Opera Scotland

Clementine de Vere Sapio Suggest updates

Clementine de Vere;  first appeared as Madame De Vere (1904).

Born Paris, 14 January 1864.

Died New York, 20 January 1954.

American soprano,

Clementine de Vere made her debut in Florence, and also sang in France and Germany.  Her extensive American career included a period from 1895 to 1900 when she appeared regularly at the New York Met.  Her roles there included  Halévy (Rachel);   Wagner (Elsa);  Verdi (Gilda,  Violetta) and  Bizet (Micaëla).  In 1892 she sang at Carnegie Hall in the premiere of the Te Deum by Dvořák, with the composer conducting on his first appearance in the USA.

She had an extensive career in Britain, particularly on tour as leading soprano with the Moody-Manners company.  This included several visits to Scotland in which her repertoire embraced  Meyerbeer (Valentine);  Halévy (Rachel);  Wagner (Elisabeth, Elsa);  Verdi (Leonora,  Aïda);  Gounod (Marguerite,  Juliette)  and  Puccini (Mimì).

She seems to have been little known in London since the Moody-Manners were essentially a provincial company.   However she did appear as Thirza in the British stage premiere of Ethel Smyth's Wreckers, conducted by Beecham (Her Majesty's, London, 1909).  In Scotland she also sang extensively in concert (Israel in Egypt in Kirkcaldy 1906) and concert performances of opera (Tannhäuser and Lohengrin in Perth).

She was married to the pianist-conductor Romualdo Sapio,  who also worked with the Moody-Manners company for several years.  They eventually settled in New York.