Maria Winetzkaja

Maria Winetzkaja (née Kleiner, Russian: Мария Винецкая; born c. 1889[1][2] – May 22, 1956) also seen as Maria Winetskaja; was an American mezzo-soprano opera singer born in Kishinev, in present-day Moldova.

Maria Winetzkaja
Maria Winetzkaja, from a 1920 publication
Born
Maria Kleiner

1889 (1889)
Kishinev, Bessarabia Governorate
DiedMay 22, 1956(1956-05-22) (aged 66–67)
The Bronx, New York U.S.
Other namesMaria Winetsky
OccupationOpera singer
Partner(s)Schai Winett
Children2

Early life

Winetzkaja was born in Kishinev, in the Bessarabia Governorate of Imperial Russia, the daughter of Wolf Kleiner and Naomi Nemeroff Kleiner. She attended the Imperial Conservatory of Music at Kishinev on a scholarship as a girl, but interrupted her studies in March 1904[2] to move to the United States with her family. In 1913 she earned a degree at the Institute of Musical Arts in New York.[3][4]

Career

Winetzkaja was with the Boston National Grand Opera Company from 1917 to 1918. She toured South America and the Caribbean with the Bracale Opera Company from 1919 to 1921.[5] She also performed with Philadelphia's Puccini Opera Company and New York's Grand Opera and Metropolitan Opera companies. She gave recitals at Carnegie Hall and Aeolian Hall, sometimes including Russian and Ukrainian folk songs in her program.[6] She also sang songs in Hebrew.[7] In retirement, she taught voice, and was on the faculty at the Juilliard School.[3]

Personal life

Winetzkaja and civil engineer Schai Winett never officially married, but they lived as a married couple from about 1909, and she used a feminine version of his original surname (Winetsky) as her own. They had two sons, Ralph (b. 1915) and George (b. 1923). "Is my husband musical? All I can answer is that he is my most severe critic," she told an interviewer in 1920. "He has always encouraged me to forge ahead in my own profession. I feel that all I have accomplished is due to him."[8] She was widowed when Schai Winett died in 1941. She died in 1956, when she was about 68 years old, from cancer, at Misericordia Hospital in The Bronx.[9][10]

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References
  1. 1905 census. "Ancestry.com".
  2. March 1904 passenger list. "Ancestry.com".
  3. Steven Winnett, "Maria Winetzkaja" Jewish Women's Archive.
  4. "Charm of Miami Carries Appeal to Opera Singer" Miami News (January 7, 1926): 25. via Newspapers.com
  5. "Winetzkaja Enjoys Exciting Experiences Crossing Andes with Bracale Company" Musical America (December 20, 1919): 23.
  6. "Maria Winetzkaja to Feature Folk Songs of Little Russia" Musical America (February 28, 1920): 39.
  7. O. T., "Mme. Winetzkaja Charms in Recital" Musical America (March 13, 1920): 43.
  8. "Maria Winetzkaja Describes South American Audiences" Musical Courier (January 8, 1920): 46.
  9. "Maria Winetzkaja, Mezzo-Soprano, 68". The New York Times. 23 May 1956.
  10. "Mezzo-Soprano Dies at 68" The Courier-Journal (May 23, 1956): 16. via Newspapers.com
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