In a rare coincidence, European opera houses featured two singers from Northern California in major roles in the 1970s. A sad concurrence occurred on Sunday, when both died.
Irene Dalis, from San Jose, and Janis Martin, from Sacramento, at one time alternated as Kundry, in Wagner's Parsifal, among many roles, in Berlin, Bayreuth, London, and eventually at the Met.
Martin, who died in her son's San Antonio home at age 75, was a UC Berkeley alumna, starting her career as a mezzo, taking on soprano roles later, including a virtually unprecedented 30-year span of appearances at Bayreuth, between 1968 to 1997.
Martin's San Francisco roots were deep: she took part in the Merola Opera Program (in 1958 and 1959, Merola's second and third years; the first including Jess Thomas); she made her debut with the San Francisco Opera in 1960, in Die Frau ohne Schatten, the cast also featuring Dalis; singing in six other works in that first season; and went on to sing principal roles in many productions, including the title role in Elektra and Senta in The Flying Dutchman.
Her last appearance in the War Memorial was as Brünnhilde in the 1990 Ring - on the 30th anniversary of her San Francisco debut, her longevity here mirroring her endurance in the Bayreuth spotlight.
Martin's final appearance at the Met was a 1997 Brünnhilde in Die Walküre, with Plácido Domingo and Deborah Voigt in other principal roles. When Martin retired from the stage in 2000, she lived in Nevada County, California, where giving singing lessons and occasional recitals and concerts.
In an interview with Bruce Duffie, Martin recalled the beginning of her career:
I started so very young and I began in little tiny parts in San Francisco. I studied there for two years in the Merola training program but was too young to be in a contest they had out there. I was 18 and 19 and you had to be 21, but Mr. [Kurt Herbert] Adler said that I was very talented and should come and study there. I learned my first scenes and saw all the rehearsals — chorus and orchestra, everything.Martin as Tosca in Paris: Photo by Ilse Buhs
I was eating it all up. I'd never seen an opera before. I had quickly learned 3 arias to sing for Mr. Adler. I'd only been studying voice for 3 months when I auditioned for him. I guess I was a "natural" at that time. I auditioned for him and then trained with him for two years, and had a standing room pass to the operas. In the mean time I was going to the University of California at Berkeley. Then I got my contract for the following season when I jumped in for a girl who had won the auditions. It was in a television program. She was in two scenes and I was in two others.
I was singing mezzo at that time, and she got sick the morning of the program. I had learned all of her things, so I did Suzuki and Maddalena and Martha in Faust and part of the title role of Carmen. It was funny. I was changing from my Japanese eyes, and to long hair back and forth between the old grey wig and the regular one.
Mr. Adler was announcing the program and was calling off-stage, "Janis are you ready? Can we go on?" At the end he was very pleased with the way I had handled everything and kept my nerves, and offered me a contract for the following season. That was in 1960 and I got very tiny parts. I was an orphan in Rosenkavalier, and the next season I sang Annina. Then in Germany I sang Octavian and now I sing the Marschallin, so I really know Rosenkavalier by now!
