Bessie Abott

Bessie Abott (1878 – February 9, 1919) was an American operatic soprano who had an active international career during the early 20th century. She was particularly associated with the Paris Opera and the Metropolitan Opera, and excelled in performances of Italian and French operas of the Romantic Period.

Biography Bessie Abott was one of twin daughters, Bessie and Jessie, born in Heuvelton, New York as Bessie Pickens to John Pickens Jr., and his wife, Frances Josephine Button. She utilized her grandmother's maiden name, Abbott, as her stage name and later dropped one "b" after she saw a misprinted theater program in Paris.

During her years at the Met, Abott also occasionally performed in concerts and operas in other American cities. She notably sang in a production of Carmen with Enrico Caruso in San Francisco's Grand Opera House the night before the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. After leaving the Met she returned to Europe where she appeared in operas in Lisbon, Monte Carlo, Paris, and Petrograd. In 1910–1911 she toured the United States with her own opera company starring in a production of La boheme. Her final performance was as Janet in a 1913 revival of Reginald De Koven's Robin Hood in New York. She was widowed in 1915. She died in 1919, at the age of 40, "after an illness of several years."