ATLAS

Podcast #5 – Emma Abbott

Posted on 27. Jun, 2009 by ATLAS in Arts & Culture, Famous Women, Peoria

Peoria’s Most Famous Singer
Emma Abbott was a nineteenth century world-renown singer with a lovely soprano voice. She toured the United States and Europe with her own very successful opera company. The Abbott English Opera Company was known for its elaborate costumes and Emma was known for her outstanding voice and great showmanship. Their many successes included “Daughter of the Regiment”, “Chimes of Normandy”, “Bohemian Girl”, “Martha”, “La Traviata”, and “Ruy Blas.” Perhaps her most famous role was that of “Yum Yum” in the Mikado. Emma closed many of her performances by singing, “Last Rose of Summer” and it was her most requested song.

Emma Abbott was known as “Peoria’s Foster Daughter” and “Peoria’s Most Famous Singer.” In fact, Emma Abbott was born in Chicago on December 9, 1850. Her father, Seth, was a singing teacher and musician who brought his family to Peoria when Emma was three years old. He had been hired to direct the choir of the First Baptist Church. As a tiny child, Emma displayed evidence of an unusual musical talent, which became more evident as she grew older. Her father taught her to play the guitar and spared no pains in developing her voice.

The Peoria City Directory shows that the Abbott family lived in Peoria for sixteen years. Stories were told and embellished over the years of the family’s impoverished lifestyle but Emma’s friend and biographer, Sadie Martin, set the story straight in her 1891 biography of Emma. Seth Abbott attempted to sell insurance and real estate to supplement his income as a singing teacher but he was not particularly successful. His love was music and it was his life. Emma’s mother, Almira, who also possessed a beautiful singing voice, was a very frugal housewife, and Emma did not wear ragged clothing or go without shoes as was reported in the press.

A Peoria newspaper documented Emma’s 1859 stage debut. She played her guitar and sang for a group of coal miners in a schoolhouse in Edwards, Illinois, just outside the city of Peoria. No admission was charged and the miners were enthralled with her sweet voice. They took up a collection and Emma was delighted to return home with many coins jingling in her pockets.

Around 1862, William Bradbury, a famous composer of the time, visited Peoria to attend a performance by Seth Abbott’s music students. Little Emma Abbott’s voice caught his attention and Mr. Bradbury said of her, “she sings as a lark because she can’t help it, and she sings beautifully, too. There isn’t another voice in the room that compares with hers in possibilities.” He said to Emma later in the day, “My dear, fame and fortune are sure to be yours.”

William Bradbury’s comments gave Seth the confidence to pursue Emma’s career. He took her to Chicago to work with a voice teacher and she began to travel the country performing wherever and whenever she could. During her travels, she met and became the protégé of a very famous opera star of the time, Clara Louise Kellogg. This meeting opened many doors for Emma and she was invited to perform in New York City with Miss Kellogg. Critics were not particularly kind but Emma played to packed houses every night. Emma laughingly said, “Either the New Yorkers possessed horrid taste and were unable to distinguish between good work and poor, or else the critics were unduly harsh and unjust in their reviews of my singing. Now, which was it?”

While in New York, Emma’s many fans and supporters helped her realize her dream of studying in Europe. They raised $10,000 to help with expenses and around 1872 she went to Milan and Paris to study French, Italian, and German , along with voice and dramatic acting. Emma knew that she needed many skills to become a successful performer. She was determined to succeed and was very disciplined and self-possessed.

Emma debuted at Covent Garden Theater in London and her singing set Londoners wild. Encore followed encore and the audience was still not satisfied. She was showered with flowers and coins. While in London, she married Eugene Wetherell in 1874. She had met Wetherell in New York and he claimed he fell in love with her voice before he ever saw her face. From the first hour he heard her sing, he was determined to make her his wife.

In 1877, Emma and Eugene returned to the United States and formed the Abbott English Opera Company. Traveling all over the U.S., with Emma as the lead performer and her husband as manager, the company was quite successful. Emma was very popular and there were many fans who waited, watched and longed for her annual appearance as if she were an old friend. On her first visit to San Francisco, she earned ten thousand dollars profit in the first week. Emma worked very hard; always visiting Europe in the summer to look for additions to her repertoire, to order costumes, and to work on staging. She also worked with the best musical and dramatic teachers. As the Company became more successful, Emma spent more money on costuming and made sure that they were always historically correct.

Many stories have been documented of Emma Abbott’s generosity. Wherever she traveled, she made generous contributions to communities in need and families in crisis. She never turned down a request from a dying or ailing fan to come and sing. On August 10, 1884, a horrible train wreck occurred near Chatsworth, Illinois. Eighty people were killed and 120 were injured, mostly from Peoria and nearby communities. Emma donated to the relief fund with this request, “So far as you can consistently, without leaving others to suffer, apply this to the needs of the wounded and bereaved who belonged to Peoria.”

The Abbott Opera Company visited Emma’s adopted hometown of Peoria every year. In 1880, they were experiencing a bit of financial difficulty while visiting. After paying salaries and hotel bills, the Company was without a dollar. The receipts of the week were expected to be good but transportation to the next engagement in Chicago was yet to be paid. An advertising bill of $23.00 payable to Col. Dowdall, editor of the Peoria National Democrat was due and Eugene asked for an extension. The extension was courteously granted and the bill was paid a month later. Emma did not consider this payment enough and each year during the Company’s engagement in Peoria, she gave Col. Dowdall and his family the use of a box and often sent a carriage to take them to the theater.

In 1882, Emma was the leading attraction at the dedication of Peoria’s new Grand Opera House on September 7. In fact, she had offered city fathers $500 to name the theater after her. She was not the only person to make an offer for naming rights, but the city turned down all offers. The historic theater was destroyed by fire in 1909.

In 1889, Eugene died suddenly of pneumonia. Emma was devastated and could not imagine traveling and performing without him. She gave the Company a two-week hiatus while she decided what to do. In the end, she could not abandon her Company in the middle of the season, knowing that many of them did not have money set aside.

In the summer of 1890, Emma made her usual trip to Europe and spent much of her time in Paris. She was very fond of the city and attended two public gatherings there that summer. Emma was recognized and invited to sing. After performing Last Rose of Summer, many commented that her voice was the best it had ever been.

The costumes that she bought that summer were the most elegant and costly she had ever purchased. To designers Worth and Felix she paid $100,000 and she felt it was almost wicked to spend so much. However, fans of hers expected the Abbott Opera Company to have the most beautiful costumes and she did not disappoint.

On December 29, 1890, the Company was scheduled to open a new opera house in Ogden, Utah. The building had just been completed and the walls were not thoroughly dry, but Emma’s dressing room was made comfortable with sufficient heating. However, a window came open while she was dressing and Emma became terribly chilled. She had been ill with a cold for several days and was taking immense doses of quinine.

After her matinee performance on December 30, Emma returned to her hotel with a raging fever. She drank large quantities of iced milk against the advice of her assistant saying, “I seem to be on fire and this is all that cools my blood.” The quinine that she had been taking did not mix well with the cold milk and she became quite ill. When she returned to the opera house for the evening performance, it was apparent to all that she was not well. She refused to disappoint her fans and went on with the show. A doctor was brought in at intermission who failed to convince her to return to her hotel. Emma finished the show but to all in the audience it was apparent that she was very ill. What they did not know was that their favorite songstress had sung her last note.

Emma was taken to her hotel where she was diagnosed with pneumonia. She spent five days attended around the clock by physicians and her assistants and they knew that her inability to keep food or medicine down did not bode well for her recovery. In the end, she was given injections of morphine to relive her agony. Emma Abbott passed away on January 5, 1891, the second anniversary of her husband’s death.

The Company held a small service of their own in the parlor of the hotel, singing a few hymns. They began the train journey to Chicago with their beloved Emma, arriving on January 10. Her family held services there and then Emma was taken to Gloucester, Massachusetts for burial next to Eugene. She was buried in a beautiful costume once worn in the opera “Ernani,” the last opera Emma ever sang.