Norena, Eidé (real name, Kaja Andrea Karoline Hansen- Eidé)
Norena, Eidé (real name, Kaja Andrea Karoline Hansen- Eidé)
Norena, Eidé (real name, Kaja Andrea Karoline Hansen- Eidé), Norwegian soprano; b. Horten, April 26, 1884; d. Lausanne, Nov. 19, 1968. She studied voice with Ellen Gulbranson in Christiania, and later in Weimar, London, and Paris; was a pupil of Raimund von Zur Mühlen. She began her career as a concert singer in Scandinavia. She made her operatic debut as Amor in Gluck’s Orfeo in Christiania (1907), subsequently singing at the National Theater there (1908–18). After appearances at Stockholm’s Royal Theater, she sang at La Scala in Milan (1924), Co vent Garden in London (1924–25; 1930–31; 1934; 1937), and at the Paris Opéra (1925–37). She was a member of the Chicago Opera (1926–28); from 1933 to 1938, of the Metropolitan Opera in N.Y. (made her debut as Mimi, on Feb. 9, 1933); toured the U.S. in concert. Among her finest roles were Mathilde in Guillaume Tell, Violetta, Marguerite in Les Huguenots, the 3 heroines in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, and Desdemona.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire