Some Victorian vocalists live on in memory thanks to their talent. Some, from 'Nikita' to 'Ugo Talbo', thanks to their (self-) advertising ... Miss O'Toole was one of the latter ...
D’ERINA, Rosa [Cecilia] [O’TOOLE, Rose Anna] (b Armagh, 22 February 1848; d 1503 Clinton Avenue, Minneapolis, 13 April 1915)
Pretty Miss O’Toole from Armagh, who dubbed herself – among a long list of other glorious titles – as ‘the Rose of Erin’, ‘Erin’s prima donna’ and ‘the Queen of Irish song’, made a lifelong career in music, but that career was perhaps a little less glamorous than the publicity, the advertising and the tales (usually involving associations with high society, aristocracy and even royalty) which she circulated freely and diligently, from the very earliest days of her career as a pianist, organist and most particularly a singer .
The daughter of one Michael L O’Toole of Armagh and his wife Miss Donnelly, Rose did her first singing in Armagh and Dublin – I spot her in June 1865, still as Rose O’Toole, singing at the Dublin Ancient Concert Rooms in support of ‘The Grand National Entertainment – Ireland its Scenery Music and Antiquities’.
Later the same year she can be seen performing at P W Gormely’s Prize Concert and giving ‘Barney O’Hea and ‘That Rogue Riley’ as illustrations to Professor Glover’s ‘Illustrations of the music of Ireland’ and again as a supporting artist (‘the celebrated Irish vocalist’) to pianist Willie Pape on his Grand Concert Tour of Ireland through Newry, Banbridge, Lisburn, Dungannon Court House and Magherafelt Court House in April/May 1866. She was organist and vocalist at the Carmelite Church, Whitefriar Street, aisstant to the striving teacher, Joseph de Pinna, and I see her sharing the billing with Alfred Cellier at Ulster Hall (11 May 1867, 'Softly sighs', 'Ave Maria' of Cherubini, 'Rich and Rare') then appearing at the Star Music Hall in Liverpool 'under the patronage of the Lord and Lady Lieutenant' (May 1867) -- before being sent to Paris for study.
She claimed to have been a pupil of Gilbert Duprez, and there doesn’t seem to be too much reason to doubt the truth of that. She claimed also, at the age of twenty, that she was ‘vocaliste by command to the Irish court. 18th May 1867’ (ie between Ulster Hall and Liverpool!) which seems a little more problematic, and that she had sung in opera in Paris (where? what?), before the Empress Eugénie, who had personally dubbed her with her cute nom de théâtre.
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| Willie Pape |
The newly christened Rosa d’Erina turned up in London in the spring of 1868, having advertised largely, from an address in the Rue Faubourg de St Honoré, the fact that she had sung at the recent Paris Exhibition (and making it sound as if she were Ireland’s official representative) and printing translations of her concert notices. I can't find any original notices, but she gives chapter and verse.
That from L’Art musical (30 January 1868) was typical: ‘Mdlle Rosa d’Erina on Monday evening last gave a grand concert in the beautiful salons of the Grand Hotel under the patronage of the English and American ambassadors, where were found the most elegant society of Paris. Vocaliste to the Viceroy of Ireland, accomplished musician, Mdlle Rosa d’Erina sang in seven languages and in as many different styles of music with the greatest success..’
Le Temps went, apparently, so far as to aver, after another concert in which she mixed Irish songs with Verdi arias, ‘She is certainly the rival of the late Catherine Hayes as an Irish vocaliste and has a most brilliant career before her’.
He was wrong.
Rose apparently made her first English appearance at the Press Club, alongside Mathilde Enequist and Lujza Liebhart in June 1858, before, on 18 July 1868, promoting a matinée musicale at 34 Dover Street, the home of Captain and Mrs Washington Hibbert, and for which the list of aristocratic ‘patrons’, topped by the Duchess of Sutherland, the Countesses of Dudley and Buchan, a Duke and a couple of Earls, took up more advertisement space than the names of the performers: Frederick Osborne Williams and his wife, Mary Sedlatzek, harpist Boleyne Reeves and the Nobile Signora Adele Fryer della Lena Raineris (who seems, after all that lettertype, to have scratched). Most of the programme, however, was taken up by Rosa, whether singing English, Irish or Spanish songs, rattling out the Freischütz scena ‘Softly sighs’ or taking to the keyboard to perform morceaux of her own compositon.
There don’t seem to have been very many more such metropolitam events, but in October of the year the trade press printed a paragraph reporting that the Princess of Wales had ‘commanded’ the young singer to Marlborough House for a concert of Irish and other native music. ‘She sang with her usual talent and brilliancy several pieces of favourite and difficult music’ reported one who was not there. ‘At the conclusion of her performance [she] was warmly congratulated by the Prince and Princess who, on her departure, honoured her by shaking hands’. Later, the story would be that ‘she was requested to sing at Marlborough House before the Queen, who presented her with a handsome bracelet set with diamonds and emeralds.’
In August I spot her at Dover, where she seems to have relinquished the big billing to Miriam Bistghi, juvenile pianist
Le Temps went, apparently, so far as to aver, after another concert in which she mixed Irish songs with Verdi arias, ‘She is certainly the rival of the late Catherine Hayes as an Irish vocaliste and has a most brilliant career before her’.
He was wrong.
Rose apparently made her first English appearance at the Press Club, alongside Mathilde Enequist and Lujza Liebhart in June 1858, before, on 18 July 1868, promoting a matinée musicale at 34 Dover Street, the home of Captain and Mrs Washington Hibbert, and for which the list of aristocratic ‘patrons’, topped by the Duchess of Sutherland, the Countesses of Dudley and Buchan, a Duke and a couple of Earls, took up more advertisement space than the names of the performers: Frederick Osborne Williams and his wife, Mary Sedlatzek, harpist Boleyne Reeves and the Nobile Signora Adele Fryer della Lena Raineris (who seems, after all that lettertype, to have scratched). Most of the programme, however, was taken up by Rosa, whether singing English, Irish or Spanish songs, rattling out the Freischütz scena ‘Softly sighs’ or taking to the keyboard to perform morceaux of her own compositon.
There don’t seem to have been very many more such metropolitam events, but in October of the year the trade press printed a paragraph reporting that the Princess of Wales had ‘commanded’ the young singer to Marlborough House for a concert of Irish and other native music. ‘She sang with her usual talent and brilliancy several pieces of favourite and difficult music’ reported one who was not there. ‘At the conclusion of her performance [she] was warmly congratulated by the Prince and Princess who, on her departure, honoured her by shaking hands’. Later, the story would be that ‘she was requested to sing at Marlborough House before the Queen, who presented her with a handsome bracelet set with diamonds and emeralds.’
In August I spot her at Dover, where she seems to have relinquished the big billing to Miriam Bistghi, juvenile pianist
In September she can be seen concertising at the New Grand Hall, Brighton, ‘under the distinguished patronage of Col Shute and the offices of the 4th Dragoon Guards’, and in December she sang alongside Mrs Howard Paul at the French Dispensary dinner, before, on 23 of that month, getting what seems to have been the only employment of the London part of her career. A year’s solid employment as the ingénue at Mr and Mrs German Reed’s entertainment at the Gallery of Illustration. Mrs Priscilla Reed’s ‘illustrative gatherings’, originally featuring just herself and her husband in a series of impersonations and songs, had grown somewhat in size as they had grown, equally, in success, and the programmes hasd for some years now included 1-act operettas, involving more than just two characters. The Reeds had employed some splendid young singers as their soprano (Mrs Reed being definitively contralto and character) in past years – Susan Galton, Augusta Thomson, Emily Pitt, Robertine Henderson, Emmie d’Este – and the most recent, one of the best, the very young Annie Sinclair. But after twelve months Miss Sinclair moved on, and it was Rosa who was hired to take her place as ingénue Florence in the operetta Inquire Within alongside the Reeds and Frank Matthews. She also took part in the second half of the bill, a very bouffe operetta entitled The Last of the Paladins, an English adaptation of Offenbach’s Croquefer. Rosa, too, completed twelve months at the Gallery, during which time the programme was varied with a revival of A Happy Result – otherwise Offenbach’s Lischen and Fritzchen in which she paired with Reed, a new operetta written by Reed and Mr W S Gilbert entitled No Cards in which she again played ingénue, and a revival of Cox and Box in which she did not. In No Cards she was given what approximated a hit song, for Gilbert slipped into the proceedings the ballad ‘Thady O’Flinn’ which he had written with J L Molloy and which Helen Lemmens-Sherrington had introduced in concert shortly before. Rosa performed it, apropos of nothing in the show, seated at the piano, accompanying herself. Half a century later, ‘Thady O’Flinn’ would still be turning up in Irish concerts.
After a brief tour to seaside and spa town (‘her accomplished vocalisation and charming appearance gained for her much applause’) with the two operettas, her contract with the Reeds finished, Rosa left London and returned to Ireland to fulfil what she called ‘a six months’ concert and opera tour of Ireland’. Concerts I have spotted, but I have yet to find evidence of her appearing in an opera. Maybe Lischen and Fritzchen? Its very hard to tell with Mdlle d’Erina. Anyway, after the said six months, there came another announcement. Rosa was going to America to make, of course, ‘an extensive operatic and concert tour’ there as well. The ‘extensive’ part was well and truly correct. Rosa d’Erina O’Toole left Britain on the S S Columbia on 4 September 1870, she made her first appearance in America apparently on 1 December at a concert that was to have been for the benefit of the Foundling Asylum Fair, under the aegis of the Hon A Oakey-Hall, Irish Mayor of New York, but ended up being for her own, at the Steinway Hall, before setting off on the American road. Ten years later she was still on the American road. She made her home and her life in America and in Canada, and she never returned to the other side of the ocean.
Things did not start as they might have. The Clipper reported ‘a house crowded to excess’ to hear the singer who had never played an opera but who was nevertheless billed as ‘the Irish prima donna’ but also remarked ‘The performance as far as the prima donna was concerned was rather a failure; although possessing a good natural voice she sang neither in time nor tune’. The Alta California noticed 'She is short of stature, stout and apparently about thirty, though she claims to be twenty-two ... She dresses very richly and carries her little head very high, as the only singer of any excellence in the world. I have listened to her several times trying to discover in what her excellence consists, and I think it is noise. Her voice is wonderfully powerful and it is fairly well cultivated, but it is not melodious as at all ... She makes such frightful mouths when she sings, that to enjoy her singing, you must get behind her. Her piano playing is marked more by noise than music...'
She doubtless found time and tune, if not eternal youth, as she set off round the country, sometimes as a one-woman band (accompanying herself) in an evening’s entertainment of ‘The Songs and Music of Ireland’ or ‘Songs of Many Lands’, ofttimes with another singer – in 1871, it was fellow Irishman Gustavus L Geary – sometimes apparently playing unspecified ‘operettas’. And always with the newspaper puffs about the Empress Eugénie and Queen Victoria and always billed glamorously: “The great lyric star Rosa d’Erina in her charming original and entertaining Musical evening illustrating the music of many lands. 50c and 75c reserved.’ She obviously sang and played well enough not to make the descriptions ridiculous.
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| 1876 |
The endless touring ultimately palled, and Rosa settled down to a job as organist to the Church of the Holy Innocents in New York.
And then, in 1884 (17 May), she got married. The New York Times printed her handout. "Mlle. Rosa d'Erina, the 'prima donna of Erin' was married last evening to Prof. G. R. Vontom, Vicomte De Ste. Croix, at the Church of the Holy Innocents in West Thirty-seventh street, near Broadway. The groom is Professor in the St. Louis College, in Thirty-seventh street, and belongs to an influential family of France, whose seats are St. Marie, near Rouen, and in St. Etienne. They also have a seat in the Isle of Jersey.’
George Rudolph Morris Joseph de Perchard Vontom was the son of a customs officer from Alderney. And by profession he was a schoolteacher, by predilection an amateur tenor, songwriter and conductor. He’d been an assistant teacher at the Truant Home Union in Brooklyn, but got himself into trouble for excesses in the corporal punishment department, and departed (1882) after being publicly inquired into, taking up, instead, the said job as a French and music teacher at St Louis College. He was also a handful of years younger than Rosa.
The pair carried on in much the same spheres. Rosa played organ, George conducted amateur groups, they gave little concerts together. Year in, year out. Decade in, decade out.
‘Rosa d’Erina will give a recital for the Catholic Church. Mme. Rosa d'Erina, the famous Irish Prima Donna, and her husband Mr. G.R. Vontom, the well known tenor and humorist, have arranged to give one of their charming recitals in Garey's Hall, [Terrytown, Pa] Wednesday evening, October 7th [1896], under the auspices of the congregation of the Catholic Church. The reputation of these artists is worldwide and only a rare chance enables our citizens to have the opportunity of hearing them. Their summer home is at Towanda and they give their recital here before going to Philadelphia where they open on the 10th. Rev. Father Kaier and his people are to be congratulated on their enterprise and they are assured of a crowded house. Admission 25 cents’.
For 25cents you got Rosa (advertised as 'one of the most remarkable musical marvels of the age') singing 'With Verdure Clad', 'Ave Maria', 'Gratias Agimus Tibi', a number of organ pieces, a duet with husband, who also delivered a couple of solos. The evening (usually in a Church) ended with 'The Stars and Stripes'.
Around 1907, the Vontoms moved their headquarters to Minneapolis where Rosa was employed for three years as organist at the Holy Rosary Church.
‘The choral union of Holy Rosary church last evening presented before a large audience Dubois’ sacred oratorio "The Seven Last Words of Christ." The entertainment was given for the benefit of the sufferers in the recent earthquakes in Italy, and the receipts will be forwarded direct to the Pope to aid in the work which the papacy is carrying on for the victims of the disaster.
The oratorio was rendered under the direction of Prof. R. de P. Vonton and Mme. Rosa d’Erina and in addition to the sacred element being maintained throughout, the singing and the music were highly appreciated. Mme. D;Erina presided at the organ and at the conclusion of the oratorio a concert was given in which the following took part: Professor Vonton, Miss Tenie Murphy, Miss Clara Williams, D. Alving Davies, and Francis Rosental.’
‘At Holy Rosary church Sullivan’s comic opera, Trial by Jury, will be given under the direction of Prof. Von Ton, while Irish music and songs will be given by Madam d’Erina and others. Similar programs will be given at St. Anthony of Padua church, St. Charles church, and the Church of the Ascension. While the Irish societies will have celebrations of their own they will cooperate with the churches in duly observing the national festival of Erin’.
But at sixty years of age and more, Madame d’Erina had not given away being ‘the Irish prima donna’. She was still travelling her entertainment round the concert rooms of America and most especially of Canada. Still carrying her advertising with the quotes from Empress, Princess, Queen and President, still purveying her stories of social and vocal glories to a small-town press which dutifully printed them. She was still on the road, in Canada, in 1915 when she was taken with her last illness.
Rosa d’Erina died at her home in Minneapolis in her sixty-eighth year. But she was buried in St Boniface Catholic Cemetery, Hilton Township, Ontario. I’d love to know why. Her husband joined her there in 1928.
The glory she had invented for herself lived after her. The Minneapolis Morning Tribune gave her a fulsome obituary: ‘Mme. Rosa d’Erina, ‘Rose of Ireland,’ as Empress Eugenia named her, died Tuesday night in Minneapolis. Between the time of her first appearance in this city and the day of her passing thirty-five years went by; and those years were marked by the plaudits, the successes that the greatest artists know. For ‘the Rose of Ireland’ was herself one of the greatest of artists in her prime—famous the world over as dramatic soprano and as pianist. Her operatic debut was made in Paris before the Empress Eugenia in 1868. Later in London she was requested to sing at Marlborough House before the Queen, who presented her with a handsome bracelet set with diamonds and emeralds. In 1876 Mme. d’Erina gave a series of organ recitals at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, and at that time Dom Pedro, ruler of Brazil, was so impressed with her playing he insisted on buying the organ on which she performed. Mme. d’Erina was in the Chicago fire in 1871 and was the last great artist who appeared there before the catastrophe.’ Well, well.
Around 1907, the Vontoms moved their headquarters to Minneapolis where Rosa was employed for three years as organist at the Holy Rosary Church.
‘The choral union of Holy Rosary church last evening presented before a large audience Dubois’ sacred oratorio "The Seven Last Words of Christ." The entertainment was given for the benefit of the sufferers in the recent earthquakes in Italy, and the receipts will be forwarded direct to the Pope to aid in the work which the papacy is carrying on for the victims of the disaster.
The oratorio was rendered under the direction of Prof. R. de P. Vonton and Mme. Rosa d’Erina and in addition to the sacred element being maintained throughout, the singing and the music were highly appreciated. Mme. D;Erina presided at the organ and at the conclusion of the oratorio a concert was given in which the following took part: Professor Vonton, Miss Tenie Murphy, Miss Clara Williams, D. Alving Davies, and Francis Rosental.’
‘At Holy Rosary church Sullivan’s comic opera, Trial by Jury, will be given under the direction of Prof. Von Ton, while Irish music and songs will be given by Madam d’Erina and others. Similar programs will be given at St. Anthony of Padua church, St. Charles church, and the Church of the Ascension. While the Irish societies will have celebrations of their own they will cooperate with the churches in duly observing the national festival of Erin’.
But at sixty years of age and more, Madame d’Erina had not given away being ‘the Irish prima donna’. She was still travelling her entertainment round the concert rooms of America and most especially of Canada. Still carrying her advertising with the quotes from Empress, Princess, Queen and President, still purveying her stories of social and vocal glories to a small-town press which dutifully printed them. She was still on the road, in Canada, in 1915 when she was taken with her last illness.
Rosa d’Erina died at her home in Minneapolis in her sixty-eighth year. But she was buried in St Boniface Catholic Cemetery, Hilton Township, Ontario. I’d love to know why. Her husband joined her there in 1928.
The glory she had invented for herself lived after her. The Minneapolis Morning Tribune gave her a fulsome obituary: ‘Mme. Rosa d’Erina, ‘Rose of Ireland,’ as Empress Eugenia named her, died Tuesday night in Minneapolis. Between the time of her first appearance in this city and the day of her passing thirty-five years went by; and those years were marked by the plaudits, the successes that the greatest artists know. For ‘the Rose of Ireland’ was herself one of the greatest of artists in her prime—famous the world over as dramatic soprano and as pianist. Her operatic debut was made in Paris before the Empress Eugenia in 1868. Later in London she was requested to sing at Marlborough House before the Queen, who presented her with a handsome bracelet set with diamonds and emeralds. In 1876 Mme. d’Erina gave a series of organ recitals at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, and at that time Dom Pedro, ruler of Brazil, was so impressed with her playing he insisted on buying the organ on which she performed. Mme. d’Erina was in the Chicago fire in 1871 and was the last great artist who appeared there before the catastrophe.’ Well, well.
‘Famous the world over’. I wonder where they got that one from. And ‘great artist’. Rosa d’Erina’s greatest achievement was her twelvemonth with the German Reed entertainment. And, of the fine list of Reed sopranos, she probably in the end achieved the least. But she stayed in the business of music for something like half a century, and she spread her legend so well that even now one finds her described as ‘great’ and ‘famous’ and, well, I fell for it too, didn’t I? She’s got into this collection.
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