Mario Chamlee

Archer Ragland Cholmondeley Chamlee was born in Los Angeles, California, on the 29 of May of 1892. He was the son of a Los Angeles physician Mr. Samuel Chamlee (descendent of an immigrant English family which had settled in Tennessee in 1700) and Mrs. Clara Hausteib Cholmondeley.

Like most Americans he was educated in the public schools. His musical gift was evident at an early age, but his interest was centered on the violin, which he studied under Schonstgein from the age of eight until he was twenty. He continued his studies at the University of Southern California but all this time it never occurred to him that he could sing. His voice was discovered when he stood for an indisposed soloist while touring with the U.S.C. Minstrels. It was apparent that the young man's voice was of unusual calibre and encouraged by his friends, on returning to Los Angeles he auditioned for the Maestro Achille Alberti who had once studied with the noted Italian baritone Antonio Cotogni. He studied voice and repertoire, during five years, with Alberti.

At 23 years old, on January 12th, 1916, he made his operatic debut as Edgardo in "Lucia di Lammermoor" at the National Grand Opera Company (also called "Lombardi Opera Company"). Such was his success htat he decided to go to New York for further studies with Gabriele Sibella and Riccardo Dellera. In March, 1917 he made a second debut in San Francisco, as the Duke in "Rigoletto". It was also in 1917 that Mario met the soprano Ruth Miller while on tour with the Aborn Opera Company. The company included the baritone Richard Bonelli.

He had to interrupt his career when the United States entered into the First World War and served as a member of the 77th Division of the American Expeditionary Forces in France for 18 months (1917-1919).

One day, while singing in a church, in France, his voice attracted the attention of some officers who immediately assigned him to sing with the Argonne Players, to entertain the soldiers.

Back in America he started to sing again with some minor companies and also in vaudeville acts in which he sang opera arias. Appearing in his vaudeville sketch, he was heard by Antonio Scotti and engaged for his own touring "Scotti Grand Opera Company". Chamlee made his debut with this company in October 1919 at the Whiting House Theatre in Syracuse as Turiddu in "Cavalleria rusticana" with Florence Easton and Millo Picco. He sang in the eight cross-country tours of the U.S.A. and Canada between 1919 and 1922. He added to his repertoire the roles of Cavaradossi in "Tosca", Win-San-Lay in "L'oracolo" and Edgardo in "Lucia" with the Spanish soprano Ángeles Ottein and the Italian baritone Mario Laurenti.

It was also in 1919 that he met again his future wife, the soprano Ruth Miller (1892–1983), who was singing with the Cosmopolitan Opera Company at the Garden Theatre. They appeared together with the troupe, in Detroit, singing "Faust". They married on October 2nd, 1919, though the wedding was kept in secret during a month until the news appeared on The New York Times, in November. (The couple had a son, Dr. Archer Mario Chamlee Jr., born in 1921).

On reaching New York, Scotti took Chamlee to audition for Giulio Gatti-Casazza. He was engaged on the spot, despite the fact that the Metropolitan was well stocked with excellent tenors: Martinelli, Gigli, Lázaro, Lauri-Volpi, Schipa, Crimi, Hackett, Harrold, Zerola... and, of course, Caruso. He made his Metropolitan debut on November 22, 1920 as Cavaradossi in "Tosca" with Geraldine Farrar and Antonio Scotti. He was enthusiastically received and it was instantly noticed that the youthful tenor's voice bore a striking resemblance to the tones of the great Caruso. The following day, the critic W. J. Henderson of lthe "New York Sun" wrote about his "fresh" and "lyric qualitites of merit" voice. Pitts Sanborn of the "New York Globe" wrote: "Mr. Chamlee ... revealed a voice which in its purity of timbre, combined with a well recognizable warmth and richness, actually suggested the super-tenor of the great Enrico ... he showed surprinsingly good command of his resources, including his breath, and manfully refrained from forcing tones or indulging in sobs and shrieks and other cheap devices for capturing the favor of the thoughtless. He sang sincerely, honestly, musically, and with techinical skill and soundness of taste that became steadily more manifest as the evening advances ... Beauty of voice, a true legato, a fine respect for the musical phrase were revealed ... the achievement crowned a really very promising debut. Today the most cordial wishes of all lovers of opera go both to Mr. Gatti-Casazza and to his "young Caruso".

Chamlee remained for 14 seasons at the Met, singing 23 different roles and a totla of 219 performances. A curiosity, his second performance at the Met was not an opera, but the tenor solo in Verdi's "Requiem" with Emmy Destinn, Jeanne Gordon and Léon Rothier. He sang from 1920 to 1928, and his other operas included "Rigoletto", "Madama Butterfly" (with Farrar and Scotti), "Lucia di Lammermoor", Win-San-Lay in "L'oracolo", Christian Brehm in the American première of "The Polish jew" (Der polnische Jude) by Leon Weiss, "Faust" (with Easton, De Luca and Rothier), "Mefistofele" (with Easton and Didur), "Il barbiere di Siviglia" (with Ottein, Ruffo and Mardones), "La bohème" (with Bori, Scotti and Rothier), "Manon" (with Farrar, De Luca and Rothier), "Cavalleria rusticana" (with Maria Jeritza), "La traviata" (with Bori and De Luca), Grigory in "Boris Godunov" (sung in Italian!) with Fedor Chaliapin, José Mardones and Margaret Matzenauer), Vasco de Gama in "L'africana" (with Ponselle, Queena Mario, De Luca and Didur), "La Gioconda" (with Rosa Ponselle, Jeanne Gordon, Giuseppe De Luca and José Mardones), "Les contes d'Hoffmann" (with Lucrezia Bori, Marion Talley, Mary Lewis, Giuseppe De Luca, Adamo Didur and Léon Rothier) and Wilhelm Meister in "Mignon" (with Bori, Talley and Whitehill). Then he left the Met, due to differences over repertoire, but returned again in 1936.

In 1923, Mario Chamlee sang in Europe at the Deutsches Theater in Prague and at the Volksoper in Vienna singing in "La bohème", "Tosca", "Rigoletto", "Faust", "Lucia" and "La traviata". The reviewer of the Neuigkeits-Welt-Blatt wrote: "Chamlee is a singer of extraordinary vocal culture, from whose throat float effortless, brilliant sparkling tones which caress the ears of his audience. It was one of those evenings never to be forgotten." Though he did not sing at Covent Garden, he was heard at London's Royal Albert Hall in 1925, when the quality and power of his voice drew enthusiastic response from the press which characterised him as a great singer. After leaving the Met in 1928, Chamlee returned to Europe and made his debut at the Opéra in Paris in the title role of Henri Rabaud's "Mârouf" on 5 April, 1929, when the beauty of his voice and the sweetness of his singing and cultured style brought down the house. Less than a week later the tenor made another debut, now at the Opéra-Comique as Des Grieux in Massenet's "Manon". He obtained excellent reviews from the French press which thought his singing and acting quite brilliant. Later, in the same year, he appeared as "Mârouf" at La Monnaie in Brussels, whre a reviewer wrote that his singing "was on parallel in every way with the greatest singers of all time". He also sang in Liége, Lille and Bordeaux.

In America, Chamlee sang during nine Summer Seasons at Ravinia Park on the shores of Lake Michigan (Chicago). At that time, music critc Edward Moore wrote: "Mario Chamlee has the best tenor voice of any living American." In these summer seasons, Chamlee had the opportunity to sing some new roles, like Lionello in Flotow's "Martha" (29 June 1927) with Florence Macbeth and Virgilio Lazzari; Araquil in Massenet's "La Navarraise" (6 July 1927) with Ina Bourskaya and Léon Rothier; the title role in Auber's "Fra Diavolo" (9 July 1927) with Florence Macbeth, Virgilio Lazzari and José Mojica; the title role in Rabaud's "Mârouf" (1st August 1928) with Yvonne Gall and Léon Rothier; Gennaro in Wolf-Ferrari's "I gioielli della Madonna" (10 August 1928) with Florence Easton and Mario Basiola; Pedro in Vittadini's "Anima allegra" (21 July 1930) with Lucrezia Bori and Florence Macbeth; Jenik in Smetana's "The bartered bride" (sung in German, in 1930) with Elisabeth Rethberg and Count Gil in Wolf-Ferrari's "Il segreto di Susanna" (18 July 1931) with Lucrezia Bori. The role of Count Gil was assigned to Chamlee though it is usually sung by a baritone. Of course he also sang his usual repertory: Rigoletto, Cavalleria rusticana, Manon, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Lucia di Lammermoor, Les contes d'Hoffmann, La traviata, La bohème and Tosca.

He sang in San Francisco and Los Angeles in 1927, 1931, 1932 and 1934 making his debut in Gounod's "Roméo et Juliette" (October 3rd, 1927) with Florence Macbeth, Desière Defrère and Ezio Pinza. The reviewer of Los Angeles said: "Mario Chamlee sings with freedom and ardor. In appearance, Chamlee is no prepossessing Romeo, but histrionically this California artist, too, has advanced so that he could fascinate his audience." During those Californian seasons he was also heard in "La bohème", "Tosca" (with Yvonne Gall and Giuseppe Danise), "Cavalleria rusticana", "La traviata" (with Claudia Muzio and Richard Bonelli), "The bartered bride" (1934, in German, with Rethberg) and as Don José in "Carmen", perhaps for the first time in his career, with Ninon Vallin and Ezio Pinza (8 and 17 November 1934).

In San Francisco, Chamlee made his first excursion into the Wagnerian field in October 1932 as Lohengrin and as Walther in "Die Meistersinger".

On January 15, 1931 he returned to London singing as a soloist in Verdi's "Requiem" conducted by Arturo Toscanini.

On 27 December 1932 Chamlee sang for the first time at the Chicago Opera in "Madama Butterfly" with Elisabeth Rethberg. He sang there from 1932 to 1936 and he was also heard in "Cavalleria rusticana", "La Gioconda", "Pagliacci" (probably for the first time in his career), and "La bohème". On November 12th, 1935 he sang "Lohengrin" with Lotte Lehmann, Eleonora La Mance, Schiffeler and Chase Baromeo, and on 4th December 1936 he sang "The bartered bride". His last appearance in Chicago was in a single performance of "The bartered bride" on 15 December 1939.

In 1936, after an absence of eight years he returned to the Metropolitan Opera as Jenik in "The bartered bride" (sung in English) on May 15th, 1936 (with Muriel Dickson and Lucielle Browning). On February 4th, 1937 he was chosen for the title role in the world premiére of "Caponsacchi" by Richard Hageman (with Helen Jepson, Lawrence Tibbett and Norman Cordon). On May 21st, 1937 he sang "Mârouf" (with Norman Cordon), and on March 3rd he took the role of the lover in the Metropolitan premiére of "Amelia goes to the ball" (Amelia al ballo) by Giancarlo Menotti. The opera was sung in English and in the cast were Muriel Dickson, John Brownlee and Norman Cordon (7 performances). His last performances at the Met was in that same opera, "Amelia goes to the ball", on 30 January, 1939. He retired though he was only 47 years old.

However, he continued to appear in opera until 1942, when he was last seen in "La traviata" in Seattle with Jarmila Novotná and Richard Bonelli. He also appeared in concert, often with his wife Ruth and Richard Hageman at the piano, and also during the '30s and '40s, he sang frequently on the radio and participated in the "Tony and Gus Radio Talk-Show".

Leaving the stage, he returned to Los Angeles and opened a successful singing academy with his wife in 1940, "Casa Chamlee", from which singers like soprano Mary Costa and baritone Theodore Upmann emerged.

During the Second World War, Mario Chamlee sang for the soldiers as a member of the USO (United Services Organization).

Chamlee received many honours in life, such as "Master of Music" of the University of Southern California (1924) and member of the Music Faculty of the same University, in 1948, where he taught for a time.

He returned to the Metropolitan stage as a guest, in two more opportunities late in his life. On November 20, 1963 for a gala performance commemorating the 50th anniversary of Giovanni Martinelli's debut at the Met. And on April 16, 1966 for the gala farewell from the Old Met at Broadway and 39th Street.

Mario Chamlee died in Hollywood, on October 13th, 1966 at 74 years old. His wife, Ruth Miller, survived him for 17 years and died in 1983.

JUAN DZAZÓPULOS, May 2008

Mario Chamlee sings

Moon dream shore (Lockhart)

Mario Chamlee sings

Tosca: E lucevan le stelle

Notes to the discography by Juan Dzazópulos:
Is is said that Chamlee's first records were for a long forgotten company, "Lyraphone", in 1917. I have my doubts, since from 1917 to 1919 the tenor was in France with the American Expedionary Force. The most probable date could be 1919. I have been able to trace 4 sides for this company, under the fictitious name of MARIO RODOLFI, including his first version of "Solenne in quest'ora" with a certain Enrico Martini. The late researcher and collector William R. Moran, who owned the record, confirmed that the baritone was John Charles Thomas, also recording with a fictitious name. From 1920 to 1928 Mario Chamlee recorded exclusively for "Brunswick" label. His first single-sided records were issued under the name of ARCHER CHAMLEE. From 1922 his records had his real name, Mario Chamlee on the labels. He recorded 65 faces in the acoustical process and 36 sides in the electrical system. That makes a total of 101 published sides, some of them repeated several times on different color labels (green, golden and plum). Besides, he left some 32 sides unpublished. They included the "Forza del destino" duet, once with Giuseppe Danise (1922) and twice with John Charles Thomas (1925). It seems this duet was one of Chamlee's favourite pieces as he recorded it five times. It was finally issued in 1928, with Richard Bonelli. The unissued sides also included some unusual titles, such as "La favorita: Spirto gentil", "Salvatore Rosa: Mia piccirella", "La spagnola" by Di Chiara, and "Liebestraum" by Liszt. Michael Scott (The Record of Singing, Volume Two) writes:"In many of Chamlee's recordings the influence of Caruso is very striking; Barthélemy's 'Triste ritorno', Geehl's 'For you alone' and the Serenade from 'Don Pasquale', for example. It is not simply a matter of copying the externals of the interpretation – tempo, phrasing, rubato and so forth – but the production of the voice itself, the attack, the way of launching ascending phrases and general conception of tone is all amost a carbon print of Caruso..." I am sure had he recorded for a bigger record company with international distribution, such as Victor or Columbia, his name would be still remembered as one of the greatest American tenors of all times.

I wish to thank Juan Dzazópulos for the biographical notes, discography, and recordings (Dreams of long ago, Don Pasquale, Fra Diavolo, Martha, Paquita, L'alba separa dalla luce l'ombra).

I wish to thank Thomas Silverbörg for the pictures (Tosca, private), and the recording (Forza).

I wish to thank Anton Bieber for the Moon dream shore and Tosca recordings and label scans.