Light opera prima donna, was born in Brooklyn, her father being Captain John Riordan of the police department. When she was eighteen years old her singing attracted the attention of the famous bandmaster, Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore, and he engaged her as soprano soloist for his band concerts on tour and in New York. After several seasons with him she retired from pubic view, save for amateur performances of the operas of Gilbert and Sullivan and solo singing in Brooklyn church choirs, to engage in further musical study. In 1895 she returned to the professional ranks and toured the country under the management of Fred C. Whitney in Smith and De Koven's "The Fencing Master." She soon again left the stage, this time to become the wife of James D. Bergen, a wealthy cut-glass manufacturer of Meriden and Hartford, CT. As Mrs. Bergen she was one of the most noted church choir singers of Meriden and Hartford. The old love for the stage, however, reasserted itself, and in 1897 she left the Centre Church choir, of Hartford, to play the leading soprano role with De Wolf Hopper in "El Capitan." In 1899 she was again with Mr. Hopper in "The Charlatan." Mr. Hopper had obtained a divorce from Mrs. Edna Wallace Hopper in the summer of 1898, and when Mrs. Bergen left the cast of "The Charlatan," to go to South Dakota, it was rumored that she and Mr. Hopper would be married as soon as she had obtained a divorce. Rumor proved truth and they were married. She played thereafter with him in the leading soprano roles in all of his comic operas until the last season, when they appeared in different companies. She was the star of the Sousa opera, "The Free Lance," which ended the 1906 season at the New Amsterdam Theatre. The season of 1907-1908 she was seen as Grace Palmer in George Cohan's "The Talk of New York." (Info from "Who's Who on the Stage," 1908.)
Contributor: Diane (47664056)
Contributor: Diane (47664056)
Light opera prima donna, was born in Brooklyn, her father being Captain John Riordan of the police department. When she was eighteen years old her singing attracted the attention of the famous bandmaster, Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore, and he engaged her as soprano soloist for his band concerts on tour and in New York. After several seasons with him she retired from pubic view, save for amateur performances of the operas of Gilbert and Sullivan and solo singing in Brooklyn church choirs, to engage in further musical study. In 1895 she returned to the professional ranks and toured the country under the management of Fred C. Whitney in Smith and De Koven's "The Fencing Master." She soon again left the stage, this time to become the wife of James D. Bergen, a wealthy cut-glass manufacturer of Meriden and Hartford, CT. As Mrs. Bergen she was one of the most noted church choir singers of Meriden and Hartford. The old love for the stage, however, reasserted itself, and in 1897 she left the Centre Church choir, of Hartford, to play the leading soprano role with De Wolf Hopper in "El Capitan." In 1899 she was again with Mr. Hopper in "The Charlatan." Mr. Hopper had obtained a divorce from Mrs. Edna Wallace Hopper in the summer of 1898, and when Mrs. Bergen left the cast of "The Charlatan," to go to South Dakota, it was rumored that she and Mr. Hopper would be married as soon as she had obtained a divorce. Rumor proved truth and they were married. She played thereafter with him in the leading soprano roles in all of his comic operas until the last season, when they appeared in different companies. She was the star of the Sousa opera, "The Free Lance," which ended the 1906 season at the New Amsterdam Theatre. The season of 1907-1908 she was seen as Grace Palmer in George Cohan's "The Talk of New York." (Info from "Who's Who on the Stage," 1908.)
Contributor: Diane (47664056)
Contributor: Diane (47664056)
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