Jeanne Jomelli (May 18, 1879 – August 29, 1932) was a Dutch soprano opera singer, concert singer, and music educator.
Early life Jeanne Jomelli was born in Amsterdam.Arthur A. Greene, "Jeanne Jomelli, Former Queen of Grand Opera, Recalls Golden Days" The Honolulu Advertiser (August 23, 1931): 3. via Newspapers.com She studied voice under Mathilde Marchesi in Paris.Untitled news item, Pacific Coast Musical Review (April 9, 1921): 12.
Career Jomelli made her American debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1906."Once Star of Met Dies in Obscurity" Pittsburgh Press (August 30, 1932): 13. via Newspapers.com In 1909 an aria, "The Call of Râdha" by Harriet Ware, with lyrics by Sarojini Naidu, was dedicated to Jomelli."The Call of Râdha" IMSLP: Petrucci Music Library. Jomelli herself set a Heinrich Heine poem, "Oft I wept while dreaming", to music in 1912."Oft I wept while dreaming" The LiederNet Archive. "Mme. Jomelli had a pure soprano voice of singularly clear, steady, musical quality, and she was an accomplished vocalist," recalled Herman Klein, who worked with her on improving her English diction.Hermann Klein, Herman Klein and the Gramophone: Being a Series of Essays on the Bel Canto (1923), the Gramophone and the Singer (1924–1934), and Reviews of New Classical Vocal Recordings (1925–1934), and Other Writings from the Gramophone (Hal Leonard Corporation 1990): 302.
She was in Belgium at the start of World War I and lost nineteen trunks of costumes and other possessions in the rush to leave ahead of German advances."Jeanne Jomelli Plans Busy Season" Oakland Tribune (February 2, 1919): 6. via Newspapers.com Instead she toured western Canadian cities with composer Hallett Gilberté during the war, giving benefit concerts for wounded veterans."Discriminating Listeners Everywhere, says Gilberté" Musical America (June 23, 1917): 21. In 1917, she gave a concert in Los Angeles singing songs by Charles Wakefield Cadman, with Cadman himself accompanying her on piano."Los Angeles Gamut Club Gives Annual Dinner" Musical America (June 23, 1917): 40.
For the 1917/1918 academic year, Jomelli was engaged to teach at Cornish School of Music in Seattle, Washington."Mme. Jomelli Joins Faculty of Cornish School in Seattle" Musical America (September 22, 1917): 18. However, she needed surgery for tonsillitis in September 1917,A. M. G., "Sings Children's Songs" Musical America (September 29, 1917): 19. which brought long-term health complications, and she taught while seated thereafter."Applause: The Memoirs of Mme. Jeanne Jomelli" Honolulu Star-Bulletin (March 1, 1930): 41. via Newspapers.com
Jomelli moved to Oakland, California, in 1918, and taught voice at the University of California, Berkeley."Jomelli a Welcome Addition to California" Pacific Coast Musical Review (December 21, 1918): 26. She stayed in the San Francisco Bay area for most of her remaining years,"Famous Singer to be Featured in Sacred Concert" San Francisco Chronicle (February 11, 1921): 4. via Newspapers.com though she also spent significant time teaching in Honolulu, Hawaii, at the Punahou School."Madame Jomelli has Great Hopes of Developing Hawaiian Voices at Punahou School" Honolulu Star-Bulletin (August 30, 1919): 13. via Newspapers.com
Personal life Jeanne Jomelli was first married in 1901, to a French tapestry maker, Nicolas Hernance."Applause: The Memoirs of Mme. Jeanne Jomelli" Honolulu Star-Bulletin (October 19, 1929): 47. via Newspapers.com They divorced amicably in 1913."Jomelli Seeks Divorce" The New York Times (September 14, 1913): C1. Her second husband was her manager, W. Orrin Backus. She died in August 1932, aged 53 years, in San Francisco, California."Mme. Jeanne Jomelli, Once Opera Star, Dead" The New York Times (August 30, 1932): 18. Very soon after Jomelli's death, Orrin Backus remarried; when his new wife left him, in fear of his violent threats, he died in November 1932 by suicide."W. O. Backus Kills Himself as Bride Flees" Woodland Daily Democrat (November 16, 1932): 4. via Newspapers.com
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The Library of Congress has a photograph of Jeanne Jomelli from the 1910s, in the George Grantham Bain Collection. The Boston Public Library has a photograph of Jeanne Jomelli taken by Aimé Dupont in 1911, in the Philip Hale Photograph Collection.