Wayne, Pa. – Rose Bampton, a soprano who performed 18 seasons at the Metropolitan Opera and established herself as a premier voice in American opera, has died. She was 99.
Bampton died Tuesday in the Philadelphia suburb of Bryn Mawr, said Mark Sullivan, parish administrator at St. David’s Episcopal Church in nearby Wayne, where her family attended for years.
Bampton, who made her professional debut in 1929, appeared several times with Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra and sang with such opera immortals as Lauritz Melchior, Helen Traubel, Rosa Ponselle, Jan Peerce and Ezio Pinza. She recorded with Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony, and a broadcast version of their “Fidelio” remains in print.
“I think I lived in the most wonderful period, really, of singing and other things,” she once said.
Composer Arnold Schoenberg called her voice a “miracle,” and she gained critical attention for her portrayal of the Wood Dove in his “Gurrelieder.” Bampton also played the role of Kundry in Wagner’s “Parsifal” at the Met, where she debuted in 1932.
She appeared in more popular settings too, becoming a frequent guest on radio shows. On one, she did a humorous spoken-word dialogue with Humphrey Bogart.
After retiring from the opera stage in 1963, she taught at Juilliard and other schools.
