Rosemary Kuhlmann, a mezzo-soprano who was a central part of an early television experiment that became a holiday classic, singing the role of Amahl’s mother in the 1951 world premiere of the opera “Amahl and the Night Visitors” on NBC and returning to the part for years afterward, died on Aug. 17 in Warren, R.I. She was 97.

Her daughter, Susan Burke, confirmed her death.

Ms. Kuhlmann, who lived in Narragansett, R.I., in recent years, was seen by millions of television viewers in the 1950s and early ’60s in “Amahl,” a one-act work by Gian Carlo Menotti commissioned by NBC specifically for the 1951 Christmas Eve broadcast.

Television was still in its infancy in the early 1950s, which meant there was a fair amount of risk-taking on the programming side, the familiar formats — half-hour sitcoms and hourlong dramas — having not yet solidified. The premiere of “Amahl,” the story of a shepherd boy who encounters the biblical three kings on their way to the manger in Bethlehem, was broadcast live from Rockefeller Center. Ms. Kuhlmann, who had only recently begun her opera career, was 29.