Genevieve Ward
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Dame Genevieve Ward DBE (27 March 1837 – 18 August 1922), born Lucy Genevieve Teresa Ward, was an American-born British soprano and actress. She was created a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) on her birthday in 1921.
[edit] Life and career
Genevieve Ward was born in the city of New York, the daughter of Colonel Samuel Ward, and his wife, Lucy Leigh Ward. She was the grand-daughter of Gideon Lee, formerly Mayor of that city. At the age of three she accompanied her parents to Europe. She began to display a preference for the arts, and devoted herself by turns to the study of painting, sculpture, and music. By degrees, music absorbed her entirely, and her proficiency on the piano attracted attention. After a few years' stay in Europe, the family returned to New York, and soon afterward made the acquaintance of Henriette Sontag.[1]
Sontag encouraged Genevieve to study singing formally and when the family returned to Europe, she gave her a letter of introduction to Rossini. On her 84th birthday, 27 March 1921, a year before her death, she was created a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE). She published a volume of reminiscences (with Richard Whiteing), Before and Behind the Curtain in 1918.[2]
She died of heart disease at her home in Hampstead, aged 85.
[edit] References
- ^ Henry Wikoff (1863) Memoir of Ginevra Guerrabella, T.J. Crowan,, New York (digitized by Google Books) [1]
- ^ Genevieve Ward profile
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