{{short description|American opera singer}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2021}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Bessie Abott | image = BessieAbott1907.tif | alt = | caption = | image_size = | birth_name = Bessie Pickens | alias = | birth_date = 1878 | birth_place = Heuvelton, New York, U.S. | death_date = February 9, 1919 | death_place = | origin = | instrument = | genre = Opera | occupation = | years_active = <!-- YYYY–YYYY --> | label = | website = }} {{Listen |title="Bella figlia dell'amore" |filename=Enrico Caruso, Bessie Abott, Louise Homer, Antonio Scotti, Giuseppe Verdi, Bella figlia dell' amore (Rigoletto).ogg |description=''Rigoletto'', Act 3. A Victor Records recording with Enrico Caruso, Bessie Abott, Louise Homer and Antonio Scotti from 1907. }} '''Bessie Abott''' (1878 – February 9, 1919) was an American operatic soprano who had an active international career during the early 20th century. She was particularly associated with the Paris Opera and the Metropolitan Opera, and excelled in performances of Italian and French operas of the Romantic Period.
==Biography== '''Bessie Abott''' was one of twin daughters, Bessie and Jessie, born in Heuvelton, New York as '''Bessie Pickens''' to John Pickens Jr., and his wife, Frances Josephine Button. She utilized her grandmother's maiden name, Abbott, as her stage name and later dropped one "b" after she saw a misprinted theater program in Paris.<ref name=obit/>
Abott made her professional stage debut in a vaudeville act with her twin sister Jessie at Pickens Hall, which was built by her grandfather, John Pickens Sr. The act was known as the Abbott Sisters.<ref name=obit/> In 1894 she was hired by Edward E. Rice to star in the American premiere of Ivan Caryll's ''Little Christopher Columbus'' at the Garden Theatre in New York. The following year, she was engaged by Rice to star in a successful revival of R. A. Barnet's ''1492 Up to Date''. While in New York she studied singing with Frida Ashforth.<ref name=obit/>
In 1897 Abott went to London where she performed in operettas in the West End. While there, she drew the attention of Jean de Reszke in 1898 after he saw her perform. He advised her to pursue an opera career, and she briefly studied singing with him. Under de Reszke's advice, she moved to Paris to study singing with Jacques Bouhy, Victor Capoul, and Mathilde Marchesi for the next three years.<ref name=obit/>
Bessie made her professional opera debut at the Palais Garnier in Paris as Juliette in Charles Gounod's ''Roméo et Juliette''. She remained committed to the Paris Opera for the next five years. At the Paris Opera she notably portrayed the Forest Bird in Richard Wagner's ''Siegfried'' with her mentor, de Reszke, in the title role. Other roles she sang in Paris included Andreloun in Gounod's ''Mireille'' and Zerlina in Mozart's ''Don Giovanni''.
After leaving the Paris Opera, Abott was committed to the Metropolitan Opera in New York City from 1906 to 1908. She made her Met debut as Mimì in Puccini's ''La boheme'' under the baton of conductor Arturo Vigna on January 20, 1906. Other roles she sang with the Met included Gilda in Verdi's ''Rigoletto'', Juliette in Gounod's ''Roméo et Juliette'', Lady Harriet in Flotow's ''Martha'', Marguerite in Gounod's ''Faust'', Micaela in Bizet's ''Carmen'', and Violetta in Verdi's ''La Traviata''. Her final performance with the Met was as Philine in an out-of-town performance of Thomas' ''Mignon'' on April 24, 1908 in Chicago.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/frame.htm |title=Metropolitan Opera Archives |access-date=September 8, 2013 |archive-date=August 12, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180812164001/http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/frame.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>
During her years at the Met, Abott also occasionally performed in concerts and operas in other American cities. She notably sang in a production of ''Carmen'' with Enrico Caruso in San Francisco's Grand Opera House the night before the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. After leaving the Met she returned to Europe where she appeared in operas in Lisbon, Monte Carlo, Paris, and Petrograd. In 1910–1911 she toured the United States with her own opera company starring in a production of ''La boheme''. Her final performance was as Janet in a 1913 revival of Reginald De Koven's ''Robin Hood'' in New York.<ref name=obit/>
Abott married sculptor and poet Waldo Story in 1912 and retired from her career.<ref name=obit/><ref>{{cite news |title=Bessie Abott Wed To T. Waldo Story. Famous American Opera Singer Married Sculptor Some Time Ago in Europe. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1912/09/27/archives/bessie-abott-wed-to-t-waldo-story-famous-american-opera-singer.html |work=The New York Times |date=September 27, 1912 |accessdate=December 6, 2009 }}</ref> She was widowed in 1915.<ref>{{cite news |title=Sculptor Story |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/courant/access/774458672.html?dids=774458672:774458672&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Oct+25%2C+1915&author=&pub=Hartford+Courant&desc=SCULPTOR+STORY+HAD+INTERESTING+CAREER&pqatl=google |quote=Thomas Waldo Story, sculptor of wide renown and husband of Bessie Abott, the American opera singer, who died Saturday morning at his home, No. 133 East Sixtieth street, New York, was 50 years old. He leaves his first wife and second wife and two daughters. |work=The New York Times |date=October 25, 1915 |accessdate=December 6, 2009 |archive-date=October 24, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024060437/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/courant/access/774458672.html?dids=774458672:774458672&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Oct+25,+1915&author=&pub=Hartford+Courant&desc=SCULPTOR+STORY+HAD+INTERESTING+CAREER&pqatl=google |url-status=dead }}</ref> She died in 1919, at the age of 40, "after an illness of several years."<ref name=obit>{{cite news |title=Death of Bessie Abott. Popular Singer in Opera, She Left to Wed Waldo Story. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1919/02/10/archives/death-of-bessie-abott-popular-singers-in-opera-she-left-to-wed.html |quote=Bessie Abott, who for some years was one of America's leading young opera singers, and who also won fame abroad, died yesterday at her home, 927 Park Avenue, after an illness of several years. She had retired from the stage on her marriage to the late T. Waldo Story, ... |work=The New York Times |date=February 10, 1919 |accessdate=December 6, 2009 }}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} *The [https://web.archive.org/web/20100206075109/http://heuvelton.org/ Heuvelton Historical Association], 83 State Street, Heuvelton, New York *https://classicmusiccds.com/product/bessie-abott-the-complete-recordings-cdr/
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Abott, Bessie Pickens}} Category:1878 births Category:1919 deaths Category:19th-century American actresses Category:American stage actresses Category:People from St. Lawrence County, New York Category:American operatic sopranos Category:19th-century American women opera singers Category:American expatriate actresses in France