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Italian tenor Edoardo Ferrari-Fontana: historyofthetenor.com/page.php?61 His first wife Margaret Matzenauer was a Hungarian contralto; they married in 1912, divorced in 1917. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Matzenauer

LOC: Note misspelling of Ferrari-Fontana. The Met's archive lists her as Margarete Matzenauer. In November, 1915, she had parts in 4 of their productions, Götterdämmerung, Lohengrin, Samson et Delila, and Aida. archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/frame.htm

Beautiful

pennylrichardsca and artolog: thanks for the additional information. We will update the record.

See also www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/15242032448/

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelita_Galli-Curci

Dennis F. McSweeney, concert manager www.newspapers.com/newspage/85901825/ He died in 1934, aged 54 www.newspapers.com/newspage/59989308/

See

Looking at the high-res image from LoC, I see that the poster they are looking at has McSweeney's name and a New York address, but in large letters above that and below the word "soprano" is xxxxx (possibly "Management") Charles L. Wagner. digital.lib.uiowa.edu/cdm/ref/collection/tc/id/24634 indicates that Wagner "discovered" Galli-Curci and gave her a three-year contract when others had ignored her. McSweeney is mentioned as an associate of Wagner's in the first of the newspaper articles (Pittsburgh Post, 1920) B-59 linked to above.

Miss Florence Emily Gilbert (b.1896) and Miss Kathryn (Kitty) Bache (1896–1979), performed in the suffrage opera, "Melinda and Her Sisters", by Mrs. O.H.P. (Alva) Belmont (1853-1933) and Miss Elsa Maxwell (1883-1963), in which society appeared to satirize society.

Miss Gilbert performed in "Love Letters" and "The Castle Dancers", and Miss Bache performed in "Love Letters", Sporting Sister", "Hello Song" and "Suffrage Parade".

The opera was performed February 18, 1916, in the grand ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City.

Miss Florence Gilbert, a débutante daughter of Mrs. Cyril (Lilla Brokaw) Dugmore (1870-1939), and her first husband, the late Harry Bramhall Gilbert (1861-1911), was introduced to society in January, 1916, at a tea and dance for 1,000 at Sherry's. She married Sergeant Russell Evans Tucker, Jr., O.R.C. in 1918. As an aside, Florence Gilbert was a bridesmaid and Russell Tucker, Jr., an usher, at the wedding of Mary Duke and Anthony Biddle in July, 1915. There was no word on who caught the bouquet ;)

Miss Kathryn (Kitty) Bache [note correct spelling of first name], the débutante daughter of the Wall Street financier Jules Bache (1861-1944), was introduced to society in January, 1914, at a dance at Sherry's. She married the theatre producer, Gilbert Miller (1884-1969), in Paris, France, in 1927.

She was a supporter of American theatre who in 1941 helped found the New York branch of the Escholier Club. Columbia University's Kathryn Bache Miller Theatre was named in her honor. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]


 
There is another photograph of Florence Gilbert, and an illustration of Kathryn Bache in the Bain Collection on Flickr:

                             
                    Miss Florence Emily Gilbert                Miss Kathryn (Kitty) Bache
 

See also:

Thanks for the information and for connecting this photo with the probable context of the suffrage opera. We can add to the description when we next update it.

This photo ran in the Sunday (Portland) Oregonian on July 23, 1916 with the caption: "Florence Gilbert, daughter of Mrs. Dugmore, and Kathryn K. Bache, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jules Bache, are two of the society girls who will have parts in the suffrage play written by Mrs. Belmont." oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83045782/1916-07-23/ed-1/se...