Alice Eversman

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Alice Eversman, from a 1917 publication.

Alice Eversman (September 4, 1885 — February 1, 1974) was an American opera singer and voice teacher, and later a music critic for over twenty years.

Early life[]

Alice Mary Eversman was born in Effingham, Illinois and raised in Washington, D.C., the daughter of John Eversman Sr. and Frances Caroline Gibbons Eversman. Encouraged by organist John W. Bischoff,[1] she studied music at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland, and in Karlsruhe, Germany.[2]

Career[]

Eversman sang soprano with the Chicago Grand Opera Company.[3] With them, she appeared in a New Year's Day show at the county jail, and "brought tears to the eyes of many prisoners" with her songs.[4] She was a member of the Metropolitan Opera Company for the 1916-1917 season. She was a fortunate understudy on at least two occasions: once in 1912, when Carmen Melis failed to appear for her starring role in Aida,[5] and again as Aida in 1915, when Ester Adaberto was called to Italy on a family emergency.[6] She starred in Aida again in 1917, in a stadium performance to benefit the Civilian Relief Committee during World War I.[7] She also gave recitals on the Chautauqua circuit, with violinist Elena de Sayn.[8][9][10]

Eversman wrote music criticism for The Washington Star newspaper from 1932 to 1953. She was also a music critic for the Paris edition of the New York Herald.[11] In her work as a critic, she reviewed the president's daughter, Margaret Truman, on her singing tour in 1949,[12] and described a 1933 recital at a church auditorium by Marian Anderson, lamenting that "her extraordinary singing was enjoyed only by a small audience."[13] She also reviewed the 1943 production of La Traviata by the National Negro Opera Company, with particular praise for Lillian Evanti.[14] She was president of the American Newspaper Women's Club three times, and a member of the Women's National Press Club.[2]

Personal life[]

Eversman died from a stroke in 1974, aged 88 years, in Fairfax, Virginia.[15] In 2012 her cousin Mary Ellen Eversman published a biography, Alice Eversman: Dramatic Opera Soprano, and gave lectures on the subject.[16]

References[]

  1. ^ "Alice Eversman, Local Prima Donna, to Sing Here Saturday" The Washington Herald (October 3, 1915): 3. via Newspapers.comopen access
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Alfred Victor Frankenstein, Sigmund Gottfried Spaeth, John Townsend Hinton Mize, The International Who is Who in Music (Who is Who in Music, Incorporated, Limited, 1951): 169.
  3. ^ "Amusements" The Reform Advocate (December 16, 1911): 677.
  4. ^ "Sing for Chicago Prisoners"[permanent dead link] New York Times (January 2, 1912): 12.
  5. ^ "Capital Girl Saves Opera; Leaves Bath for the Stage" Washington Herald (March 24, 1912): 3. via Newspapers.comopen access
  6. ^ "Alice Eversman in Opera 'Aida'" The Morning News (March 17, 1915): 13. via Newspapers.comopen access
  7. ^ "Miss Eversman to Sing in Aida"[permanent dead link] New York Times (June 11, 1917): 9.
  8. ^ Alice Eversman program (1924), "Traveling Culture: Circuit Chautauqua in the Twentieth Century", University of Iowa Libraries, Special Collections.
  9. ^ "Eighteen Joint Recitals for Alice Eversman and Elena de Sayn" Musical Courier (April 19, 1917): 39.
  10. ^ "Eversman-De Sayn Success" Musical Courier (May 3, 1917): 51.
  11. ^ "Alice Eversman, Star Critic, Former Opera Singer, Dies"[permanent dead link] Washington Post (February 3, 1974): B6.
  12. ^ Ernest B. Vaccaro, "Miss Truman Ends Song Tour; Father Spectator" Daytona Beach Morning Journal (November 28, 1949): 2.
  13. ^ Raymond Arsenault, The Sound of Freedom: Marian Anderson, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Concert That Awakened America (Bloomsbury Publishing 2010): 93. ISBN 9781608190560
  14. ^ Rosalyn M. Story, And So I Sing (St. Martin's Press 1990): 96. ISBN 9780446710169
  15. ^ "Alice M. Eversman" New York Times (February 3, 1974): 49.
  16. ^ Bill Grimes, "Local Woman Portrays Late Relative's History in Opera" Effingham Daily News (July 22, 2014).
Archives at
LocationLibrary of Congress
SourceAlice Eversman and Elena De Sayn Collection
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