'EMMA WIXOM' (Con't) From California to the Sophisticated European Stage. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- As a final gesture of goodwill before leaving, Emma returned to Austin to perform in a benefit concert. A local miner had lost both feet in an accident and Emma wished to help him. The concert proved to be not only a success for her as a singer but a financial triumph for the injured miner. The concert took in receipts totaling $407, a fine amount for a small-town benefit. The concert was held in the Austin Methodist Church, and in the Reese River Reveille of March 17, 1877 her talents were praised: " 'The Happy Birdling' is the title of a solo sung by Miss Emma Wixom, and judging from the brightness of the tiers of countenances . . . it seemed to impart a feeling of joyousness to all present . . . . Tremendous applause followed. On reappearing Miss Wixom sang and played "Listen to the Mocking Bird," and Mr. House whistled as the mocking bird behind the curtain. The effect was sublime. . ." The next day Emma left Austin for New York and Europe. But all was not to go well for the traveling study group. Ebell became very ill; before they reached Hamburg, he died, leaving the party penniless. Mrs. Ebell, fraught with grief and facing instant poverty, returned to America. But not Emma. She had crossed the ocean, and now, full of ambition, she made up her mind to stay as long as she could. Even in those days such news traveled fast, so it was not long before her friends in the mining camps heard of the diva's dilemna. They got together and raised enough money for the young woman to complete her training. With the additional help of another friend, Emma went to Vienna, where she studied for three and a half years with the famous Mathilde Marchesi. Under the guidance of this noted voice teacher, Emma eagerly submitted herself to the rigid discipline required of aspiring opera singers. It proved to be the best thing she was to do. In three short years Emma made her debut at Her Majesty's Theatre in London. She had by now dropped the name Wixom and had adopted a name suggestive of her background: Emma Nevada. Performing "La Sonnambula," her success was acclaimed world-wide. This prompted one San Francisco newspaper writer to call her "The Sagebrush Linnet." For several years she appeared in various Italian opera houses and in the Opera Comique of Paris. Other European engagements followed in France, Italy, and Germany, but even with mounting fame, she remained little changed by success. While returning to England in 1884 to sing "Rose of Sharon," an opera written especially for her, Emma was invited to appear before Queen Victoria. She later wrote to her first music teacher of the occasion. "Her Majesty asked me if I was not an American and I proudly answered 'from California' -- and I almost added 'from Mills.' " That trip was to be significant for another phase of Emma's life, for it also produced a romance. It was here she met Dr. Raymond Palmer. Although he belonged to a medical family long established in Staffordshire, he quickly closed his practice and went on tour in America as Emma's physician, secretary, and companion to the young singer's father. To Be Continued . . . In the spring of 1885. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Copied by Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert July 21, 2005 iggy29@rnetinc.net