Alma Gluck (1884–1938)

Alma Gluck was born Reba Fiersohn to a large, impoverished Jewish family in Romania. When she was a small child, her older sister Cecile, who had emigrated to the USA, sent for Alma and her mother and sisters to join her in New York City. Alma grew up on the Lower East Side and after leaving school at the end of the 8th grade, went to work as an office clerk and stenographer. In 1902, she married Bernard Gluck, an insurance agent (some sources record his name as Glick), with whom she had a daughter before divorcing 10 years later. She had a beautiful voice and after only three years of vocal training, auditioned at the Metropolitan Opera and was hired. In 1909, she made her professional debut as Alma Gluck in Massenet’s Werther, conducted by Toscanini. During her first season with the company, she sang 11 roles in three languages. She also went on to become an accomplished concert artist. After leaving the Met in 1913, she studied in Berlin and Paris and married violinist Efrem Zimbalist, with whom she had two children. After returning to the USA, she became the most popular concert singer in the country, touring all 48 states as a soloist or with her husband. She was famed for her renditions of American folk songs such as "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny," and was a bestselling recording artist. She was one of the founders of the American Guild of Musical Artists. She died at age 54 of liver disease. Her daughter Abigail Marcia Gluck grew up to became the writer Marcia Davenport.