Jessie Bartlett Davis

Jessie Bartlett Davis
Background information
Birth name	Jessie Fremont Bartlett
Born	ca. 1859
Died	May 14, 1905
Instruments	Contralto

Jessie Bartlett Davis (ca. 1859-1861 – May 14, 1905) was an American operatic singer and actress from Morris, Illinois, who was billed as "America's Representative Contralto".

She was born Jessie Fremont Bartlett, one of ten children of farmer and country schoolmaster Elias Lyman Bartlett (b. 1821) and his wife Rachael Ann Conklin Bartlett (b. 1826). After Jessie and her older sister Arabelle "Belle" (1855–74) had become known as singers locally, they were approached by traveling managers and began touring along the West Coast of the United States. Belle died shortly after a tour was arranged. Another sister, Josephine Bartlett Perry (1859–1910) also performed in theater, in the Chicago Ideal Opera Company.

Bartlett moved to Chicago and went on a one-season tour with Caroline Richings. She studied voice in Chicago, singing in the choir of the Church of the Messiah, and her manager next convinced her to join the Chicago Church Choir Company.

In 1879, Bartlett made her debut in the opera H.M.S. Pinafore, in the role of Buttercup, in a troop managed by Col. Jack H. Haverly. The troop was managed on the road by Haverly employee, Will J. Davis, who Bartlett married in 1880.She spent several years with a number of opera companies before joining the Boston Ideal Opera Company. She remained with this troupe until 1901, serving as its prima donna.

Her most famous role was as Alan a-Dale in the 1890 opera Robin Hood by Reginald De Koven and Clement Scott, in which she introduced Oh Promise Me. She starred in other grand operas, including Les Huguenots, Martha, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Il trovatore and Dinorah.She performed with Adelina Patti in Faust while in the James Henry Mapleson Opera company, and toured for one season in Europe.

...
Wikipedia