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With the coming of the
Depression and the limitations of the National Opera House, the company used it fairly infrequently, and it dissolved during the period. Limited opera was performed in Washington until the 1950s, except open-air summer performances beside the
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In the course of its more than 90 performances, the company was responsible for several accomplishments all out of proportion with its modest status. In 1925, it trumped the
Chicago Opera in court to offer
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in
February 1920 with two European veterans, Belgian soprano Marguerita Sylva and Czech tenor Otakar Marák. Other important singers who would appear with the company in succeeding years included
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performed in an
American opera production for the first time since her departure from the Metropolitan more than a decade earlier owing to anti-German sentiment during
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in
Russian by an established US opera company. These were also the first performances by such a company in any language since the work's American premiere at the
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as Thomas Harold Meek but who adopted the name
Edouard Albion upon settling in Washington and establishing a voice studio. Meek recruited soprano
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It was in no way related to the company of the same name. By 1921 it had changed its name to the "Washington
National Opera Association".
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McPherson, Jim, "Mr. Meek Goes to
Washington: The Story of the Small-Potatoes Canadian Baritone Who Founded America’s 'National' Opera,"
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270:. Performances in the latter venue lasted for twenty seasons, and included, on 8 July 1965, one by the young tenor
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The company offered a wide range of works during its first year, beginning with a
January 13, 1919, performance of
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gave what were probably his sole
American performances after his departure from the Metropolitan in 1912.
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and continuing, at intervals throughout the next several months, with
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in German some 16 years before. In the Washington production,
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A year later, it would present the first performances of
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16:For the present company of the same name, see
401:Defunct companies based in Washington, D.C.
199:Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra of New York
391:1936 disestablishments in Washington, D.C.
46:Its founder and moving force was a minor
386:1919 establishments in Washington, D.C.
421:Arts organizations established in 1919
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29:Washington Community Opera
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416:Music of Washington, D.C.
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18:Washington National Opera
396:American opera companies
358:Phillips-Matz, Mary Jane
310:Phillips-Matz, pp. 13/15
145:, Giuseppi Danise, and
68:The Pirates of Penzance
224:Ralph Vaughan Williams
73:Michael William Balfe
27:, founded in 1919 as
63:Gilbert and Sullivan
342:Danube to Bucharest
340:Alain Chotil-Fani:
328:The Opera Quarterly
159:John Charles Thomas
141:, George Baklanov,
93:Ruggero Leoncavallo
180:Metropolitan Opera
56:Enrica Clay Dillon
195:Jacques Samossoud
78:The Bohemian Girl
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242:Léo Delibes
220:World War I
211:Die Walküre
170:Tchaikovsky
147:Titta Ruffo
135:Edith Mason
380:Categories
286:References
252:Bidu Sayão
163:E Streets
98:Pagliacci
48:baritone
352:Sources
42:History
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280:Carmen
262:or in
232:under
118:Carmen
101:; and
88:Carmen
52:Canada
291:Notes
278:, in
247:Lakmé
236:with
108:Faust
366:ISBN
23:The
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