Singers and managers: women and the operatic stage in late nineteenth-century America

Abstract

ABSTRACT Most scholars of American history are completely unaware that opera – in particular opera performed in English – was an extraordinarily successful style of popular entertainment in the United States during the nineteenth century. In this article, we will investigate both the activities of the most important and successful English-language companies of the time as well as the confident, ambitious, skilled, and determined women who managed them. In the process, readers will learn about an almost completely overlooked element of American popular culture of the second half of the century and gain new insight into changing gender roles in the United States during this period.