1963 Press/Programs (Nov.-Dec)

The collection consists of eight boxes containing correspondence, programs, press clippings, contracts, and scrapbooks kept by Treigle and family members during his 30-year career as a professional singer. The material was organized chronologically by Treigle’s biographer, Brian Morgan, a Loyola graduate and opera director. He, with the cooperation of the Treigle family, donated the collection to Special Collections in the Loyola University Library before joining the Order of Saint Benedict in 2000. Morgan (now Brother Linus, OssS) lives at the Priory of Our Lady of Consolation in Amity, Oregon. He is preparing a biography, Strange Child of Chaos: Norman Treigle for publication.

The scrapbooks represent the beginnings of Treigle’s career, singing in weddings, at tradeshows, in churches and synagogues, on radio, and in New Orleans Opera House Association productions. The clippings from the 1940s and 1950s reflect his career progress and the decision to change his name to that of his son Norman, a name more befitting than “Addie” for a professional singer. After 1952 when he made his New York City Opera debut, the collection of performance programs with pertinent press coverage is more complete. The correspondence files, however, are thin until 1968. The folders following Treigle’s death in 1975 are grouped according to general topics, i.e. Memorial Fund, Contracts, Public Relations, etc.

The collection also contains a short videotape about Treigle produced by WYES public television in New Orleans, an audiotape of a radio show hosted by Martin Sokol after Treigle’s death, and nine micro-cassettes of interviews conducted by Brian Morgan in 1996-1998 as research. The voices on those tapes include New York City Opera luminaries such as Beverly Sills and Julius Rudel, critics, Treigle’s fellow performers, and active players in and observers of New Orleans Opera.