sopranos

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. They had six children, the oldest Louise Homer, Jr. (1896-1970) (Louise Homer Stires), appears in this portrait with her mother. 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.

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Rosa Ponselle (January 22, 1897 – May 25, 1981), was an American operatic soprano with a large, opulent voice. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Ponselle en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheepshead_Bay_Race_Track en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aida

Conductor Nahan Franko (1861-1930) in background.  Franko was Concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra (1883 to 1907).  A violinist, Nahan made his debut at age 8 at Steinway Hall in New York City and then toured with Adelina Patti as a child prodigy. [1]

Thank you for identifying the conductor; we will add it to the record!