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Creator
Homer, Louise, 1871-1947
Call number
JPF 00-1
Physical description
1.7 linear ft. (17 volumes)
Preferred Citation

Louise Homer Collection of vocal scores, JPF 00-1, Music Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations.

Repository
Music Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

The Louise Homer Collection of Vocal Scores contains a sampling of music owned and annotated by the American contralto.

Biographical/historical information

Louise Homer (née Louise Dilworth Beatty), American contralto, was born in Shadyside, Pennsylvania, on April 28, 1871. She studied in Philadelphia and later Boston, where she met her future husband, the composer Sidney Homer. They were married in 1895. Together they went to France where she studied voice with Fidèle Koenig, and drama with Paul Lhérie.

Homer made her operatic debut in 1898 as Leonora in La Favorita at Vichy. The following year she was engaged at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, and soon after was engaged by Covent Garden. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Amneris in Aïda on November 14, 1900, while the company was on tour in San Francisco. Her house debut in the same role was on December 22, 1900. With one exception (1914-15) she appeared regularly with the company until 1919. From 1920-25 she appeared with the Chicago Opera Company, and in 1926 appeared with the San Francisco and Los Angeles opera companies. She returned to the Metropolitan Opera in 1927, and gave her final staged performance there on November 28, 1929.

Moving to Florida, Homer gave recitals for a while and taught singing for several years. In 1939, Sidney Homer published an autobiographical account of their lives, My Wife and I.

Louise Homer died at Winter Park, Florida, on May 6, 1947. In 1973, one of her daughters, Anne Homer, published a biography, Louise Homer and the Golden Age of Opera.

Scope and arrangement

The Louise Homer collection of vocal scores represents a sampling of the roles the contralto sang on stage. Some of the scores appear to have been used for pedagogical purposes, a role Homer took on after her retirement from the operatic stage in 1929.

The value in these scores lies in the markings and annotations. At the very least, these markings indicate places for the singer to breath and phrase. In some cases (such as the Lohengrin score), Homer has pencilled in alternative notes so as to avoid the high tessiture of Ortrud's part. In several cases such as the French edition of Il Trovatore, Homer takes great pains to indicate movement, sometimes annotating each phrase of the music with descriptions of blocking.

These scores provide an unusual view into the artistry of one of the most noted American contraltos of the early part of the twentieth century.

Arrangement

Scores are arranged alphabetically by composer and title.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

The Louise Homer Collection of vocal scores (as well as the manuscripts of her husband Sidney Homer), were donated to the Music Division in November 1967 by Katherine Homer Fryer, one of the daughters of Louise and Sidney Homer.

Processing information

Processed by Robert Kosovsky; machine-readable finding aid created by Robert Kosovsky.

Related Material

The manuscript scores of composer Sidney Homer (Louise Homer's husband) are cataloged collectively as JPB 83-299.

Using the collection

Location

Music Division
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498
Third Floor

Conditions Governing Use

For permission to copy or publish, please contact the Music Division.