Queena Mario

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Queena Mario
Mario in 1921
Background information
Birth nameQueena Marian Tillotson
Born(1896-08-21)August 21, 1896
Akron, Ohio, United States
DiedMay 28, 1951(1951-05-28) (aged 54)
New York, United States
GenresOpera
Occupation(s)
  • Soprano
  • columnist
  • voice teacher
  • author
Years active1918–1951

Queena Marian Tillotson (August 21, 1896 – May 28, 1951), known professionally as Queena Mario, was an American soprano opera singer, newspaper columnist, voice teacher, and fiction writer.

Early life[edit]

Queena Marian Tillotson was born in Akron, Ohio,[1] the daughter of James Knox Tillotson and Rose Tillotson. Queena was raised in Plainfield, New Jersey, where she graduated from Plainfield High School.[2][3] She studied voice with Marcella Sembrich,[4] who advised her name change.[5] She paid for voice lessons by writing newspaper advice columns under the name Florence Bryant, including childrearing advice; "You know a lot when you're 16, you have a lot of theories," she explained of her qualifications.[1]

Career[edit]

Mario made her stage debut with the San Carlo Opera Company in 1918.[6] She also toured with the Antonio Scotti Opera Company. She sang at the Metropolitan Opera over 300 times, beginning in 1922 and with a last performance in 1938.[7] She also gave concerts.[3] In 1925 Richard Aldrich of The New York Times described Mario's voice: "The voice is light, it has the grace and flexibility of a light voice, together with agreeable quality and much finished skill in vocalism."[8][9]

Mario taught voice at the Juilliard School in New York and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Among her students were Jeanne Madden,[10] Frances Bible,[11] Helen Jepson and Rose Bampton.[12] She can be heard on at least six recordings from 1924 and 1933, made for the Victor Talking Machine Company.[13]

As a writer, Mario published three opera-themed murder mysteries: Murder in the Opera House (E.P. Dutton, 1934), Murder Meets Mephisto (1942), and Death Drops Delilah (1944).[14]

Personal life[edit]

Mario married Metropolitan Opera conductor Wilfred Pelletier on November 23, 1925; they divorced on August 12, 1936.[15] She died in New York in 1951, aged 54 years.[16][17]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Josephine Van Der Grift, "Famous Opera Singer Born in Akron Will Sing At Armory" Akron Beacon Journal (March 24, 1925): 1, 9. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
  2. ^ Staff. "Queena Mario Sings to Students", The New York Times, May 26, 1927. Accessed November 9, 2017. "Queena Mario of the Metropolitan Opera Company, formerly of this city, was a guest of the Plainfield High School today where she sang a group of four numbers to the student body ... The opera star whose family name was Tillotson is a graduate of the local high school and has been a guest of Mr. and Mrs. Albert L. Coddington of Sheridan Avenue."
  3. ^ a b "Queena Mario Gives Concert Here Tomorrow" Courier-News (March 2, 1932): 6. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
  4. ^ Frank D. Quattrone, Penn State Abington and the Ogontz School (Arcadia Publishing 2016): 77. ISBN 9781439657775
  5. ^ "Queena Mario To Be Guest Artist Monday" Star Tribune (April 5, 1931): 16. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
  6. ^ "Queena Mario Proves a Human Nightingale" Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette (April 22, 1919): 10. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
  7. ^ Queena Mario, Archives, MetOperaFamily.org.
  8. ^ "Queena Mario Most Promising of Young Singers" Post-Crescent (October 9, 1925): 7. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
  9. ^ "Torch Song or Rigoletto, it's All Same to Queena" Pittsburgh Press (November 29, 1936): 48. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
  10. ^ "Broke All Rules to Make Jeanne Madden a Star" Truth (November 1, 1936): 35. via TroveOpen access icon
  11. ^ Elizabeth Forbes (10 February 2001). "Frances Bible". The Independent.
  12. ^ "Whistler's Murder" The New Yorker (January 19, 1935): 12.
  13. ^ "Queena Mario" Discography of American Historical Recordings UC Santa Barbara Library.
  14. ^ "Queena Mario, 54, Soprano, is Dead" The New York Times (May 29, 1951): 23.
  15. ^ "Miss Queena Mario Gets Divorce in Reno" The New York Times (August 13, 1936): 12.
  16. ^ "Queena Mario Tillotson, Met Opera Singer, Dies" Plainfield Courier News 15. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
  17. ^ "Queena Mario Rites Tomorrow" The New York Times (May 30, 1951): 17.

External links[edit]

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