Van Zanten, Cornelie
Van Zanten, Cornelie
Van Zanten, Cornelie, famous Dutch soprano and pedagogue; b. Dordrecht, Aug. 2, 1855; d. The Hague, Jan. 10, 1946. She studied with K. Schneider at the Cologne Cons., and in Milan with Lamperti, who developed her original contralto into a coloratura soprano voice. She made her operatic debut in Turin in 1875 as Leonora in La Favorite;sang in Breslau (1880-82) and Kassel (1882-83), then in Amsterdam (from 1884); also toured in the U.S. in 1886-87 as a member of the National Opera Co. under the directorship of Theodore Thomas. She then appeared in special performances of Der Ring des Nibelungenin Russia. She taught at the Amsterdam Cons. (1895-1903); subsequently lived in Berlin, where she became highly esteemed as a singing teacher. She eventually settled in The Hague. Her most distinguished roles were Orfeo, Fides, Ortrud, Azucena, and Amneris. She publ. songs to German and Dutch texts; with C. Poser, brought out Leitfaden zum Kunstgesang (Berlin, 1903).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire