Blanche Roosevelt

Blanche Roosevelt (2 October 1853 – 10 September 1898), born Blanche Roosevelt Tucker, was an American opera singer, author and journalist. She is best remembered for creating the role of Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan when that opera premiered on Broadway in 1879.

She made her opera debut in 1876 at the Royal Italian Opera House, Covent Garden, becoming the first American woman to sing Italian opera there. She went on to sing in concerts in Europe, having worked as a journalist from Paris in 1875. In 1879, she joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and played the role of Josephine in Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore in London before travelling with the company to New York City to play the same role and to originate the role of Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance.

Later in 1880, she co-founded, produced and starred in a new opera company, but this venture soon folded, and Roosevelt retired from the stage. She and her husband, the Marquis d'Alligri, returned to Europe by 1882 and she pursued a career in journalism and literature, writing biographies and novels. She became the mistress of Guy de Maupassant.

Roosevelt was born in Sandusky, Ohio, the daughter of W. H. Tucker of Virginia (later a state senator in Wisconsin) and his wife Lizzie, née Roosevelt. She traveled to Europe with her mother for vocal studies in Paris and then in Milan, briefly with Francesco Lamperti.

In 1876, billed as Mlle. Rosavella, she made her singing debut at the Royal Italian Opera House, Covent Garden, London, as Violetta in La Traviata.The Times noted the enthusiastic reception she received from the Covent Garden audience, and the paper's reviewer praised her acting as well as her singing. She was the first female American performer to sing Italian opera there. She went on to sing in concerts in Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and France. She also worked as a special correspondent from Paris in 1875 for newspapers in Chicago and London.

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