Adelaide Gescheidt

Gescheidt was born in Mount Vernon, New York, the daughter of Albert F. Gescheidt and Mary Steurer Gescheidt.[1] Her father was a businessman; all her grandparents were born in Germany.

Gescheidt, was a soprano singer in the early 20th century.[2] She injured her neck in a fall, ending her performing career.[3] After that, she was a vocal coach who worked with opera and concert singers from her studio at Carnegie Hall.[4][5] Her specialty, advertised as "Miller Vocal Art-Science",[6][7] involved training and rehabilitating speaking and singing voices damaged by injury, illness, or other defects,[8] in collaboration with throat specialist Frank E. Miller.[1] She wrote about her work in a pamphlet[9] that later became a book, Make Singing a Joy (1930, with a foreword by musicologist Sigmund Spaeth).[3] She emphasized that singing naturally, without excessive training or force, produces a pleasing sound and preserves the voice from strain.[10][11] Her notable students included actress Betty Blythe[12] and oratorio singer Richard Crooks.[13]

Gescheidt was active in the National Federation of Music Clubs, especially on a committee to promote quality music in film scores.[1][14]

Gescheidt died in a hospital in New York City in 1946, at the age of 69.[1]