Helen Traubel: Wagnerian Soprano and Mystery Author - A Look at her novel, "The Metropolitan Opera Murders"

A Note About the Author

"Helen Traubel has been called "the greatest Wagnerian soprano singing today," and "the finest singer, male or female, in the world today." The associated Press, in its poll of member newspapers, unanimously selected her "the woman of the year in music" two years in succession, the first such event in history. In the career she chose when she was thirteen, she has won for herself a truly exalted position in the world of music.
But this does not wholly explain the hold she has on the public imagination. Her simplicity, her unconventionality, her utter lack of professional snobbism and temperament that so often affect great artists - it is these qualities that have made her one of the best-known figures of our times and one of the best beloved.
Miss Traubel is as American as blueberry pie. She is a passionate baseball fan; is, in fact, a stockholder of the St. Louis Browns, the American League Club of her home town. One of the sorrows of her life is that she cannot go to many games because she roots so intenslyand so vocally that she might damage her voice. She loves to cook and to shop. She loves her occasional television appearances, in which she can play straight man for Jimmy Durante and convulse millions of listeners with her enormous, infectious laugh.
She loves mystery stories. In 1950 she decided to try her hand at writing one. It was a very amusing novelette, The Ptomaine Canary, and its warm reception, when it was serialized in newspapers all over the world, encouraged Miss Traubel to write a full-length book, which had to be called, inevitably, The Metropolitan Opera Murders."

I was first introduced to the fantastic Helen Traubel when we watched the 1954, Deep In My Heart, a bio-pic of the life and works of Sigmund Romberg. She has a substantial role and sings five whole songs. I had heard of her and read about her, but never had heard her sing. I was pretty impressed after hearing the first two songs she sang, but then she sang Romberg's hauntingly beautiful Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise. I was dumbfounded. It was so gorgeous I couldn't even take it in. I had to pause the movie for a moment and let the feeling sink in. Then I had to listen to it again. Amazing! Later on in the film she sings Auf Wiedersehn to the dying Dorothy Donnelly (played by Merle Oberon) and I was in tears when she finished! Honestly, she is absolutely thrilling. It is one of my favorite songs, which I listen to all the time. (Actually, I never liked the song before and when Merle Oberon asks for them to play it, I thought to myself, "Oh, no! Not this." It is the classic example of the fact that not every singer is right for every song.)

In the days that followed, I started doing some research into Miss Traubel and found out that she is really a neat individual. I also found out that she wrote two mystery novels! And to make it even better, one is titled The Metropolitan Opera Murders! As I love mystery books, I knew then and there that I had to get a copy. Finally, last month I was able to get one through our local library. I spent two days pouring over it and thoroughly enjoying myself. The story itself is kind of like one of the old Perry Mason shows in book form. However, the entire thing (as the title explains) happens in an opera house and the characters themselves give a fantastic insight into the personalities that you find on and behind the great opera stages of the world. From the opera house's reigning diva to the broker's daughter who wants a career to the bitter has-been tenor who turned to teaching. Elsa Vaughn, the heroine, is Miss Traubel herself (under another name, of course!) and I am sure that many of the characteristics of all the characters came from her own experience in the operatic world. I loved it. An ideal intro to the world of opera.

CAST OF CHARACTERS:

Elsa Vaughn - The star soprano who someone is trying to eliminate.
Dave Lang - Her publicity agent, who decides to investigate on his own.
Jane DeBrett - Who wants to sing Wagner, but whose voice needs to sing Puccini.
Lt. Sam Quentin - The police detective who has a lot to learn about the politics of opera.
Hilda Semple - The rising soprano who wishes she could take Elsa's place as queen of the Met.
Karl Ecker - The heldentenor whose life is cluttered with too many ladies.
Edwina DeBrett - Jane's step-mother who spends too much time backstage.
Stanley DeBrett - Her husband who refuses to spend any more money on opera.
Alden Willard - The DA who is too anxious to make an arrest.
Aaron Van Cleff - The stage director who wishes the murder had happened somewhere else.
Howard Stark - Elsa's manager who has spent his career looking after her best interests.
Ivy DeBrett Ecker - Society girl who wants an opera career but has no vocal talent.
Rudolph Salz - The has-been tenor whose two needs are money and the bottle.

Here is a portion of a scene between Karl Ecker, the star Wagnerian tenor, and Detective Sam Quentin (I couldn't help chuckling at the name she chose for her policeman).

"How did Miss Vaughn get along with other members of the company?" Quentin had quickly seized the opportunity to do a little fishing.

Ecker hesitated. He moved his shoulders expressively. "How can I explain this, Lieutenant? It applies not only to Miss Vaughn, but to all of us. An opera house is a strange place - a melting pot of nationalities and temperaments. Salz [the murder victim] was an Austrian. I myself am half Czech, half English. We have a Swedish contralto, a Hungarian Bass, a Rumanian conductor, an Italian wardrobe mistress. Backstage is like the Tower of Babel. Music is the common denominator that keeps us working together in some degree of harmony. But always there are undercurrents of antagonism, intense jealousies seething below the surface. Singers are by nature an egotistical lot, convinced of their own superiority, constantly suspicious of their colleagues. Each is certain that he belongs on top and is inclined to resent anyone who stands in his way." A wry smile twisted his lips. "Such a state of affairs, as you can see, is not conductive to harmony or an atmosphere of friendliness. It's like working in a tinderbox. Anything can touch off the explosion."

A highly entertaining piece of operatic fiction. Plenty of excitement and plot twists. This will definitely be on my "to buy" list. Fantastic to finally have been able to read this hard-to-find novel written by a great lady.