ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a biography of mid- to late-19th-century vocalists Elena Kenneth and Susan Kenneth. Ellen Kenneth, from Bow Street, London, chose to keep her father's surname but obligatorily found her first name metamorphosed into 'Elena' for the large part of her long career as a vocalist and a teacher. Ellen Kenneth was born in Covent Garden, London, the first of the three daughters of a very visible theatrical family indeed. According to the 1841 census of London, in which she is to be found living in Southampton Street, with her father William (Michael) (bookseller), mother Ellen (nee Russell), and sisters Susan and Fanny, she was fifteen years old. Susan was born in 1830. For Susan - although she doesn't make Dr Regli's article - also became a professional vocalist, and she, too, earned considerable success on the Italian stage.
