Althouse, Paul (Shearer)

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Althouse, Paul (Shearer)

Althouse, Paul (Shearer), American tenor; b. Reading, Pa., Dec. 2, 1889; d. N.Y., Feb. 6, 1954. He studied at Bucknell Univ. and with Perley Aldrich in Philadelphia and Percy Stevens and Oscar Saenger in N.Y. In 1911 he made his operatic debut as Faust with the Chicago-Philadelphia Grand Opera Co. in N.Y. On March 19, 1913, he made his Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y. as Dimitri in the U.S. premiere of Boris Godunov, remaining on its roster until 1920. After further vocal studies in Europe, he returned to the Metropolitan Opera in 1934 as a Heldentenor, singing there until 1940. He also appeared in opera in San Francisco, Chicago, Berlin, Bayreuth, and Salzburg and sang with many U.S. orchs. He spent his last years in N.Y. as a teacher, numbering among his students Eleanor Steber and Richard Tucker.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire