Alice Eversman

Alice Mary Eversman was born in Effingham, Illinois and raised in Washington, D.C., the daughter of John Eversman Sr. and Frances Caroline Gibbons Eversman. Encouraged by organist John W. Bischoff,[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12737951/alice_eversman_1915/ "Alice Eversman, Local Prima Donna, to Sing Here Saturday"] The Washington Herald (October 3, 1915): 3. via Newspapers.com{{open access}} she studied music at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland, and in Karlsruhe, Germany.Alfred Victor Frankenstein, Sigmund Gottfried Spaeth, John Townsend Hinton Mize, The International Who is Who in Music (Who is Who in Music, Incorporated, Limited, 1951): 169.

Eversman sang soprano with the Chicago Grand Opera Company.[https://books.google.com/books?id=iBQcAQAAMAAJ&dq=Alice+Eversman&pg=PA677 "Amusements"] The Reform Advocate (December 16, 1911): 677. With them, she appeared in a New Year's Day show at the county jail, and "brought tears to the eyes of many prisoners" with her songs.[https://www.proquest.com/hnpnewyorktimes/docview/97304342/6D3481341964429APQ/4 "Sing for Chicago Prisoners"]{{Dead link|date=September 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} New York Times (January 2, 1912): 12. She was a member of the Metropolitan Opera Company for the 1916-1917 season. She was a fortunate understudy on at least two occasions: once in 1912, when Carmen Melis failed to appear for her starring role in Aida,[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12736694/alice_eversman_plays_aida_1912/ "Capital Girl Saves Opera; Leaves Bath for the Stage"] Washington Herald (March 24, 1912): 3. via Newspapers.com{{open access}} and again as Aida in 1915, when Ester Adaberto was called to Italy on a family emergency.[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12242664/alice_eversman_takes_over_for_ester/ "Alice Eversman in Opera 'Aida'"] The Morning News (March 17, 1915): 13. via Newspapers.com{{open access}} She starred in Aida again in 1917, in a stadium performance to benefit the Civilian Relief Committee during World War I.[https://www.proquest.com/hnpnewyorktimes/docview/99974266/6D3481341964429APQ/2 "Miss Eversman to Sing in Aida"]{{Dead link|date=September 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} New York Times (June 11, 1917): 9. She also gave recitals on the Chautauqua circuit, with violinist Elena de Sayn.[http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/cdm/ref/collection/tc/id/22148 Alice Eversman program (1924)], "Traveling Culture: Circuit Chautauqua in the Twentieth Century", University of Iowa Libraries, Special Collections.[https://books.google.com/books?id=x-w6AQAAMAAJ&dq=Alice+Eversman&pg=RA15-PA39 "Eighteen Joint Recitals for Alice Eversman and Elena de Sayn"] Musical Courier (April 19, 1917): 39.[https://books.google.com/books?id=x-w6AQAAMAAJ&dq=Alice+Eversman&pg=RA17-PA51 "Eversman-De Sayn Success"] Musical Courier (May 3, 1917): 51.

Eversman wrote music criticism for The Washington Star newspaper from 1932 to 1953. She was also a music critic for the Paris edition of the New York Herald.[https://www.proquest.com/news/docview/146242347/A5E214420C5E462DPQ/1 "Alice Eversman, Star Critic, Former Opera Singer, Dies"]{{Dead link|date=September 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Washington Post (February 3, 1974): B6. In her work as a critic, she reviewed the president's daughter, Margaret Truman, on her singing tour in 1949,Ernest B. Vaccaro, [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=8OoiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=28cEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2168%2C3629303 "Miss Truman Ends Song Tour; Father Spectator"] Daytona Beach Morning Journal (November 28, 1949): 2. and described a 1933 recital at a church auditorium by Marian Anderson, lamenting that "her extraordinary singing was enjoyed only by a small audience."Raymond Arsenault, [https://books.google.com/books?id=4WTNtQrpspgC&dq=Alice+Eversman&pg=PA93 The Sound of Freedom: Marian Anderson, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Concert That Awakened America] (Bloomsbury Publishing 2010): 93. {{ISBN|9781608190560}} She also reviewed the 1943 production of La Traviata by the National Negro Opera Company, with particular praise for Lillian Evanti.Rosalyn M. Story, [https://books.google.com/books?id=xirfQXo29zgC&dq=%22Alice+Eversman%22&pg=PA96 And So I Sing] (St. Martin's Press 1990): 96. {{ISBN|9780446710169}} She was president of the American Newspaper Women's Club three times, and a member of the Women's National Press Club.

Eversman died from a stroke in 1974, aged 88 years, in Fairfax, Virginia.[https://www.nytimes.com/1974/02/03/archives/alice-m-eversman.html "Alice M. Eversman"] New York Times (February 3, 1974): 49. In 2012 her cousin Mary Ellen Eversman published a biography, Alice Eversman: Dramatic Opera Soprano, and gave lectures on the subject.Bill Grimes, [http://www.effinghamdailynews.com/local-woman-portrays-late-relative-s-history-in-opera/article_9bde037f-521d-5ff4-b792-272db012cdb4.html "Local Woman Portrays Late Relative's History in Opera"] Effingham Daily News (July 22, 2014).

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{{Archival records|title=Alice Eversman and Elena De Sayn Collection|location= Library of Congress|description_URL=

https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/eadmus.mu022009}}

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Category:1885 births

Category:1974 deaths

Category:American operatic sopranos

Category:American music critics

Category:American women music critics