Preston Between The Cracks

Between the Cracks: The Performance of English-Language Opera in Late Nineteenth-
Century America
Author(s): Katherine K. Preston
Source: American Music, Vol. 21, No. 3, Nineteenth-Century Special Issue (Autumn, 2003),
pp. 349-374
Published by: University of Illinois Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3250548
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KATHERINE K. PRESTON
Between the Cracks:

The Performance of
English-Language Opera in
Late Nineteenth-Century America
The performance history of English-language opera in the United

States of the antebellum era has been sufficiently researched during
the last decade to establish its importance to the American popular
stage.1 The same cannot be said, however, for English-language op-
era in postbellum America; so little is known of the performance his-
tory of this genre, in fact, that it is little better than historiographical
terra incognita. As a result, scholars have erroneously assumed that
English-language opera essentially disappeared from the American
stage, supplanted on the one hand by the foreign-language opera
companies supported by the social and economic elite of American
society and on the other by plays-with-songs, spectacles, variety
shows, and operettas that were so prominent a part of the American
theater of the final three decades of the century. The assumption that
English-language opera became extinct in the United States is tacitly
supported by the marked absence of any mention of English-opera
performance (in the secondary literature);2 this lacuna has led schol-
ars to conclusions that must be called into question now that addi-
tional research is being conducted.3
Katherine K. Preston is associate professor of music and chair of the Depart-

ment of Music at the College of William and Mary in Virginia. She has writ-
ten on various aspects of musical life in nineteenth-century America and has
long been active in the Society for American Music. Her three books include
Opera on the Road: Traveling Opera Troupes in the United States, 1825-1860 and
an edited volume on the music of David Braham in the Nineteenth-Century
American Musical Theatre series. She is currently working on two projects:
a book on English-language opera companies active in late nineteenth-cen-
tury America, and an edition of George Frederick Bristow's Symphony No.
2 (the "Jullien" Symphony).
American Music Fall 2003
@ 2003 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
350 Preston
For purposes of con

we know about ope
1860: generally spea
especially during th
of many kinds of o
ed extent-German
economic classes. It
ed in the 1840s, 18
nant style of perfor
tory consisted of w
the standard contine
readily and happily;
years that opera in
the original languag
superior because it w
long as part of the m
American stage. Op
broad and constant
melodrama, ballet, b
ism, burlesque, mag
and plays-with-son
By the early 1850s
translated opera beg
tury the change w
era-especially in Ita
dominant style in te
ian troupes of the m
cluded some of the
of Italian opera was
ies-who were suffi
build theaters exclus
high admission pric
acquired in some qua
of translated Engli
moved from the A
curred primarily in
age of opera as an in
the rest of the coun
ly in the Northeast.
nant style, support
elite, was solidified
Henry Mapleson an
(founded 1883).7 But
ular stage on the Ea
English-Language Opera in Late Nineteenth-Century America 351
neous removal of English opera from the American theater, nor (as
we shall see) did attendance at performances of foreign-language
opera-even at such "aristocratic" houses as the Metropolitan-au-
tomatically indicate that auditors avoided other types of musical the-
ater. English troupes, in fact, continued to travel widely and to attract
large audiences-especially away from the East Coast. As such, this
genre of entertainment continued to function as an important com-
ponent of the American musical theater in much of the rest of the
country. An overview of the troupes, repertory, and audiences of these
English companies will support this assertion; speculation about the
nature of the relationship between these English troupes (which con-
tinued to function as part of the popular stage) and the foreign-lan-
guage opera companies (which, increasingly, did not) will furthermore
be both enlightening and instructive.
Information gleaned from such sources as published memoirs, un-
published diaries, theater records, letters, and (most important) mu-
sic periodicals suggests that there were close to one hundred differ-
ent English-language opera troupes active in North America during
the final four decades of the nineteenth century. The most prominent
troupes toured widely and over a long period of time-sometimes for
a decade or more. Furthermore, many singers were extensively ac-
tive-performing in different troupes-frequently for two and some-
times three decades during this period. These companies and sing-
ers (stars as well as secondary performers), by their sheer numbers,
had an important impact on American culture of the period, and it is
illustrative to outline briefly the histories of some of the more prom-
inent troupes.
Starting in 1859 the English Opera Company of Caroline Richings
(1827-82, born in England but raised in America) toured all over the
eastern United States. After Richings's marriage in 1867 to tenor Pierre
Bernard, the troupe was sometimes known as the Richings-Bernard
Opera Company; it was active and popular until the mid-1870s.8 An-
other singer from Great Britain, Euphrosyne Parepa (1836-74), made
her American debut in 1865.9 Her opera company competed closely
with the Richings troupe, performing a similar English-language rep-
ertory over a comparable swath of North America. Parepa was active
in this country from 1865 until 1872 in a troupe known first as the
Parepa English Opera Company and later (after her marriage in 1867
to the violinist and conductor Carl Rosa) as the Parepa-Rosa Opera
Company.10 After her untimely death in 1874 the company was tem-
porarily disbanded, but Rosa eventually reformed the troupe into the
Carl Rosa English Opera Company, which became an extraordinari-
ly popular and influential troupe in Great Britain (until 1958), and
which made at least one tour of the United States in the late 1870s.11
352 Preston
The popularity of t
Britain suggests an i
history of English-l
twined with their si
singers whose nam
performed in Englan
about English opera
reveals about the cul
In 1873 Clara Loui
established the Ke
toured off and on
toured in concert tr
ued to sing in Engl
til at least 1881.13 In
(1850-91), founded
thirteen consecutive
cities in the far We
Utah, and Grand Fo
nia on tour in Salt L
troduced many Am
ed to have opened so
in the American West.14
These four companies alone account for some thirty-six years of
English-opera performance tours in America during the postbellum
decades, but these four, in fact, represent only a small portion of ac-
tivity during the period. Other troupes that survived the vicissitudes
of operatic management in the 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s-and that un-
doubtedly were familiar on the American musical-theatrical land-
scape-include the Hess Opera Company, formed by manager C. D.
Hess in 1870 and active in various guises also until the early 1890s;15
the Alice Oates Opera Company, formed in 1870 as a burlesque op-
era troupe but by 1873 performing the standard English-opera reper-
tory and active as a touring troupe for ten or eleven years;16 the Car-
leton Opera Company, organized in 1878 by the "eminent baritone"
William T. Carleton and active at least through the early 1890s17; and
the Boston Ideal Opera Company (later the Bostonians), a troupe
formed in 1879 that would function until 1904 as one of the country's
most successful, best-known, and most musically skilled English-op-
era troupes.18 There were, in addition, many other troupes-some of
them quite short-lived, others apparently active for several years. One
can read of the comings and goings of dozens of these troupes, in-
cluding (but not limited to) the Holman Opera Company, the Coop-
er Opera Company, the Campbell and Castle, Saville, and Bay State
English Opera Companies, as well as the Galton, Norcross, Fay Tem-
pleton, Hersee, McCaull, Conreid, Duff's, Pauline Hall, Andrews,

Crossy's, Manns, MacCollin's, Casino, Fisher's, and Tavary troupes.
There were also English companies managed by Italian opera impre-
sarios (Max Maretzek, Jacob Grau, and Max Strakosch all tried their
hands at English opera at one time or another) and by Italian opera
stars like Emma Juch and Minnie Hauk. There was also the spectac-
ularly unsuccessful American Opera Company established by Jeanette
Thurber in 1885 (and disbanded during the 1887-88 season), the high-
ly publicized failure of which is sometimes used as evidence of En-
glish opera's inability to compete with the well-backed foreign-lan-
guage troupes of Mapleson and the Metropolitan.19 Finally, after the
1870s there were many troupes that specialized in the works of
Jacques Offenbach and Gilbert and Sullivan-but that also performed
many of the same "grand operas" as English (and foreign-language)
opera troupes. The already-mentioned Boston Ideals, for example-
a troupe founded at the height of the Pinafore craze to perform Gil-
bert & Sullivan operettas (in an "ideal" style, hence the name) and
identified even today by most scholars as an "operetta" troupe-also
regularly performed such typical operatic fare as The Bohemian Girl,
The Marriage of Figaro, Fra Diavolo (Auber), Martha (Flotow), and
L'Elisir d'Amour (Donizetti).20
The sheer numbers of these troupes, coupled with the decades-long
and extensive geographical travels of at least a half-dozen of them,
suggests clearly that English-opera performance continued to appeal
strongly to American audiences during this period. There was obvi-
ously money to be made in this kind of musical-theatrical venture:
enough money to attract impresarios, conductors, and enterprising
singers time and again. English-opera performance was clearly any-
thing but extinct in the United States during the late nineteenth cen-
tury-it was so alive, in fact, that one wonders at its almost-complete
absence from the secondary sources. Perhaps one reason for this la-
cuna is the fact that the late nineteenth-century musical press seems
to have been mesmerized by the glitterati of the Italian (and German)
opera world. It is much easier to find information about Mapleson's
companies or the Metropolitan troupes than about the many English-
opera companies. The English troupes, as a result, seem (from a his-
torical perspective) to be few in number and unimportant in influence.
The information provided above, however, should indicate that per-
formance of this particular flavor of musical theater was far from in-
consequential during the period.
Close examination of various aspects of the companies' activities
is particularly interesting, for very little about the troupes-their rep-
ertories, their personnel, or their audiences-fits easily with stereo-
types we may have accepted (consciously or unconsciously) about
354 Preston
opera companies ac
performed a mixture
lations of continen
distinctly dissimila
troupe-or, more acc
regularly perform
companies' personne
for many English-
between the world
Again, these are the
to mention indepen
cernible about the
rather surprising, f
ued to function as
throughout this per
drama, minstrelsy,
ences. Certainly an
types-that audienc
elite, or that opera
drama audiences) we
repertorial lines. Ex
ers' varied activitie
The works perform
scribed above, were
ever, is interesting
First, a number of o
of the second half o
(Balfe, 1843), Marita
Les cloches de Corne
(Gounod, 1859), Fr
(Donizetti, 1835), L
1853), La Traviata (V
eras and works in th
quite as popular as t
liked to be perform
(Mascagni, 1890), Gi
Gerolstein (Offenba
livan, 1881), Les noc
1880), and Mignon
as Puccini and Leon
1890s. A second poin
these later compose
of the late operas o
cates that the Engli
times-and so were their audiences, who wished to hear the latest

operas. English-opera performance, then, did not necessarily repre-
sent a backwater within the operatic world. Third, the mixture of
English, French, German, and Italian repertories is typical, as is the
relative lack of interest in the works of Wagner. The repertory is a
mixture of conservative and forward-looking (operas from the 1830s
and 1840s mixed in with works from the 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s); also
typical is the combination of "grand" operas interspersed with operas
bouffes and operettas. Finally, the regular programming of operettas
by Planquette, Offenbach, Lecocq, and Sullivan reinforces the conclu-
sion that there was a great deal of cross fertilization between "real"
opera and operetta repertories during this period; it also suggests that
clear-cut distinctions between different styles of opera had not yet
been firmly established among these companies or in the eyes (or ears)
of their audiences. Historian Lawrence Levine suggests that during
this period the repertories of the foreign-language troupes were be-
coming increasingly specialized and isolated and that the impresari-
os of opera houses like the Academy of Music and the Metropolitan
were attempting, as he puts it, to "keep the opera they presented from
the influence of other genres and other groups." This represented a
change from a repertorial diversity seen on the American stage earli-
er in the century; as he writes, "by the end of the century [opera] ...
was no longer part and parcel of the eclectic blend of culture that had
characterized the United States." 22 The elitists certainly exerted a lim-
iting and isolating influence of this nature on the repertory performed
in the "grander" opera houses of America. It is important to acknowl-
edge, however, that this development does not represent the entire
picture in relation to opera performance. In reality, the opera that
many Americans consumed in their theaters during this period was
from a repertory that remained-as it had been in the antebellum
period-overwhelmingly heterogeneous.
Information about the individual singers active in English troupes
is somewhat more difficult to amass than are details about repertory.
It is possible, however, to discuss briefly the careers of a number of
singers as examples of the relatively varied nature of their theatrical
activities. Many of the troupes' principal singers-such as Clara
Kellogg (as already mentioned)-sang in English troupes, in Italian
companies, and in itinerant operatic concert ensembles. The contral-
to Adelaide Phillipps (1833-82) likewise flitted back and forth between
Italian and English-opera companies,23 and the bass Myron Whitney
(1836-1910), who performed with the Boston Ideals, sang not only
opera and operetta, but also performed regularly with the New York
Oratorio Society, Theodore Thomas's orchestra, and in concerts with
Italian opera stars such as Christine Nilsson.24 Tom Karl (1846-1916),
356 Preston
a tenor trained in It
era and back again
troupes of Parepa-R
companies of Max S
Some of the English
patetic and varied in
ers. "Sher" Campbell
real name was Sherw
in 1848 as a member
until 1854. For the n
troupes (including G
companies), then
Troupe. Later he san
later still went to E
to the United State
Company in 1874 w
nouncement that ap
that Campbell "had
a cause that was de
adept at both black
well known as a per
who performed as
blackface minstrel b
liam Castle (1836-1
joined forces with S
a tenor who sang I
Academy of Music i
numerous troupes,
Parepa-Rosa, Hess, H
formers also moved
A good example is t
he was singing with
an offer to perform
activities of these si
the genre distinctio
so obvious at the tim
ers from moving ba
ent repertories and
ly different theatri
musicians/ actors w
ently also took this
Who made up the
troupes performin
strongly suggests th
of the century were very similar to audiences of the 1850s: middle-

class and working-class Americans in the large eastern cities (where
the upper classes, for the most part, were increasingly-but not ex-
clusively-preoccupied with foreign-language opera), and upper-,
middle-, and working-class Americans everywhere else.30 It is impor-
tant to note that by the second half of the nineteenth century, theaters
in most medium-sized American cities no longer supported a resident
stock company; rather, they played host to a constantly changing slate
of dramatic offerings given by itinerant theatrical troupes-including
opera companies-that visited each town on a regular basis.31 Most
American cities and towns, furthermore, could not begin to support
an "opera house" devoted exclusively to opera (foreign-language or
otherwise), despite the fact that many theaters were proudly called
"opera houses." It is relevant also to point out that the same theatri-
cal modus operandi was in effect in Great Britain; as theater historian
George Rowell points out about the situation in that country:
The transportation of a complete and often elaborate produc-

tion-scenery, costumes, and properties as well as the entire
cast-was made possible by the rapid advance of the railways.
To house these touring productions there grew up from about
1870 a chain of large, well-equipped provincial theatres, often
without a resident company.32
Hence English-opera troupes visiting provincial cities in both Great

Britain and the United States (as already mentioned, many of the same
troupes and singers performed on both sides of the Atlantic) played
not in "opera houses" like London's Covent Garden or New York's
Metropolitan Opera House, but rather in regular theaters that attract-
ed everyday working- and middle-class audiences. And it was into
this miscellany of theatrical offerings and styles that the English
troupes-with their own reportorial assortment-fit quite readily.
The reality that English opera continued to function as a normal
part of the popular theatrical repertory during the late nineteenth cen-
tury is fairly easy to document. Collections of theatrical playbills, lists
of repertory performed during particular seasons, even scrapbooks
full of playbills and ticket stubs all clearly indicate that the heteroge-
neous repertory so typical of the American stage during the first half
of the century was still the dominant style for most theaters during
the second half-and that opera in general (and particularly English
opera) continued to be a part of that mixture.33 The advertised "stars"
for the 1881-82 season at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C.,
for example, included a completely typical mixture: Joseph Jefferson,
Kate Claxton, an unidentified troupe performing Gilbert and Sulli-
van, the New York Park Theatre Company, the Strakosch Italian Op-
358 Preston
era Company, Ned S

Company.34 The 1885
varied, with a prepon
fall, but featuring in
(Lester and Allen's Mi
ing The Black Crook a
weeks of drama (fea
Mather, Charles L. Da
cialty (variety) troup
ian Opera Company,
bouffe troupe, and E
the McCaull Opera C
Company [one week
theater whose owners
entertainment-oper
ble] the minstrel sho
cal of theatrical fare,
season featured-in a
several dramatic tr
Lydia Thompson, and
ings at other Ameri
both that such a mix
language opera contin
The data for sizes of
ticular theater (allow
ent offerings) are mu
ing companies. Som
particular-from Edw
81)-is useful specifica
cated in a large urban
ater hosted six differ
for more: the Minni
29-30 and October 1
nie Pixley, playing he
erley's Georgia Mins
pany (October 23-24
the "western excitem
troupes fit in comple
combination (variety)
share of the receipts
pany the house's shar
ley and Rankin (both
spectively. The two
the per-night share f
earned from the Grau troupe (30%) was a comparatively whopping

$118.50.39 The take from the month of November 1880 was similar, as
was the variety in the line-up. During that month the theater featured
four different troupes, three of which performed once, the fourth
twice: the Emma Abbott English Opera Company (November 8), the
Rentz- Santley Company (November 9), a dramatic troupe perform-
ing The Child of State (November 10), and well-known actress Laura
Keene (November 17-18). The theater's share of receipts for the Ab-
bott opera troupe was by far higher than for any other company:
$93.00, compared with $54.70, $64.00, and $146.75 (for two nights),
respectively, despite the fact that the management's share of receipts
was lowest for the opera company (15% of gross, in comparison with
25% for Santley and Keene and 30% for Child of State). In October 1880
the theater had engaged a similarly eclectic lineup: the Big Four Min-
strels, the Fay Templeton Opera Company, Barlow, Wilson, and Prim-
rose and West Minstrels, and the actor Frank Mayo, who frequently
performed in the role of Davy Crockett.40 Of these four, the opera
troupe drew the least well, but the typical juxtaposition of opera with
other theatrical offerings is still worth noting. During this period Sel-
ma, Alabama, was a fairly wealthy river and railroad town with a
population of around 7,500; as such, it was hardly a major theatrical
center, so the similarity of the repertory performed at Edwards' Op-
era House to that mounted at theaters in larger cities (Washington,
D.C., Boston, Chicago) is an excellent indication of Americans' con-
tinued catholicity of theatrical taste.41 Furthermore, Selma was a
sufficiently small urban area that even a moderately large house at
the theater, of necessity, had to consist of varied social and economic
classes. The racial makeup of the town's population (according to the
census, it consisted of some 3,400 white and 4,200 black citizens) does
not change the argument: not all of the whites in Selma could have
been wealthy, nor can one assume that all the blacks were impover-
ished. If the theater-going public (depending on the show) was pre-
dominantly from one or the other group, this even-smaller popula-
tion base of the subgroup (compared with the entire population)
would suggest a still-stronger argument for demographic heteroge-
neity in the audience. Unfortunately, the daybook from Edwards'
Opera House does not include ticket-price information, nor, as men-
tioned, did the theater advertise in the local newspaper, making that
information-which would add nuance to this speculation about the
makeup of the theater audience-unavailable. The fact that English
opera more than held its own in drawing power in the Selma theater,
however, is both obvious and significant.
Information about the familiarity of operatic music within Ameri-
can culture of the period furthermore serves as corroborating evidence
360 Preston
to explain the poten

es. For example, m
bands and by ensem
lar form of ninete
atic in origin. An ex
concert-band progra
the repertory was f
eras and operetta
made up over half (a
performed at dance
on the programs o
States.43 Furthermo
teenth century also
performing selectio
the evening's entert
beginning of the sh
dy, opera, operetta,
and at intermission.
ture of styles, incl
songs, and potpourr
of various social an
with the music of
in concerts, in the t
they danced. And al
necessarily presum
sonable to think that individuals who could hum the tunes from an
opera like Gounod's Faust might be eager to see a staged production
when a troupe came to town-especially if the production was in
English, a language they could understand.
Finally, evidence from diaries kept by some wealthy individuals
who lived in New York City suggests that even the supporters of for-
eign-language opera also simultaneously attended a wide variety of
theatrical amusements, including operetta, opera bouffe, and English
opera. Two diarists serve as excellent examples. Hopper Striker Mott
(1854-1924), author, descendant of a prominent Colonial family, and
member of many prestigious clubs and societies in New York, kept a
diary for five years in the mid-1880s in which he recorded among oth-
er things his regular theater attendance.45 A perfect example of the
fairly normal juxtaposition of genres already mentioned is found in
his entries for January 26, 27, and 28, 1885, on which evenings (re-
spectively) Mott and his wife attended a performance of La Juive (in
German) at the Metropolitan Opera, Apajune, a comic opera by Karl
Millkcker at the Casino (the "home of operetta," according to George
Odell), and Harrigan and Hart's new play, McAllister's Legacy, at the
New Park Theatre.46 In January and February of 1887 Mott attended

no English-opera performances, but what he did attend suggests,
again, an interest by a regular theater-goer in a wide range of theat-
rical styles. On January 25 Mott witnessed Gotterddmmerung at the
Metropolitan Opera House; a month later he was an auditor at a con-
cert by the New York "Symphony and Oratorio Society." In between
(on February 24), he went to see Dockstader's Minstrels and a dog
show. Furthermore, on March 14 and 17, respectively, he attended
Barnum's circus and a performance of Fidelio at the Metropolitan
Opera House.
Mott's typically polyglot theatrical choices are also mirrored in the
diary kept by one James Norman Whitehouse from 1884 to 1927.47
Whitehouse was apparently a wealthy man, as indicated by his exten-
sive travels (to Montreal in February 1885, to Europe in October 1885
and May 1886, to Havana in March 1888) and by his regular (some-
times nightly) attendance at performances of the Metropolitan Opera
Company. What is interesting is the fact that in addition to such op-
eras as La Sonnambula, Tannhaiuser, Lohengrin, Don Giovanni, William Tell,
Fidelio, Aida, and Le Prophete, he also regularly attended performanc-
es of opera bouffe (La vie Parisienne, Les Noces de Jeannette), spectacle (The
Black Crook), operetta (Mikado, Princess Ida, Ruddigore), farce (Evange-
line), English opera (Gypsy Baron), and other entertainments such as
Harrigan and Hart's McAllister's Legacy; Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show,
and Thatcher, Primrose and West's Minstrels.48 Both of these diarists
were members of the American social and economic elite; both lived
in a major American city with a wealth of theatrical offerings. Their
entertainment tastes, however-as indicated by the performances they
attended-are in concert with the other evidence supplied, all of which
suggests that the American theatrical repertory during this time was
varied and eclectic, that English opera remained a normal part of it,
and that audience members-even some members of the "elite"-reg-
ularly patronized a wide assortment of performances.
It should be clear that during the second half of the nineteenth cen-
tury English opera continued to function as an important component
of the American popular theater. Familiarity with operatic music only
strengthened audience members' potential interest in this repertory,
which had not yet been segregated out of American popular culture.
But what was the relationship between these English troupes and the
increasingly elitist foreign-language companies? Did the proponents
of the two different styles of opera-the one adamantly a part of
American popular culture, the other increasingly divorcing itself from
it-simply ignore each other as much as possible? What does the re-
lationship between the two competing styles of opera tell us about
American society of the time?
362 Preston
The increasingly p
cal press) that opera
or fashionable style
panies from perform
phia during the 18
ther disregard or di
not all) of the elite
easily with our mode
inal language; it also
the elite who wishe
class signifier. To t
only existed in the
lacked the trapping
eign stars; unintell
ingly snobbish activ
era adherents abou
troupes, on the othe
valuable for what t
chy in relation to
implied tensions be
and elitist), however
aspects of English-o
The list of English
cludes a striking nu
donnas: there were
bott, Clara Kellogg,
Pauline Hall, Susan G
Emma Juch, Minn
troupes labeled for
Carleton, Max Mar
large number of En
active ones-were na
son with postbellum
not named for their
difference, in fact, i
tebellum period, wh
opera troupes but s
bore the names of their female stars.50
This tendency to name English-language troupes (but not foreign-
language companies) for their prima donnas might simply be further
evidence of the growing inclination of the most prominent wealthy
patrons to support foreign-language troupes, and the natural tenden-
cy of the most important impresarios (such as Maretzek, Ullman, or
Mapleson, who named companies after themselves) to court that pa-
tronage. On the other hand, however, the troupes' names might also
reflect the fact that many of the women prominently associated with
English-language companies wielded significant managerial or artis-
tic control over their troupes (unlike the general practice with foreign-
language opera).51 Prima donnas Emma Abbott, Clara Kellogg, Eu-
phrosyne Parepa, and Caroline Richings, to mention the most
prominent, were widely known at the time as managers/impresari-
os. Kellogg states clearly in her Memoirs that she organized her own
English-opera companies and maintained control of "all the artistic
details," and Caroline Richings (whose activities carried over from the
antebellum period) is frequently referred to in the musical press as a
"manager."52 Information in Sadie Martin's biographical sketch of
Emma Abbott indicates that the soprano maintained artistic and busi-
ness control of her companies, and Euphrosyne Parepa is generally
credited with organizing her troupe (along with her husband, Carl
Rosa), although she also hired a series of business managers, includ-
ing C. D. Hess and David De Vivo.53 One other woman whose name
was not associated with an opera troupe-Effie H. Ober-was in fact
responsible for organizing the Boston Ideals in 1879; she retained both
artistic and business control of the troupe until 1885.54 These women
singer/managers or managers apparently made artistic decisions
about costumes and scenery, hired their troupes' principal singers,
chorus members, and instrumentalists, oversaw rehearsals, selected
repertory, and made their own translations of the foreign-language
works.55 They acted, in other words, as either their own impresarios
or-at least-their own artistic directors. The managerial activities-
although a forgotten aspect of late-century opera-performance histo-
ry-were not groundbreaking per se, for a significant number of wom-
en theatrical managers, including Charlotte Cushman, Catherine
Sinclair, Laura Keene, Mrs. John (Louisa) Drew, Mrs. John (Matilda)
Wood, and Mrs. Frederick (Sarah) Conway, were active in nineteenth-
century America.56 In that context, these prima donna/impresarios
should be viewed as a variation on the theme of actresses-as-nine-
teenth-century-theatrical-managers. The active promotion of English
opera by a particular group of women, however, is intriguing, for it
suggests perhaps a gendered element to the development-or, rath-
er, resistance to the development-of a cultural hierarchy surround-
ing opera performance.57
Before examining the phenomena of English-opera management or
promotion, it is useful to consider first the general role of women in
opera performance during the period. Women were major players in
the performance of nineteenth-century opera-especially in nineteenth-
century opera, with its embrace of the soprano as the paragon of vo-
cal beauty. My focus here is not with the complicated issues of the
364 Preston
image and function

dealt with elsewhere
era singers, women
because operas (obv
was essentially theat
sional female partici
area in which wome
and earning power
from many professi
sisters in other vocat
the concert stages,
assertion that the p
ent... the same oppo
male musicians who
opportunities open t
of music.60 Althoug
Thursby (1845-1931
Powell (1867-1920),
1927)-pursued succes
bellum period, they
that professional mu
was the single perf
en professionals du
by far the most oppor
ican performing m
practical avenue for
This choice of the o
icans were suspiciou
opera singers). As it
local community; fu
out, "Victorians we
depended on skills
in her study of Am
ing carried with it
social order, in part
another theater hist
conduct a career in
woman had to be as
tics which were quit
ing that "women per
ininity and personif
American performe
the very real proble
success-performin
ostracism. That they chose to go on the stage nonetheless is undeni-

able; how some of them dealt with the repercussions from their deci-
sion might provide some clues about the place of English opera in a
developing cultural hierarchy.
As self-reliant, confident, ambitious, and assertive individuals,
American prima donnas had little to lose in terms of social status by
taking the next step of establishing control of their professional lives
as their own artistic directors or impresarios. But why English opera?
The answer really is not that complicated. During this period, Amer-
ican women who had aspirations as operatic performers were easily
marginalized: because they were Americans (or English-speakers)
their chances of a contract with a large foreign-language troupe were
severely limited precisely because one of the major attractions of the
Italian companies-especially to increasingly image-conscious elite
opera audiences-was a lineup of famous European singers. Ameri-
can prima donnas lacked foreign names, exotic appeal, European
fame, and reputations for capricious behavior. Admittedly, some few
American prima donnas successfully broke into the ranks of the for-
eign-language companies after mid-century, but most had to "Euro-
peanize" their names in order to do so. Genevieve Ward (1838-1922),
for example, had a short career with Jacob Grau's Italian company in
1862, but as Geneva (or Ginerva) Guerrabella, a manufactured name.
The Boston soprano Virginia Whiting (1833-?), who had made her
debut under Max Maretzek in 1850, subsequently also sang with
Grau's 1862 company, but by then under her married name of Lori-
ni. Even one of the most successful homegrown prima donnas, Lil-
lian Nordica (1857-1914), a native of Farmington, Maine who enjoyed
a very successful career singing both Italian and German opera (with
Mapleson's companies and with the Metropolitan), did so under a
stage name; she was born Lilian Norton.65 Many more singers than
this, however, carved out careers singing and managing English op-
era. Perhaps these women had no interest in a name change, or little
desire to work in a large, competitive company; perhaps the need to
convince a Mapleson, Maretzek, or Grau that they could muster
enough box office allure to compete with the high-profile foreign sing-
ers was unappealing. Or possibly they were good businesswomen as
well as fine artists and simply chose the less-complicated route, cir-
cumventing the entire apparatus of foreign-language opera by form-
ing their own troupes. It was easy enough to do so, and to be suc-
cessful at it. There were plenty of American or transplanted European
singers to hire (no need to travel to Europe to recruit performers);
furthermore, there was no need to cultivate an audience, for the
troupes could perform in American theaters that had hosted English-
opera companies since the 1830s.
366 Preston
It is interesting, ho
not content simply
they set about to cr
contrast with that p
ian and German op
elite pastime; Engli
populist, part of th
and middle-class au
English Opera Comp
she articulates in he
elytizing (despite th
panies).66 Emma Abb
ed a troupe that op
and introduced this
Emma Juch (1863-19
nies, was also know
Americans. She was t
American (later Na
failed, she formed
which traveled exte
vernacular.68 It is
carved out very su
an operatic style tha
es. It is feasible that
form of opera for
of these American s
ture a proportion of
with an overtly po
manifestly devoted
and cultivated an im
English-language op
an intriguing and
nineteenth-century
foreign-language op
tually remove muc
strong presence of
theaters during this
accompli by the turn
glish opera within t
late nineteenth cent
ginalization in the
in its cultivation as a
cess, created for its
case of principal sin
move fluidly between Italian opera, English opera, and concert troupes;
secondary performers could likewise continue to choose among the
various styles of musical theater, including English and Italian opera,
operetta, drama, minstrelsy, and even burlesque. For American pri-
ma donnas, marginalization of English opera opened an outlet for
professional aspirations not possible through the foreign-language
troupes; it furthermore opened professional doors into the realm of
management and allowed women performers some degree of social
redemption as proponents of an overtly populist entertainment form.
Finally, to all its performers, English opera became a cause to rally
around, a means overtly to defy the attempt by the American social
elite to appropriate this musical-theatrical form for itself. English op-
era, then, both flourished in the United States during the late nine-
teenth century and, for a period, became what its proponents proud-
ly claimed: opera for the (American) people.
NOTES
This article is adapted from papers read at the National Conference of the Ameri
Historical Association, Washington, D.C., January 1999, and at the National Confe
ence of the American Musicological Society as part of Toronto 2000: Musical Interse
tions, Toronto, November 2000. I am grateful to the College of William and Mary an
to the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History for support of research utiliz
in this article.
1. This has been thoroughly documented by several scholars, including myself.

particular, see Katherine K. Preston, Opera on the Road: Traveling Opera Troupes in t
United States (1993; Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2002); George Martin, Verdi
the Golden Gate: Opera and San Francisco in the Gold Rush Years (Berkeley: University o
California Press, 1993), and Karen Ahlquist, Democracy at the Opera: Music, Theater,
Culture in New York City, 1815-60 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997).
2. The most comprehensive examination of English opera is Eric Walter White's
History of English Opera (London: Faber and Faber, 1983), the focus of which is Engl
opera in England (there is almost no mention of performance by English troupes
North America). The historiography of opera performance in the United States of t
second half of the nineteenth century is focused almost exclusively on the performan
of foreign-language opera. Henry Krehbiel's Chapters of Opera: Being Historical and Crit
ical Observations and Records Concerning the Lyric Drama in New York from Its Earliest D
Down to the Present Time (New York: Henry Holt, 1909), is concerned exclusively w
Italian and German opera, and although Louis Elson mentions English opera in h
chapter titled "Opera in America," he limits all but three paragraphs of his discussi
of postbellum activity to the Italian and German schools. See The History of Americ
Music (New York: Macmillan, 1904). More recent surveys of American music histo
make almost no mention of postbellum opera performance of any kind. See H. Wile
Hitchcock, Music in the United States: A Historical Introduction, 4th ed. (Englewood Clif
N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 2000); Charles Hamm, Music in the New World (New York: Norto
1983); and Richard Crawford: America's Musical Life. A History (New York: Norton, 2001
This leaves only more specialized studies, such as John Cone's First Rival of the Met
politan Opera (New York: Columbia University Press, 1983), Quaintance Eaton's Op
368 Preston
Caravan: Adventures of th
Martin's The Damrosch D
pleson's The Mapleson Mem
Rosenthal (London: Putn
ductor and Builder of Or
all of which treat the act
in American Opera (Urba
operetta, but does not d
3. Most notable is Lawre
by the American elite as
While Levine's argument
erence to Italian and Ge
put it), the history of o
nuanced when one exam
frequently performing
companies. As mentioned
tinued impact on Amer
his argument. See Levine
America (New Haven: Ya
4. Repertory in the 1830
Henry Bishop, William
opera repertory; featur
Gaetano Donizetti, and
ph Adam, Franqois-Adr
eras on the American sta
though usually his Italia
Weber. See Preston, Oper
5. This assertion is thor
6. The construction of
the most obvious exampl
es and establishing dres
In fact, however, the a
and Philadelphia-as earl
as the Astor Place Hous
to attract a more "elite"
later than normal, makin
had to work the next m
opera attendance was rei
7. The troupes of Englis
from 1878 to 1886. From
of Music. See Cone, First
Memoirs; Krehbiel, Chap
8. Song Messenger of th
Richings," The New Gro
1992); E. F. Edgett, "Richi
ner's, 1935).
9. Parepa was the niece of Edward Seguin (1809-1852), a bass who had a tremen-
dous influence on the cultivation of English opera in the United States during the 1840s.
For information on Seguin, see Preston: Opera on the Road, chaps. 1-2; information on
Parepa's relationship to Seguin is from Folio 4, no. 4 (April 1871): 84.
10. According to The Song Messenger of the North-West 12, no. 3 (March 1874): 35,
"Since her marriage, [Parepa's] greatest successes have been in English Opera, which
owes much of its present popularity to the combined efforts of herself and husband."
11. Parepa died of complications from childbirth. See Brainards' Musical World 11, no.
2 (February 1874): 22. The Carl Rosa company was arguably the most influential En-
glish opera troupe active in Great Britain during the nineteenth century, when the com-
pany performed in London and toured constantly, performing regularly all over the
"provinces." Seasons in Liverpool, which was the company's "north-of-London head-
quarters," ran ten to twelve weeks; seasons in other large cities (Manchester, Birming-
ham, Edinburgh, Dublin) were more generally four to five weeks in length. But the
company regularly visited smaller towns-Bradford, Leeds, Bristol, Aberdeen, Barns-
ley, Plymouth-for annual or sometimes twice-annual seasons ranging from three
nights to two weeks in length. See White, English Opera, 367-69; Harold Rosenthal,
"Parepa (-Rosa)" and "Carl Rosa Opera Company," New Grove Opera; "Parepa-Rosa,
Euphrosyne," Dictionary of National Biography, ed. Sir Leslie Stephen and Sir Sidney Lee
(Oxford: University Press, 1993).
12. Unfortunately, scholarship on English-language troupes active in Great Britain
during the nineteenth century is almost as scarce as is scholarship about American com-
panies. The fascinating history of the Carl Rosa troupe is just now being written, by
John Ward of Manchester, England.
13. See Katherine K. Preston, "Clara Louise Kellogg," in American National Biogra-
phy, John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, general eds. (New York: Oxford University
Press, 1999), and Clara Louise Kellogg: Memoirs of an American Prima Donna (New York:
G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1913).
14. See Katherine K. Preston, "Emma Abbott," in American National Biography, and
Sadie E. Martin: The Life and Professional Career of Emma Abbott (Minneapolis: L. Kim-
ball Printing Co., 1891).
15. The formation of the company is first reported in Folio 2, no. 6 (June 1870): 129.
Clarence D. Hess served as the manager for numerous English opera troupes, includ-
ing-at various times-those of Emma Abbott, Euphrosyne Parepa-Rosa, Carl Rosa,
and Pierre Bernard.
16. Formation of the Oates Burlesque Opera Company is mentioned in Folio 3, no. 2
(August 1870): 34; later repertory is described in Folio 9, no. 6 (December 1873): 165,
and 10, no. 1 (January 1874): 41; for later activities, see Folio 22, no. 10 (October 1882):
364.
17. Amphion 4, no. 6 (April 1878): 133; American Art Journal, Aug. 27, 1892, 472.
18. There is surprisingly little in the secondary literature about this prominent com-
pany. For some information, see Henry Clay Barnabee, Reminiscences of Henry Clay Barn-
abee, ed. George Leon Varney (1913; Freeport, N.Y.: Books for Libraries Press, 1971),
309-10. See also Jane W. Stedman, "Henry Clay Barnabee," in American National Biog-
raphy, and Katherine K. Preston, "'Dear Miss Ober': Musical Management and the In-
terconnections of Musical Culture in the United States, 1876-1883," Proceedings of the
Second Baisley Powell Elebash Conference (forthcoming) held at the Graduate Center, City
University of New York, April 2002.
19. The best contemporary examination of the financially disastrous American (lat-
er National) Opera Company is Emanuel Rubin's "Jeannette Meyer Thurber (1850-
1935). Music for a Democracy." Rubin's discussion of Thurber's activities-and of her
avowed goal of "bringing world-class opera to a broad spectrum of the American public
at affordable prices" (139)-is situated exclusively within the context of the heavily
subsidized foreign-language troupes (such as the Metropolitan Opera Company of New
York), with no hint that Thurber's English-language company (performing a completely
continental repertory translated into English) was anything but unique. The lavish,
expensive, and ruinous scale of the AOC's performances did set this company apart
from most of the other English troupes, but the difference seems to have been that
Thurber was attempting to make an English-language troupe over into the image of
the Italian companies. In essence, she was removing English opera from the popular
370 Preston
stage (by creating lavish

and yet simultaneously a
able prices and English-l
in America. Women Patro
(Berkeley: University of
ful treatment of the Am
Boastful Dream to Catast
ductor for many of the c
20. Barnabee, Reminiscenc
21. This information is c
music periodicals) and re
troupes over a thirty-ye
particular troupe, nor do
several years.
22. Levine, Highbrow/Lowbrow, 102.
23. Adelaide Phillipps was a member of Max Maretzek's company when it visited
Philadelphia in 1866 (Song Messenger of the North-West 3, no. 11 [February 1866]: 175);
she was also a member of Maretzek's company when it toured Havana in the 1850s.
See Max Maretzek, Sharps and Flats (1890), reprinted in Revelations of an Opera Manager
in 19th-Century America, ed. Charles Haywood (New York: Dover Publications, 1968),
26. See also Victor Fell Yellin, "Phillipps, Adelaide," in Notable American Women, 1607-
1950, ed. Edward T. James (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1971); "Phillips,
Adelaide," in A Handbook of American Music and Musicians, ed. F. O. Jones (Buffalo: C.
W. Moulton and Co., 1887), 136-37; "Adelaide Phillipps," undated clipping (Chicago
Tribune?), in Clipping File, Music Division, New York Public Library for the Perform-
ing Arts; and "Adelaide Phillips," Folio 22, no. 5 (November 1882): 408.
24. John Tasker Howard, "Whitney, Myron William," American National Biography;
George C. D. Odell, Annals of the New York Stage (New York: Columbia University Press,
1938), 9:95, 98.
25. "Karl, Thomas," in Handbook of American Music, ed. Jones, 81.
26. Information about Campbell is from The Song Messenger Monthly 13, no. 1 (Janu-
ary 1875): 5, and from a statement about Campbell (dated October 24, year indecipher-
able) signed by Dan Bryant. ALS Collection at the Harvard Theatre Collection (HTC),
Harvard University.
27. Barnabee, Reminiscences, 310.
28. Grau company information from Vera Brodsky Lawrence, Strong on Music, vol.
3, Repercussions, 1857-1862 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999), 512; informa-
tion on English opera companies from Eugene Tompkins, The History of the Boston The-
atre (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1908), 141, 153, 161, 170, 182, 220, 362; information about
the Fifth Avenue Theatre is from ALS Castle to Roberts, October 31, 1876, ALS Collec-
tion, HTC; Christy's Minstrels reference and information about concert appearances
is from Lawrence, Strong on Music, 510n; ALS MacDonald to Ober, March 11, 1880, ALS
Collection, HTC; see also "The Requiem of a Grand Opera Pioneer," Theatre, August
1909, Clipping File, Music Division, NYPL.
29. ALS MacDonald to Ober, 24 April 1879, ALS Collection, HTC.
30. It is important to point out that what scholars "know" about postbellum audi-
ences of foreign-language opera is, in fact, insight into a very select segment of this
audience. In the 1880s and 1890s, for example, the New York elite bankrolled both the
New York Metropolitan and the Italian troupes managed by the British impresario
Mapleson. But the extent to which this control extended beyond the major cultural cen-
ters of the East is not clear: in cities where there were no theatres dedicated exclusive-
ly to opera performance, we know almost nothing about the audiences for these very
troupes, which toured widely. Furthermore, as will be suggested below, the fact that a
member of the "elite" subscribed to the Metropolitan Opera does not necessarily mean
that he or she eschewed performances of other musical-theatrical styles (including
English opera) not generally regarded (either at the time or in retrospect) as "elite."
31. For an invaluable overview of how the American theatre operated in the nine-
teenth century, see Alfred L. Bernheim, The Business of the Theatre (New York: Actors'
Equity Association, 1932).
32. George Rowell. The Victorian Theatre: A Survey, 2d ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1978), 156.
33. See, for examples, the many scrapbooks from this period in the Curtis Theatre
Collection in the Special Collections Division of the Hillman Library at the University
of Pittsburgh.
34. Advertisement found in William H. Boyd, Boyd's Directory to the District of Co-
lumbia (Washington, D.C., 1881), 566. All three of the actors mentioned were promi-
nent on the American stage during the nineteenth century. Joseph Jefferson (1829-1905),
the patriarch of a distinguished theatrical family, was known primarily for his portray-
als of Bob Acres in Sheridan's The Rivals and of Rip in Dion Boucicaut's dramatization
of Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle. Kate Claxton (1848-1924) was a native of New
York who performed on stage there and throughout the United States. Edward Soth-
ern (1826-81), an English actor and comedian, came to America in 1852 and enjoyed a
successful career largely through the role of Lord Dundreary in Our American Cousin.
Information about all three is readily available in standard biographical and theatrical
reference works.
35. Tompkins, Boston Theatre, 322-35. Thompson (1833-1911) was a nineteenth-cen-

tury American actor and playwright; his theatrical career was centered on a play called
The Old Homestead, which Odell (Annals of the New York Stage [1942], 13:155) describes
as "the outstanding rural drama of the ages and one of the most successful plays of
all time." Margaret Mather (1862-98) was a native of Canada and a very successful
performer "in the principal cities" of the United States (Frances Willard and Mary Liv-
ermore, A Woman of the Century [Chicago: Charles Wells Moulton, 1893], 496). Charles
L. Davis was a fairly obscure actor whose primary dramatic vehicle, Al Joslin, was "for
some time.. . popular in smaller communities" (Odell, Annals of the New York Stage
9:492). P. F. Baker and T. J. Farron were a fairly obscure "team of comedy not so refined"
(Odell, Annals of the New York Stage [1939], 11:281).
36. Quotation is from Eugene H. Cropsey, Crosby's Opera House. Symbol of Chicago's
Cultural Awakening (Madison, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1999), 135;
information on the 1869-70 season is found on 246-70. Bryant's Minstrels was a black-
face troupe formed by the brothers Dan, Jerry, and Neil Bryant in 1857; as specialists
both in portrayals of "plantation life" and in burlesque skits, the troupe retained its
popularity after the war. See Robert B. Winans, "Bryant [O'Brien], Dan(iel Webster),
The New Grove Dictionary of Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed Jan. 9, 2003), http:/ /
www.grovemusic.com. Both Charlotte (Lotta) Crabtree (1847-1924) and Lydia Thomp-
son (1836-1908) were well-known and influential performers on the American stage
during the postbellum period; information about either is readily available in standard
biographical or theatrical reference works.
37. Daybook, Edwards Opera House, Selma, Alabama, 1879-1881, Louis Gerstman
Papers, University of Alabama Archives, W. S. Hoole Special Collections Library, Uni-
versity of Alabama at Tuscaloosa.
38. Information about Pixley and Rankin is from Odell, Annals of the New York Stage,
11:49-50, 53-54. Cummings is described by Odell as an "elocutionist" (11:38) who per-
formed with a comedy troupe; her "combination company" was undoubtedly a vari-
ety troupe.
39. It is entirely possible that the per-ticket prices changed with different shows; this,
of course, would make this comparison of gross income per night more complex. Un-
372 Preston
fortunately, such com

apparently did not adv
Alabama), September-N
of this newspaper is in
tory, Montgomery, Ala
40. Odell, Annals of the
41. Information on pop
(Washington, D.C.: Gove
character is from The S
ace; and from Saffold Be
Mobile Register Printer
42. See, for example, d
ciety of Washington, D
43. Margaret Hindle Ha
tory of Brass Bands in
Press, 1987).
44. Katherine K. Presto
ington (1877-1900) (New
45. Hopper Striker Mo
Society (hereafter NYH
lection.
46. Odell, Annals of the New York Stage (1940), 12:453.

47. James Norman Whitehouse diaries, 1884-1927. Diaries Collection, NYHS.
48. Dates of the opera performances are November 24 and 26, December 8, 10, 19,
and 26, 1884; November12 and 17, 1886. Dates of the other performances: opera bouffe,
April 12 and 16, 1886; spectacle, April 19-20, 1886; operetta, May 1 and Nov. 30, 1886,
and Feb. 27, 1887; farce, Nov. 13, 1885; English opera, Feb. 23, 1886; H&H, Feb. 3, 1885;
Buffalo Bill, Dec. 4, 1886; minstrels, Sept. 21, 1886. Whitehouse diaries, NYHS.
49. It is important to point out that the modern justification for opera in the origi-
nal language (based on artistic considerations) was only a minor argument at the time.
Many of the elite, for the most part, did not consider opera as an edifying or uplifting
activity, but rather as a form of entertainment that could be used for purposes of class
demarcation. A major part of the mystique of foreign-language opera was its very in-
decipherability of language. For a description of the roots of this development, see
Bruce McConachie, "New York Operagoing, 1825-50: Creating an Elite Social Ritual,"
American Music 6, no. 2 (Summer 1988): 181-92. McConachie, however, suggests that
the elite's attempt to appropriate Italian opera for their own ends had been accom-
plished by 1850, a conclusion with which I disagree.
50. The antebellum Italian troupes named after women were overwhelmingly ex-
ceptions to the general practice: only a handful of companies named for their prima
donnas-those of Teresa Parodi, Henrietta Sontag, Felicita Vestvali, Balbina Steffanone,
and Marietta Alboni-were anything more than completely marginal in terms of the
length of time they were intact as viable companies, and only two of these troupes
(the Vestvali and Parodi Opera Companies) enjoyed seasons of more than a year. In
contrast, three of the most successful English-language troupes active between 1847 and
1860 were named for women: Anna Bishop, Anna Thillon, and Caroline Richings; these
troupes regrouped and returned to the road for performance tours year after year. See
appendices C and D in Preston, Opera on the Road.
51. One of the few postbellum foreign-language troupes to be managed by a wom-
an was the company run by Felicita Vestvali. For information about her companies'
activities in New York, see Lawrence, Strong on Music, vols. 2 and 3.
52. Kellogg, Memoirs, 256-57 and elsewhere in chapter 24; about Richings, see West-
ern Musical World 4, no. 6 (June 1867): 85; 4. no. 8 (August 1867): 124; 4, no. 11 (No-
vember 1867): 165; and 4, no. 12 (December 1867): 179.
53. Sadie Martin, The Life and Professional Career of Emma Abbott (Minneapolis: L. Kim-
ball Printing Co., 1891), 149 and elsewhere. About Parepa, see "Parepa-Rosa, Euph-
rosyne," Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography, ed. James Grant Wilson (New
York: D. Appleton and Co., 1888).
54. See Barnabee, Reminiscences, 307-24; Preston, "Dear Miss Ober," forthcoming con-
ference paper, and "Miss E. H. Ober," unidentified clipping in Clipping File, Music
Division, NYPL.
55. Ober was actually the exception to this rule; she was not a performer, but acted
entirely as a manager.
56. See Kathleen Morgan, "Of Stars and Standards: Actress-Managers of Philadel-
phia and New York, 1855-1880," Ph.D. diss., University of Illinois, Urbana, 1989; Al-
bert Auster, Actresses and Suffragists: Women in the America Theatre, 1890-1920 (New York:
Praeger, 1984); Faye Dudden, Women in the American Theatre. Actresses and Audiences,
1790-1870 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994); Jane Kathleen Curry, Nineteenth-
Century American Women Theatre Managers (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1994);
and Peter Davis, "'Lady-Managers' in Nineteenth-Century American Theatre," in The
American Stage: Social and Economic Issues from the Colonial Period to the Present, ed. Ron
Engle and Tice L. Miller (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 30-46.
57. It might be very interesting to examine Jeanette Thurber's efforts on behalf of
English opera in this context.
58. See, for example, Catherine Clement, Opera, or, the Undoing of Women, trans. Betsy
Wing (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1988).
59. Some of these professional advantages included the chance to compete for jobs
against other women (rather than against men), opportunities for social mobility, ac-
cess to the highest levels in the profession (including management), and enjoyment of
unparalleled social freedoms. See Tracy C. Davis, Actresses as Working Women. Their
Social Identity in Victorian Culture (London: Routledge, 1991), esp. chap. 1.
60. Gerda Lerner, The Majority Finds Its Past. Placing Women in History (Oxford: Ox-
ford University Press, 1979), 7.
61. Thursby devoted herself to a concert-rather than an operatic-career. The Swed-
ish soprano Jenny Lind (1820-87)-who gave up the operatic stage in 1849 and sang
thereafter (including her American appearances during 1850-52) only in concerts-
should also be mentioned in this context. Urso was active in the United States starting
in 1852, Powell made her American debut in 1885, and Bloomfield-Zeisler began per-
forming publicly in 1883. Information about all these performers is readily available
in standard reference sources. For additional information on Thursby, see Richard Mc-
Candless Gipson, The Life of Emma Thursby, 1845-1931 (New York: New-York Histori-
cal Society, 1940). Nineteenth-century American women, of course, were increasingly
active in the world of music, but primarily as teachers and patrons (and occasionally
as composers), rather than as performers-with the exception of vocal performance.
See Judith Tick, American Women Composers Before 1870 (Ann Arbor, Mich.: UMI Re-
search Press, 1983), and Adrienne Fried Block and Carol Neuls-Bates, comps. and eds.,
Women in American Music. A Bibliography of Music and Literature (Westport, Conn.: Green-
wood Press, 1979).
62. Davis, Actresses as Working Women, 3.
63. Dudden, Women in the American Theatre, 2, and Edna Hammer Cooley, "Women
in the American Theatre, 1850-1870: A Study in Professional Equity," Ph.D. diss., Uni-
versity of Maryland, College Park, 1986, 47.
64. Davis, Actresses as Working Women, xiv.
65. For information about Guerrabella, see Lawrence, Strong on Music, vol. 3, and
374 Preston
Odell, Annals of the New Y

on Music, vols. 2-3 and P
Katherine K. Preston, "No
Music Online, ed. L. Macy
Ira Glackens, Yankee Diva:
eridge Press, 1963).
66. See, in particular, cha
67. Quotation from H. Ear
also Martin, Life of Emma
68. Natalie Starr Putman,

Preston Between The Cracks

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Between the Cracks: The Performance of English-Language Opera in Late Nineteenth-

Between the Cracks:

The performance history of English-language opera in the United

Katherine K. Preston is associate professor of music and chair of the Depart-

For purposes of con

pleton, Hersee, McCaull, Conreid, Duff's, Pauline Hall, Andrews,

times-and so were their audiences, who wished to hear the latest

of the century were very similar to audiences of the 1850s: middle-

The transportation of a complete and often elaborate produc-

Hence English-opera troupes visiting provincial cities in both Great

era Company, Ned S

earned from the Grau troupe (30%) was a comparatively whopping

to explain the poten

New Park Theatre.46 In January and February of 1887 Mott attended

image and function

ostracism. That they chose to go on the stage nonetheless is undeni-

1. This has been thoroughly documented by several scholars, including myself.

stage (by creating lavish

35. Tompkins, Boston Theatre, 322-35. Thompson (1833-1911) was a nineteenth-cen-

fortunately, such com

46. Odell, Annals of the New York Stage (1940), 12:453.

Odell, Annals of the New Y

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