Alvarez (de Rocafuerte), Marguerite d’

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Alvarez (de Rocafuerte), Marguerite d’

Alvarez (de Rocafuerte), Marguerite d’, English contralto of Peruvian descent; b. Liverpool, c. 1886; d. Alassio, Oct. 18, 1953. She made her first public appearance at a London diplomatic reception when she was 16. After training in Brussels, she made heroperatic debut in 1904 as Dalila in Rouen; in 1909 she made her U.S. debut with Hammerstein’s company in N.Y. as Fides; in 1911 she appeared at the London Opera House as the Queen in Hérodiade and later sang at London’s Covent Garden, in Chicago, and in Boston. In her later years, she devoted herself mainly to a concert career, retiring in 1939.

Writings

Forsaken Altars (autobiography; London, 1954; U.S. ed. as All the Bright Dreams, N.Y., 1956).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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Alvarez (de Rocafuerte), Marguerite d’

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