Marcia Davenport (née Glick; June 9, 1903 – January 16, 1996) was an American writer and music critic.
[3] She began studies at Wellesley College but eloped to Pittsburgh after two years to marry her first husband, Frank Delmas Clarke.
In 1930, Davenport travelled to Prague to research the life of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart up close.
The story is a portrait of an opera singer, told through the eyes of a devoted fan, her French duke lover, a platonic female friend, her maestro, and others.
If Of Lena Geyer is not based on Alma Gluck, it is possible Davenport took inspiration from her personal life experience, or from the tales of another opera singer, Olive Fremstad.
Davenport lived in Pittsburgh shortly after her first marriage with Frank Delmas Clarke, later using that background for her novel, along with further research on the steel industry, for the 788-page bestseller.
[9] Portions of the book are set in 1930's Prague, depicting the increasingly grim atmosphere up to the Munich Agreement and the Nazi Occupation of Czechoslovakia.
[7] Her memoir Too Strong for Fantasy (1967) describes the people, the music, the places and the political forces which shaped her life.
[10] The Valley of Decision starred Greer Garson, Gregory Peck, Donald Crisp, Lionel Barrymore, Preston Foster, Marsha Hunt, Gladys Cooper, Reginald Owen, Dan Duryea and Jessica Tandy.
[11] The film was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Greer Garson) and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture.
On January 23, 1943, she was serving as a panelist on The People's Platform with Rex Stout and Alexander Woollcott when the latter suffered a heart attack during the broadcast and subsequently died before his arrival at Roosevelt Hospital.
During the later part of the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, Marcia Davenport became a close friend of the refugee Czech statesman, Jan Masaryk.
Davenport thereupon returned to London, where she and Masaryk planned to be married as soon as he could join her, but only a few days later he was found dead under mysterious circumstances.