Autographed portrait inscribed "To Jessica Fredricks, in sincere appreciation of your interest in my career, Josephine Tumminia." Fredricks was head of the Music Department at the San Francisco Public Library (image source: San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection)
Each season General Director Gaetano Merola found places for resident artists in important roles. Several have come up from the chorus. Others have been drawn from the ranks of professional singers. A few have reached the rank of principal artist without previous experience. Some have gone on to stardom.
This season will find one among the few who have reached principal place without operatic or other professional experience. She is Josephine Tumminia youthful coloratura soprano, for whom Merola predicts quick and brilliant ascension to operatic heights (San Francisco Chronicle 1935).
Josephine Tumminia was a San Francisco Cinderella story. Her father Salvatore Tumminia had immigrated from Palermo, Sicily in 1906 and moved to Saint Louis, Missouri where she was born on July 9, 1913. Her family moved to San Francisco in 1923 where he worked as a barber and she attended Yerba Buena School. Always longing to be singer, she dropped out of Galileo High School to study opera during very hard economic times. In a 1935 interview she recounted:
Father was out of work and this depression—well, you know,” said Miss Tumminia, rolling her enormous eyes in a gesture of dismay. “But my teachers insisted that I study with them for nothing at all. We had no money. Now I sing before Maestro Merola every day.
Josephine Tumminia as Rosina in the Barber of Seville (image source: San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection)
The road to the top was more difficult than she would tell. Josephine Tumminia was listed in the City Directories of 1930 and 1935 as being employed as a clerk. In 1931 and 1932 she was listed as a musician. At this time she began studying with Alberto Terrasi, a well-travelled baritone who took up residence in the Bay Area from 1929-1931 and who sang locally with the California Opera Company. She joined him in recitals and opera performances.
Her operatic debut came at age 18 in the role of Gilda in a production of Rigoletto staged by the California Opera Company at the Scottish Rite Hall. A review in the San Francisco Examiner described her performance as a "great success." She also performed for San Francisco's Italian-American community with organizations like the Vittoria Colonna Club and Il Cenacolo.
Her financial relationship with Terrasi was rather severe. It required her to give half of her salary to her teacher in exchange for three lessons a week for six years. Since Terrasi left San Francisco by 1932, well short of six years, perhaps this agreement was rendered moot. Tumminia benefitted from further instruction from Nino Cormel and Elsie Bachrach.
Josephine Tumminia debuted with the San Francisco Opera Company on November 25, 1935 playing the lead role of Rosina in The Barber of Seville opposite Tito Schipa. The aptness of a Sicilian barber’s daughter ascending into this role brought her into the national spotlight with an article in Time Magazine.
Alfred Frankenstein in the San Francisco Chronicle described her as "a part, pretty, youthful Rosina with a pert, agile coloratura." He was impressed with her stage poise and mastery of the difficulties of Rossini's music. He only lamented "a certain nasal twang from her tone" that he predicted would disappear with more training.
In his San Francisco Examiner review, Alexander Fried remarked:
A debutante, Josephine Tumminia, deserves first comment, both because she is news and because she is an exception talent.
He went on to note how well cast she was for the role; she brought a youthfulness to a youthful character. While he also had reservations about her tone he was impressed with the "agility" of her voice and predicted great success.
Salvatore Tumminia, Tito Schipa & Josephine Tumminia
For her, a successful début; for her father, a business pickup.
(source: Time)
She repeated this role in 1936 and later played Micaëla in their 1936 production of Carmen. She also reprised her role of Gilda in the 1936 and 1937 San Francisco Opera productions of Rigoletto.
Bibliography
"Alberto Terrasi," San Francisco Examiner May 25, 1930.
"Barber of San Francisco," Time December 9, 1935.
"Barber of Seville Sings for Fun; Daughter Sings the Barber of Seville," Newsweek February 14, 1938.
"California Company to Stage 'Rigoletto'," San Francisco Chronicle June 14, 1931.
"California Opera Group Will Repeat Rigoletto," San Francisco Chronicle October 11, 1931.
Frankenstein, Alfred, "Ezio Pinza 'Barber of Seville' Star," San Francisco Chronicle November 26, 1935
Fried, Alexander, "Local 'Rosina' Win Applause in Opera Debut," San Francisco Examiner November 26, 1935
"Girl Singer to Sign Away Half of Salary," San Francisco Chronicle May 6, 1930.
"Italian Groups Lists Saturday Musical," San Francisco Chronicle December 7, 1930.
"Musicale Held by Italian Club" San Francisco Chronicle October 1, 1933
"A New Gilda Rises from The West," Opera News February 3, 1941.
"Public Recital Given by Alberto Terrasi," Berkeley Daily Gazette October 29, 1930.
"Rigoletto," San Francisco Examiner October 18, 1931.
"S.F. Girl Will Make Debut in Opera Here," San Francisco Chronicle September 30, 1935.
"San Franciscans to Be Heard in Operas," San Francisco Examiner October 6, 1935.
"Seeks Operatic Fame," Colusa Herald May 27, 1930.
Weick, Louise, "San Francisco Girl Reaches Opera Stardom Without Spending Cent on Music Education," San Francisco News August 28, 1935.
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