Women of distinction/Chapter 5

CHAPTER V.

MADAM FLORA BATSON BERGEN.

("QUEEN OF SONG").

Flora Batson was born in Washington, D. C., in 1865. While but a babe her father died from wounds received in the war. When three years of age, with her mother, she went to Providence, R. I., where she attended school and also studied music till she was thirteen. At this very early age she entered upon her professional career, traveling extensively and singing two years for Stoerer's College at Harper's Ferry, W. Va.; three years for the People's Church of Boston; one year in Redpath's Lecture and Lyceum Bureau of Boston; two years in the temperance work under the management of Thomas Doutney. It was at this time, during a great temperance revival in New York, that Miss Batson sang "Six Feet of Earth Make Us All One Size" ninety successive nights in the great hall of the Masonic Temple. Thousands whom argument and eloquence failed to reach were transfixed and moved to tears (signing the pledge) by the magic sweetness and the irresistible pathos with which she clothed sermons in song. Manager J. G. Bergen, of Star Concert fame, went to hear her and was at once infatuated with her voice. The result was that one year later he succeeded in engaging her services for one year. At the expiration of that year admiration for a great voice had grown into love for a noble woman, and Miss Flora Batson was married to Mr. J. G. Bergen, at the Sumner House in New York,

FLORA BATSON BERGEN.

December 13, 1887. The New York World, in a half-column sensational article, spoke of the marriage of the successful concert manager to the famous colored prima donna, and hundreds of papers in America and Europe commented on the bold defiance given to that almost universal American sentiment that says the races shall not intermarry.

One week after the marriage, in the presence of a large audience in Philadelphia, she was crowned "Queen of Song," and was presented with a magnificent crown and diadem, set with precious stones.

A month later, at Steinway Hall, in the presence of over three thousand people, she was presented with a superb diamond cut bead necklace by the citizens of New York City. In the fall of 1888, under her husband's management, she commenced a tour of the continent which covered nearly three years, singing with unparalleled success in nearly every city between the two oceans.

Flora Batson Bergen is a lady of medium size, beautiful form, modest, free from affectation; and it can be truthfully said of her, "Success has not turned her head." She cuts, fits and makes all of her magnificent costumes, not from necessity, but because there is no dress-maker in New York City who can do it as well.

The following are some of her many splendid press notices:

The colored Jenny Lind.—New York World.

The Patti of her race.—Chicago Inter Ocean.

The peerless mezzo-soprano.—New York Sun.

The unrivaled favorite of the masses.—N. Y. Age.

A mezzo-soprano of wonderful range.—San Francisco Examiner.

A sparkling diamond in the golden realm of song.—San Jose Californian.

Worthy to rank among the great singers of the world.—Portland Oregonian.

Her progress through the country has been one continuous triumph.—Denver Rocky Mountain News.

All her numbers were sung without effort—as the birds sing.—Mobile (Ala.) Register.

A voice of great range and of remarkable depth and purity.—Louisville (Ky.) CourierJournal.

She will never lack for an audience in the "City of Seven Hills."—Richmond (Va.) Planet.

The sweetest voice that ever charmed a Virginia audience.—Lynchburg (Va.) Advance.

Has earned the fame of being the greatest colored singer in the world.—Vicksburg (Miss.) Post.

Her articulation is so perfect her renditions seem like recitations set to music.—Kansas City Dispatch.

The indescribable pathos of her voice in dramatic and pathetic selections wrought a wondrous effect.—The Colonist (Victoria), British Columbia.

She scored a complete success as a vocalist of high ability, and fully justified the favorable criticisms of the Eastern press.—San Francisco Examiner.

A highly cultivated mezzo-soprano, of great sweetness, power and compass, and of dramatic quality.—Charleston (S. C.) News and Courier.

She electrified the vast audience of 12,000 people at the Mormon Tabernacle service on Sunday by her marvelous rendition of the 27th Psalm.—Deseret Evening News (Salt Lake), Utah.

In response to an encore, she gave a selection from "Il Trovatore" in baritone, showing the extraordinary range of her voice, and producing a melody like the low tones of a pipe organ under a master's touch.—San Diego (California) Sun.

She wore a crown heavily jeweled and diamonds flashed upon her hands and from her ears. Her singing at once established her claim of being in the front rank of star artists, and there is a greater fortune than that already accumulated in store for her.—Providence (R. I.) Dispatch.

Flora Batson, known as the greatest colored singer in the world, created such a furore in Old City Hall last evening that before the programme was half through the excitement became so intense that cries of "Bravo!" were heard from all parts of the house. Many people arose to their feet and the applause was uproarious and deafening in its intensity, and not only rounded out the conclusion of selections but broke in spontaneously at every interlude. The singer was certainly a marvel. Her voice showed a compass of three octaves, from the purest, clear-cut soprano, sweet and full, to the rich, round notes of the baritone register.—Pittsburg; (Pa.) Commercial Gazette.