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 and 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.

Early life and opera career

Roosevelt was born in Sandusky, Ohio, the daughter of W. H. Tucker of Virginia (later a state senator in Wisconsin)"Cause of Blanche Roosevelt's Death"
''The Milwaukee Journal'', September 12, 1898, p. 8, accessed 1 July 2015 and his wife Lizzie, ''née'' Roosevelt. Her sister was Minnie C. T. Love, a physician and suffragist who served in the Colorado House of Representatives. Roosevelt traveled to Europe with her mother for vocal studies in Paris and then in Milan, briefly with Francesco Lamperti.Stone, David
Blanche Roosevelt
Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, August 27, 2001, accessed July 1, 2015

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''.Seeley, Paul
"Blanche Roosevelt (1853 – 1898)"
Memories of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, July 1980, accessed July 1, 2015 ''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."Blanche Roosevelt Dead: Well-Known American Singer and Writer, Married to the Marquis d'Alligri, Passes Away in London", ''The New York Times'', September 11, 1898 She went on to sing in concerts in Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and France. She also worked as a correspondent from Paris in 1875 for newspapers in Chicago and London.

Arthur Sullivan heard the soprano while on holiday in the south of France in the summer of 1879. In September 1879, Roosevelt joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and made her debut at the Opera Comique, taking over the role of Josephine during the original run of Gilbert and Sullivan's ''H.M.S. Pinafore''. The music critic in ''The Morning Post'' commented, "she has manifest talent and promises well. Her voice is sweet, sympathetic and of considerable compass, and her manner is very light and pleasant". She was then chosen by W. S. Gilbert, Sullivan, and Richard D'Oyly Carte to play Aline in ''The Sorcerer'', and Josephine in the first authentic D'Oyly Carte ''Pinafore'', at New York's Fifth Avenue Theatre, beginning on December 1, 1879. On December 31 of that year, in the same theatre, she created the role of Mabel in ''The Pirates of Penzance''. The ''New-York Tribune'' reviewed her as "certainly a pretty object to look upon; she sang creditably; she acted with zeal and good sense." ''The New York Mercury'', however, was unimpressed by her performance, commenting that she and her tenor colleague, Hugh Talbot, were "incapable performers", although they "failed to destroy" the opera. She played Mabel in New York and on tour until March 1880, when she left the company.

Later in 1880, together with John McCaull, she co-founded and produced a new opera company, the Blanche Roosevelt English Opera Company, appearing in its productions, which were financial failures, of Alfred Cellier's ''The Sultan of Mocha'' (Union Square Theatre, New York, September 1880) and B. C. Stephenson and Cellier's operatic adaptation of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's ''The Masque of Pandora'' (Boston Theatre, January 1881). During this project, Roosevelt became friends with Longfellow. In 1881 she appeared in New York in concerts, and on returning to England she was booked by Maurice Strakosch for his touring opera company to appear as Marguerite in ''Faust'' at the French Opera House in New Orleans. She returned to Broadway as Mabel in ''Pirates'', where a critic called her "a beautiful girl, somewhat uncouth in her gestures with a well-taught but bodiless voice which gives promise of effect but, alas, breaks the promise to the ear". Gänzl, Kurt
"Theatrical mythology, or The Best Thing About Her Singing Was Her Looks ..."
Kurt Gänzl's blog, 11 May 2018 Soon afterwards, she retired from the stage, largely at the behest of her husband, Signor Macchetta, an Italian who had succeeded to the title of Marquis d'Alligri. She returned to Europe by 1882 and began a career in journalism and literature.

Writing career

Roosevelt became acquainted with important figures in the world of literature and the arts, including (in addition to Longfellow) Giuseppe Verdi, Victorien Sardou, Wilkie Collins, Gustave Doré and Guy de Maupassant, whose mistress she became in 1884. Roosevelt's first books were ''The Home Life of Henry W. Longfellow'' (1882), the novel ''Stage-struck; or, She would be an Opera Singer'' (1884), and ''The Life and Reminiscences of Gustave Doré'' (1885, for which she was reportedly the first American woman honored by the French Academy), and another novel, ''The Copper Queen'' (1886), which was adapted for the stage by Sardou.

She had earlier worked for American newspapers as a correspondent from Paris in 1875; in early 1887, she began a similar assignment in Milan, reporting on the premiere of Verdi's ''Otello''. Her columns were collected in book form as ''Verdi: Milan, and Othello'', published later that year and dedicated to Wilkie Collins: "When I left England for Italy, you said, 'Do write me all about Verdi, Milan, and the new opera ''Othello''.' I have taken you at your word; only the letters, like most feminine epistles, have stretched away into limitless pages, and from a few vagabond sheets have grown into a volume. I am sure you will never again ask a woman to write to you, even from Paradise; but in the mean time, here is the result of your amiability."

Later books by Roosevelt, then referred to as the Marchesa d'Alligri (all published posthumously), included ''Elisabeth of Roumania – a study (Carmen Sylva)'' (1891), the novel ''Hazel Fane'' (1891), ''Familiar faces – Victorien Sardou: poet, author, and member of the Academy of France; a personal study'' (1892), and ''A Riviera Romance'' (1899)."New Books", ''The Pall Mall Gazette'', June 22, 1899, p. 4

Later life and fatal accident

Roosevelt spent the later years of her life in the south of France. In 1897, she was riding in a carriage in Monte Carlo that overturned when the horses bolted, killing the driver and seriously injuring the Marchesa. She never recovered from her injuries, dying the next year in London at the age of 44.

Roosevelt is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London, where there is a statue of her on her grave.

Notes, references and sources

Notes

References

Sources

*

Further reading

*Metz, Charles, "Blanche Roosevelt", ''Opera News'', March 23, 1963 issue.
*Culbertson, Judi & Tom Randall, ''Permanent Londoners'', Robson Books, London, 1991.
*Peters, Catherine, ''The King of Inventors, A Life of Wilkie Collins'', Seeker & Warburg, London, 1991.

External links

Photo of Roosevelt

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roosevelt, Blanche
1853 births
1898 deaths
American expatriates in England
American expatriates in France
Burials at Brompton Cemetery
People from Sandusky, Ohio
19th-century American women writers
19th-century American writers