Emma Marcy Raymond

Emma Marcy Raymond (pseudonym, Salvator Sylvain; 1839 – November 7, 1913) was an American musician, composer, and author of operetta, songs and piano music. She was one of very few women in her day who had composed the entire music of an opera and lived to see it produced. Early life and education Emma P. Marcy was born in 1839 in Hartford, Connecticut, the oldest daughter of Dr. Erastus Egerton Marcy and Emeline Babcock (Kilbourn) Marcy, whose father was Henry Kilbourn of Hartford. Her father was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and later a homeopathic specialist, who apparently lived for many years on Fifth Avenue on the site opposite Tiffany’s. She showed a remarkable aptitude for music at a very early age, having composed her first song before six years of age. She inherited her musical talents from her parents, both of whom were gifted amateurs. She was reared in an atmosphere of music, and studied under the best teachers who visited the United States. She studied the piano with Louis Moreau Gottschalk and Raccoman, vocal music with Giorgio Ronconi, and counterpoint and harmony with the best German masters. Career Her musical sympathies were almost entirely with th