The Sibyl Sanderson story : requiem for a diva / Jack Winsor Hansen.
| Author/creator | Hansen, Jack Winsor |
| Format | Book |
| Publication Info | Pompton Plains, NJ : Amadeus Press ; Milwaukee, WI : North American sales, Hal Leonard Corporation, 2005. |
| Description | xiv, 503 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm. |
| Subjects |
| Series | Opera biography series ; no. 16 Opera biography series ; no. 16. ^A267014 |
| Contents | The silver spoon -- Hearst and the Violet Rainbows -- Sanderson versus Sanderson -- Final decree -- Beaucoup des dumbbells -- The genie -- Pygmalion appears -- A Night of anguish -- Paris capitulates -- La vie en rose -- The Belgian conquest -- A winter for duels -- The diva meets a god -- Immortal Manon -- Nights from Shéhérazade -- Constellations and black holes -- Delicately brutal -- The monk and the courtesan -- Thaïs at the Opéra -- The Golden Calf -- Grape leaves and fillies -- Fall from Olympus -- Love and the locksmith -- Enter Madame Schmidt -- Molto simpatico -- Odette-Odile -- Hymen's victory -- -- Unhappily ever after -- Phantom legacy -- Birth of a star -- Storm over the Namouna -- Ill-fated tour -- The comeback -- Desperate gamble -- The American return -- A prophet without honor -- Romantic interlude -- Walpurgis Nights -- The Labyrinth -- Full circle -- Epilogue. |
| Abstract | This authorized biography, with rare and previously unpublished photographs, reveals the stranger-than-fiction life and mercurial career of one of opera's most beautiful and controversial divas. The author, a friend of the Sanderson family with complete access to the family archives, spent four decades researching this first full-length biography of Sibyl Sanderson, interviewing scores of friends, family, and associates. Born in 1864 in Sacramento, California, to a life of wealth and privilege, Sibyl lived in the opulent luxury of the Victorian age. In her youth, famed operetta composers Gilbert and Sullivan were guests in her father's house. She was courted by potentates, noblemen, and millionaires, including William Randolph Hearst, two Russian czars, and the Crown Prince Baudouin of Belgium. But Sibyl's short life was plagued by onstage breakdowns, unscrupulous managers, personal tragedy, and an ill-fated marriage to the handsome, hedonistic Cuban playboy Antonio Terry. Sibyl's fame as an opera star rose to the proportions of a cult. Her image adorned everything from calendars to sets of china. Under the Svengali-like guidance of her mentor, French composer Jules Massenet, she was the toast of Europe for nearly ten years, breaking box-office records. Sibyl possessed an amazing three-octave vocal range, and she was a brilliant interpreter, one of the select few singers for whom operatic composers created original works. This definitive biography brings to light the previously undiscovered inner recesses of Sibyl's life, including the truth about her relationship with Massenet, information about her breakup with William Randolph Hearst that Hearst suppressed in his lifetime, and a shocking revelation about the circumstances of her death in 1903 at the age of thirty-eight. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 453-484) and index. |
| LCCN | 2004015945 |
| ISBN | 1574670948 |
Availability
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Music | Closed Stacks - Ask at Circulation Desk | ML420.S1419 H35 2005 | ✔ Available | Place Hold |