Woman of the Century/Lillian Bailey Henschel
HENSCHEL, Mrs. Lillian Bailey, vocalist, born in Columbus, Ohio, 17th January, 1860. Her musical talent manifested itself very early in life, as, when she was fifteen months old, she plainly showed her choice of different tunes, crying and refusing to sleep if her mother sang one song, and at once remaining quiet when she heard another air. At the age of eighteen months the little one could sing the different tunes she had been accustomed to hear. From that point her whole life has been devoted to the study of music. She began to take piano lessons at the age of seven. Her mother, who was also a singer and had received vocal instruction in Boston, Mass., from the best teachers of her time, directed the daughter's vocal studies. At the age of fifteen the family removed to Boston, and she continued her studies with her uncle, Charles Hayden, a well-known vocal teacher. Later she became a pupil of Madame Rudersdorf, with whom she studied two years. In 1876 Lillian Bailey made her first public appearance in one of B. J. Lang's concerts, given in Boston, meeting with success. After her debut she continued to be a favorite singer in Boston, and her services were in constant demand during the concert season, until, in 1877, she went to Paris to study with Madame Viardot, with whom she remained for some time. In the spring of 1878 she went to London, where she made her first appearance in England with the London Philharmonic Society. In that concert she sang for the first time one of those duets with Mr. Henschel, which have since become so famous. She returned to America in the autumn of 1880 and became the wife of
LILLIAN BAILEY HENSCHEL.
George Henschel, the musician, in the spring of 1881. They remained in Boston three years, Mr. Henschel having charge of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. They removed to London in 1884, which is now their permanent home. There Mr. Henschel holds the position of a leading musician. Mrs. Henschel's fame as a singer is world-wide, as she has been heard in all the principal cities of Europe. At the time of the Ohio Centennial, held in Columbus, she was represented as being one of the celebrated women of that State. Mr. and Mrs.
Henschel receive their friends with great hospitality in their beautiful home. Many a homesick American, having located in London to study music with Mr. Henschel, has found in these successful musicians true friends and helpers, who were ready and willing to dissipate the feeling of unrest and to assist in showing the way onward to success.