Jessie Bartlett Davis

Jessie Bartlett Davis, born Jessie Fremont Bartlett on September 17, 1859, in Morris, Illinois, was an American contralto, operatic singer, and actress who died on May 14, 1905. One of nine children born to Elias Lyman Bartlett and Rachael Ann Bartlett, she grew up in a musically inclined household; her father, originally a schoolteacher from Keene, New Hampshire, was a talented amateur bass who gave Jessie and her older sister Belle their earliest vocal instruction. Jessie began performing in concerts with Belle at the age of nine, and in January 1874 the two sisters appeared together in George William Stratton's operetta Laila at the Ottawa Opera House. That same year, the siblings joined their father in a vocal trio billed as "The Bartlett Family of Opera Singers," eventually touring along the West Coast of the United States before Belle's death brought that partnership to an end.

When Jessie was fourteen, her father sold the family farm and relocated the family to Chicago so that she could pursue formal musical training. There she studied voice with Frederick W. Root and later with Sarah Robinson-Duff. A sister, Josephine Bartlett Perry, also trained as a singer in Chicago and performed with both the Chicago Ideal Opera Company and The Bostonians. While living in Chicago, Davis was engaged by the Richings-Bernard Company, the performance troupe of Caroline Richings, for one touring season beginning in 1875. Her repertoire with that company included angel arias from Mendelssohn's Elijah and Stephen Foster's "Sweet Genevieve." In March 1876 she portrayed Brigitta in Michael William Balfe's Letty, the Basket Maker at Chicago's Col. Wood's Museum, and later that spring she appeared as Cherubino in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro at the Olympic Theatre in St. Louis, with Richings in the role of Susanna.

After returning to Chicago, Davis worked as a church singer at the Church of the Messiah before her manager, J. H. Haverly, persuaded her to join the Chicago Church Choir Company for its production of Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore in 1879. That production was organized by theatre impresario William J. Davis, whom she married in 1880. On the advice of her husband, she subsequently pursued further vocal training in New York City with teachers Luciano Albites and Frank de Rialp. Through Albites she came to the attention of opera impresario James Henry Mapleson, and on November 13, 1882, she made her grand opera debut at the Academy of Music with the Mapleson Opera Company, stepping in as Siebel in Charles Gounod's Faust opposite Adelina Patti as Marguerite. The following month she appeared as the Goatherd in Dinorah with the same company.

Davis continued her studies in New York and worked for the McCaull Comic Opera Company at the Casino Theatre before returning to Chicago in the summer of 1883 to perform with the Chicago Ideal Opera Company, where her roles included the Queen of the Fairies in Iolanthe and Lady Sangazure in The Sorcerer. In February 1884 she made her Chicago grand opera debut, again as Siebel, at McVicker's Theater with Etelka Gerster as Marguerite. She subsequently traveled to Paris to study with Anna de La Grange, and upon returning to the United States joined the touring company of William T. Carleton for one season beginning in June 1884. Her roles on that tour included Elsa Groot in Johann Strauss II's Der lustige Krieg, the drummer Griolet in La fille du tambour-major, Lady Pamela in Daniel Auber's Fra Diavolo, and the trouser role of Prince Frederick in Audran's La mascotte at the Fourteenth Street Theatre in New York City in February 1885. She left the tour in March 1885 following news of her son's serious illness. She then joined the American Opera Company under conductor Theodore Thomas, performing roles including Azucena in Il trovatore, Mallika in Lakmé, Ortrud in Lohengrin, Urbain in Les Huguenots, and the title role in Carmen. In 1886 she returned to the Academy of Music in Manhattan as Mrs. Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor.

In 1888 Davis became the leading contralto and prima donna of The Bostonians, the company with which she would remain until 1901 and with which she achieved her greatest fame. Among the roles she performed with the company were Azucena, Carmen, Cynisca in Pygmalion and Galatea, Nancy in Martha, and the Marchioness in Oscar Weil's Suzette. She created the role of Dorothea in Reginald De Koven's Don Quixote in 1889, and her most celebrated role came in 1890 when she played Alan a-Dale in De Koven and Clement Scott's Robin Hood. In that production she performed "Oh Promise Me," a song that had originally been sung by tenor Tom Karl in the role of Robin Hood but had failed to resonate with audiences until it was reassigned and transposed into a lower key for Davis. Her interpretation became a popular hit, and the song remained closely associated with her for the rest of her career, becoming a staple at weddings. Davis also created the role of Idalia in Victor Herbert's Prince Ananias in 1894 and the role of Dolores in Herbert's The Serenade in 1897, both staged on Broadway. During her years with The Bostonians she made three recordings for the Berliner Gramophone Company, including "Oh, Promise Me" in 1895, "O Genevieve" in 1898, and "Don Jose of Sevilla" in 1898, the last a duet from The Serenade.

Davis's Broadway career spanned from 1897 to 1903 and included appearances in Erminie and The Serenade. She died on May 14, 1905.