Emma Marcy Raymond (
pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...
, Salvator Sylvain; 1839–1913) was an American musician, composer, and author of
operetta
Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...
, songs and piano music. She was one of very few women in her day who had composed the entire music of an opera and lived to see it produced.
[ ]
Early life and education
Emma P. Marcy was born in 1839 in Hartford, Connecticut, the oldest daughter of Dr. Erastus Egerton Marcy (1815–1900) and Emeline Babcock Kilbourn Marcy (1818-1904), whose father was Henry Kilbourn of Hartford. Her father was a graduate of the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
and later a
homeopathic
Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a dise ...
specialist, who apparently lived for many years on
Fifth Avenue
Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It stretches north from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village to West 143rd Street in Harlem. It is one of the most expensive shopping stre ...
on the site opposite
Tiffany's
Tiffany & Co. (colloquially known as Tiffany's) is a high-end luxury jewelry and specialty retailer, headquartered on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. It sells jewelry, sterling silver, porcelain, crystal, stationery, fragrances, water bottles, watc ...
.
In 1850, he published a book called ''The Homeopathic Theory and Practice of Medicine''. Her sister, Nina Marcy (1854-1910), married a lawyer, Ernest G. Stedman.
Her uncle was General Randolph D. Marcy, an 1832 graduate of
West Point
The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...
. She was a cousin to Mrs George B. McClennan, presumably Ellen Mary Marcy (1836–1915), the wife of General
George Brinton McClellan
George Brinton McClellan (December 3, 1826 – October 29, 1885) was an American soldier, American Civil War, Civil War Union general, civil engineer, railroad executive, and politician who served as the 24th governor of New Jersey. A graduate ...
(1826–1885), the father of the New York mayor of the same name (1865–1940).
[ ]
She showed a remarkable aptitude for music at a very early age, having composed her first song before six years of age. She inherited her musical talents from her parents, both of whom were gifted amateurs. She was reared in an atmosphere of music, and had the advantage of studying under the best teachers who visited the United States. She studied the piano with
Louis Moreau Gottschalk
Louis Moreau Gottschalk (May 8, 1829 – December 18, 1869) was an American composer and pianist, best known as a virtuoso performer of his own romantic piano works. He spent most of his working career outside the United States.
Life and car ...
and Raccoman, vocal music with
Giorgio Ronconi
Giorgio Ronconi (6 August 1810 – 8 January 1890) was an Italian operatic baritone celebrated for his brilliant acting and compelling stage presence. In 1842, he created the title-role in Giuseppe Verdi's ''Nabucco'' at La Scala, Milan.
Personal ...
, and counterpoint and harmony with the best German masters.
Career
![Emma Marcy Raymond (1895)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Emma_Marcy_Raymond_%281895%29.png)
Her musical sympathies were almost entirely with the Italian and French schools. Being a firm believer in the gift of free and spontaneous melody, she believed that, where human emotions were to be portrayed in music, the proper means to use in such portrayal was the human voice, and she left to the instruments the task of accompanying. She became known for her musical talent being credited as being one of the first American women to compose an operetta: in 1889 she composed the successful ''Doretta''. She produced another in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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called ''The Sheik''.
Her songs and piano pieces were published in France and Germany as well as in the U.S. Amongst her songs were "O Salutaris", "Bird of Love", and "First Love". She was the author of ''Spanish Bolero'' in E Flat; ''Ave Maria'', ''Had I My Wish'', and others of lesser importance, but equally well-written, such as the ''Manhattan Beach Polka'', ''Straight Tip Waltz'', and ''Toboggan Galop''.
[ ] Still others included, "Welcome Home", "The Shadows Lie", "Had I My Wish", "Old Stone Bridge", and "Bright Eastern Morn".
Raymond was the author of several pieces sung by
Adelina Patti
Adelina Patti (19 February 184327 September 1919) was an Italian 19th-century opera singer, earning huge fees at the height of her career in the music capitals of Europe and America. She first sang in public as a child in 1851, and gave her la ...
, and her productions covered the entire field of music. Her musical compositions were frequently heard at the
Eden Musée
The Eden Musée was an amusement center in New York City that featured a large waxworks collection, musical concerts and a changing selection of specialty entertainment, such as magic lantern shows and marionettes. It was opened on March 28, 1884 ...
and
Patrick Gilmore
Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore (December 25, 1829 – September 24, 1892) was an Irish-born American composer and bandmaster who lived and worked in the United States after 1848. While serving in the Union Army during the U.S. Civil War, Gilmore ...
's concerts. She was a prolific writer and was equally adept in the composition of a waltz, a ballad, an operetta or a sacred song. In 1887, four of Raymond's new works, "Untold", "Cragside", "Beyond the Gates", and "The Toboggan Galop", were published by Oliver Ditson & Co.,
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
. "Pat in fairyland; comic opera in 3 acts", libretto by E. E. Marcy, music by Emma Marcy Raymond was published in the following year by Erastus Edgerton Marcy of New York. Raymond's opera ''Dovetta'' was produced in New York in 1889. In June of that year, the ''Times Herald'' of
Port Huron, Michigan
Port Huron is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of St. Clair County. The population was 30,184 at the 2010 census. The city is adjacent to Port Huron Township but is administered separately.
Located along the St. Clair ...
reported that Raymond had lost nearly through the failure of this opera.
[ ] Subsequently, Raymond wanted Harry Paulton to write the libretto for a comic opera, the music of which she would furnish. In that way, she hoped to regain the money which she lost on ''Dovetta''.
[ ] In 1891, she published "The Sheik; a comic opera in 3 acts", libretto by Harry and Edward Paulton, music by Salvator Sylvain (Raymond's pseudonym).
Raymond was a patron of the
Metropolitan Opera House and numbered many singers and prima donnas amongst her friends.
Personal life
She married 26 October 1860 Captain Edward A. Raymond (born in New York 1835, died around 1880); she had no children with him.
During the winter of 1896–1897, she commissioned the artist
Adolfo Müller-Ury
Adolfo Müller-Ury, KSG (March 29, 1862 – July 6, 1947) was a Swiss-born American portrait painter and impressionistic painter of roses and still life.
Heritage and early life in Switzerland
He was born Felice Adolfo Müller on 29 March ...
to paint a portrait of the bass-baritone
Pol Plançon
Pol Henri Plançon (; 12 June 1851 – 11 August 1914) was a distinguished French operatic bass (''basse chantante''). He was one of the most acclaimed singers active during the 1880s, 1890s and early 20th century—a period often referred to as ...
for her, which was subsequently exhibited in March 1897 at the Durand-Ruel Galleries in New York. It is now untraced.
She later lived in an apartment in the Ansonia,
2109 Broadway between West 73rd and
West 74th Street
74th Street is an east–west street carrying pedestrian traffic and eastbound automotive/bicycle traffic in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It runs through the Upper East Side neighborhood (in ZIP code 10021, where it is known as East ...
s in New York. During the summer of 1913, Raymond was recorded on the Social Register as staying at the Oriental Hotel
Manhattan Beach.
She died on 7 November 1913,
and was buried in the
Green-Wood Cemetery
Green-Wood Cemetery is a cemetery in the western portion of Brooklyn, New York City. The cemetery is located between South Slope/ Greenwood Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Borough Park, Kensington, and Sunset Park, and lies several bl ...
,
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
.
She left an estate valued at not less than , directed that the property at No. 396 Fifth Avenue be sold and the proceeds turned over eventually to
Hahnemann Hospital, in memory of her father.
[ ] Her family apparently later challenging the probate on her estate in the courts.
Selected works
;Compositions
* "A vision : song", 1886
* "Untold", 1887
* "Cragside", 1887
* "Beyond the Gates", 1887
* "Toboggan galop : for the pianoforte", 1887
* "Had I My Wish", 1890
* "Turn Those Starry Eyes Upon Me. Song for Medium Voice", 1893
* "First Love", 1894
* "By the shallow brook", 1900
* "The secret", 1900
* "Ave Maria"
* "Bird of Love"
* "Bright Eastern Morn"
* "Had I My Wish"
* "Manhattan Beach Polka"
* "O Salutaris"
* "Old Stone Bridge"
* "The Shadows Lie"
* "Spanish Bolero" in E Flat
* "Welcome Home"
;Waltzs
* "Straight Tip Waltz"
;Comic operas
* "Pat in fairyland; comic opera in 3 acts" (libretto by E. E. Marcy, music by Emma Marcy Raymond), 1888
* ''Dovetta'', 1889
* ''The Sheik; a comic opera in 3 acts'' (libretto by Harry and Edward Paulton, music by Salvator Sylvain), 1891
Notes
References
Attribution
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Raymond, Emma
1839 births
1913 deaths
American women classical composers
American classical composers
American opera composers
Musicians from New York City
Women opera composers
19th-century American composers
19th-century classical composers
20th-century classical composers
Musicians from Hartford, Connecticut
Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery
20th-century American women singers
20th-century American singers
20th-century American composers
19th-century American women singers
19th-century American singers
Classical musicians from New York (state)
20th-century women composers
19th-century women composers