Sumterville (now known as Sumter), South Carolina, was the birthplace of Clara Louise Kellogg on July 9,1842. She was the daughter of George and Jane Elizabeth Crosby Kellogg, and spent her early years at Derby, Connecticut.
She began studying singing at the Ashland Seminary and Musical Institute in the New York Catskill Mountains and also studied with the composer and conductor Luigi Arditi (1822-1903), in New York City.
First Unsuccessful Tour
In 1860 she tried a concert and operatic tour across New York and Michigan, but it was not a success. She then went on to give her operatic debut in 1861 at the New York Academy of Music, where she sang Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto. The following week she appeared in Boston in Donizetti's Linda di Chamonix.
Marguerite in Faust
Kellogg finally made a name for herself when she took on the role of Marguerite in Gounod's Faust in its New York City debut. She weighed, at that time, 107 pounds.From that peformance on she was identified with that part. In 1872 she and the celebrated Austrian soprano, Pauline Lucca headed their own opera company in which they both starred.
The English Opera Company
Kellogg toured for several years, capping her career with a triumphant tour of Russia in 1880, even though her voice had lost its lustre. She directed her own English Opera Company from 1873 to 1876, the thrust of which was to present opera in English. Unfortunately, her career began to wane, quite possibly as the result of her chequered early training and she retired after her marriage to Carl Strakosch, nephew of her manager Max Strakosch, on November 6, 1886, in Elkhart, Indiana
Retirement to Her Estate Elpstone
In 1913, Kellogg published her biography, Memoirs of an American Prima Donna, and spent the next three years at her estate Elpstone near New Hartford, Connecticut, enjoying gardening and reading. She had made her name as Marguerite in Faust and had also been in many other operas. She gave many concerts to enthusiastic audiences and seemed well pleased with her life. She wrote her biography, Memoirs of an American Prima Donna, in 1913.
Clara Kellogg died on May 13 , 1916, at her estate near New Hartford. She was seventy-four years old.Her husband, Carl, died a few months later at the age of 57 in Hartford.
Sources
New York Times October 24, 1916
New York Times February 5,1911
Famous American Women ed. Robert McHenry Dover Publications Inc., New York 1980
Anya Laurence - A writer, teacher and classical pianist, Anya Laurence has had three books published, as well as many articles in various magazines and ...
