contraltos

Homer Family This is a series of portraits of the family of composer Sidney Homer (1864-1953) and his wife contralto Louise Dilworth Homer née Beatty (1871-1947). Sidney Homer composed many of his songs with the voice of his famous wife in mind. Among his most famous songs are "A Banjo Song" (Weeden), "Requiem" (Stevenson), "Casey at the Bat" (Thayer), and "The House that Jack Built" ("Mother Goose.") Sidney was Louise's music theory teacher in Boston, MA.  After their marriage in 1895, they went to Europe for further voice coaching. Louise Homer's European debut in 1898 was in Vichy, as Leonora in La Favorita, and in 1900 she made her American opera debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City singing Amneris in Verdi's Aida.  She sang at the Met for 19 consecutive seasons, often singing opposite such acclaimed singers as Enrico Caruso, Geraldine Farrar, and Ernestine Schumann-Heink. She made many phonographic recordings with Victor Co.  Composer Samuel Barber was her nephew, and Louise performed several of his songs.  In 1923 and 1924 she was listed as one of the 12 greatest living women by the National League of Women Voters.[1] They had six children, Louise Homer, Jr. (1896-1970) (Louise Homer Stires), son Sidney Homer, Jr. (1902-1983), twin daughters Anne Marie Homer (1907-1995) (Anne Homer Doerflinger) and Katharine Homer (1907-1997) ("Kay", Katharine Homer Fryer); and daughters Hester Makepeace Homer (1911-1967) ("Miss Happy", Hester Homer Henry) and Helen Joy Homer (1915-1946) ("Joy", Joy Homer Doerflinger) There are currently 34 photographs of the Homer family in the Bain Collection on Flickr.  You can view them all here.   They were first identified by Art Siegel, B-59, pennylrichardsca (now at ipernity), Wystan, swanq, and Richard Norton.

On the porch of Homeland, Bolton Landing, NY, which they built. See www.phinneydesign.com/project/homeland-estate-historic/ and warrenny200.org/towns/bolton/

swanq, this has to be one of best "Then and Now"'s evah!   Great work in finding this!

I wonder what took place for all to smile. Others photos they didn't smile.

"Even a woman can do it!!"

Ada Jones (Ada Jane Jones) (1873-1922) was a popular singer who made her first recordings in 1893 on Edison cylinders. She is among the earliest female singers to be recorded. "She was born in Lancashire, England but moved with her family to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the age of six in 1879. She started performing on stage, including juvenile roles in the 1880s. "She sang in a contralto, learning songs by ear, and lacked the ability to read music or play an instrument. Her repertoire included ballads, ragtime, vaudeville, and comedy in a variety of dialects. During 1893–1894, she recorded for Edison Records on wax cylinders, making her among the earliest female singers to be recorded. She sang with Billy Murray, Billy Watkins, Cal Stewart, Len Spencer, the American Quartet, and with her 12-year-old daughter Sheilah. Touring was made difficult due to epilepsy. "In 1893 or 1894 she recorded some musical performances for the North American Phonograph Company, including "Sweet Marie" and "The Volunteer Organist". But the demise of this company interrupted her recording career and it was not until 1905 that she returned to recording, after a few years doing performances at such locations as Huber's 14th Street Museum in New York City. "Ada Jones recorded "The Yama Yama Man" in 1909 for the Victor Light Opera Company. The lyrics for verse two and three were changed from the original, verse two being more bawdy. It was the most popular song of her career, spending five weeks at number one." [1] There are several other photographs of Ada Jones in the Bain Collection of the Library of Congress that were first identified by swanq and Jonathan Morse. You can see those by clicking on this tag.

Homer Family This is a series of portraits of the family of composer Sidney Homer (1864-1953) and his wife contralto Louise Dilworth Homer née Beatty (1871-1947). Sidney Homer composed many of his songs with the voice of his famous wife in mind. Among his most famous songs are "A Banjo Song" (Weeden), "Requiem" (Stevenson), "Casey at the Bat" (Thayer), and "The House that Jack Built" ("Mother Goose.") Sidney was Louise's music theory teacher in Boston, MA. Louise Homer's European debut in 1898 was in Vichy, as Leonora in La Favorita, and in 1900 she made her American opera debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City singing Amneris in Verdi's Aida.  She sang at the Met for 19 consecutive seasons, often singing opposite such acclaimed singers as Enrico Caruso, Geraldine Farrar, and Ernestine Schumann-Heink.  Composer Samuel Barber was her nephew, and Louise performed several of his songs.  In 1923 and 1924 she was listed as one of the 12 greatest living women by the National League of Women Voters.