Nationality Polish Occupation Opera singer | Name Selma Kronold | |
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Born 18 August 1861 Krakow Died October 9, 1920, New York, United States | ||
Selma Kronold (18 August 1861, Kraków — 9 October 1920, New York City) was a Jewish-born Polish operatic soprano and pianist. Her repertoire included more than forty-five operas in three different languages. She took part in the musicals The Magic Melody, or Fortunnio's Song and At the Lower Harbor.
Life and career
Selma Kronold, born in Kraków to Adolph Kronold and Louise (Hirschberg) Kronold, was the sister of cellist Hans Kronold (1872-1922); and a cousin of Polish pianist and composer Moritz Moszkowski. She received her initial training in a convent, according to her own account, where she was also taught her first piano lessons. Moving to Germany, she studied with Arthur Nikisch at the Royal Conservatory in Leipzig and later with Désirée Artôt at the Conservatoire de Paris, where she began her association with conductor Anton Seidl. She subsequently engaged with impresario Angelo Neumann's Wagner Opera Company between 1882-1883, when she apparently moved to the United States around 1885, joining the Metropolitan Opera Company. After that she traveled back to Berlin where she studied for two more years, adding about thirty other operas to her repertoire.
In 1890, Kronold married with Dutch-born violinist Jan Koert, but divorced him ten years later due to their conflicting professional careers. She worked for many different opera companies, among them the New American Opera Company, the Damrosch German Opera, Gustav Hinrichs Company, the Italian Opera Company, the Royal Opera House, and The Castle Square Opera Company among others. She retired from the stage life in 1904, shortly after engaging herself in charity work, helping thus found and establish the Catholic Oratorio Society of New York in order to bring understanding and promote oratorios in their religious ideal.
She died of pneumonia on 9 October 1920 and was buried at the Mount Pleasant Cemetery, in Hawthorne, Westchester County, New York, USA.