Estate sale find, vintage original Davenport Iowa Burtis Opera House Kate Bensberg English Company Card 1888
Kate Bensberg and her English Opera Company presented Flotow‟s less-known opera L’ombre.
Kate Bensberg was a native of St. Louis and
received her musical training in Stuttgart. Her operatic debut was in June 1883 at Kroll‟s
Theatre in Berlin as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro.
For two years in the early 1880‟s, she spent two years touring England with Carl Rosa and his English Opera Company. In 1885 in the United States, the American Opera Company was formed and Bensberg was engaged for the company's first season in 1886.
After her stint with the American Opera Company, she formed her own company, a group that was unique in that it performed only operas that did not require a chorus. The reasoning behind such a move was that it was a wiser use of financial resources to invest in a company consisting of a few exceptional principal singers rather than a large company of mediocre ones.
After a few years of traveling with her own troupe, Bensberg returned to Europe, which seems to be the scene of the remainder of her career. An October 1898 issue of The Musical Times mentions Bensberg and states that she “has studied under Madame [Mathilde] Marchesi in the French capital, and has achieved considerable success in opera on the Continent.”
According to a biography of tenor Enrico Caruso, Caruso shared the stage with Bensberg in a November 1895 production of La Traviata at the Teatro Mercadante in Naples. A significant portion of Bensberg‟s career must have taken place in Italy; in 1897, Mathilde Marchesi mentions Bensberg and states that she is “now pursuing a brilliant career in Italy.”
Later on, Bensberg must have assumed the role of teacher; for in a biographical sketch of American soprano Edith Mae Bideau, she is listed as being Bideau's teacher in Florence in 1913.
Burtis Opera House were located in downtown Davenport, Iowa, and was opened in 1867 at 415 Perry Street.
The theater could hold an audience of 1,600 and it was a widely used facility. Mark Twain spoke to a sold-out house on his "The American Vandal Abroad" tour in 1869.
In March 1874 Susan B. Anthony lectured on the woman's right to vote. Al Jolson performed on the stage years after he worked as a singing waiter at Brick Munro's Pavilion in Bucktown.
The Quad City Symphony Orchestra played its first concert as the Tri-City Symphony in the Burtis on March 29, 1916.
The item measures approximately 3.5" X 4.5", approximate shipping weight 2 ounces.
PLEASE SEE DESCRIPTION AND PHOTOS FOR ADDITIONAL DETAILS - The item appears to be in overall Fair to Good Minus used condition, signs of wear, creases, fading, tears, chipping, sunning and age toning, soiling, stains, writing, no odors, please see images.
(PH6-402)