SCOVEL [SCOVELL], Edward (b Detroit, 6 May 1846; d Hotel Savoia, Corso Italia, Bordighera, Italy, 31 December 1945)

This chapter presents a biography of mid- to late-19th-century Victorian vocalist Edward Scovel. Mr Scovell found himself employment as a singer at St Thomas's Church in New York City, where he became the object of admiration of any number of young, and not so young, lovesick New York maidens. Mr Scovell was impervious. His chosen bride was Miss Marcia Roosevelt, just a few years his elder, a daughter of Judge Roosevelt and cousin to Theodore Roosevelt. In 1882, 'Edoardo Scovello' turned up in London, where on 27 June he made an appearance in concert at the Marlborough Rooms, and in the seasons that followed he was occasionally seen on the London platform, notably at the Covent Garden proms of 1885. Scovel (the Italianate name now, dumped, along with one 'l') made his first appearance with the company at Derby on 8 April 1886, in Faust. In 1891 he got engaged at London's Her Majesty's Theatre to play Lohengrin.