Metropolitan Opera star Marjorie Lawrence from her autobiography Interrupted Melody On January 12, 1936, Australian soprano Marjorie Lawrence
made operatic history as she performed the Immolation Scene in
Gotterdammerung by riding her horse into the flames - just as the
composer Richard Wagner had intended. Five-and-a-half years later,
she found herself in a hospital bed in Hot Springs, Arkansas, completely paralyzed
from polio.
Yet not even that could not stop her. Although unable to ever walk again, she
returned to the Metropolitan Opera stage on December 27, 1942 to perform the demanding role of Venus
in Tannhauser
before an audience of nearly four thousand. That incredible feat was featured in Life Magazine the following February.
Of all the places in the world, Marjorie Lawrence chose Hot Springs to make her home and her final resting place.
She was a world-class talent, exceptional educator, and one
of the greatest humanitarians to ever live here.
A larger-than-life portrait of this diva is being commissioned through donations to
benefit the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts. The
project hopes to draw attention to existing arts programs
at ASMSA as well as the need for a performance hall with adequate acoustics in Hot Springs.
Local artist Daisy McDonald created the 3' by 5' oil painting to capture
that climactic moment
when, as the character Brunnhilde, Miss Lawrence kicked her "heels into
the horse's flanks and, with right arm extended towards the heavens,
galloped into the flames". A public unveiling of the framed 4'x6' artwork
was held on Sunday, June 19 at 2pm in the ASMSA Board Room.
The Marjorie Lawrence Project has been established as a charitable trust under I.R.C. 4947(a)(1).
AKAS II is currently underwriting the administrative costs of
the project so that more of the donated funds can be used for the Arts - primarily in the disciplines of Voice, Piano, and Operatic Theatre.
Information about Marjorie Lawrence is also being collected for the archives of the Garland County Historical Society.
To contact the project coordinator, please email Barbara A. Sloan.
Click HERE to learn how to
DONATE to
THE MARJORIE LAWRENCE PROJECT Webpage courtesy of AKAS II
- because there's more to Art than meets the Eye!
Click here to learn more
about Daisy McDonald and her artwork,
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