Marie Collier
David Shengold
She fell from a terrace in what was generally regarded as a suicide.
----------
In article <385A73...@sympatico.ca>, Timothy Lowrey
<t.lo...@sympatico.ca> wrote:
>The soprano Marie Collier was only 44 when she died in London on
>Dec.8,1971. Does anyone know the cause of her premature death?
Timothy Lowrey
Timothy Lowrey
Matthew B. Tepper
Timothy Lowrey wrote:
>
> The soprano Marie Collier was only 44 when she died in London on
> Dec.8,1971. Does anyone know the cause of her premature death?
--
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NBPalmer1
She fell from a window in her fourth floor apartment, during the course of a
party. I heard her sing many times, and she was a personal friend.
NICK/London
Jim Dunphy
Jim Dunphy
Timothy Lowrey wrote:
> The soprano Marie Collier was only 44 when she died in London on
> Dec.8,1971. Does anyone know the cause of her premature death?
Wotan99
>party. I heard her sing many times, and she was a personal friend.
>
>NICK/London
Nick,
It doesn't make much difference either way when you think of the wasteful
tragedy of her death...but you gave a more charitable version of her
death...but she indeed did fall from a window.
W
g...@mweb.co.za
Daniel Kessler
NBPalmer1 wrote:
> >Does anyone know the cause of her premature death?
>
> She fell from a window in her fourth floor apartment, during the course of a
> party. I heard her sing many times, and she was a personal friend.
>
> NICK/London
I spoke to a opera singer who had worked with her. He said that she would
suddenly do unexpected things that would frighten other performers to the point
that they didn't always know what she would do next. I'm sorry to have missed
her Emilia Marty. I do recall her in the Martin David Levy opera at the Met,
MOURNING BECOMES ELEKTRA.
Umbramafe
Ed Burke
trouble opening a large window which was stuck. When she applied enough
force, the window suddenly opened causing her to lose her balance resulting
in the fatal fall.
Jim Dunphy <falp...@attglobal.net> wrote in message
news:385B012A...@attglobal.net...
> Didn't she fall from a window?
>
> Jim Dunphy
>
> Timothy Lowrey wrote:
>
> > The soprano Marie Collier was only 44 when she died in London on
> > Dec.8,1971. Does anyone know the cause of her premature death?
>
Wotan99
>I have heard from a very reliable friend, that during a party, Collier had
>trouble opening a large window which was stuck. When she applied enough
>force, the window suddenly opened causing her to lose her balance resulting
>in the fatal fall.
My reliable source-says she was drunk, running around,was out of control- not
that it was a direct intentional suicide-but she was on a self-destructive
trajectory, and the implication was that something like this was not a total
surprise
But the important part-is that a fine artist died-I remember that first night
of Mourning Becomes Elektra
M
David
Garden Debut as Cavaradossi in 1971. She was due to sing opposite him when
she was sacked shortly before the premiere and replaced by Gwyneth Jones.
She had become increasingly unreliable and had missed a few rehearsals as
her technique was very dodgey at that stage and was drinking quite a bit.
During the evening of the premiere she was drinking in The Lemon Tree, just
off St Martins Lane where most of the Sadlers Wells singers frequented. She
had allegedly drank the equivalent of 2 bottles of Gin and staggered to her
hotel around the corner. At around 11.00 pm, when Tosca ( the ring in
Jones) was due to take her final plummet, Miss Collier reenacted the scene
in her room in a drunken stupour. She Swan Dived out of the window, and
landed Chin first on the pavement, breaking her neck. She was alive when
the ambulance arrived, but was dead within minutes. The paramedics
commented that most accidents of this type, the victim was always found
curled up in a ball, protecting their heads, but Miss Collier was found
Arms outstretched in a defiant Toscaesque position. While her international
career was taking off, her personal like was becoming more and more
complicated due to the enormous pressure she was under at the time. People
who knew her at the time that she was due for a colossal burn-out, which
prophetically occurred. regards David
Ed Burke <EJB...@mediaone.net> wrote in article
<1Ns74.3150$zh6.1...@ndnws01.ne.mediaone.net>...
> I have heard from a very reliable friend, that during a party, Collier
had
> trouble opening a large window which was stuck. When she applied enough
> force, the window suddenly opened causing her to lose her balance
resulting
> in the fatal fall.
>
NBPalmer1
>off St Martins Lane where most of the Sadlers Wells singers frequented. She
>had allegedly drank the equivalent of 2 bottles of Gin and staggered to her
>hotel around the corner. At around 11.00 pm, when Tosca ( the ring in
>Jones) was due to take her final
etc etc. This is NONSENSE
As I wrote at the beginning of this thread, I was a personal friend of hers,
attended her funeral, and know exactly what happened. I described this
succinctly, and have no wish to enter into further discussion. It is very easy
to see how myths develop, and it is also upsetting for me to read such a
ludicrous distortion.
NICK/London
g...@mweb.co.za
I quote from " Singers of the Century" by John Steane
"She (Marie Collier) commited suicide in 1971. The shock of it, even if, as
at first said, the death had been accidental- profoundly affronted the
notion that people with so much animation belong to life. A memoir by Tito
Gobbi... offers some insight: " highly strung, restless, impulsive, she was
always searching for something she could not find, feeling tormented, tired
and uncertain." The last time he met her, in Pretoria (South Afirca) she was
"alone and very much depressed"
Of her singing, Steane said "when she entered...it was as if everbody's
glass was suddenly full.. the high notes were full and fresh, and the ears
rattled with their vibrancy...
Stefan
MD
> Of her singing, Steane said "when she entered...it was as if everbody's
> glass was suddenly full.. the high notes were full and fresh, and the ears
> rattled with their vibrancy..."
Listening to her on the Solti/Nilsson ELEKTRA, the voice seems to be in shreds.
Did she normally sound like that, or was there a story? I know Rysanek didn't
like to record, but even Gwyneth Jones would have been a better "aural" choice
for Chrysothemis. Or maybe Collier's effect in the role on the stage was so
riveting, from a dramatic standpoint that they felt it would work on the
recording too? Or was Collier a last minute replacement for someone else?
Jon A Conrad
>Listening to her on the Solti/Nilsson ELEKTRA, the voice seems to be in shreds.
>...Or was Collier a last minute replacement for someone else?
Yes -- for Gwyneth Jones in fact. Jones was even announced for the
recording in OPERA magazine, but didn't do it (for whatever reason). From
all accounts of those who heard Collier often at Covent Garden, she had
more going for her than she reveals here. So it's a shame that she left so
little on recordings to preserve the memory of her best work.
JAC
David
person called to the hospital that evening, and sung with her in the
opening night of Makropoulos Case a few nights previously, when she missed
most of her cues and wept thoughout the whole performance. I have no reason
to discredit Miss Collier , but I know at least a half a dozen singers who
were working with her at the time who all commented of her fragile
emotional state at the time, and surely as a friend , you must have known
of her bitter dissapointment of being sacked from the Tosca revival. I
missed the beginnning of the thread so I would appreciate your account .
regards David
NBPalmer1 <nbpa...@aol.com> wrote in article
<19991221045329...@ng-cc1.aol.com>...
kanga...@hotmail.com
I'm from Australia and have a personal interest in Marie. My mum is a cousin and I have some stuff relating to her.(Marie)
Andrew