Mary Alice Seymour
Lady Mary Alice Seymour | |
---|---|
Born | Mary Alice Ives October 21, 1837 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
Died | May 12, 1897 Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. | (aged 59)
Resting place | Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville, Kentucky |
Pen name | Octavia Hensel |
Occupation | musician, author, critic |
Language | English |
Nationality | American |
Subject | music |
Spouse |
William Wood Seymour
(m. 1865)Abraham G. Fonda (m. 1888) |
Lady Mary Alice Seymour (
Early life and education
Mary Alice Ives was born in
Seymour's parents were Mary Phelps (Olmstead) Ives and George Russell Ives.[6] He was a Presbyterian minister from Vermont[5] and also a Brooklyn commission merchant.
Fonda had a pleasant childhood. Her parents were surrounded by literary people, and her early taste tended toward literature. In Paris, she studied under Louis Moreau Gottschalk.[4]
Career
In 1865, she married Rev. William Wood Seymour, an Episcopal clergyman[3] at one time connected with Trinity Parish, New York.[2]
In 1868–70, in Vermont, notices appeared in the press regarding Seymour's dramatic readings and recitations as an
Widowed, Seymour returned to her father's home from where she published Life and letters of Louis Moreau Gottschalk (Boston, 1870), rushed into print after Gottschalk's death the year before.[11] The father's loss of property during the American Civil War and his feeble health led her to go to Europe for study to become a vocal teacher.[2]
While abroad, she studied in a
After the death of her father, she received a sizeable inheritance,[4] and returned to her home in the U.S. After losing her fortune, she moved into a small apartment on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan where she gave piano lessons and developed a platonic relationship with Gottschalk.[4] She also taught music in Philadelphia. In 1884, she brought out her papers on "The Rhinegold Trilogy" (Boston), which had been written in Vienna under the supervision of Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner.[2]
After the death of her grandmother, in 1885, she opened a school of vocal music in Nashville, Tennessee. Her books on the festivals of the church, known as the "Cedar Drove Series," were published in New York in 1886, and became standard. She removed to Louisville, Kentucky, in 1887.[2] In Louisville, Seymour held salons emulating those other women held in France. At the salon, she was referred to as Madam Octavia Hensel.[12]
In the summer of 1888, she married secondly Abraham G. Fonda, a descendant of the New York Fonda family, whose ancestor, Major Jelles Fonda, had purchased the
Her novel, Imperia (Buffalo, 1892), was a success.[2]
Personal life
Fonda was prominent among the Daughters of the American Revolution and owned many rare American Revolutionary War relics.[2]
She died at her home, "Fonda Vera", in Louisville, of Bright's disease, May 12, 1897,[3] and is buried in that city's Cave Hill Cemetery.[13] Her effects were auctioned off in a private sale. (Musical Courier 1897)
Selected works
- Cedar Grove series
- Whitsuntide at Cedar Grove, 1859
- Christmas holidays at Cedar Grove, 1866
- The Ruthvens of Cedar Grove; or, The Whitsuntide holidays, 1882
- Easter holidays at Cedar Grove, 1884
- The Holly Cross, 1863
- Life and letters of Louis Moreau Gottschalk, 1870
- The Rheingold trilogy; a guide through the trilogy of Richard Wagner, 1884
- Imperia; a story from the court of Austria, 1892
- Music in Kentucky, 1894
- The cross in tradition, history, and art, 1897
References
- ^ Werner's Magazine Company 1897, p. 561.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Willard & Livermore 1893, p. 295.
- ^ a b c d e "A Notes South Berkshire Woman's Death". The Pittsfield Sun. 10 June 1897. p. 12. Retrieved 19 January 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d e Starr 2000, p. 314.
- ^ a b Starr 2000, p. 92.
- ^ Willard & Livermore 1893, p. 294.
- ^ "Our Own Vicinity". The Vermont Record and Farmer. 26 August 1868. p. 5. Retrieved 19 January 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Mary Alice Ives Seymour's Dramatic Readings and Recitations!". The Burlington Free Press. 14 November 1868. p. 4. Retrieved 19 January 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Mrs. Seymour's Reading". The Burlington Free Press. 19 May 1870. p. 3. Retrieved 19 January 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Episcopal Church. Diocese of New York. Convention 1874, p. 123.
- ^ Starr 2000, p. 440.
- ^ Rothert 1921, p. 387.
- ^ "Octavia Mary Alice Ives Hensel (1837 - 1897) - Find A Grave Memorial". www.findagrave.com. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
Attribution
- This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Episcopal Church. Diocese of New York. Convention (1874). Journal of the ... Annual Convention, Diocese of New York (Public domain ed.). The Diocese.
- This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Musical Courier (1897). "The Late "Octavia Hensel"". Musical Courier. Vol. 35 (Public domain ed.). Musical Courier.
- This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the ISBN 978-0-8369-5640-5.
- This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Werner's Magazine Company (1897). Werner's Magazine: A Magazine of Expression. Vol. Public domain (19 ed.). Werner's Magazine Company.
- This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Willard, Frances Elizabeth; Livermore, Mary Ashton Rice (1893). A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life (Public domain ed.). Moulton. p. 294.
Bibliography
- Starr, S. Frederick (2000). Louis Moreau Gottschalk. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-06876-8.
External links
- Works related to Woman of the Century/Mary Alice Fonda at Wikisource
- Works by or about Mary Alice Seymour at Internet Archive