{{short description|American opera singer}}

thumb|Maude Fay (ca. 1909). '''Maude Fay''' (also spelled Maud Fay; 18 April 1878 &ndash; 7 October 1964) was an American operatic soprano who was known for singing dramatic roles.<ref name=NGO>Cummings, David (1992). "Fay, Maude" in Sadie, Stanley, ed. ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' (4 volumes) '''2''': 143. London: Macmillan. {{ISBN|978-1-56159-228-9}}.</ref>

==Biography== Originally from San Francisco,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Examiner |first=San Francisco |date=June 14, 1922 |title=Article clipped from The San Francisco Examiner |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-examiner/28818692/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240409134113/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-examiner/28818692/ |archive-date=April 9, 2024 |access-date=April 9, 2024 |work=The San Francisco Examiner |pages=17}}</ref> Maude Fay went to Dresden on the advice of Johanna Gadski. There she studied singing with the Hungarian soprano Aglaja Orgeni, who herself had studied with Pauline Viardot.

After three years of training in Dresden, Fay made her debut in 1906 at the Court Theater in Munich as Marguerite in Gounod's ''Faust''. Her performance resulted in a five-year engagement to sing leading dramatic roles. She was particularly admired in Wagner.<ref name=NGO/><ref>Hughes, Edwin (August 1909). "American Singers in European Opera-Houses" [https://books.google.com/books?id=JZnNAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA828 ''World Today'' '''17''': 828.]</ref> Other roles in Munich included the title role in Emil von Reznicek's comic opera ''Donna Diana'' (1 December 1908), Chrysothemis in Richard Strauss's ''Elektra'' at the Munich premiere with Felix Mottl conducting (14 February 1909), Hermann Waltershausen's ''Oberst Chabert'' (3 November 1912), and the title role in Richard Strauss's ''Ariadne auf Naxos'' at the Munich premiere with Bruno Walter conducting (30 January 1913).<ref>[http://www.euro-opera.de/THDJ.html 400 Jahre Oper Theater - Opernhäuser Bau - Vernichtung - Wiederaufbau Dirigenten] at the EURO-OPERA website. Accessed 19 August 2010.</ref> In the autumn of 1913 she sang Luigi Cherubini's "Ave Maria" in the Munich Frauenkirche as part of the enthronement ceremonies for Ludwig III of Bavaria. She also received the title of Königliche Bayerische Kammersängerin (Royal Bavarian Chamber Singer) for life.<ref name=FayFamily/>

She appeared in <!-- not yet Sir -->Thomas Beecham's 1910 season at His Majesty's Theatre in London,<ref name=NGO/> as Diemut in Richard Strauss's ''Feuersnot'' (9, 11, and 13 July 1910),<ref>[http://www.therecordcollector.org/articles/robertradford/index.html Robert Radford chronology] at The Record Collector website. Accessed 19 August 2010.</ref> and performed at Covent Garden in 1914 as Sieglinde in Wagner's ''Die Walküre'' and Elsa in ''Lohengrin'', both performances conducted by Arthur Nikisch.<ref name=NGO/> She also appeared in Bayreuth, Berlin, Budapest, Dresden, Saint Petersburg, Vienna, and Chicago.<ref>[http://www.oac.cdlib.org/search?group=Items;group=Collections;idT=5f34d744dcc6b2b0684979a71a536181 Catalog listing of the Maude Fay Symington papers, 1902-1964.] at Online Archive of California (The Regents of the University of California). Accessed 19 August 2010.</ref>

During World War I she made two appearances at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, singing Sieglinde (28 February 1916, with Gadski as Brünnhilde and Artur Bodanzky conducting) and Elsa (1 December 1916, also with Bodanzky).<ref>[http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/gisrch2k.r?Term=Fay,%20Maude%20%5BSoprano%5D&limit=5000&vsrchtype=no&xBranch=ALL&xmtype=&Start=&End=&theterm=Fa%79,%20Ma%75d%65%20%5BSop%72ano%5D&srt=&x=0&xHome=http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/bibpro.htm&xHomePath=http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/ "Maude Fay"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200307080212/http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/gisrch2k.r?Term=Fay,%20Maude%20&#91;Soprano&#93;&limit=5000&vsrchtype=no&xBranch=ALL&xmtype=&Start=&End=&theterm=Fay,%20Maude%20&#91;Soprano&#93;&srt=&x=0&xHome=http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/bibpro.htm&xHomePath=http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/ |date=2020-03-07 }} at the Metropolitan Opera Archive.</ref>

After her marriage (12 July 1922) to Powers Symington, a graduate of Annapolis and a former captain of the {{USS|Mississippi|BB-41|6}},<ref>Arpee, Edward (1953). ''From Frigates to Flat-tops''. {{OCLC|1118231}}. (Powers Symington succeeded William A. Moffett in December 1920; see [http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015002677188?urlappend=%3Bseq=77 p. 53] at HathiTrust.)</ref> she no longer appeared on stage and only gave concert performances. She was born and died in San Francisco.<ref name=NGO/><ref name=FayFamily>[http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~fayfamily/living_in_awe.html Maude Fay Symington: ''Living in Awe''] at The Fay Family Genealogies.</ref>

==Recordings== * "Das süsse Lied verhallt...Atmest du nicht mit mir" from Lohengrin with '''Maude Fay''' (soprano) and Heinrich Knote (tenor), recorded in 1907. Included on the CD album ''Aus Münchens Operngeschichte'' (History of the Munich Opera) [Artists of the Munich State Opera, 1900-1945], Preiser CD 89405 (4 CDs, released May 2000).<ref>CD: ''Aus Münchens Operngeschichte'' (Artists of the Munich State Opera, 1900-1945). ArkivMusic.com [http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=27863 product page], accessed 19 August 2010. Amazon.com {{ASIN|B000028E0D}}.</ref> Also: Lebendige Vergangenheit (1999) {{OCLC|57139225}}.

==Gallery== {| |- |[[File:Maude Fay as Elisabeth - Fay Family website.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth in ''Tannhäuser''.]] |[[File:Maude Fay as Elisabeth 2 - Fay Family website - enWP.jpg|thumb|Elisabeth in ''Tannhäuser''.]] |[[File:Maude Fay as Senta - Fay Family website - enWP.jpg|thumb|Senta in ''The Flying Dutchman''.]] |- |[[File:Maude Fay as Gutrune - Fay Family website - enWP.jpg|thumb|Gutrune in ''Götterdämmerung''.]] |[[File:Maude Fay as Margarethe - Fay Family website - enWP.jpg|thumb|Margarethe (Marguerite) in ''Faust''.]] |[[File:Maude Fay as Gräfin - Fay Family website - enWP.jpg|thumb|Gräfin (Countess) in ''Figaro''.]] |}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{commons category|Maude Fay}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20110722034548/http://www.marinmusicchest.org/history/index.php Marin Music Chest: History] (founded by Maude Fay Symington in 1933). *[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B04E3D8133EE733A25751C0A9679D946496D6CF Maude Fay Answers Mrs. Atherton's Criticism of Her Sentiments.] Letter to ''The New York Times'', dated Munich, Bavaria, 4 October 1915; published 2 November 1915, concerning Maude Fay's German sympathies during World War I.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fay, Maude}} Category:1878 births Category:1964 deaths Category:American operatic sopranos Category:Singers from San Francisco Category:Classical musicians from California