Edith Mason

Edith Mason (Barnes), American soprano (St Louis, 1893 – San Diego, 1973), had an international career from the 1910s to the late 1930s. She trained in Cincinnati and Paris with Enrico Bertran and Edmond Clément, and made her debut in Marseille in 1911.

She sang with the Boston Opera Company, where she created the role of Nedda in Pagliacci in 1912, and with the Century Company in New York. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1915 as Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier and returned for the 1935–36 season. She also appeared at La Scala under Toscanini in 1923 and at Salzburg in 1935.

Her base was Chicago, where she arrived in 1921 engaged by Mary Garden. There she was the city's first Sophie and its leading interpreter of Gilda, Marguerite, Margherita, Thaïs, Elsa, Fiora and, above all, Butterfly. Critics praised the natural beauty and ease of emission of her voice, and her care for the musical text.

She retired in 1939 after singing Desdemona alongside Martinelli and Tibbett, although in 1941 she briefly returned to Chicago as Mimì. She was married twice to the conductor Giorgio Polacco. Her legacy lies in her recordings and in her role as one of the great American interpreters of the Italian and French lyric repertoire.