Article

Bertha Crawford

Published Online July 30, 2007

Last Edited December 16, 2013

Bertha (May) Crawford. Soprano, b Toronto 1886, d there 26 May 1937. After study with Edward Schuch in Toronto, Mme Nevosky in London, and Mme Corsi in Milan, Crawford made her debut in 1913 in Venice as Gilda in Rigoletto.

Bertha Crawford

Bertha (May) Crawford. Soprano, b Toronto 1886, d there 26 May 1937. After study with Edward Schuch in Toronto, Mme Nevosky in London, and Mme Corsi in Milan, Crawford made her debut in 1913 in Venice as Gilda in Rigoletto. Engagements in provincial houses throughout Italy were followed by a triumphant appearance in January 1914 in Warsaw, and thereafter she sang with great success in several eastern European centres, including Petrograd in 1915, Moscow in 1916, Helsinki in 1917, and Warsaw annually ca 1919-34. She returned to live in Toronto ca 1935. Possessor of a high lyric soprano of great beauty and agility, she was particularily admired as Rosina, Violetta, and Gilda.