Horne, Marilyn, 1934–, American mezzo-soprano, b. Bradford, Pa. She established herself with her characterization of Marie in Alban Berg's Wozzeck at the San Francisco Opera in 1960. In 1970 she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera singing Adalgisa in Bellini's Norma. Horne is noted for the power and smoothness ("seamlessness") of her voice, evident in the ease with which she glides from one register to another. Among her notable roles have been Eboli in Verdi's Don Carlos, Arsace in Rossini's Semiramide, and the title role in Bizet's Carmen.

Horne, Marilyn

(born Jan. 16, 1934, Bradford, Pa., U.S.) U.S. mezzo-soprano. Horne studied voice at the University of Southern California and with the soprano Lotte Lehmann (1888–1976). In 1954 Horne dubbed the singing voice of Dorothy Dandridge in the film Carmen Jones, and that same year, she made her opera debut with the Los Angeles Guild Opera. Her long and influential association with the bel canto (a singing style based on an exact control of the intensity of vocal tone) repertoire began in 1962, and she played an important role in the revival of operas by George Frideric Handel and Gioacchino Rossini. Her distinctive voice was even throughout its remarkably wide range, and she had virtuoso control of breath and pitch. She retired in 2000 after a long career.

Horne, Marilyn (1934– ) mezzo-soprano; born in Bradford, Pa. She studied with Lotte Lehman and others in California, making her operatic debut in Los Angeles in 1954. From 1956 she sang several years in Europe, then appeared in San Francisco in 1960, where her Marie in Wozzeck was acclaimed. She settled into an active career on stage and in recitals, making her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1970. Her other well-known roles include Carmen.