Rosamond Young Chapin
A young white woman in profile; her dark hair is styled in a low bun; she is wearing a white dress with a deep scoop necline
Rosamond Young, from a 1915 publication
BornJuly 17, 1895
Boston, Massachusetts
DiedJuly 30, 1984
Beverly, Massachusetts
Occupation(s)Opera singer, producer, arts administrator, cook
RelativesRoderick MacLeish (son-in-law)
Eric MacLeish (grandson)

Rosamond Young Chapin (July 17, 1895 – July 30, 1984) was an American singer, theatrical producer and arts administrator. Her personal relationship with Boston Symphony Orchestra conductor Karl Muck drew her into scandal during World War I. Later, she and her husband created and directed the New Boston Opera Company and the New Boston Music Festival in the 1930s and 1940s. She was known as a cook and businesswoman in the 1950s.

Early life and education

Rosamond Young was from Dorchester, Massachusetts, the daughter of Frank Linnaeus Young and Minnie Ella Jones Young. Her father was in manufacturing. She graduated from Milton Academy.[1] She trained at the New England Conservatory of Music, and at the von Ende School of Music with Adrienne Remenyi.[2][3]

Career

Young was a concert singer.[4] She made her professional debut as a soprano with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at age 19.[3] She had an affair with Boston Symphony Orchestra conductor Karl Muck.[5] Muck's incriminating letters to her were part of the evidence gathered for his 1918 arrest (and subsequent deportation), and they were published in The Washington Post, with Young's name changed to "Adele Marvin".[6]

Chapin continued her singing career,[7][8] including at least three performances at Katherine Frazier's Cummington School of the Arts.[9] A 1937 Boston Globe reviewer described her performance critically: "At times her notes could scarcely be heard above the orchestra. At others she had to force her voice so that her upper tones sounded thin and constricted."[10]

Chapin and her husband created and directed the New Boston Opera Company and the New Boston Music Festival in the 1930s and 1940s,[11] promoting American opera singers and English-language texts. She made English translations of opera libretti, including Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio (1942),[12] and scenes from Wagner's Die Walküre (1957).[3] Eleanor Roosevelt mentioned Chapin in her newspaper column "My Day" in 1940, saying "I feel sure that there must be people in this country interested in her idea to promote American artists here."[13]

Chapin produced and directed shows at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, including a 1942 all-musical program,[14] and Tristan and Isolde (1947).[15] In 1947, she sued singer Marie Powers, who was double-booked at Jacob's Pillow and in a Broadway show.[16] By 1947,[17] the Chapins were running the New Boston Inn in the Berkshires,[18] and she managed the inn's kitchen and musical offerings.[7][19][20] She also shared her recipes in newspaper features.[19][21] In 1951, she went to Germany to negotiate with the Wagner family for permission to establish a Richard Wagner Festival Playhouse in the United States.[22]

Personal life

Young married lawyer and businessman Russell Chapin in 1925.[1] They had two daughters, Isolde and Diana. Diana Chapin married writer Roderick MacLeish in 1950.[23] Rosamond Young Chapin died in 1984, at the age of 89, in Beverly, Massachusetts.[11] Lawyer Eric MacLeish is her grandson.[24]

References

  1. 1 2 "Rosamond Young to Wed". The New York Times. Retrieved 2023-06-21.
  2. ↑ "Paderewski Indorses Remenyi Artist-Pupil" Musical Courier 71(July 14, 1915): 35.
  3. 1 2 3 "Rosamond Chapin, Opera singer and translator". The Boston Globe. 1984-08-10. p. 77. Retrieved 2023-06-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ "Rosamond Chapin to be Sanders Theatre Soloist". The Boston Globe. 1937-11-06. p. 12. Retrieved 2023-06-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ Burrage, Melissa D. (2019). The Karl Muck Scandal: Classical Music and Xenophobia in World War I America. Boydell & Brewer. ISBN 978-1-58046-950-0.
  6. ↑ Mitchell, J. (2014-12-09). Trans-Atlantic Passages: Philip Hale on the Boston Symphony Orchestra, 1889-1933. Springer. ISBN 978-1-137-44444-8.
  7. 1 2 "Rosamond Chapin to Sing at Clinton". The Berkshire Eagle. 1948-08-19. p. 8. Retrieved 2023-06-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ "Rosamond Chapin to Sing at Luncheon Honoring Mrs. Truman". The Berkshire Eagle. 1949-04-25. p. 6. Retrieved 2023-06-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ "Rosamond Chapin Will Sing at Cummington". The Berkshire Eagle. 1935-08-09. p. 5. Retrieved 2023-06-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "Sanders Theatre". The Boston Globe. 1937-11-08. p. 11. Retrieved 2023-06-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. 1 2 "Rosamond Y. Chapin". The New York Times. August 15, 1984. pp. B24. Retrieved June 21, 2023.
  12. ↑ Key, Pierre (1942-01-11). "Keynotes". The State. p. 10. Retrieved 2023-06-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ "My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, October 10, 1940". The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Digital Edition. Retrieved 2023-06-21.
  14. ↑ "Opera Arias to be Sung Tomorrow". The Berkshire Eagle. 1946-07-20. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-06-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ↑ "Rosamond Chapin's Production of Tristan and Isolde [Program-099]". Jacob's Pillow Archive. Retrieved 2023-06-21.
  16. ↑ Wahls, Robert (1947-07-26). "Marie Powers May Need Medium's Art to Stay on B'Way". Daily News. p. 299. Retrieved 2023-06-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ↑ "Emergency Meeting Planned by Jacob's Pillow Group". The Berkshire Eagle. 1947-10-13. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-06-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ↑ "Ex-Opera Singer Leads Crusade for Better Food". The Portsmouth Star. 1954-08-08. p. 11. Retrieved 2023-06-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. 1 2 Maddox, Gaynor (1950-12-08). "Noted Soprano Serves Food that Sings". The Journal. p. 12. Retrieved 2023-06-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ↑ "Rosamond Chapin Combines Music, Cooking and Makes Money to Further Life's Aim". The Times-Tribune. 1950-08-24. p. 21. Retrieved 2023-06-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ↑ "Turkey Stuffing with Butter is a Favorite of Rosamond Chapin/Gaynor Maddox". The Capital Times. 1952-11-21. p. 10. Retrieved 2023-06-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ↑ "Rosamond Chapin Plans U. S. Festival Playhouse". Lansing State Journal. 1951-06-24. p. 24. Retrieved 2023-06-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ↑ "Miss Diana Chapin Connecticut Bride; Wed in Congregational Church at Colebrook to Roderick MacLeish, TV Script Editor". The New York Times. 1950-05-21. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-06-21.
  24. ↑ "Isolde Chapin Obituary". The Washington Post, via Legacy.com. 2010. Retrieved 2023-06-22.
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