This is a transcription of the Emma S. Howe biography from New Hampshire Women: A Collection of Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Daughters and Residents of the Granite State, Who are Worthy Representatives of their Sex in the Various Walks and Conditions of Life, The New Hampshire Publishing Co., Concord, NH, 1895, page 165.
Emma S. Howe
Emma S. Howe, known throughout New England as a gifted singer, a superior teacher, and a most charming young woman, was born in Wolfeborough, and is a loyal daughter of that beautiful lakeside town, though her parents, Thomas Wentworth and Abbie (Nutter) Howe, were from Rochester, the former having died in 1890. At eight years of age she began to study the piano, and later, at the New England Conservatory, her vocal powers were developed so thoroughly as to warrant a request from the faculty for her appearance at the commencement concert. On this occasion she rendered the difficult Polonaise from Mignon with marvelous effect, and from that time her success was assured. While in New York the following spring, then barely eighteen years of age, she accepted the position of leading soprano in Plymouth church. Here she won warm friends and admirers, who deeply regretted her determination to reappear in concert work. In 1882 she toured New England with Gilmore’s band, making a decided success. Colonel Mapleson pronounced her voice one of rare sweetness and accuracy, saying: “She is the only American singer I have heard who can sing the part of the Queen of Night in the Magic Flute. Miss Howe has been teacher of vocal music for seven years at Wellesley College, and three years at Wheaton Seminary, at the same time giving private instruction at home to large numbers of pupils. She also sang for five years in the choir of the Union Congregational church, Boston. In the summer of 1895, Miss Howe and her mother traveled in Europe. In London and Paris her voice gave much pleasure to well-known musicians. In Austria she visited Baroness von Walhoffen (Pauline Lucca), who was warm in her praise upon hearing her sing, and while there she was invited to sing in opera before the emperor, but the time of her departure rendered this impossible. Miss Howe is a valued and interested member of “New Hampshire’s Daughters.”