Operatic soprano, born in Deans Marsh, Victoria, SE Australia. She studied overseas, and made her operatic debut in 1932 with the Monte Carlo Opera, appearing in Paris the following year. She became a leading Wagnerian soprano at the Metropolitan Opera, New York City (19359). In 1941 she contracted poliomyelitis, and subsequently made guest appearances at the Metropolitan Opera in a wheelchair. During World War 2 she travelled extensively to entertain the troops, and later took up teaching at the University of Southern Illinois. Her autobiography was filmed as Interrupted Melody.
Marjorie Lawrence (February 17, 1909 - January 14, 1979) was an Australian soprano, particularly noted as an interpreter of Richard Wagner's operas.
Lawrence was born in Melbourne. In 1933 she made her first appearance at the Opera Garnier in Paris, playing Ortrud in Lohengrin, and in the same year she sang in the world premiere of Joseph Canteloube's Vercingétorix.
In 1935, she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City playing Brunnhilde in Die Walküre, and the following year played the immolation scene in Götterdämmerung by riding her horse into the flames as Wagner had intended, making her one of the few, possibly the only, soprano to do this.
During a performance in 1941 in Mexico, she found herself unable to stand. A performance as Amneris in Giuseppe Verdi's Aida in Paris in 1946 was well received, but Lawrence retreated from the stage, and instead began to work as a teacher.
Although best known for her Wagner, Lawrence played in a range of other works, including Richard Strauss' Salome and less Wagnerian works such as Georges Bizet's Carmen. She made a number of recordings, mainly of works by Wagner.
A film was made about Lawrence in 1955, Interrupted Melody.
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