Emma Abbott by Stereoscopic

Emma Abbott (1850-1891); American soprano.
As a child she and her brother George studied singing, piano, guitar and violin with their father. Because of the financial problems of their parents she and her brother began performing professionally when she was nine years old. In 1859 she made her debut as a guitar player and singer in Peoria (Illinois) with George on the violin, In 1866 she joined an itinerant concert troup and toured the country. While performing on the road she met and was befriended by the opera soprano Clara Louise Kellogg. Upon hearing Abbott in a concert in Toledo, Kellogg made it a point to meet her and encourage her to pursue an opera career and gave her a letter of introduction. Consequently Abbott studied in New York City under Achille Errani and made her concert debut there in December 1871. In 1872 she went abroad to study with Antonio Sangiovanni in Milan. This was followed by further studies with Mathilde Marchesi, Pierre François Wartel and Enrico Delle Sedie in Paris. She appeared in several productions in Paris. In 1876 she was engaged by Covent Garden and debuted as Marie in "La fille du Régiment". Her contract was cancelled shortly thereafter when she refused to sing Violetta from Verdi's "La Traviata" on moral grounds. That same year she secretly married Eugene Wetherell and they returned to the United States, where she remained for the rest of her life. In 1877 she made her American operatic debut in New York, once again portraying Marie in "La fille du Régiment".. In 1878 she and her husband organized an opera company known by her name (the Abbott English Opera Company), which toured extensively throughout the United States. It was the first opera company formed by a woman in the USA. Her husband ran the business end of the company and she managed the artistic side. The company garnered a reputation among the public for quality productions and was quite successful. Throughout her career, she retained artistic control over her troupe. Although the company's repertoire included works from the French, Italian and English operatic literatures, they always performed in English. Many of the works were abridged and interpolated songs were commonplace. For this reason the company and Abbott were not popular with many music critics who were unhappy with the changes to the standard repertoire. However, the company was incredibly popular with the public and was consistently financially successful. Abbott herself became known among Americans as "the people's prima donna".