Eva Turner was born into a very musical family at Oldham, Lancashire, England.
At age 11 she began studying singing with Dan Rootham (teacher of Clara
Butt). In 1911 she enrolled at London’s Royal Academy of Music where she
was, according to her mentors, the most prodigiously talented member of her
class. In 1916 Turner joined the chorus in the Carl Rosa Company, and after a
period of fine tuning as a choral artist, she was allowed a few solo parts: a
page in
Tannhäuser, a genie in
Die Zauberflöte
and finally the priestess in
Aïda.
She made her Covent Garden début as Santuzza with the Rosa company in
1920 and sang several major roles that season, confirming her status as a
major new talent. Of her Cio Cio San in 1922 the London Times reported,
“The feature of the performance was an extremely clever study of the
title role by Eva Turner. Her acting was unforced, sincere and at times
touched with feeling. Her singing was clear and strong, a little cold maybe,
but so sure and steady that she always held her bearers”.
In 1924 Turner made her La Scala début as Freia. In 1926 at the Teatro Grande in Brescia she sang her first Turandot (seven months after the opera’s premiere). As did many of the international singers of the time, she traveled to Rio de Janeiro and Saõ Paolo and was well received. Back in Italy, she purchased property and continued to perform in the Italian houses until her triumphant return to Covent Garden in 1928, this time as an international star. Following that, she appeared at the Chicago Civic Opera, then returned to her estate in Italy. Though she had many successful appearances, her career seemed not to take off, and by 1933 Turner had begun to sing mostly in England, with occasional trips to Italy and the US.
In 1949 Turner was offered the position of Visiting Professor of Voice at the University of Oklahoma, and a one year contract became a nine year visit. She returned to London in 1959 where she was appointed Professor of Singing at the Royal Academy, a position she held until well into her eighties. In 1962 she was created a Dame of the British Empire (DBE). Eva Turner died in London in 1990.
The recording offered here is one of only two that I have in my collection. Based on these 1928 English Columbia recordings with Sir Thomas Beecham, I find Turner’s voice a bit icy and even shrill, and her style seems a little stiff, while at the same time displaying lapses in taste which are quite annoying. However, Turner still has many fans among the mavens of opera. I even came across a web page in which the author relates how hearing Eva Turner inspired him to collect old recordings and delve into the art of opera singers. A comprehensive look at Turner’s career can be found at Bob Rideout’s biography page (from whence I gathered much of the information for this sketch).
An interesting note on this recording: it was made in the Central Hall, Westminster.