Laura Schirmer Mapleson (1862–1894) was an American operatic singer in the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

of the 1880–90s.

Biography

Born Laura Marguerite Schirmer in 1862, as a child she began singing in her native Boston. As a teenager she trained in

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Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, and

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and appeared in a New York City concert by Franz Rummel. She performed in New York and Boston and in 1883 went to Europe where she married a tenor Arthur Byron in Italy. She appeared at Pisa in Italy, Turkey, Russia and Germany. She appeared in command performance before Turkish ruler Sultan

Abdul Hamid II Abdülhamid or Abdul Hamid II ( ota, عبد الحميد ثانی, Abd ül-Hamid-i Sani; tr, II. Abdülhamid; 21 September 1842 10 February 1918) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 31 August 1876 to 27 April 1909, and the last sultan to ...

and was scheduled to sing again before his court, but a reporter in Trimm's Petit Journal alleged that she and others had been poisoned in the Sultan's court. She married her second husband Henry Mapleson in Paris in 1890. She died January 24, 1894, at New York's Everett House of pneumonia, from

influenza Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptoms ...

contracted while performing at the Pittsburgh Opera House on January 13, 1894.''New York Times'' January 25, 1894; "Death of Laura Schirmer Mapleson"

References

External links

Cabinet card portraits
archived)
Music to FADETTE; Mapleson Opera Co.
New York Public Library, Billy Rose collection)
portrait of Madame Schirmer Mapleson
by Alex Bassano) {{DEFAULTSORT:Mapleson, Laura Schirmer 1862 births 1894 deaths 19th-century American singers 19th-century American women singers Infectious disease deaths in Massachusetts Singers from Boston American opera singers Deaths from influenza in the United States