Mary Bothwell

Bothwell, Mary

Mary Bothwell. Soprano, painter, b Hickson, near Woodstock, Ont, 28 Nov ca 1900, d Switzerland, mid-1970s. At the Canadian Academy of Music, Toronto, she studied singing with Otto Morando and piano with Peter C. Kennedy. She sang 1920-9 as a contralto in opera and oratorio, appearing opposite Douglas Stanbury, Edmund Burke, and others in Toronto and Buffalo. In 1937 she undertook further studies at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, continuing with Paul Althouse in New York in 1938, and again with Morando in Los Angeles. Bothwell made her New York debut 1 Nov 1938 at Town Hall and continued to appear there until the early 1960s. In 1947 she made the first of several European tours, specializing in Lieder and German opera and drawing praise from even the German critics. Notable successes included her Marschallin (Der Rosenkavalier) at the 1947 Scheveningen Festival, Holland, and Isolde (Tristan und Isolde) with the BBC SO under Sir Adrian Boult in 1948. She performed on radio in New York, Paris, London, and Basel. She gave her first Toronto recital at Eaton Auditorium 29 Nov 1948. Among her recordings for Royale are An Hour of Lieder: Hugo Wolf Sung by Mary Bothwell (1310), An Hour of Concert Songs (1318), and Bless This House (1538). She also made a Richard Strauss Album for Allegro (4069). During her term as president of the Canadian Women's Club of New York she encouraged the careers of young Canadian performers. Bothwell became known also for her paintings of flowers.