Cather, Meta Schaper (1884-1973). Cather’s sister-in-law. Meta Schaper was born in Plattsmouth, NE, the second daughter of Robert and Julia Ramke Schaper. After graduating from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln 1903, Meta Schaper taught at Havelock High School in her hometown of Havelock, NE (now part of Lincoln). She met Roscoe Cather when teaching in Fullerton, NE, and they married in 1907. They moved to Lander, WY, in 1909, where she gave birth to three daughters, Virginia and twins Margaret and Elizabeth. The family moved to Casper, WY, in 1921 and Colusa, CA, in 1937. Willa visited Meta and Roscoe’s family in Wyoming several times and shared important travel experiences with them, including a 1926 trip to New Mexico with Meta, Roscoe, and their children and a 1941 San Francisco vacation with Roscoe and Meta. Meta and Willa remained friends until Willa’s death.

Dvořák, Antonín (1841-1904). Bohemian composer. Dvořák is the first Bohemian composer to gain worldwide recognition for his romantic interpretations of folk material. He began his career in England and Russia before emigrating to the U.S. to serve as director of the National Conservatory in New York. Dvořák’s most famous work is the Symphony No. 9, in E minor, op. 95 (also known as “From the New World). Cather first heard Theodore Thomas’s orchestra play the New World Symphony in Lincoln, NE, in 1894. She later drew upon this experience in writing The Song of the Lark (1915), in which protagonist Thea Kronborg attends a performance of “From the New World” in Chicago, IL, and experiences an ecstasy that shapes her future commitment to art.

Eames, Emma (1865-1952). American soprano. Born in China to a family from Maine, Eames was educated in Boston, MA. She studied with the distinguished voice teacher, Mme. Marchesi, and made her debut with the Paris Opera in 1889, and with the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1891. In 1909 she retired from the operatic stage, and embarked on concert tours until 1914. She became a well-known teacher of voice in later years. Cather’s early newspaper columns comment on Eames several times, and she mentions the singer’s marriage to portraitist Julian Story, whom Eames later divorced, and in her letters mentions the singer’s second husband, baritone Emilio de Gogorza.

Sembrich, Marcella (1858-1935). Polish soprano. Born Prakseda Marcelina Kochánska in what is now Ukraine, Sembrich studied violin and piano until 1875, when her teachers discovered her voice. She studied in Italy before making her debut in Athens, Greece, in 1877. She sang at the Dresden Royal Opera House before spending five years at Covent Garden in London, England, where she became a favorite. Her first appearance at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City was in 1883, but she did not become established there until 1898, singing until retiring in 1909. She gave concerts until 1917, and taught other singers, such as Alma Gluck, in the 1920s. Like actress Helena Modjeska, Sembrich was a devoted Polish patriot.

Schubert, Franz (1797-1828). Austrian composer and pianist. Franz Schubert was born in Vienna, Austria, the son of a poor schoolmaster. He early showed aptitude for the piano, violin, singing, and composition; through the influence of Antonio Salieri, he was able to attend the Imperial and Royal City College in Vienna, where he received one of the best educations available to a non-aristocrat, and met many of the friends who helped sustain him in later life. He was a prolific composer with a particular genius for song, raising the German lied to an art form, though his symphonies, chamber music and piano music are equally celebrated. As a newspaper critic Cather reviewed live performances of Schubert’s works, and she continued to enjoy such performances throughout her life. She also alluded to Schubert and his works frequently in her fiction, especially in Lucy Gayheart (1935).

Patti, Adelina Juana Maria (1843-1919). Italian-American soprano. Born in Spain to a family of Italian singers who moved to New York City when she was a child, Adelina Patti made her operatic debut in 1859, at the age of sixteen. Two years later she went on to success in Europe, becoming acclaimed for the beauty of her voice and face. Her operatic and concert repertoire was wide, but after she sang “Home, Sweet Home” to President Abraham and Mrs. Lincoln after the death of their son, it became her signature tune, performed at every concert. Patti married three times, lastly to Swedish baron Rolf Cedarström in 1898. After an unsuccessful tour of the U.S. in 1903, she retired to her castle in Wales. Cather may not have heard Patti sing, but she placed Patti among the great singers of her time in her 1890s newspaper columns and in later letters.

Reicher, Hedwig (1884-1971). German actress. Hewig Reicher was born into a famous acting family in Germany and began her career at the age of twelve, appearing in a play with the German Emperor in attendance. At age fifteen she appeared as Nora in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House to great acclaim. She emigrated to the U.S. in 1907 to perform at the German language Irving Place Theatre in New York City. By 1909 she began to perform in English, appearing in Martha Morton’s “On the Eve.” Reicher later went on to have a film career, appearing in movies such as: I Married a Doctor (1936), Sporting Chance (1931), and Lucky Star (1929). She was also an influential figure in the women’s suffrage movement appearing as “Columbia” in the 1913 Suffrage Parade. In 1917 Cather knew Reicher well enough to throw a party in her honor, but the depth and length of their acquaintance is unknown.

Bourda, Joséphine Marie Bernardine Brun (1892-1959). Cather’s maid. Raised in Lourdes in the Pyrénées region of France, Joséphine’s father Jean-Marie Brun ran a restaurant. In 1909 she married Alphonse Bourda, and they had two children, Marie, born 1910, and Clémentine, born 1912. In 1913 Joséphine, Alphonse, and Joséphine’s father immigrated to the U.S., leaving Marie and Clémentine behind with relatives. Alphonse and Joséphine’s third child, Jeanette, was born in New York City in late 1913. Soon after, Joséphine found work cooking and keeping house for Willa Cather and Edith Lewis in their Five Bank Street apartment. In 1919 the Bourda family was reunited in New York and Joséphine stopped working, but by late 1921, she was back working half days until sometime after 1925. She resumed working for Cather and Lewis in 1932 when they moved to a new apartment at 570 Park Avenue, but in 1935, she and her husband decided to return to France because of his failing health. Cather considered Joséphine a personal friend and praised her as “an artist in her way” (#0563). Cather and Bourda evidently corresponded after her return to France but their letters have not surfaced. She died in the village of Saint Pé de Bigorre.