Rogers, Mrs. Clara Kathleen

1844-

 

English-American operatic singer and composer; born at Cheltenham, England; the daughter of John Barnett, " the father of English opera." Her early musical education was received from her parents; from 1856 to 1860 she studied at the Leipsic Conservatory as a pupil of Moscheles and Plaidy for piano, Papperitz and Richter in theory, Rietz and David in ensemble-playing, and from 1858 of Goetze in singing. A half-year of study in Berlin followed. Here Frau Zimmermann was her vocal teacher and von Billow her instructor in piano. In 1861 she studied stage singing under San Giovanni at Milan, and in 1863 made her debut at Turin as Isabella in Roberto il Diavolo, under the pseudonym of Clara Doria. For five  years, from 1866, she was engaged in concert for the London season, and then came to the United States as a member of the ParepaRosa Company, where her American debut was made at the Academy of Music, New York, as Zerlina in the Bohemian Girl. She sang in the principal cities of the Eastern states, appearing also as The Countess in Figaro and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni. In 1872 and 1873 she sang in the Maretzek Company, and in the latter year settled in Boston as teacher and concert soprano. In 1878 she married Henry M. Rogers, a lawyer of Boston. Mrs. Rogers is a thorough and accomplished musician, as well as a prominent singer. Her works include a sonata for cello, one for violin, a string quartet, and other piano-pieces, and a number of songs, including an album of six settings of poems by Browning, an Aubade with violin obligate, etc.; also The Philosophy of Singing.