Suzanne Adams - Obstination (1903)

"Obstination" is sung by Suzanne Adams on a Columbia disc made in 1903. This at the start of opera singers taking serious notice of the recording industry. Caruso was a few months earlier.

Composers are H. de Fontenailles and François Coppée.

Charles Adams Prince is at the piano.

Leo Stern (her husband) is the cellist.

We hear Harry Spencer (brother of Len Spencer) doing a spoken announcement at the very start.

Suzanne Adams was born on November 28, 1872, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

This American singer had a lyric coloratura soprano voice. She enjoyed moderate success as an opera singer at a time when few American singers were internationally respected.

She sang for Queen Victoria more than once and was admired by London society. But she never had as much drawing power in opera houses as rival singers Melba, Nordica, and Eames.

She is remembered today by some collectors of early opera records since she was a pioneer among opera singers who made recordings. All of her recordings are scarce.

Adams recorded five cylinder records for Gianni Bettini (this was in 1898).

In 1902 she made five disc recordings in London for the Gramophone and Typewriter Company's new Red label series, four of which were issued in the United States by the Victor Talking Machine Company on the Red Seal label.

Her voice can be heard on some Columbia Grand Opera records issued in 1903.

In October, 1898, Adams married Leo Stern, a British cellist, who died in 1904 at age 42.

Following Stern's death, Adams soon retired from the stage and settled in London.

She can be heard on a few Mapleson Cylinders recorded live on stage at the Metropolitan Opera. These cylinders were not issued commercially in the years Adams was active on the stage--what was recorded by Mapleson was made available later. On one Mapleson cylinder, she sings "A ce mot tout s'anime" from Les Huguenots, and this sparked lively debate since some collectors at first assumed this is Nellie Melba. It is Adams singing.

She died on February 5, 1953.