![]() In each of these productions, Jenkins would cast herself as the main character in the final tableau, wearing an elaborate costume of her own design. ![]() As the "chairman of music" for many of these organizations, she began producing lavish tableaux vivants, popular diversions in upper-crust social circles of that era. ![]() She began taking voice lessons and immersed herself in wealthy New York City society, joining dozens of social clubs. Upon her father's death later that year, Jenkins became the beneficiary of a sizable trust, and resolved to resume her musical career as a singer with Bayfield as her manager. Clair Bayfield they began a vaguely defined cohabitation relationship that continued the rest of her life. In 1909, in her early forties, Jenkins met a 33-year-old British actor named St. She retained the Jenkins surname for the remainder of her life.Īfter an arm injury ended her aspirations as a pianist, Jenkins gave piano lessons in Philadelphia to support herself, but around 1900 she moved with her mother to New York City. Years later, she claimed to have been granted a divorce decree on March 24, 1902, although no documentation of any such ruling has been found. The 9-story luxurious high-rise is still in operation as of 2016. The following year, after learning that she had contracted syphilis from her husband, she ended their relationship and reportedly never spoke of him again.įlorence Foster Jenkins resided at The Newport, built in 1897 in Philadelphia at 1530-1532 Spruce Street, on the southeast corner of 16th. Francis Thornton Jenkins, a physician 16 years her senior, in Philadelphia (in 1880, the age of consent for marriage in Pennsylvania was ten). On July 11, 1883, ten days after the funeral of her sister, and eight days before her 15th birthday, Florence married Dr. Īfter graduating from high school, her hopes of studying music in Europe were dashed when her father refused permission and funding. Florence Foster did not graduate from the Bethlehem Female Seminary. Additionally, she purchased books in mythology, elementary algebra, rhetoric, and history. Miss Foster’s interest in music is further evidenced by her purchase of hymnals. Composed by Stephen Glover (1813-1870), this particular number was described by London’s Musical Herald as “a gay duet, with yodel and la la passages…” In a little under a year at the Bethlehem Female Seminary, Florence Foster paid over $100 for music instruction and sheet music (this amounts to almost $3,000 in 2023 dollars). Foster performed a vocal duet of “Two Merry Alpine Maids” as part of the annual Christmas service. from September 1881 to March 1882, where she was among 20 students in the “Fourth Room”. Miss Foster attended the Moravian Seminary for Young Ladies in Bethlehem, Pa. A pianist, she performed at society functions as "Little Miss Foster", and gave a recital at the White House during the administration of Rutherford B. įoster said her interest in public performance began when she was seven years old. Her only sibling, a younger sister named Lillian, died of diphtheria in 1883 at the age of eight. Narcissa Florence Foster was born July 19, 1868, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Charles Dorrance Foster (1836–1909), an attorney and scion of a wealthy land-owning Pennsylvania family, and Mary Jane Hoagland Foster (1851–1930). The poet William Meredith wrote that a Jenkins recital "was never exactly an aesthetic experience, or only to the degree that an early Christian among the lions provided aesthetic experience it was chiefly immolatory, and Madame Jenkins was always eaten, in the end." Personal life and early career ![]() Enrico Caruso reportedly "regarded her with affection and respect". Cole Porter, Gian Carlo Menotti, Lily Pons, Sir Thomas Beecham, and other celebrities were counted among her fans. No one, before or since, has succeeded in liberating themselves quite so completely from the shackles of musical notation." ĭespite – or perhaps because of – her technical incompetence, she became a prominent musical camp cult-figure in New York City during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. Stephen Pile ranked her "the world's worst opera singer. Clair Bayfield (1909–1944 her death)įlorence Foster Jenkins (born Narcissa Florence Foster J– November 26, 1944) was an American socialite and amateur soprano who became known, and mocked, for her flamboyant performance costumes and notably poor singing ability. Frank Thornton Jenkins (1885–1906, separated 1886)
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