UTTERLY IRRELEVANT.

  charity concert: Margaret R. Seymour, in her thesis, Music in Lincoln, Nebraska, in the Nineteenth Century: A Study of the Musical Culture of a Frontier Society (UNL,1968), notes a charity concert at which Martinus Sieveking and August Hagenow, among others, performed in December 1894 (220-21). Sieveking played Rubenstein's Melody in F and led the orchestra; Hagenow was the violin soloist.

Seymour listed Hattie and Ed Becker, sister and brother of Sadie Becker, a prototype for Cather's Lucy Gayheart, as other performers at this concert. The Beckers had lived in Red Cloud in the 1880s.

  Lansing Theatre: The Lansing Theater, on the southwest corner of 13th and P Streets, was built in 1891, displacing the Funke Opera House as the largest and finest theater in Lincoln. The owners were J.F. Lansing (b. 1842), a Lincoln real estate man, and his brother-in-law Henry Oliver (b. 1857); Edward A. Church was the manager. According to the program of the opening week (November 23-28, 1891) the auditorium consisted of the orchestra and parquet seating on the main level, with dress circle at the rear and sides; three tiers of five boxes each and six loges were at the sides. Above were the balcony and the gallery. With standing room, about 2500 people could be present.

The building also housed offices, including that of Cather's friend and fellow reviewer, Dr. Julius H. Tyndale. It was renamed the Oliver Theater in 1898.

The Oliver Theater, Lincoln, Nebraska. The theater was originally named The Lansing Theater.

  Mr. Martinus Sieveking: Dutch composer and pianist Martinus Sieveking (1867-1950) was born in Amsterdam, where he studied with composer Julius Röntgen. He was a prolific composer, though many of his pieces are described as "salon music." However, he was also a talented arranger: many of his versions of Chopin's music are still standard. Sieveking taught at the conservatory of music in Lincoln from 1893-95, and toured America in 1895-96, performing at Carnegie Hall in New York. A tall, handsome man, he became a close friend of the famous strongman, Eugen Sandow (1867-1925), developing his body according to Sandow's principles. In the first quarter of the twentieth century, Sieveking taught piano in New York and composed and performed music for player piano companies. He died in Pasadena, California.

  Mr. August Hagenow: August Hagenow came to Lincoln from Chicago in 1886; he was a violinist, but also conducted bands and orchestras in Lincoln. He joined the faculty of O. B. Howell's Nebraska Conservatory of Music in 1889, the same year he married Emma S. Seifert. In January 1894 he opened the Hagenow School of Music, but was bought out by Willard Kimball of the University School of Music in June 1894. Hagenow joined the faculty of the University School of Music, becoming director of the university band from 1903 to 1911.

  Mr. William Leonard Gray: The Lincoln city directories for 1892-95 list William Leonard Gray as a teacher at the Nebraska Conservatory of Music; he was living at 1313 L Street in 1894.

  Mrs. Mary Latimer Gray: Mrs. Mary Latimer Gray of 831 S. 13th Street is listed in the 1894 Lincoln city directory as a teacher at the Nebraska Conservatory of Music.

  Miss Minnie E. Gaylord: Minnie E. Gaylord (born in 1874 in Minnesota) was the daughter of Luther T. Gaylord, a clerk living at 1718 Q Street at the time of the 1892 Lincoln city directory. The 1900 census lists her as a hairdresser living in a large boarding house or hotel at 1516 O Street.

  Mr. Hubert J. W. Seamark: Hubert J. W. Seamark, who is listed as a music teacher in Lincoln city directories of the early 1890s, was living at 845 G Street in 1893 and 1894. Seymour notes that he sang in a quartet with Mrs. C. S. Lippincott, Eugenia Getner, and W. K. Tuttle in a concert on 4 February 1896. He is listed in the 1909 Lincoln City Directory as a musician with the Elite Theatre, where his wife, Olive M. Seamark, was a pianist.

  Jessie Hoffman: This was probably Jessie Hoffman, who was listed in the 1895 Lincoln city directory as a music teacher. She lived with her mother, Rosa Hoffman, widow of D.S. Hoffman, at 1344 J Street; she is no longer listed, at least under this name, in the 1897 directory.

  University of Nebraska Conservatory of Music: The University of Nebraska offered instruction in music but had no regular department of music. In 1892 Chancellor James H. Canfield proposed the establishment of a Conservatory of Music to be affiliated with but not funded by the university; however, its students would receive university credit (and provide music for university functions). Willard Kimball of the Grinnell College Conservatory of Music was invited to establish the new conservatory; the building, at the corner of 11th and R Street, just across from the campus, opened in 1894.

  Mr. Frank C. Zehrung: Frank Connell Zehrung (1858-1942) was born in Cedar Rapids, IA, the son of John and Mary Connell Zehrung. According to Who's Who in Nebraska, he was educated at Lincoln High School and at the University of Nebraska. He was in the drug store business from 1879 to 1897, and managed the Funke Opera House from 1894 to 1900. In partnership with L. M. Crawford he managed the Oliver Theatre (formerly the Lansing Theatre) from 1899 to 1917. He married Jessie L. Voris (d. 1944) in 1911. He was active in civic affairs, as a member of the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary club, and the Order of Elks, and he served as five terms as mayor of Lincoln: 1913-15, 1921-27, and 1931-33.

Zehrung's drug store was at 1213 O St. until 1894.

  evening dress: Evening dress for men consisted of a black suit with a swallow-tail coat, white, stiff-fronted shirt, white tie and waistcoat, and patent leather shoes. Women's evening dress was usually of fine materials, low-cut, with short or no sleeves, and long gloves.

  negligee costume: Informal clothing, especially that worn around the house.

  elbow kids: Long, elbow-length evening gloves were often made of fine kid leather.

  Corse Payton: Actor and manager Corse Payton (1866-1934) was born in Centerville, Iowa; he made his stage debut at the age of 16 in his family's company; his elder sister married Benjamin Spooner of the Spooner Family company. He organized his own company, Corse Payton's Comedy Company, in 1891 and toured the Midwest until taking his company east in 1895. An undated playbill that has been preserved notes that Payton "carries an entire [railroad] car load of Special Scenery, his own carpets, furniture, bric-a-brac." By 1900 he had his own popular theater, Corse Payton's Lee Avenue Theatre, in Brooklyn, NY, where his company performed two shows a day, with seats at 10, 20, and 30 cents each. Reputedly future stars such as Mary Pickford, Ed Wynn, and the Gish sisters served in his company at various times. Later he managed stock companies in Newark, NJ, and Jamaica, NY. He married Etta Reed, the leading lady of his company; after her death in 1915 he married another actress, Henrietta Brown (d. 1958).

  The Hustler: The New York Times reviewer called The Hustler "the usual variety exhibition" when it opened at the Bijou Theater in New York (24 November 1891). The original company included John and Henry Kernell; Gus Mills, a female impersonator; Barney Reynolds, Mollie Thompson, and Rose and Hilda Laporte. The Kernell company played in the New York area theaters for several years, occasionally changing some of the specialty acts, according to Odell (XV).

  shooting suit: A suit made for hunting, usually with many pockets on the jacket to hold ammunition and other gear.

  white duck trousers: Duck, a strong linen or cotton cloth, finer than canvas, was often used for men's informal trousers, especially in the summer, in the nineteenth century.

  Council Bluffs: Council Bluffs, Iowa, is across the Missouri River from the larger city of Omaha, Nebraska. It is so named because Lewis and Clark met with members of the Otoe tribe there in 1804. The area began to be settled in the 1830s and was named Kanesville in the 1840s, when it became a launching point for Mormon immigration to Utah. The town assumed its present name in the1850s when it became a center for outfitting settlers heading west on the California and Oregon Trails.

  St. Joseph: St. Joseph, Missouri, was incorporated in 1843 and was important as the last major supply post for those heading west across the Missouri River. It served as one of the endpoints of the Pony Express in the 1850s; however, it became overshadowed by the growing city of Kansas City to the south.

Cather mentions St. Joe several times in her fiction; it is one of the cities the two friends visit in her story "Two Friends" (Obscure Destinies).

  The London Times: John Walter began publication of a newspaper in London in 1785, giving it the name of The Times in 1788. It soon became a profitable and influential newspaper, the first to send special correspondents to cover wars. However, it suffered in the late nineteenth century from competition from cheaper papers—the "penny press"—and nearly went under in 1890. Its new editor, Charles F.M. Bell, was part of its revitalization from 1890-1911. The paper was bought by Alfred Harmsworth (later Lord Northcliffe) in 1908, by John Jacob Astor in 1922, by Canadian Roy Thomson in 1967, and Rupert Murdoch in 1981.

  Queen Victoria: Queen Victoria (1819-1901) ascended to the throne in 1837, at the age of eighteen. She married a cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg, in 1840, and they had nine children; she was deeply devoted to her husband, and their home life was considered exemplary. The death of Prince Albert in 1861 deprived her of both her husband and her most trusted advisor. She went into mourning for the rest of her life, and though she kept in close touch with affairs of state, for many years she refused to appear at public functions. She lost some of her popularity at this time, but a new rise in public affection culminated in her Golden Jubilee in 1887 and her Diamond Jubilee in 1897. As the longest-reigning British monarch, she presided over the decreasing power of the monarchy itself, but also over the rise of Great Britain as the dominant power of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.

  Alfred Tennyson: English poet Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892) was one of the most popular poets of the nineteenth century. He was one of the twelve children of a disinherited Anglican minister, and began writing poetry as a youth. He was educated at Cambridge University, where he met Henry Hallam, the friend whose death inspired "In Memoriam." Poems Chiefly Lyrical (1830) was published while he was still an undergraduate; his second volume of poetry (1833) included "The Lady of Shalott," but was severely reviewed, and he did not publish again for ten years. His Poems (1842) made him famous, a fame secured by The Princess (1847). He was appointed poet laureate of England in 1850 and made first Baron Tennyson in 1884. Other famous poems include The Idylls of the King, based on Arthurian legend, "The Charge of the Light Brigade," "Crossing the Bar," "Maud," and "Ulysses."

  rose glasses: Seeing the world through rose-colored glasses, or everything in its most attractive light, is an expression that was probably popularized by Thomas Hughes in Tom Brown at Oxford (1861): "Oxford was a sort of Utopia to the Captain. . . . He continued . . . to behold towers, and quadrangles, and chapels, . . . through rose-coloured spectacles" (OED).

  Hanover women: When Queen Anne of Great Britain died childless in 1714, the Protestant line of the House of Stuart came to an end; to avoid the Catholic Stuart heirs, throne of England went to the Elector George of Hanover (1660-1727), whose mother, Sophia (1630-1714), was a granddaughter of James I. The House of Hanover includes George I, George II, George III, George IV, William IV, and Victoria. Cather may mean to include the mistresses as well as the wives and daughters of the Hanovers; one of George I's mistresses, Ehrengard von der Schulenberg(1667-1743) was popularly known as "the Maypole" in Britain, while another, Charlotte Sophia Kielmansegge, was known as "the Elephant."

  Queen Caroline of Ansbach: Possibly Caroline of Ansbach (1683-1737), queen consort of George II of Great Britain and grandmother of George III, or Caroline of Brunswick (1768-1821), wife of George IV, who sought to divorce her after his father's death.

  Queen Charlotte of Mecklenberg-Strelitz: Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1744-1818) married King George III of Great Britain in 1761. The couple had fifteen children of whom thirteen survived, including the future George IV and William IV.

  a state of funereal melancholy: Queen Victoria had been in mourning since the death of her husband, Prince Albert (1819-1861).

  profitably disposed of her plain daughters and profligate sons: Queen Victoria and Prince Albert had nine children. Her eldest daughter, Princess Victoria, was married to the future German emperor, Kaiser Frederick III. Her eldest son, Edward, Prince of Wales, was married to the beautiful but relatively poor Princess Alexandra of Denmark. Princesses Alice, Helena, and Beatrice married German nobility, the Grand Duke of Hesse, Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, and Prince Henry of Battenburg, respectively; Princess Louise married the British Duke of Argyll. Of Victoria's younger sons, Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, married the only surviving daughter of Tsar Alexander II of Russia; Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, married Princess Luise of Prussia, grand-niece of Kaiser Wilhelm I; Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, married Princess Helene of Waldeck-Pyrmont (a sister of Queen Emma of the Netherlands and a niece of Queen Sophia of Sweden).

  as cold to her daughters-in-law as she was to her own children and her own husband: Queen Victoria's diaries as well as the testimony of members of her court show that she was devoted to her husband, Prince Albert. She was, however, cold to her eldest son, the Prince of Wales, whom she tried to keep out of public affairs throughout his life.

  Princess May (Victoria Mary) of Teck: The Princess May (Victoria Mary) of Teck (1867-1953) was the daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Teck; her mother was a grandchild of George III, and Queen Victoria was one of her godmothers. She was engaged to marry the Duke of Clarence, Queen Victoria's eldest grandson, when he died in early 1892. The queen arranged Princess May's marriage to the Duke of Clarence's brother, the Duke of York (the future George V) in July 1893. They became a devoted couple, rescuing the royal family from the scandals of the past. Princess May became Queen Mary in 1910; she was the mother of the future Edward VIII (1894-1972) and George VI (1895-1952), and grandmother of Elizabeth II (1926-).

  Duke Clarence: Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence (1864-1892), was the eldest son of Edward, Prince of Wales (later Edward VII), and the grandson of Queen Victoria.

  turned May over to George in less than a year: Princess May's engagement to the Duke of Clarence ended with his death on 14 January 1892. She became engaged to his brother George, Duke of York, on 4 May 1893, as reported by a telegram from George to his friend Sir Charles Cust.

  dullest and most insipid of diaries: A diary of Princess Victoria Mary (May) of Teck was published in the New Review (London) in 1893 (vol. 9, no. 1)

  Victor Hugo: French writer and political activist Victor Hugo (1802-1885) made his name first as a poet in the early 1820s. Inspired by the French Romantic writer Chateaubriand, he called for the breaking of the bonds of the French classical tradition: this led to the so-called "battle of Hernani," the riot that followed the production of his play, Hernani, in 1830. His poetry, plays, and novels made him the leading writer of his day. His novel, Notre Dame de Paris (1831), published in English as The Hunchback of Notre Dame, won him fame throughout Europe; Les Miserables (1862) embodied his social concerns.

  as Victor Hugo accuses Elizabeth and Anne of doing: Two of Victor Hugo's plays dealt with the early Elizabethan period and may contain this suggestion: Amy Robsart (1828); which ran for only one night, and more likely, Marie Tudor (1833). Cather may mean Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth's mother, not Queen Anne of Great Britain (1665-1714).

  Elizabeth Tudor: Elizabeth Tudor (1533-1603) was the younger daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. Although Henry declared the marriage invalid after beheading Anne for adultery and treason, Elizabeth was declared third in the succession when her half-brother Edward was born. She survived a childhood and youth of plots by others under Edward and her elder half-sister, the Roman Catholic Mary I, before ascending to the throne in 1558 at the age of twenty-five. The rigorous education, self-control, and political skill she had learned as princess, in addition to her choice of wise and loyal counselors, enabled her to lead England to a place as one of the major powers of Europe. Nonetheless, she had to contend with plots against her at home and abroad, some of the most dangerous of which centered on Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, whom Roman Catholics saw as the legitimate heir to the throne; Elizabeth reluctantly signed Mary's death warrant in 1587. Despite the many offers for Elizabeth's hand in marriage, she remained "the Virgin Queen," and as a symbol of her country, gave her name to England's golden age of literature and power.

  Anne Boleyn: Anne Boleyn (c.1501-1536) was the second wife of Henry VIII and the mother of Queen Elizabeth I. She was not a conventional beauty of the time, being dark rather than fair, but she was intelligent, well-educated, and vivacious. She became a lady-in-waiting to Henry's queen, Catherine of Aragon, in 1522. Henry wanted a male heir, and determined on a divorce; by 1525 he had fallen in love with Anne Boleyn. They were finally married in 1532, when Henry declared he, not the Pope who had refused him the divorce, was the head of the church in England. Anne gave birth to her daughter in 1533. By 1535 Henry had a new mistress, Jane Seymour; he accused Anne of adultery and treason. She was beheaded in 1536.

  Stuarts: The House of Stuart ruled Scotland from 1371 to 1707. When Elizabeth I, the last Tudor monarch of England died, the throne of England went to the Protestant James VI of Scotland, son of her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots. James's son Charles I was beheaded in the English Civil War; his son, Charles II restored the monarchy and was known for his pleasure-loving ways. James II, brother of Charles II, was the father of Mary II, and Anne (1666-1714), the last Stuart monarch, as both women died childless. James II, who converted to Catholicism, also fathered a Catholic son, James (known as "the Old Pretender"), debarred from the succession of Protestant England. The Young Pretender, James's grandson, is better known as Bonnie Prince Charlie (1766-1788). The two were the focus of various plots to regain the throne.

  Yvette Guilbert: French singer Yvette Guilbert is perhaps best known now for the 1890s drawings of her by Henry Toulouse-Lautrec in her trademark long black gloves.

  Bernhardt...a singer...a comedienne, which would certainly have been worse...be a nun: Bernhardt was educated in a convent from the age of ten to fifteen, and there it became her own desire to become a nun. The composer Auber suggested she become a singer, but the Duc de Morny had her sent to the Conservatoire of the Comédie Française. Next she became a minor actress at the Gymnase, a popular theater that specialized in comedies.

  doing the work...his own: The source of this quotation has not yet been found.

  church wedding: Nineteenth century weddings, except sometimes in upper-class society, were customarily held at the home of the bride's family, not in a church.

  Wagner: Richard Wagner (1813-1883) revolutionized European music, especially opera. He was born in Leipzig, Germany; although he was indifferent to formal education, he taught himself to play the piano and the principles of composition, partly by studying the scores of Beethoven's works. He was also deeply influenced by his reading of Shakespeare, Schiller, and Goethe. His first operas until Rienzi (1842) were unsuccessful; his next operas began to develop his more characteristic style; though The Flying Dutchman (1843), Tannhäuser (1845), and Lohengrin (1850) were popular, the critics were often hostile. His involvement with the Revolution of 1848 in Germany forced him to flee into exile in Zurich, where he wrote on social and musical issues, and composed the poem, The Ring of the Nibelung, upon which his four Ring operas were based. The difficulty of staging these titanic works led him to put them aside for such works as Tristan and Isolde (1859). His financial difficulties were alleviated when Ludvig II of Bavaria became his patron. Wagner toured Europe to raise money for a new kind of theater at Bayreuth, which would be capable of presenting the Ring; the work was first given in its entirety at Bayreuth in 1876. His last work was Parsifal (1882).

One of Cather's early stories, "A Wagner Matinée" (1904), dramatizes the effect of Wagner's later music on a Nebraska farm woman who has been isolated from music for thirty years.

  Wagner's wedding march: The wedding march in Wagner's Lohengrin (1850) is played by the orchestra at the opening of Act III. It is followed by the bridal chorus, sung by Elsa's ladies, which the Victor Book of the Opera (1912) translates as: Faithful and true, we lead thee forth Where Love, triumphant, shall crown ye with joy! Star of renown, flow'r of earth, Blest be ye both far from all life's annoy! Champion victorious, go thou before! Maid bright and glorious, go thou before! Mirth's noisy revel ye've forsaken, Tender delights for you now awaken; Fragrant abode enshrine ye in bliss; Splendor and state in joy ye dismiss!

  Stella J. Rice: Stella J. Rice (c. 1866-after 1909) was born in Iowa, the younger daughter of Edgar G. and Frances A. Rice, who ran a fancy-goods and millinery store. Like her sister, Carrie Belle Rice Raymond, Stella became an accomplished musician, especially on the piano and organ. She moved to Lincoln to join her sister in the mid-1880s and soon became active in the musical life of the city. In 1889 she joined the faculty of O. B. Howells' new Nebraska Conservatory of Music as the organ teacher.

  Carrie Bell Rice Raymond: Carrie Belle Rice Raymond (c. 1858-1927) was born in New York state, the daughter of Edgar G. and Frances A. Rice. In the late 1870s she married P. V. M. Raymond and had one son. She was an accomplished musician who directed the University of Nebraska chorus from 1894-1927 and served as organist and music director at First Congregational Church for 40 years. She also directed the University of Nebraska chorus.

  Cochrane-Woods wedding: The marriage of Nelle Cochrane and Frank H. Woods, both graduates of the University of Nebraska, was celebrated on 19 October 1894 and described in the 20 October 1894 Nebraska State Journal.

  two wedding marches: Wagner's wedding march from Lohengrin and Mendelssohn's wedding march, most likely from A Midsummer Night's Dream, were played at the Cochrane-Woods wedding.

  a triumphal march by Archer: Composer and organist Frederick Archer (1838-1901) was born in Oxford, England. He came to the US in 1881, becoming organist at Henry Ward Beecher's church in Brooklyn. He held positions as conductor or organist in Boston and Chicago before moving to Pittsburgh in 1895, where he conducted the Carnegie Music Hall's orchestra for two years. He composed songs and music for organ and piano.

  Mendelssohn: Composer Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847) was born in Hamburg, Germany, the grandson of a famous Jewish philosopher, Moses Mendelssohn. He was a child prodigy who gave his first public performance at the age of nine, and had a piano quartet published at the age of thirteen. He wrote his first twelve symphonies between the ages of twelve and fourteen. Such works as the overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream (1826) showed the fulfillment of his early promise. In 1829 Mendelssohn visited England for the first time; on subsequent visits he became a favorite of Queen Victoria. His oratorio, Elijah, premiered in Birmingham in 1846. Others of his most famous compositions include the Italian symphony (1833); the violin concerto in E minor, op. 64 (1844); and his most popular and famous solo piano compositions, the Songs Without Words.

Mendelssohn's reputation declined in the latter half of the nineteenth century, perhaps in part because of his Jewish origins—although the family was baptized in 1816. Richard Wagner showed his scorn in a veiled way in an 1850 pamphlet on the Jewish influence on music.

  Mendelssohn's Spring Song: Felix Mendelssohn's "Frühlingslibe" or "Spring Song" is one of the most popular of his piano compositions; it comes from his Songs Without Words, Book 5, Op. 62, no. 6.

  march by Smith: Possibly English composer Sydney Smith (1839-1889), a pianist, teacher, and composer of showy and popular piano pieces.

  communion in G by Batiste: French composer and organist Antoine-Edouard Batiste (1820-1876) contributed to the revival of composition for the organ in the mid nineteenth century. He taught at the Paris conservatory and was organist at the church of St. Eustache in Paris for twenty years.

  Hymn of the Nun: Probably Cather means the Andante in F, subtitled the "Hymn of the Nuns," by French organist and composer L. J. A. Lefébure-Wely.

  Wely: Probably Cather means French organist and composer Louis James Alfred Lefébure-Wely (1817-1869), who was born in Paris and served as organist (famous for his improvisations) at various famous Parisian churches, including the Madeleine and Saint-Sulpice, from 1841 until his death. He worked closely with organ builders and his compositions employ the range of symphonic possibilities offered by the various stops. His Sortie in E flat major is one of his better-known surviving pieces.

  two continents: Here Cather is referring to Europe and North America.

  little island that feels larger that both: Britain, which historically has considered itself separate from the European continent, was then at the head of the largest empire in the world.

  Lillian Nordica: American soprano Lillian Nordica (1857-1914) was born Lillian Norton in Maine; her family moved to Boston in 1865, and Lillian graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music ten years later. She went to Europe to study in Milan (where she adopted the name Nordica) and made her debut in 1879. She quickly became one of the most important sopranos in Europe as well as in New York at the Metropolitan Opera, where she made her New York debut in 1891.

Nordica made three unhappy marriages, the last to a banker, George Young. She died in Java while on tour, after being shipwrecked for three days.

Cather later made use of some of the details of Nordica's life in her story, "The Diamond Mine" (1916).

  Rhine wine: Rhine wines are usually dry white wines produced from Riesling grapes from the Rhine valley in Germany, where the grapes have been grown since the fourteenth century.

  Emma Eames: American soprano Emma Eames (1865-1952) was born in China, though her family was from Maine. She was educated in Boston and later studied with the famous teacher Mathilde Marchesi. She made her debut at the Paris Opera in 1889, and her American debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1891; she retired from the Met in 1909, going on to give concert tours until 1914; later she was a distinguished teacher of voice.

Eames married painter Julian Story and baritone Emilio di Gigorza, divorcing both. Her autobiography is Some Memories and Reflections (1929).

Image at: Wikimedia

Audio: http://www.archive.org/details/VrsAcoustics-88006-EmmaEames

  ice water: Ice water, which had more prestige at this time, when ice was more difficult to obtain and keep, then as now was considered a characteristically American drink.

  Madame Melba: Nellie Melba (1861-1931) was born Helen Porter Mitchell in Melbourne, Australia. Though she was trained as a pianist and organist, she did not begin to study singing until she attended Presbyterian Ladies' College in Melbourne, where tenor Pietro Cecchi encouraged her to make singing her profession. She married Charles Armstrong in 1882; they were divorced in 1900. In 1886 she went to London and became a student of famed vocal teacher Mathilde Marchesi. She made her operatic debut in 1887 and from 1888 to her retirement in 1926 she was affiliated with London's Covent Garden Opera house. She quickly became an international star, making many world tours, and singing occasionally with the Metropolitan Opera in New York from 1893 until 1910. Foods such as peach Melba and Melba toast were named for her. She was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1918.

  Emma Calve: Singer Emma Calvé, born Rosa Emma Calvet (1858-1942), was born in France and brought up in Spain. She studied under influential voice teacher Mathilde Marchesi, and made her debut in Brussels in 1882. She sang in Paris before making her London debut in 1892, where she sang Carmen; she became the greatest Carmen of her time. Calvé was also famous in the role of Santuzza in Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana (1890). She retired in 1925 to teach. Her autobiography is I Have Sung Under Every Sky (1937).

  Mr. Elwyn Alfred Barron: E. A. (Elwyn Alfred) Barron (1855-1929) became drama critic for the Chicago Inter-Ocean in 1879; he wrote plays such as A Moral Crime (1885), Lady Ashley (1886), When Bess Was Queen and Out of the Storm (both produced in 1894), and a dramatization of Romola (1896). After he retired from the Inter-Ocean in the mid-1890s he lived abroad for a time, and wrote several novels.

  William Winter: William Winter (1836-1917) was born in Massachusetts and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1857. He became part of literary circles in New York and became drama critic for the New York Tribune from 1865-1909. He was among the conservative critics who resisted the rise of realism in the drama. His volumes of criticism and reminiscence, such as Other Days (1908) and The Wallet of Time (1913), are valuable as histories of the drama and especially of the actors and actresses of the period.

  William Shakespeare: William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was born in Stratford-on-Avon, in Warwickshire, England. Documents of the time show his father, John Shakespeare, to have been a well-respected tradesman who held office in the town. His mother, Mary Arden, came from an old land-owning family. He was probably educated at the grammar school in Stratford; at the age of eighteen he married Anne Hathaway, by whom he had three children. Not until eight years later, in 1592, does his name start to appear connected with the London stage. By 1594 he was a part of the Lord Chamberlain's company, which by 1598 had their home at the Globe theater. His plays were successful with both the public and royalty, enabling Shakespeare to buy various properties in London and Stratford. He retired to Stratford about 1613, where he died.

Many anecdotes and legends grew up in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries about Shakespeare's life, whose authenticity cannot be now be proven, but some of which have been widely accepted: that his father was a butcher, that Shakespeare as a youth got into trouble poaching deer, that he held horses at the stage doors when he was trying to break into the London theater, that he was lame, or that he caught the fever of which he died in a drinking bout, for instance.

Some of his fellow actors collected his plays in 1623 in what is now known as the First Folio. The only works Shakespeare himself seems to have published are the early poems Venus and Adonis (1593) and The Rape of Lucrece (1594), both dedicated to the Earl of Southampton, a young nobleman who may also have been the subject of many of Shakespeare's sonnets, apparently written over the decade from 1593-1603.

Shakespeare's authorship of the plays ascribed to him began to be seriously questioned only in the late eighteenth century, largely on the ground that he was too humbly born and poorly educated to be capable of writing such great works. The most serious alternatives—and the question was warmly debated in the nineteenth century—put forth were Sir Francis Bacon, Christopher Marlowe, and the Earl of Oxford.

  Mary Anderson: Actress Mary Anderson (1859-1940) was born in California before her parents moved back to Kentucky, where her father died while serving in the Confederate army. She was educated in convent schools in Louisville, and at the age of thirteen decided to become an actress; her stepfather encouraged her ambition, and she made her debut in Louisville in 1875 at the age of sixteen, as Juliet. She played in stock companies managed by John McCullogh and John T. Ford, then formed her own company in 1876, making her New York debut in 1877. In 1883 she made her debut in London, where her beauty and dedication to her art made her one of the first American actresses to be acclaimed in Europe; she played Rosalind at the newly opened Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford. Her Hermione, in A Winter's Tale, ran for a phenomenal one hundred consecutive performances. In November 1888 she returned to America with A Winter's Tale, but she fell ill the following March, and retired from the stage. Returning to England, Anderson married Antonio F. de Navarro in June, 1890, by whom she had two sons; they lived in retirement at a country house in Warwickshire.

Cather refers to Anderson's success in A Winter's Tale in My Ántonia (177), and to her fame in The Song of the Lark; in "Two Friends" Trueman and Dillon talked for years of having seen Anderson in St. Louis, and Dillon calls her "our Mary" because she was a Catholic girl (181).

Mary Anderson Mary Anderson as Galatea in "Pygmalion and Galatea" Mary Anderson Mary Anderson as Juliet Mary Anderson

  Ada Rehan: Ada Crehan (1857-1916) was born in Ireland, but grew up in Brooklyn. She went on stage when she was fourteen; when she played in Mrs. Drew's Arch Street Theater company her name was misspelled as Rehan on the program, and she adopted it as her stage name. She played in stock companies before making her New York debut in 1875, but continued to play supporting roles until Augustin Daly invited her to join his company in 1879. There she achieved her greatest success, becoming the leading lady of his company, playing opposite John Drew. A European tour in 1884 confirmed her stardom. She excelled in Shakespearean comedies as well as roles adapted from the French drama; her greatest role was said to be Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew (first played in 1887). After 1893 she divided her time between New York and London, but when Daly died in 1899, her career floundered, and she retired in 1905. Ada Rehan as Katherine in "The Taming of the Shrew" Ada Rehan Ada Rehan Ada Rehan

  warmer school: Probably the 'emotional' style of actresses such as Bernhardt and Morris.

  Mr. Francisque Sarcey: French critic Francisque Sarcey (1827-1899) began his career as a journalist in Paris in 1858 and his career as a drama critic the following year. His "Feuilletons" in Le Temps, beginning in 1867, established him as the most important drama critic in France; he was particularly interested in acting (he reviewed Sarah Bernhardt's debut) and in stage presentation, rather than the drama as literature. His Souvenirs d'âge mur (1892) was translated into English in 1893.

  James Brander Matthews: American critic James Brander Matthews (1852-1929) graduated from Columbia Law School in 1873, but turned to a literary career and then became professor of literature at Columbia in 1892, and professor of dramatic literature in 1900. He wrote on American literature and local color, as well as on drama, the stage, and actors and actresses. One of his early works was French Dramatists of the Nineteenth Century (1881, revised 1891). His five-volume Actors and Actresses of the United States and Great Britain was published in 1886, and his Studies of the Stage in 1894; he also published essays and fiction.

  Notre Dame: The Cathedral de Notre Dame de Paris, on the Ile de la Cité in Paris, was begun in 1163, replacing a sixth century cathedral; it was completed in the Gothic style about 1345. It began to suffer depredations in the eighteenth century, and damage during the French Revolution: reportedly it was used as a warehouse for foodstuffs. It was neglected in the early nineteenth century until the popularity of Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831) aroused public interest; restorations (and the building of a spire) began in 1845. It became one of the great symbols of Paris.

Images of Cathedral de Notre Dame de Paris

  Seine River: The River Seine flows through Paris, dividing it into the Left Bank on the south and the Right Bank on the north. The banks of the Seine, especially the ancient areas around Notre Dame and the Ile de la Cité, have been a favorite subject for painters.

  Théatre Française: The French national theater, the Théatre Française, was founded by Louis XIV in 1680, and a theater was built with the help of a royal grant in 1681. The theater's company, also known as the Comédie Française, has been performing ever since, with the exception of a period during the French Revolution. The theater building, known originally as the Théatre des Variétés amusantes, in the rue de Richelieu, reopened in 1799, where it has been ever since. It suffered a fire in 1900 but was quickly rebuilt.

Image of Paris Comédie-Française