(Julie) Loraine Wyman (October 23, 1885 – September 11, 1937) was an American soprano,For year of birth as well as her family members see Wilson (1900:72). For her voice see Harvard Crimson, announcement of concert at Harvard University, 7 April 1919; . noted for her concert performances of folk songs, some of which she collected from traditional singers in field work. Paul J. Stamler has called Wyman "the first real practitioner of the urban folk revival."Stamler (2012:207–210)
Life Early family life Her mother, Julie Moran Wyman (1860–1907) was from Joliet, Illinois, near Chicago.For life dates and birth city see . She possessed a mezzo-soprano voice described as a "marvel""Says Mrs. Wyman errs: Husband of well-known contralto wants the children", Chicago Tribune, 29 May 1896 and had a successful career as an opera singer."Walter C. Wyman secures a divorce', 'Chicago Tribune', 26 July 1896
On 2 April 1880Wilson (1900:72) Julie Moran married Walter C. Wyman (1850–1927), a "coal merchant", "society man",Both descriptions from the Chicago Tribune, 29 May 1896, p. 9 and collector and dealer in Native American anthropological artifacts.A one-paragraph biography of Wyman appears in Bergen (1915); it mentions "coal mining operations in Illinois, Ohio, and Pennsylvania". For Wyman as collector: various web references attest to the presence of his artifacts in museums today; see e.g., He lived in Evanston, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Wyman was quite wealthy; the Chicago Tribune remarks that the couple "made their home in the Edwin E. Brown mansion, and maintained there a lavish establishment of servants, horses, and carriages." They were prominent in Evanston social circles. The Wymans had three children, all daughters: Florence (born 25 January 1881), Caroline (born 28 August 1882), and the youngest Loraine (born 23 October 1885 in Evanston).See Wilson (1900:72).
Wyman's childhood was not always serene. After 1891, her parents lived separately, with Julie taking Loraine and Florence to Paris to live, leaving Caroline with the father.For Paris see Stamler (2002:207); for allocation of children see Chicago Tribune, "Wyman children restored to papa", 20 December 1896. In 1896 Walter Wyman obtained a divorce from his wife on grounds of adultery (he also charged her with addiction to alcohol). As part of the divorce proceedings Wyman successfully obtained custody of all three of his daughters, who joined him in Evanston.Chicago Tribune, 20 December 1896. Following this there were two occasions in which the daughters fled from their father, attempting to join their mother."Three girls missing: daughters of Walter C. Wyman mysteriously disappear", Chicago Tribune, 13 March 1897, at . Julie Wyman's brother was arrested for helping them in the first of their escape attempts, and for a time after this they were placed under police watch.Chicago Tribune, "Catcher Moran in a box: arrested on a charge of abducting his sister's daughter", 18 December 1896. For Moran, see Bill Moran (catcher). The charges against Moran were dropped in return for relinquishing the children (19 December 1896); instead a warrant was issued for the hiding mother. See Chicago Tribune, "Wyman children restored to papa," 20 December 1896. The Chicago Tribune later described how the mother and daughters made their final escape via New York (March 1897): they were "taken aboard of an outgoing French steamer by a launch which was in waiting in the North [i.e. Hudson] river. Thus she eluded detectives employed by her husband."Anonymous (1907)The escape perhaps did not end the travails of the mother and children, if isolated newspaper reports are to be believed. The Milwaukee Sentinel reported on 2 July 1898 that various "eminent artists in New York have made an appeal for donations to the three destitute children of Mrs. Julie Wyman, who is said to be penniless and hopelessly ill." A variety of newspapers, all in the West, carried a report in 1898 that Julie Wyman had gone insane and have been placed in an asylum in New York.
Having relocated her children to Paris,The Chicago Tribune later reported that the daughters had been placed in a convent; Anonymous (1907). Julie Wyman fairly soon returned to North America, where she settled in Toronto and resumed her singing career; between 1898 and 1904 performances by her are recorded in Toronto, New York, Buffalo, Boston, and Cleveland. She eventually moved to Philadelphia. Julie Wyman died a suicide in 1907 in the apartment of her daughter Caroline in New York; Loraine and her older sister Florence were still living in Paris at the time.
Musical training
Amid all this disruption, Loraine Wyman grew to adulthood, mostly in Paris. She learned the French language and developed a sense of connection to France and its people—manifested in her later fundraising efforts during the First World War (see below). She also took up singing, and is reported by one source to have studied with Blanche Marchesi,Rhode Island Archive and Manuscripts Collection Online, Loraine Wyman collection, Biographical Note. Online at who had earlier taught her mother. More important were her studies with the celebrated cabaret singer Yvette Guilbert, from whom (Stamler) "she acquired a taste for French and British folksongs."
The French-Canadian folklore specialist Marius Barbeau later asserted that her French training was fundamental to Wyman's artistic approach.
Miss Loraine Wyman makes us realize to what extent a rustic melody can be transformed by art while still preserving its original contour. Although American by birth, Miss Wyman is a representative of French style and taste. The discrimination, finesse, and sincerity of her interpretations relies especially on the tradition founded by Gaston Paris and Julien Tiersot and broadened by Yvette Guilbert, of whom she was a pupil.Barbeau (1920). The original French reads, "Miss Loraine Wyman nous fera saisir jusqu’à quel point l’art peut métamorphoser une mélodie rustique tout en conservant son contour original. Bien qu’Américaine de naissance, Miss Wyman représente ici le style et le goût français. La distinction, la finesse et la sincérité de son interprétation tiennent surtout de la tradition fondée par Gaston Paris et Julien Tiersot, et élargie par Yvette Guilbert, dont elle fut l’élève."
Launching her career In about 1909 she returned to America, settling in New York.The New York Times reports her as a guest at a debutante lunch (5 January 1909), and as a chorus member in a benefit concert (27 February 1909). Vogue reports her taking the part of an Ancient Greek singer in a pageant (27 May 1909). Probably around this time she studied with a leading New York voice teacher, Frida Ashforth.Saerchinger (1919). This source specifies Ashforth as Wyman's teacher but does not say when. James Huneker called Ashforth the "doyenne of vocal teachers"; New York Times, 2 February 1919. By the following year, she had embarked on a concert career, in which she sang a mixture of folksongs of various origin to urban audiences. Stamler writes,
She became a popular touring concert artist, performing French and British songs in peasant costume and charming audiences and critics across the country.A collection of very positive reviews is given at the Iowa Digital Library at , which includes the Boston Transcript review quoted below. In 1914, the New York Times reported that she had achieved critical success as a performer in London, and in January 1916, she stood in for an ailing Guilbert at the Metropolitan Opera, to rave notices.
A reviewer for the Boston Transcript wrote:
Her voice, a light one, but of fine, agreeable quality and carrying power, has been carefully trained and is expressive. — Her diction is excellent. She has the great gift of humor. In her interpretation naive, pathetic or malicious songs, facial expression and significant gestures add to the effect of her well modulated voice. — There is no extravagance in her performance; she does not go too far; she knows when she has made her points and is willing to give her hearers credit for a certain amount of intelligence.
Smith (2003), reviewing the press accounts, concludes that Wyman consistently delighted her audiences and critics. For example, one review (Rochester Post Express, 13 November 1912) said:
Miss Loraine Wyman gave a costume ballade recital last night before the members of the Alliance Francaise and their friends ... It is doubtful if the audience, no matter what the musical experience of its individuals may have been, has received more enjoyment than was given with a liberal hand by this young songster last night.Quoted from Smith and MacNeil (2003:29)
Performances before 1916
Wyman's New York debut was in January 1910.The performance was announced by the New York Times (2 January 1910): "Miss Loraine Wyman will give a song recital in Aeolian Hall on Saturday evening, Jan. 15. She will be assisted by Miss Lillian Littlehales, 'cellist, and Mrs. Edith Longstreet Smith, pianist." Later that year, she left for Europe, performing with her mentor Yvette Guilbert at the Théâtre du Gymnase in Paris in November, 1910, and again at Bechstein Hall (now Wigmore Hall) in London in June 1911.For debut and European performances, see Saerchinger (1918:708–709) In 1912, Wyman performed at the Women's Musical Club in Toronto, where her mother had appeared twelve years earlier.Feuerriegel, Hanna and Fred Feurriegel (2016) History of concerts and performers of the Women's Musical Club of Toronto, 3rd ed. Toronto: Women’s Musical Club of Toronto. Available online: . By 1913 she was well enough known to be invited to perform at the White House before President Taft and the assembled members of the Supreme Court."Mr. and Mrs. Taft hosts to the Supreme Court", Washington Post 22 January 1913. In 1914, she performed in London and Paris, taking the opportunity to research more folk song material in "old monasteries and libraries" there."Will offer folk songs of France; visitor is to give unique recital Monday at the Huntington", Los Angeles Times 2 March 1915. Later that year, she went to perform in Chicago and Evanston, where she had not been since her childhood; a number of performances were in homes of old family friends.See Chicago Tribune, "Society and entertainments", 22 April 1924, p. 14. The long absence was pointed out by the Tribune society columnist, who fondly recalled her mother's performances (issue of 8 February 1914, online at ). The Evanston performance is recorded on the Iowa Digital Library site at . In 1915 Wyman crossed the continent for performances in the Los Angeles area.The Los Angeles Times on 15 February 1915 announced a concert at the Friday Morning Club and later on 2 March at the Huntington Library. She also performed at the palatial home of Frederick Forrest Peabody in Montecito, California|Montecito; see .
Appalachian fieldwork The early stages of Wyman's performing career coincided with a widespread awakening of interest in the folk songs of the southern Appalachian mountains, where the local population—at the time quite geographically isolated—had conserved and evolved a centuries-long heritage of melody and lyrics by oral transmission across generations. Already, several state folklore societies had formed to collect and record these songs, and Olive Dame Campbell had gathered (though not published) a fairly extensive body of material.For discussion of this early stage of collection, see Filene (2000:15–20). Previously, Wyman had sung on stage only folksongs gathered by others, mostly French and British, and it is only natural that she would develop an interest in field work in such a fertile territory, fieldwork whose results would permit her to expand her performing repertoire with American material.