| Cale Young Rice | |
| Birth Date: | 7 December 1872 |
| Birth Place: | Dixon, Kentucky, US |
| Death Place: | Louisville, Kentucky, US |
| Nationality: | American |
| Occupation: | poet and dramatist |
| Spouse: | Alice Hegan Rice |
Cale Young Rice (December 7, 1872 – January 24, 1943) was an American poet and dramatist. He was professor of English at Cumberland University. His opera, Yolanda of Cyprus, was widely received.
Rice was born in Dixon, Kentucky, to Laban Marchbanks Rice, a Confederate veteran and tobacco merchant, and his wife Martha Lacy. He was a younger brother of Laban Lacy Rice, a noted educator, author, and president of Cumberland University. Cale Rice grew up in Evansville, Indiana, and Louisville, Kentucky. He was educated at Cumberland University where he was a member of the Theta chapter of Kappa Sigma Fraternity and at Harvard (A.B., 1895; A.M., 1896).
On December 18, 1902, Rice was married to the popular author Alice Hegan Rice; they worked together on several books. The marriage was childless. In 1910, they built a house at 1444 St. James Court, where they lived for 40 years.[1] [2]
Cale Rice's poems were collected and published in a single volume, The best poetic work of Cale Young Rice, by his brother, Laban Lacy Rice (1870–1973).[3]
His birthplace in Dixon is designated by Kentucky State Historical Marker 1508, which reads:
Rice adapted his play Yolanda of Cyprus into an opera libretto for Clarence Loomis; the resulting work was premiered on September 25, 1929, in London, Ontario, under the baton of Isaac Van Grove, and featured Charles Kullman. The production was directed by Vladimir Rosing.[4] The opera later received the Bispham Memorial Medal Award.[5]
Rice committed suicide by gunshot during the night of January 24, 1943, at his home in Louisville a year after his wife's death due to his sorrow at losing her.[1] [6]