Kate Lee, born Catharine Anna Spooner, (9 March 1858 – 25 July 1904) was an English singer and folksong collector, one of the founders of the Folk-Song Society in 1898.

Early life and education

She was born in Rufford, Nottinghamshire, one of the ten children of Lucius Henry Spooner and Margaret Skottowe Parker Spooner. Her father was a land agent who died in 1874; her mother was from Ireland. Her cousins included

William Archibald Spooner William Archibald Spooner (22 July 1844 – 29 August 1930) was a British clergyman and long-serving Oxford don. He was most notable for his absent-mindedness, and for supposedly mixing up the syllables in a spoken phrase, with unintentionall ...

, who gave his name to the "

spoonerism A spoonerism is an occurrence in speech in which corresponding consonants, vowels, or morphemes are switched (see metathesis) between two words in a phrase. These are named after the Oxford don and ordained minister William Archibald Spooner, w ...

". Spooner entered the Royal Academy of Music in January 1876 with the ambition to become a singer. After marriage and motherhood, Lee resumed her studies at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including performanc ...

from 1887 to 1889.

Career

Lee had a short but busy professional singing career. She sang in a Drury Lane production of ''

Die Walküre (; ''The Valkyrie''), WWV 86B, is the second of the four music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (English: ''The Ring of the Nibelung''). It was performed, as a single opera, at the National Theatre Munich on ...

'' in 1894, and had her debut concert the following year. She also sang at campaign events when her husband ran for a seat in Parliament in 1895. She was described variously as a

contralto A contralto () is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare; similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typica ...

or a mezzo-soprano in range. In 1900, she gave her last performance, singing to illustrate her lecture on folk song. Lee also collected folksongs, often while bicycling in the countryside, notably from James and Thomas Copper. She wrote about them in an 1899 article, "Some Experiences of a Folk-Song Collector". "I shall never forget the delight of hearing the two Mr. Coppers, who gave me the songs," she recalled, "They were so proud of their Sussex songs, and sang them with an enthusiasm grand to hear." She was a member of the Irish Literary Society, and in 1898 was one of the leading figures in convening the first meetings of the Folk-Song Society. She became the Society's first secretary, but illness soon required that she hand over the work to

Lucy Broadwood Lucy Etheldred Broadwood (9 August 1858 – 22 August 1929) was an English folksong collector and researcher, and great-granddaughter of John Broadwood, founder of the piano manufacturers Broadwood and Sons. As one of the founder members of the Fo ...

Personal life

Catharine Anna Spooner married barrister and sugar merchant Arthur Morier Lee (1847–1909) in December 1877. She had two sons, Phillip (1879–1914) and Archibald (born 1881). In 1900 she became ill with cancer, and she died at Stubbings near Maidenhead in 1904.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Kate 1858 births 1904 deaths English folk-song collectors English classical singers 19th-century British women singers Musicians from Nottinghamshire People from Newark and Sherwood (district) Women folklorists 19th-century musicologists