The year was 1946, and soon Frederick Marvin would be famous—an internationally acclaimed concert pianist whose career would span decades. His Carnegie Hall debut in 1948 would pole vault him to the ranks of other legendary pianists. But for one week in July he would be mesmerized, if not a bit intimidated, by serving as accompanist for another international star—of opera: soprano Maria Jeritza.
Then retired from her acclaimed and colorful operatic career, Jeritza, a particularly favorite singer with the Metropolitan Opera audiences, was in Hollywood Calif., preparing a recital. To say that Marvin was struck with awe at their first rehearsal would be an understatement. After all, he had seen her perform Puccini’s Tosca (one of her signature roles) in 1938 when the Met star was singing in Los Angeles—a performance so vivid he could still recall every detail.
Jeritza was certainly one of Puccini’s favorite sopranos. Not only does he reference her in his letters, but it was Puccini who insisted Jeritza sing Tosca’s “Vissi d’arte” from a prone position on the floor—which, according to Jeritza, happened by accident due to an overzealous Scarpia. And Jeritza would debut the title role of Puccini’s Turandot when the opera had its North American premiere at the Metropolitan in 1926.
But now Marvin anxiously awaited her arrival in the rehearsal room. “I came a little early and so I was sitting at the piano,” he recalls. “She was, should I say, a presence. She walked in and she wasn’t that young, but was beautiful—still extraordinary—and she was a big woman! I said to myself, ‘Wow!’” he laughs.
“I don’t know exactly how old she was then when I knew her, but she was still singing and seemed so young. But she scared me,” adds Marvin. “She was a very large and imposing woman. When I was playing, sometimes she would put her hand on my shoulder. She was an absolutely beautiful woman and her voice was gorgeous,” he remembers.
But for as much as the great diva intimidated the young pianist, soon they were sharing stories of their careers and performing experiences. “We had very good conversations together about my career, and she said that I played beautifully. She especially appreciated my work with the Schubert Lieder,” says Marvin. Although, Jeritza’s reading of the Lieder was a surprise to her pianist.
“It was very strange. Should I tell you what happened?” he asks. “I was playing, she was singing, and then there’s always an interlude for the piano for the next verse. She said, ‘No, no, just pass that up.’ I said, ‘Huh?’ She said, ‘I want to sing!’ She didn’t want to hear the piano interludes! That was a surprise. I could understand to a degree—she’s an opera singer and not a Lieder singer. I don’t think she ever sang much Lieder at all, but she had to do that for a program in Los Angeles. [So] I played it—but I’d skip the piano continuation!”
Still, Marvin, who is now 92 and recently married his partner of over 50 years when New York State legalized gay marriage, vividly recalls his first encounter with Jeritza. “I was originally from Los Angeles and was an usher for the opera series. We didn’t have an opera company at the time, and the San Francisco Opera came. What happened is they had all the Met stars. She did a performance of Tosca; it was absolutely incredible!
“The Act Two ‘Scarpia’ scene, she was in the back of the podium, sliding, sliding around!” Marvin continues. “You knew that she was there, in other words, trying to hide from him. It was very weird. Her movements were so quiet and strange. And Scarpia was growling at her at the time. It was very exciting—she was an actress as well.
“I told her that when I was younger I had heard her in Tosca and my impression of it,” adds Marvin. “I said, ‘I’ll never forget that scene. You were against the back part of the stage, sliding across!’ And she said, ‘Yes! I’m glad you saw that. That’s very kind of you. It was an exciting experience because I never did that particular role in that way.’”
And to validate Marvin’s recollections, Jeritza told an interviewer in 1958 how Puccini himself envisioned the role. “He explained Tosca to me in every detail so I became Tosca. For instance, about ‘Vissi d’arte,’ he told me I should work out something so the people would sit petrified and can’t even move. I tried; I tried. I racked my brains and couldn’t find anything.”
But fate stepped in and Jeritza’s Scarpia became so zealous that he literally threw her down on the floor. Petrified her nose was bleeding, she couldn’t sing. “I lay there,” she recalled. “I was afraid to move, and the conductor thought I lost the pitch so he started again, two, three times. I thought blood or no blood you have to start, so I started flat on my nose. I managed to reach my face and found out that my face was full of tears and not blood. And so I started slowly but surely to raise in a kneeling position.”
To the surprise of the diva, Puccini was delighted. “Carissima! Thank you much for the wonderful idea you had!” “Maestro,” she tried, “that was not my idea—that was an accident. Your Scarpia was carried away in his temper and he threw me on the floor!” “Never mind,” said Puccini. “Promise me that whatever happens, you will always sing it in this accidental way!”
In addition to having seen Jeritza’s acclaimed Tosca, Marvin also recalls his early days as an usher when, in 1938, he saw another stellar cast from the San Francisco Opera. “What happened is they had all the Met people. I’ll never forget Lotte Lehmann and Risë Stevens doing Der Rosenkavalier. Stevens did the Octavian and she was just fantastic. I was just in tears, it was so beautiful,” he remembers. “I can still see it, and that was very many years ago. Being an usher, I heard every performance.”
Meanwhile, Marvin is content to produce his Day Book from 1946. Neatly written in it are his rehearsal dates with Jeritza:
July 23: Went to Maria Jeritza’s and rehearsed from 4:00 to 5:00
July 24: Rehearsal 2:00 to 4:00 with Jeritza
July 25: 11:00 to 1:00
July 26: Rehearsal with Jeritza 10:45 to 12:30
July 27: With Maria Jeritza 10:30 to 12:30. PAID IN FULL.
He takes down a photo hanging on the wall inscribed to him by the diva. “To Frederick Marvin, a wonderful musician I enjoyed so much working with.—Maria Jeritza July 26, 1946.” She is surrounded by four other operatic luminaries: Arturo Toscanini at the piano, soprano Frances Alda, tenor Giovanni Martinelli, and baritone Giuseppe De Luca.
“It was really wonderful to be [working] with a woman like that,” recalls Marvin, “not only as a great person, but [also] as a wonderful singer.”
