Burpee, Carpenter & Hutchins Funeral Home

CAMDEN - Beaumont Glass, Jr. died at his home Dec. 6, 2011, from complications with ALS after a long, brave struggle. He was born in New York City on Oct. 25, 1925, the son of Beaumont Glass of Philadelphia and Lillian Allen Glass, nee Krauss, of New York City.
A graduate of Exeter and the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, after serving ten years, he rose to the top of his field in an international opera career that included the Salzburg Festival, as concert accompanist for Metropolitan Opera stars Grace Bumbry, Simon Estes, Martina Arroyo and Francisco Arisa, among others, stage director, and Studiemeiter (head of coaching staff in charge of the musical preparation of all the operas) at the Opera House Zurich.
He collaborated closely and associated professionally and socially with many of the greats, the operatic superstars, directors and conductors of the era.
After 19 years in Switzerland, which included summers at the Salzburg, Aix-en-Provence and other festivals, he decided to “give back” to young artists, and built up the Opera Theatre at the University of Iowa for another 17 years. Before his final illness struck him down in 2009 he had spent 12 summers giving master classes — partnering with his wife, Eva Noel [Evangeline Noel Glass], who also had an international opera career, including the Salzburg Festival — at the AIM conservatory in Graz, Austria.
He also contributed to his community by staging various productions for the local Maine Grand Opera and supporting and spearheading a variety of cultural activities, directing operas, coaching, giving master classes and lecture series in the Midcoast Maine area where he had resided since 1998 and in Southern Maine, as well as such places as Rutgers, Juilliard, Bloomington and at various opera festivals around the country, including staging several productions in Salt Lake City and at the Chamber Opera of Chicago.
Glass has authored a number of published books, including the official biography of Lotte Lehmann (he was her assistant at the Music Academy of the West) and definitive scholarly editions of Lieder (Art Songs) by Schumann, Schubert, Wolff, Brahms and Strauss published by Leyerle, featuring his own multiple translations, a literal a phonetic and finally a truly literary, eminently performable version respectively, with extensive academic commentary and research. He also published his autobiographical “Memoirs of an Opera Bug,” which is an incredible, elegant romp through one of the great eras of opera filled with anecdotes and first hand encounters.
He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Evangeline Noel Glass, his daughter, Melody Anne Beaumont Talcott, his son-in-law, Michael Stanley Talcott, and beloved grandson, Alexander Beaumont Talcott born in 2003, who became the light of his last years, along with his tireless wife who insisted on being trained to be his primary caregiver.