Background
Clarence Eugene Whitehill was born on November 5, 1871 in Marengo, Iowa, the son of William Whitehill and Elizabeth Dawson (McLaughlin) Whitehill.
Clarence Eugene Whitehill was born on November 5, 1871 in Marengo, Iowa, the son of William Whitehill and Elizabeth Dawson (McLaughlin) Whitehill.
As a young man he studied singing in Chicago with L. A. Phelps. Urged by Melba and Giuseppe Campanari to prepare for the operatic stage, he finally won financial assistance and went to Paris in 1896 to study for several years with Alfred-Auguste Giraudet and Giovanni Sbriglia.
He worked as an express clerk, and on Sundays appeared in churches as bass soloist. In 1899 he made his operatic début, singing the part of Friar Lawrence in Gounod's Romeo and Juliet at the Théâtre de la Monnaie, Brussels. Immediately after this appearance he was engaged to sing at the Opéra Comique, Paris, and the occasion of his performance in Lakme marked the first appearance of an American man on the stage of that theatre. In the following season Whitehill returned to America and became the leading baritone of the Savage English Grand Opera Company. Later he went abroad again, to study with Julius Stockhausen at Frankfort and to prepare Wagnerian rôles under the guidance of Frau Cosima Wagner at Bayreuth. From 1903 to 1908 he was the leading baritone at the Cologne Opera House. In 1909 he made his first appearance in New York in the part of Amfortas in Wagner's Parsifal, and from this time his name became closely associated with Wagnerian rôles. From 1909 to 1911 he sang at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, and from 1911 to 1915 with the Chicago Opera Company. He then returned to the Metropolitan and remained a member of the company until his resignation in May 1932. His resignation aroused a storm of criticism against the management of the opera house, and precipitated a wordy struggle between defenders and critics. In announcing his withdrawal, Whitehill stated that Gatti-Casazza, the general director, entertained a bias against American singers, and that he had wasted the funds of the organization. Gatti-Casazza denied the charge of discrimination or bias, and stated that Whitehill had received the offer of a contract for a shorter season during the coming year, and that the singer had demanded a larger number of performances, a request that could not be granted because of the shorter season. Seven months later Whitehill died in New York City. During his association with American opera companies Whitehill appeared frequently abroad. For five seasons he sang at Covent Garden, London; for three seasons at the Bayreuth festivals; and for two seasons at Munich. On the occasion of the bicentennial celebration of the birth of George Washington, Whitehill portrayed the part of Washington in a sound film which was shown throughout the country. When dressed in the colonial costume, his resemblance to Washington was amazing.
He married Isabelle (Rush) Simpson Whitehill on July 12, 1926.