United States. A Group Attributed to Opera Singer and Recitalist Jessye Mae Norman

Includes: 1. The Gramophone Company Limited Award 1988 (in glass, the inside base with the company's "His Master's Voice" dog listening to a gramophone insignia, inscribed with the dates "1898-1988" above and "THE GRAMOPHONE COMPANY" below, blackened green felt affixed to the bottom, measuring 90.5 mm in diameter x 40.5 mm in height, in its cardboard box of issue); 2. French Record Academy Grand Prize of the Disc and Grand Prize of the City of Paris 1976 (Académie du Disque Français, Grand Prix du Disque 1976, Grand Prix de la Ville de Paris) (in bronze gilt, engraver marked "R. DELAMARRE PARIS 1951" (Raymond Delamarre, French sculptor and medalist) on the obverse, measuring 123 mm (w) x 185 mm (h); accompanied by a independent plaque in bronze gilt, engraved "Académie du Disque Français / Grand Prix du Disque 1976 / Grand Prix de la Ville de Paris / Prélude et Mort d'Isolde - Wesendonk Lieder, de Wagner / Jessye Norman, London Symphony Orchestra / direction Colin Davis / 5 février 1976", measuring 120 mm (w) x 26 mm (h); in their case of issue, City of Paris coat-of-arms embossed in gold-coloured ink on the lid, maker marked "ARTHUS BERTRAND Paris" on the inside lid); 3. National Lyric Record Academy Germaine Martinelli Award 1977 (Academie Nationale du Disque Lyrique Prix Germaine Martinelli) (in bronze gilt, engraver marked on the obverse, engraved "ACADEMIE NATIONALE DU DISQUE LYRIQUE Prix Germaine MARTINELLI 1977" on the reverse, measuring 92 mm (w) x 132 mm (h), in its case of issue); 4. National Lyric Record Academy Germaine Martinelli Award 1986 (Academie Nationale du Disque Lyrique Prix Germaine Martinelli) (in bronze gilt, engraver marked on the obverse, engraved "ACADEMIE NATIONALE DU DISQUE LYRIQUE Prix Germaine MARTINELLI 1986" on the reverse, measuring 92 mm (w) x 132 mm (h), in its case of issue); 5. Caecilia Award of the Belgian Musical Press Union Prize (Union de la Presse Musicale Belge) (in silvered bronze, maker marked "FISCH FONSON" on the edge, measuring 70 mm in diameter, in its case of issue); 6. City of Toulouse Award Medal 1991 (Ville de Toulouse) (in bronze gilt, dated "1989", cornucopia hallmarked and marked "BRONZE" on the edge, engraved "VILLE DE TOULOUSE / JESSIE NORMAN / 19 JUIN 1991" on the reverse, measuring 68 mm in diameter, in its case of issue, maker marked "Monnaie de Paris"on the inside lid); 7. City of Montpellier Award Medal (Ville de Montpellier) (in bronze gilt, measuring 88.8 mm in diameter, in its case of issue); 8. City of Dublin Polygram Records Award Plate 1991 (in Waterford lead crystal cut glass, engraved with the "Dublin 1991 / City of Culture" insignia and inscribed "Presented to Jessye Norman from all at Polygram Records" on the base, measuring 290 mm in diameter x 49 mm in height); 9. National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Nomination Plaque 1980 (inscribed "THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF RECORDING ARTS AND SCIENCES presents this certificate to JESSYE NORMAN in recognition of NOMINATION for the BEST CLASSICAL VOCAL SOLOIST PERFORMANCE / BERG: DER WEIN - CONCERT ARIA for the awards period 1980", printed in black and brown inks, laminated finish, mounted to a wooden base with wall hanger, measuring 215 mm (w) x 265 mm (h)); 10. Dean Dixon Memorial Certificate of Honour 1981 (pentagon-shaped brass plaque inscribed in German "DEAN DIXON MEMORIAL EHRENURKUNDE / Der Genius Diesus Musikalischen Geistes Besteht Auf Ewig / JESSYE NORMAN / ANER KENNUNG FÜR MUSIKALISCHE LEISTUNG 1981", with bronze gilt torches flanking a bronze musical-based plaque above, all of which are mounted to a wooden base, measuring 303 mm (w) x 378 mm (h)); 11. American Black Achievement Award 1988 (inscribed "American Black Achievement Award presented by Ebony Magazine to Jessye Norman / In recognition of your significant and enduring achievements in Fine Arts and for your inspiring commitment to excellence that has contributed greatly to the advancement of your fellow Black Americans and thereby enhanced the cause of brotherhood in our nation and throughout the world, the editors of Ebony Magazine have selected you to receive this award for the year 1988.", dated "11/13/83" (November 13, 1983) and signed in black ink by Editor and Publisher John H. Johnson, printed in brown and black inks on parchment, under glass in a frame with easel back, measuring 263 mm (w) x 312 mm (h)); 12. Philips Records "Les Triomphes de Jessye Norman" Album Cover (printed in four-colour inks on a card stock, without vinyl album, measuring 315 mm (w) x 315 mm (h)); 13. fourteen Photographs (in black and white, mixture of matte and gloss finishes, in various sizes, eight of which are mounted); 14. Flowers & Landscapes of Provence Folder (Fleurs & Paysages de Provence) (printed in maroon and black inks, on an off-white blotter-type paper stick, measuring 253 mm (w) x 338 mm (h), the folder housing nine 330 mm (h) x 240 mm (h) colour art prints on a textured paper stock); 15. Château du Domaine Saint-Martin Folder (printed in black and gold-coloured inks, on a beige card stock, measuring 220 mm (w) x 280 mm (h), housing eight unused Château du Domaine Saint-Martin Stationery, printed in black ink, measuring 150 mm (w) x 210 mm (h) each). Better than very fine. Footnote: Jessye Mae Norman was an American opera singer and recitalist, born September 15, 1945 in Augusta, Georgia. She was able to perform dramatic soprano roles, but refused to be limited to that voice type. She was a commanding presence on operatic, concert and recital stages, associated with roles including Beethoven's Leonore, Wagner's Sieglinde and Kundry, Cassandre and Didon by Berlioz and Bartók's Judith. The New York Times music critic Edward Rothstein described her voice as a "grand mansion of sound", and wrote that "it has enormous dimensions, reaching backward and upward. It opens onto unexpected vistas. It contains sunlit rooms, narrow passageways, cavernous halls." Norman was raised in a family of music lovers and amateur musicians and began singing in the living room of her own home from age four and developed a striking love for music. She discovered opera by way of the weekly radio broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera. Encouraged and supported in the tight-knit community of her family and public school teachers, as well as mentors from her church, she went on to earn a Bachelor’s Degree through a full-tuition scholarship at Howard University. This was followed by further study at the Peabody Conservatory with a Master’s Degree from the University of Michigan. She began her professional life in Europe, winning the ARD International Music Competition in Munich in 1968, and in December of 1969, at age twenty-four, joined the Deutsche Oper Berlin in Wagner’s Tannhauser, where she was described as having “the greatest voice since the German soprano, Lotte Lehman.” She joined the company there for three years. Her operatic début came as Elisabeth in Wagner's Tannhäuser, after which she sang as Verdi's Aida at La Scala in Milan. Her first professional performance in the United States took place in 1970 at the Temple University Festival with the Pittsburgh Symphony conducted by Dean Dixon. First performances at La Scala in Verdi’s Aida and The Royal Opera House at Covent Garden in Les Troyens by Berlioz would follow in 1972. Her debut at the Hollywood Bowl with James Levine was in the summer of 1973. She made her first operatic appearance in the United States in 1982 with the Opera Company of Philadelphia, when cast as Jocasta in Stravinsky's Oedipus rex, and as Dido in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. She went on to sing leading roles with many other companies, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Paris Opera, and the Royal Opera, London. She continued performing to great acclaim in recitals with piano, concerts with orchestras, at music festivals and on the stages of leading opera houses around the world, making her debut at the Metropolitan Opera on opening night of the 100th Anniversary season as Cassandra in Les Troyens. She would go on to sing both leading female roles, Cassandra and Dido. She sang at the second inauguration of Ronald Reagan, at Queen Elizabeth II's sixtieth birthday celebration in 1986, and performed the La Marseillaise, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution on July 14, 1989. She sang at the 1996 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in Atlanta and for the second inauguration of Bill Clinton in 1997, in addition to the visits of Nelson Mandela to Harvard University and New York City, and for the Dalai Lama upon his visit to London in 2012. Norman sang and recorded recitals of music by Franz Schubert, Johannes Brahms, Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler, Ernest Chausson and Francis Poulenc, among others. In 1984, she won the Grammy Award for Best Classical Vocal Solo, the first of five Grammy Awards that she would collect during her career. Apart from several honorary doctorates and other awards, she received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, the National Medal of Arts, the Kennedy Center Honor, named Officier of the French Légion d'Honneur and Commandeur in the L’Ordre Des Arts et des Lettres, and was named a member of the British Royal Academy of Music. In 1990, United Nations Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar named her Honourary Ambassador to the United Nations. Her many awards and recognitions include forty-five honorary doctorate degrees from universities, colleges and conservatories worldwide. Together with The Rachel Longstreet Foundation, Miss Norman established The Jessye Norman School of the Arts in her hometown. This after-school, tuition-free education in all forms of arts study and performance is offered to talented middle school children for whom private study in the arts would otherwise not be possible. She served on the boards of Carnegie Hall, The New York Botanical Gardens, The New York Public Library, and The Dance Theatre of Harlem, and she has long been a spokesperson for Lupus Research and for The Partnership for the Homeless. Norman suffered a spinal-cord injury in 2015. She died at Mount Sinai Morningside in Manhattan, New York on September 30, 2019, at the age of 74. The cause of death was given as "septic shock and multi-organ failure secondary to complications of" the spinal cord injury.