"Market Lass": The Myriad Roles of Elizabeth Poe, Part II
by Maggi Smith-Dalton

"SURE NEVER ANYTHING WAS HALF SO SWEET!" -- ELIZABETH AS PERFORMER

The theatre of Elizabeth Poe's day demanded much of its actors; roles were numerous, travel was constant, and work was multi-faceted.

Quinn numbers Elizabeth's roles at two hundred and one. Fourteen of these roles were Shakespearean; many were in romantic melodrama; but the bulk of her repertoire lay in the realm of comedy of manners.

The author states that she "appealed strongly in those emotional parts, often of an orphan, poor but proud, who ultimately marries a gentleman, after incidental persecutions" (Quinn 1941, 47-48). He also states that "twenty-two of her singing parts were in romantic opera ...or poetic drama" (Quinn 1941,48). Her strengths lay in comedy and in works which employed her musical talents.

My own count tallies her participation in approximately 250 productions, and she played more than one role in several of those plays during the course of her career. Elizabeth's record is staggering especially in light of her three pregnancies and two marriages.

Eliza‚s acting style is described most consistently as some variant of "animated." Her acting was apparently natural and unpretentious. She was ideally suited to comedies, flirtatious or amusing characters, and comedies of manners; she performed well in verse; in tragedies which required more serious "emoting" or declamation she fell somewhat short of the mark, according to the critics.

Most reviewers were enthused about her charming character and feminine charms; her main observed qualities indicates a presence appealing rather than compelling. One gets the sense she was free from conceit and the vice of imperious posturing.

Elizabeth's musical talent was considered remarkable; her singing voice, even as a child, described as exceptional. Listeners throughout her life praised „. . . ".her sweetly melodious voice when she charms us with a song. . ." (Alexandria Advertiser and Commercial Intelligencer, September 6, 1803, quoted in Smith 1988, 70). "What an animated and expressive countenance! -- and how well she performs! Her voice too! sure never was anything half so sweet!"

Year after year did she continue to extort these involuntary bursts of rapture from the Norfolk audience, and to deserve them too. . .("Floretta" in the Norfolk Herald, July 26, 1811, quoted in Quinn, 42; and Smith 1988, 126-127).

Making a deduction from the evidence of various contemporary reviews, it would appear that she was not a coloratura, but rather a lyric soprano.

So too would I judge her vocal style based on the evidence of the music she sang. The songs require flexibility, dexterity and a "lighter" touch; they utilize melodic fluidity, rather than floridity, virtuosic leaps, or heavy ornamentation. This lyric style was to the popular taste for theatre music in England and in America.

English operatic style most often was "restrained;" most singers favored "nothing more than the occasional appoggiatura and a brief flourish if there was a pause mark" (Fiske 1973, 279). A lyric style, one which put less stress on virtuosic flourishes than a clean melodic
line, the judicious use of vibrato, and tastefully employed cadenzas, was in keeping with this aesthetic.

Elizabeth performed with some of the leading musicians of the day; Alexander Reinagle, for instance, was music master to George Washington‚s own family. She sang with some of the larger and better orchestras available, Philadelphia‚s being considered particularly fine. Music was an integral part of theatrical life, a feature of many of the plays and certainly of entr'actes and any special offering; acting usually meant singing, too.

Eliza did not perform only in theatrical contexts. She often, with mother, stepfather, husband, and colleagues, performed in special concerts, independent of a theatrical evening. Sometimes these concerts were formal affairs, and followed by balls.

Her repertoire establishes Elizabeth as an interpreter of popular music, somewhat comparable to a "pop" singer of modern times. She is close in spirit, in fact, to early twentieth-century singers, who, from the vaudeville or Broadway stage, were responsible for introducing and popularizing vernacular music, rapidly becoming "big business" in the last decade of the nineteenth and beginning decades of the twentieth.

Elizabeth's debut song, "The Market Lass," was a relatively new popular song in England (published 1794) when she warbled it in America in 1796; Eliza often performed up-to-date popular music in her career alongside tried and true old favorites. She was, as was her mother before her, considered a "leading singing actress."

Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe endured exhausting travel, overwork, anxieties, poverty, possible abandonment, bearing children in the midst of a challenging professional career (and under, one wonders, what childbirthing conditions!). All of this closed her life at twenty-four.

She forged no stunning innovations in theatre-craft, nor did she achieve great fame or fortune. Her story is that of an industrious, creative craftswoman. Hard-working and determined, she truly was a "Market Lass" to the end, concerned with pleasing the public.

Yet she left a legacy to her profession and to her son, Edgar Allan Poe, as a creative artist concerned with imaginative portrayals. Her influence, especially as filtered through her son, continued in American culture past her last curtain call. Her sweet voice echoed in Edgar's
soul like a bell, though (or perhaps, because) that voice was imagined or romanticized.

I glance again at her portrait; her wide dark eyes and shy smile coupled with her confident posture tell me only there are so many layers to her story...

Elizabeth is at once representative of and unique for her time. Perhaps this constitutes her greatest significance, and her best legacy.


copyright 1997, 2004 Margaret R. Smith-Dalton
Part I: Eliza's story

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Maggie Smith-Dalton is a 20 year performance veteran and American Studies scholar. She, and her husband, Jim Dalton, live in Salem, MA. They teach, lecture, and perform regularly throughout the east coast together. More information about their programs can be found on their website: http://www.singingstring.org

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