Sissieretta Jones: "The Greatest Singer of Her Race," 1868-1933

3: “I Woke Up Famous,” 1892

: 30 : 8 3 “I Woke Up Famous” 1892 With the success of two West Indian and South American tours behind her, Sissieretta returned to New York in July 1891, more experienced and eager to advance her concert career in the United States. She rejoined Flora Batson Bergen to sing with her in a few Bergen Star Concerts managed by Batson’s husband, John. He booked the two singers to appear together at several church concerts during October in Brooklyn, New York City, and Philadelphia . In Brooklyn the concert at the Bridge Street Church on 8 October 1891 was well attended, with people paying fifty cents for a ticket. By the time the choir sang the opening chorus at 8:25 p.m., all the seats were filled, including chairs placed in the aisles, and some people in the audience had to stand for the entire performance. Batson and Sissieretta, who was making her first appearance in Brooklyn, were the stars of the evening. Both were praised in a newspaper review of the concert. One critic wrote that Madame Jones had a sweet voice of splendid range and excellent control and an “exceedingly pleasing ” stage presence, and he predicted that, “if all the conditions were equal, there is no question but that she would in time become as great a favorite in the United States as she is in the West Indies.”1 By early December 1891, Sissieretta was no longer singing with the Bergen Star Concert Company and was reported to be touring the South, perhaps at concerts arranged by her husband.2 Shortly after plans for a southern tour were announced in the press, the Indianapolis Freeman reported that “Black Patti” was touring the West, although it is unknown whether she actually toured the South or the West at the end of December. As the new year began, Sissieretta celebrated her twenty-fourth birthday and apparently decided to start using her musical-sounding middle name rather than her first name, Matilda, in advertising and other publicity materials. By early 1892 Sissieretta’s name began to appear in newspaper articles and advertisements as Mme. M. 31 : “I Woke Up Famous,” 1892 Sissieretta Jones rather than Matilda S. Jones, which she had used in her earlier concerts and on her tours of the West Indies and South America. Since her return from the West Indies, Sissieretta had been performing before largely black audiences, mostly at African American churches, the typical venue for black musicians and singers who performed serious or classical music. On 18 February 1892 she sang at a testimonial concert in Brooklyn to honor the prominent African American pianist Mrs. Albert (Georgiana) Wilson , who had on occasion accompanied Batson and who later became Sissieretta ’s accompanist. A number of leading black citizens attended the concert at Jefferson Hall, Court Square, in Brooklyn. The stars of the evening were Mrs. Wilson, violinist Walter Craig, and Sissieretta. Others appearing were tenor Henry Jackson, soprano Maggie Scott, and basso William Jackson. The black press said the testimonial was one of the best entertainments of the year and described it as a “notable artistic and social success.”3 A few days after the testimonial concert, Sissieretta went to Washington, D.C., to perform Monday evening, 22 February, at the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church, located at Fifteenth and M Streets. The audience that evening was the largest the church had ever experienced.4 Every available seat was taken and many people had to be turned away. With a successful Washington debut before a black audience behind her, Sissieretta was poised to make history in the capital city, this time appearing before a select white audience—the president of the United States and his guests. Although not the first black singer to appear at the White House, she was one of the first African American female vocalists to perform there. Sissieretta went to the White House to give a luncheon concert in the Blue Room. How she came to be invited is unknown. Sissieretta, escorted by David Jones and her accompanist, Charles Dunger, arrived at the Executive Mansion at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, 24 February. Wearing a gown with a bodice covered in medals from her West Indian and South American tours, Sissieretta stood before President Benjamin Harrison, his family, and his guests and sang Stephen Foster’s “Swanee River,” a folk song she would sing hundreds of times in her career and one that would become her signature song. She also sang...