Farrar retired from opera in 1922 at the age of 40. Her final performance was as Leoncavallo's "Zazà". By this stage, her voice was in premature decline due to overwork. According to the American music critic Henry Pleasants, the author of "The Great Singers from the Dawn of Opera to Our Own Time" (first published 1967), she gave between 25 and 35 performances each season at the Met alone. They included 95 appearances as Madama Butterfly and 58 as Carmen in 16 seasons. The title role in Puccini's "Tosca", which she had added to her repertoire in 1909, was another one of her favourite Met parts.