ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a biography of mid- to late-19th-century Victorian vocalist Emma Pearce. The first prima donna soprano of the newly fashionable style of music halls before the advent, half a decade or more later, of the genre's most outstanding vocalists, Charlotte Russell and Emily Soldene, was Miss E Pearce. 'Miss E Pearce' turned up to my gaze in 1854. In the 1860s, Emma Pearce travelled from one top music hall to another as the vogue for potted operatic selections flourished. She gave the soprano music of Norma, Il trovatore, Lucia di Lammermoor, Don Giovanni, The Slave and the ilk; she sang at the Alhambra, at Weston's, and at the Metropolitan. In 1875, Miss Peace is still at it, delivering 'Tell me, my heart' and Emily Soldene's music hall hit 'Launch the lifeboat' from the top of the bill. The sisters Pearce, Emma and Lydia, had done well, and they had both had a family life as well.
