A Survey of Professional Operatic Entertainment in Little Rock, Arkansas: 1870-1900 Jenna M
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Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2010 A survey of professional operatic entertainment in Little Rock, Arkansas: 1870-1900 Jenna M. Tucker Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Music Commons Recommended Citation Tucker, Jenna M., "A survey of professional operatic entertainment in Little Rock, Arkansas: 1870-1900" (2010). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 3766. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/3766 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. A SURVEY OF PROFESSIONAL OPERATIC ENTERTAINMENT IN LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS: 1870-1900 A Monograph Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts In The School of Music by Jenna Tucker B.M., Ouachita Baptist University, 2002 M.M., Louisiana State University, 2004 May 2010 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I praise God for the grace and mercy that He has shown me throughout this project. Also, I am forever grateful to my major professor, Patricia O‟Neill, for her wisdom and encouragement. I am thankful to the other members of my committee: Dr. Loraine Sims, Dr. Lori Bade, Professor Robert Grayson, and Dr. Edward Song, for their willingness to serve on my committee as well as for their support. A special thank you to Dr. Ben Johnson at Southern Arkansas University for his guidance pertaining to matters of Arkansas History, and to the staff at Southern Arkansas University Magale Library and the Arkansas History Commission, my primary places of research. To my colleagues and friends who have gone before me in this process, thank you for your insight, admonishments, and encouragement. I am especially thankful for my friends and family, who have supported me with love and prayers. Finally, I thank God for my husband Jeff, and for the love and selfless acts of service that he has shown to me throughout our marriage, but especially for his support during the last few months of this project. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………..ii ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………….iv INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………….1 CHAPTER 1 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND………………………………………...3 2 OPERA IN LITTLE ROCK: 1870-1879……………………………….36 3 OPERA IN LITTLE ROCK: 1880-1889……………………………….69 4 OPERA IN LITTLE ROCK: 1890-1899……………………………...144 CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………….186 BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………….188 VITA……………………………………………………………………………..194 iii ABSTRACT The late nineteenth century was a time of great political, economic, and social change in the state of Arkansas. The population of Little Rock, the state capital, nearly tripled in the last thirty years of the century. As more people settled in Little Rock, the demand for entertainment grew. Poor transportation was an initial obstacle; but as railroads gradually linked Little Rock to larger cities, traveling professional theatrical troupes began to include Little Rock on their itineraries. The purpose of this project is to document the history of professional operatic entertainment in Little Rock, Arkansas, from 1870—when the first professional opera troupe visited the city—until the end of the century. The first chapter is a brief historical sketch of the state of Arkansas, the city of Little Rock, and the early professional theatrical performances in Little Rock. Chapters two through four present a chronology of Little Rock‟s operatic stage from February 1870 through December 1899. These chapters record the performers that visited the city, the operas they presented, and the reception that was tendered them by Little Rock theatre-goers. iv INTRODUCTION The late nineteenth century was a time of great political, economic, and social change in the state of Arkansas. What had long been regarded as a frontier state was now struggling for a position within the “New South”, and was faced with such challenges as urbanization and competition in the national economic market.1 Little Rock, the state capital, experienced a population surge--from 12,380 residents in 1870 to 38,307 residents in 1900.2 As more people settled in Little Rock, the demand for entertainment grew. Poor transportation was an initial obstacle; but as railroads gradually linked Little Rock to larger cities, traveling professional theatrical troupes began to include Little Rock on their itineraries. The purpose of this project is to document the history of professional operatic entertainment in Little Rock, Arkansas, from 1870—when the first professional opera troupe visited the city—until the end of the century. For the purposes of this study, professional operatic entertainment will be defined as opera, operetta, or concerts whose programs featured fully staged excerpts from opera or operetta. While many traveling troupes called themselves “opera companies,” some presented popular genres that were not truly opera, rich in spectacle but lacking musical and dramatic substance; therefore, any performance labeled as a spectacle, extravaganza, or burlesque is excluded from the scope of this study. The first chapter is a brief historical sketch of the state of Arkansas, the city of Little Rock, and the early professional theatrical performances in Little Rock. The chapter focuses on 1 Carl H. Moneyhon, Arkansas and the New South 1874-1929 (Fayettville, AR: The University of Arkansas Press, 1997), xi. 2 James W. Bell, “Little Rock (Pulaski County)” in The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture; available http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net; Internet; accessed 10 April 2008. 1 the political, economic, and social forces at work in Arkansas from its territory days through the end of the century, and the impact of these forces on Little Rock and on its theatrical life. Chapters two through four present a chronology of Little Rock‟s operatic stage from February 1870 through December 1899. These chapters record the performers that visited the city, the operas they presented, and the reception that was tendered them by Little Rock theatre- goers. An attempt is made to provide detailed information on the professional troupes, notable individuals, and lesser-known operas, when such information is available. The largest sources of information for this project are the newspapers from this time period. The Arkansas Gazette serves as the primary source, as it is the only newspaper that ran the entire length of the study period. The Gazette also covered the city‟s theatrical life with the most detail and consistency. When possible, parallel accounts from other newspapers are taken into consideration. Issues of the Morning Republican are available through 1875; and the Arkansas Democrat is available beginning in October 1878, but the issues from June 1892 through January 1898 are missing. There are many contemporary accounts of performances and information about individual performers available in the form of musical periodicals, encyclopedias, and personal memoirs; these sources are referenced as often as they are available. Other sources include secondary sources in the form of books and journal articles on Arkansas history, opera and musical theater history, and Arkansas theatrical history. Like any study, this project is limited by the information that is available. None of the Little Rock theatres at the center of this study or any of the theatres‟ records detailing their theatrical seasons have survived. The only source of information for constructing the city‟s theatrical chronology comes from the newspapers; therefore the study is limited to only those performances the newspapers chose to cover. 2 CHAPTER 1 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Beginnings The land that would become the state of Arkansas was acquired by the United States in October 1803 as part of the Louisiana Purchase.3 In March 1804, the United States divided the Louisiana Purchase along the thirty-third parallel, which remains the current division between the states of Arkansas and Louisiana. The United States called the southern region the territory of Orleans, and the northern portion (which included present-day Arkansas) the District of Louisiana. The area first bore the name “Arkansas” in 1806 when it was designated as the District of Arkansas within the Louisiana Territory.4 In 1812, the Orleans territory became the State of Louisiana, and the “old” Louisiana Territory was absorbed by the newly-created Missouri Territory. When Missouri applied for statehood in 1818, Arkansas petitioned for territory status, which was granted by Congress on March 2, 1819 with the capital located at Arkansas Post, a trading settlement near the junction of the Arkansas and Mississippi rivers.5 Arkansas Post was most likely chosen as the territorial capital since it was the oldest settlement in the region. It became clear, however, that the location of Arkansas Post was not an ideal site for the capital of the newly-formed territory. Its location at the mouth of the Arkansas River put the capital on the eastern perimeter of the territory and made it susceptible to flooding. 3Frederick Hampton Roy, Charles Witsell and Cheryl Griffith Nichols, How