The American soprano Geraldine Farrar, born in 1882 in Melrose, Massacusetts, studied music in Boston from the age of 5 and trained in New York and Paris with the American soprano Emma Thursby, and in Berlin with the Italian baritone Francesco Graziani before making a sensational debut in 1901 at the Berlin Hofoper as Marguerite in Gunoud's Faust. She worked with the Monte Carlo Opera, and in 1906 made her debut as the New York Metropolitan Opera in Romeo et Juliette. She appeared in Metropolitan Opera's original production of Giacomo Puccini's Madam Butterfly in 1907 and remained a member of the company until her retirement in 1922, singing 29 roles there in nearly 500 performances. She developed a great popular following, especially among New York's young female opera-goers, who were known as 'Gerry-flappers'. Farrar created the title roles in Pietro Mascagni's Amica, Monte Carlo, 1905, Puccini's Suor Angelica, New York, 1918, Umberto Giordano's Madame Sans-Gêne, New York, 1915, as well as the Goosegirl in Engelbert Humperdinck's Königskinder, New York, 1910, for which she trained her own flock of geese.