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Jane Elizabeth "Jenny" Kempton (née Twitchell; October 4, 1835 – March 13, 1921) was an American contralto opera solo singer who had an active career spanning over fifty years starting in 1850. Twitchell Kempton sang in hundreds of performances across the United States and Europe during her long career. ==Early life and career== Jane Elizabeth Twitchell was born in Dublin, New Hampshire, in 1835,〔"Pioneer Opera Singer Called". ''The San Bernardino County Sun'', March 14, 1921, p. 2.〕〔"A Successful Career Closed". ''The Golden West'', vol. 2 no. 20, April 1, 1921. p. 7.〕 the youngest of three children born to Reuben Wilder Twitchell (1810–1895) and Hanna Prentice Wight (1815–1842). Her father was a cabinetmaker and musician who volunteered for service in the regimental band of the First Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry in the American Civil War from 1861 to 1862, and again from 1863 to 1865 as a musician in the 2nd Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry of the XII Corps then the regimental bandleader of the XX Corps of the Union Army. Reuben Wilder Twitchell was the bandleader for General William Tecumseh Sherman and his March to the Sea in 1864.〔"Funeral of Reuben W Twitchell". ''The Inter Ocean'', August 16, 1895, p. 8.〕 Jenny's brother, John Wight Twitchell (1842–1864), and her father-in-law, Ezra A Kempton Jr. (1808–1864), died within one week of each other in Andersonville Prison in August 1864, mere miles from her father and Sherman's Union Army.〔"The Latest News", ''The Pittsburgh Daily Commercial'', August 25, 1864, p. 1.〕 Twitchell Kempton came to notice at a very young age as her untrained vocal range extended from a low C to high C without strain. She came to Boston from Bath, Maine, for a voice education at the age of 14 and soon thereafter sang contralto performances for the Handel and Haydn Society in Boston. Her first notice came from her lead in the first performance in the United States〔"Famous Singer of Olden Days was San Francisco Discovery". ''The San Francisco Chronicle'', March 20, 1921, p. 4.〕〔"(Mrs. Jenny Kempton, 85, Ex-Opera Singer Dies )". ''The New York Tribune'', March 14, 1921. p. 9.〕 of the Mendelssohn oratorios ''St. Paul'' and ''Elijah'' in Boston in early 1850 with the Handel and Haydn Society. In the 1850s she performed solos in and around Boston, including performances with the Sacred Music Society of Portland, Maine. Twitchell Kempton sang often in the First Parish Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts and entertained in the houses of church members including James Russell Lowell, John Greenleaf Whittier, Francis H. Underwood, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.〔 In particular, she became lifelong friends with Longfellow.〔Personal letters of Jenny Twitchell Kempton.〕 By 1855, she was described as ("The Favorite Contralto of Boston" ).〔("The Favorite Contralto of Boston" ), books.google.com; accessed March 24, 2015〕 By 1857, Twitchell moved to New York to study under the contralto Elena D'Angri and would perform many concerts.〔''New York Musical Review and Gazette'', August 8, 1857, p. 6.〕 She then engaged for a multi-year contract with Father Kemp's Old Folks Concerts Company from approximately 1858 to 1861, performing lead solo performances in at least 100 concerts, including performances to President James Buchanan〔(Songs of the Old Folks Concerts Company, including "Father Kemp's Old Folks Concert Tunes" and "A New England 'Auld Lang Syne'" ), americanmusicpreservation.com; accessed March 14, 2015.〕 and future-President Abraham Lincoln while touring the East Coast and Midwestern United States from 1859 to 1860. The positive reviews and accolades given Jenny during her performances with the Old Folks Concerts caused such jealousy and trouble among the other performers that the very successful traveling company dissolved for a time, with Robert 'Father' Kemp siding with Jenny against the other performers.〔''Sacramento Daily Union'', December 22, 1859, p. 4.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Jenny Twitchell Kempton」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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