdi ), Olympia (“ Tales of Hoffmann” " Offenbach ), Sophie and Zerbinetta (" Cavalier of the Rose "and" Ariadne on Naxos "by R. Strauss ), Adele (" The Bat "by I. Strauss ). Later, Peters replenished the repertoire with lyric and color roles such as Amina (“ Somnambula ” by Bellini ), Lucia (“ Lucia di Lammermoor ” by Donizetti) and Gilda (“ Rigoletto ” Verdi). The singers' later repertoire includes Lakme ( Lakme Delibes ), Juliet ( Romeo and Juliet Gounod ), Manon ( Manon Massenet ). I tried to sing Violetta ( La Traviata Verdi) and Mimi ( Bohemia Puccini ). At a later stage in her career, she sang both in operettas and musicals, among them The Merry Widow by Lehar , The King and Me by Rogers . At a farewell performance at the Metropolitan Opera in 1985, Roberta Peters sang Gilda.

Peters often performed at other opera venues: in the Lyric Opera of Chicago , in the opera of San Francisco , Cincinnati , and other theaters with tours of the Metropolitan Opera. Already in 1951, Peters performed abroad at the Royal Opera House in London in the opera Balfa "Gypsy" under the direction of Thomas Beecham . She sang in several opera houses in Italy , the Vienna Opera , at the Salzburg Festival and at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow (1972).

Peters was very popular on television. She often participated in the programs The Voice of Firestone and The Tonight Show , was the record holder of the Sunday show Ed Sullivan , appearing there 65 times.

Peters sang a lot in classical music concerts, participated in the popular Italian Night concert series at the Lewison Stadium in New York (1962) ^[8] .

Peters was briefly married to baritone Robert Merrill (1952). She married again in 1955, had two sons. In 2010, a widow. Roberta Peters died at the age of 86 from Parkinson's disease ^[5] .

Studio Opera Records

• Donizetti, “Lucia di Lammermoor”: Roman Opera House , conductor Leinsdorf ; Peters, Pierce , Meiro, Tozzi (1957, RCA )
• Gluck, "Orpheus and Eurydice": Roman Opera House, conductor Monteux ; Della Caza , Stevens, Peters (1957, RCA)
• Mozart, “Everybody Do It” (in English): Metropolitan Opera, conductor Stidry ; Peters, Stieber, Tebom, Tucker, Guarrera, Alvari (1952, Columbia)
• Mozart, “The Marriage of Figaro”: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra , conductor Leinsdorf; Peters, Della Caza, Elias, Tozzi, London (1958, RCA)
• Mozart, The Magic Flute: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra , conductor Boehm ; Lear, Wunderlich, Peters, Fischer-Dieskau , Crassus (1964, Deutsche Grammophon )
• Rossini, The Barber of Seville: Metropolitan Opera, conductor Leinsdorf; Peters, Valletti, Merrill, Korena, Tozzi (1958, RCA)
• R. Strauss, “Ariadne on Naxos”: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Leinsdorf; Rizanek , Peters, Yurinats, Pierce, Berry (1958, RCA)
• Verdi, Rigoletto: Roman Opera House, conductor Perl ; Peters, Rota, Jussi Bierling , Merrill, Tozzi (1956, RCA)

Metropolitan Opera Broadcast Records

Records released on CD by Sony.

• Donizetti, “Love Drink” (March 5, 1966): Peters, Bergonzi , Guarrera, Korena; conductor shippers
• Mozart, “The Wedding of Figaro” (January 28, 1961): Amara, Peters, Miller, Siepie , Borg; conductor Linesdorf
• Offenbach, "Tales of Hoffmann" (December 3, 1955): Amara, Stevens, Peters, Tucker, Singer; conductor Montieux
• Verdi, Masquerade Ball (December 10, 1955): Peters, Milanova , Anderson, Pierce, Merrill; conductor Mitropoulos
• Verdi, Rigoletto (February 22, 1964): Dunn, Peters, Tucker, Merrill, Giotti; conductor Kleva

• The musical encyclopedia in 6 volumes. . - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, Soviet Composer, 1973-1982.
• The Metropolitan Opera Encyclopedia , edited by David Hamilton, (Simon and Schuster, New York, 1987). ISBN 978-0-671-61732-5
• Roberta Peters on the AllMusic website (retrieved June 30, 2013) .

• Roberta Peters collection, 1881-1998 Music Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
• Two Interviews with Roberta Peters Bruce Duffie, December 13, 1981 and June 17, 1993